This weekend has been so lazy and slow, I wish it would never end. And I have nothing really to say, so here are some snippets from our weekend.

• Chris and I checked out a newish bar in town called the Drunken Fry. We requested a menu and sat in a corner booth of the very dimly lit bar. Chris pulls out his key chain flashlight to read the menu.
• Tranny walks into the bar. Not a joke. Awesomeness.
• Making our way tipsily back to the car. We clutch each other’s hand and call it a Death Pact. The next day we smile at another couple as they make their Death Pact to brave the grocery store parking lot.
• Laughing at the little girl in the laundry mat who runs up to her little sister and says “Laura, you want a tattoo? I can get you one.”.
• Chris takes a drink of orange juice and then a drink of coffee at breakfast and says the two are going to make a tornado in his stomach.

Such bliss.

Le Sigh. After checking my email at 5:30 this morning to see that work was closed, I crawled back to bed and slept until nine-ish. I’m rarely the type to sleep in. Sleeping in means getting up at seven. But today the body said “Cindy! You need sleep” and I listened. When I finally woke up, I took a shower, cleared the blocked side of my sinuses, played around with the camera and some 365 picture ideas, and then I did my own yoga practice.

I think I did a good hour and a half of yoga including my twenty minute savasana. And as the bell began to ring on my new Zen timer app (for the new iPod), a smile of bliss spread across my face. So, today, I am thankful for peace. As I type this, I can see out into the backyard and watch the snow fall and feel the white silence of the day. I am so blessedly thankful for this.

Hope everyone is safe and warm. Hope that every one is able to stop and enjoy the peace a silence of this day. And, I hope ever one is also having a blessedly Thankful Friday.

As part of my birthday celebration weekend, I decided I wanted to go roller skating. When I was a kid, I went to the local roller rink at least once a week. I had my own pair of white skates complete with pink pom-poms on the laces. I loved roller skating. So I made a date with my best friend and her little girl, Cati, for some roller skating.

It was Cati’s first time on wheels and we did a lot of practicing on the carpet. She only ventured out on the main rink a few times, but we still had a great time. For one thing, I’m really proud of Cati. She fell right off the bat and many more times after, but every time she would pull herself up, take a breath, and start again. We decided that this needed to me a monthly ritual.

It’s crazy that we stop doing such traditional kid like things as we get older like roller skating or even blowing bubbles with Bubblicious bubble gum. Today’s Love Thursday is dedicated to the childish and the perseverance to be child like.

Happy Love Thursday!

I left my list down in the car, so…I’m trying to remember all the things I’ve added. And I actually wrote this stuff down during the week.

All the great birthday wishes
All the new elephants I received for gifts
Going roller skating
Meeting my brother and sister-in-law for dinner
That goofy, drooly grin of Luke’s (Steph’s little boy)
Teaching Cati to skate and her determination
Making plans to do the roller skating thing at least once a month
Zelda and her adventures in dating
Getting a start date for the kitchen remodel
Trying new recipes and having them turn out as keepers
Those new Amy’s frozen meals with the noodles and the cheese and the broccoli

I there’s more, but I forgot.

I usually have this entry up and running first thing in the morning, but it just hasn’t happened today. I’m very busy at work, which is nothing new, but I am and have been doing things this week that are all microscopy related. I am so happy and thankful that this job has finally started to transition into things I know. Some of the procedures and sample preparation is new, but I’ve been teaching myself and not having to depend on training from some one else in the lab. I am also thankful for the opportunity to learn and a acquire all these new skills to pad my resume. It’s going to be so thick and luscious when I’m ready to send it!

I am also thankful for random acts of kindness. We got home Tuesday evening, after a 6 AM teaching gig followed by long work day and a 5:30 PM teaching gig, to Chris’s mom suggesting that she’d make shrimp fried rice. I flopped onto the couch and said that sounds great. And you know what? She put broccoli in it! That’s the first time I’ve ever seen her put an actually vegetable in her fried rice. It was exquisite.

The birthday celebration continues on through the weekend with dinner tonight with my brother and sister-in-law. Tomorrow I meet Steph, Cati, and maybe Luke for lunch and roller skating. I can’t wait. I haven’t been roller skating in years and I thought what a great way to celebrate getting older. Let’s just hope that no one ends up breaking a hip. I am so thankful for my friends and family and my health.

Happy Thankful Friday!

I had a completely different picture planned for today, but it just didn’t happen and I’m not going to even whine about it. Because really, I couldn’t do the idea justice. I just don’t know how to photograph the love and good wishes sent my way yesterday.

Yesterday, I turned 34. No big deal. I’m not the type to fret over age. It was a pleasant day. I did things at work that I enjoy doing like preparing microscope samples and actually getting to use the microscope. What made the day special was that every time I came back to my desk to check email and what not, there would be a new birthday message from some one. They all made my heart glow.

The previous night I had a dream where I was given a huge gift bag. The bag was taller then me, it was that big. It was full of seeds, seedlings and plantings, all to start my very own garden. Everything I needed was in that bag. The bag was a gift from all of my family and friends. The dream was beautiful. I love you all.

Happy Love Thursday!

Once again I let a week go by with out actually writing anything on the list. But that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t any thing to add.

• Having new food night with Zelda and LT
• Good conversation over dinner
• Children with British accents
• Meeting my parents for lunch, just the three of us
• The Darth Vader Goofy and Obi-wan Mickey dolls that my sister brought us back from Disney World
• Chris bringing me a cupcake
• Getting a chance to read my new book (The Lacuna)
• Making birthday plans
• Dad and I setting all the kitchen timers to go off at various times in Pier One
• The telephone booth at Utica Square
• Chris eating the stir-fry I made with tofu even though he doesn’t really like tofu
• Doing more microscopy related things at work
• That dog with floppy jowls riding in a car with his head out the window

More stuff to come.

Today is my mother’s birthday. And even though there are times when she drives me absolutely insane, I am thankful for her and her presence in my life. She has always been there when I needed her most and accepting of that fact that she has a very independent daughter who tries to not need her. So Happy Birthday Mom!

Also, today I am really thankful it is Friday. This week has been long and trying and yesterday, as I helped collect tissue samples from a mouse, I really felt like I hated my job. I know that if they would just let me do the processing and microscopy work on the samples, I’d be just fine in this lab. I already know how to run the microscope better then my boss; just let me at it. So, even though it is a bit cliche, I’m thankful for Friday. I am thankful for the being able to rest and not worry about work for a change. I am thankful for ReatRoaf night at Zelda’s and the opportunity to spend some time with Mom tomorrow.

Most importantly I am thankful. Have a great weekend and thankful Friday!

To write an entry about Love Thursday after the events in Haiti seems a bit trivial. But if any thing, I think it makes it more meaningful.

Last week it was so cold here that our washer froze and by Sunday it still hadn’t thawed out. So, Sunday morning, Chris and I loaded our dirty clothes in the car and headed to our old Laundry Mat. The weekly laundry mat trip used to fill me with dread. It seemed like such a hassle, but for some reason I was actually happy to go this time around. I’m pretty sure Chris had something to do with this.

While our clothes spun in the washers, we planned our next trip to Portland and making a list of things we need to see and do when we go. We had two peaceful hours of laughing and planning mingled with working together to complete the laundry chore. It was even almost like a date.

While talking about the horror of the earthquake in Haiti one of my colleagues said that it just goes to show that life can change in a blink. Every day is a blessing. It’s easy to sit here and complain about a frozen washer; silly really. I have so much and I am blessed that my loved one is safe and whole. I am blessed that he is with me even through the mundane tasks of life.

Hold those you love close and remember it can all change in a blink. Love…Thursday

Just going to jump right on in there.

When a student tells me, before class, that they have an injury
Finally getting this plasmid made (I know. This means nothing to the masses)
Buying clothes one size smaller then I’m used to and having them fit
Sales at the GAP
Meeting Zelda for dinner and a movie even though the movie was depressing and people talked through out
Not going in to work on the weekend
Soy candles that smell like spearmint
Oddly, grocery shopping
Another odd one, going to the laundry mat
Cati’s birthday party
Steph’s husband driving to the other side of town to thaw out our washer
Converting one person at a time to my food church (Bwahahahaha!)

Enjoy!