Really, this should have been last week’s entry, but I had already typed up and posted before looking at my Phrase-a-day calendar. On voit le bout du tunnel. Which is a perfect phrase for Thursday.

Thursdays are my favorite day. I teach a 6 AM, work all day, and teach a 6 PM and then that’s it. It’s all down hill from there. Thursday’s are our pizza nights, so I don’t even really have to cook. I know that if I can just survive Thursday, every thing will be OK. It’s my light at the end of the tunnel.

Hope everyone enjoys their down hill slalom as much as I. Happy Love Thursday!

Starting a fresh new journal because I filled up the old one
Out of control lasagna that I made and shared with friends
Short weeks
A bunch of other things that I wrote down in the new journal, but have forgotten already and the journal is in the car.
My new soy candles
The gardening magazine I bought this weekend
Taking my lap-top to my favorite coffee place and getting some things cleaned up on the computer
That this day is minutes away from being over
Jambalaya made my way
Fat Tuesday!

Hope every one’s have a great one!

The kitchen remodel has been under way for a few weeks now and for the last week we’ve been with out a sink. Chris and I have been washing dishes in the bath tub, while his mother doesn’t even bother. She just sets the dirty dishes on the back porch. Last night we came home to a working kitchen sink, Hallelujah! Chris and I have nothing to do with the kitchen remodel. It’s all been orchestrated by his brother with out any communication of what and when things will be done. It’s not our kitchen and it’s not our house. We just live there. And this is one of the things that I am thankful for. I am thankful that this is not my house or even my home. I am thankful that I don’t have to deal with the stress of a kitchen remodel right now.

So, we have a working kitchen sink and this week has been busy, but controllable at work. I am thankful for this long weekend and once again being able to leave work guilt free, without little tasks and problems nagging at me. Also, my friend and co-worker Robin was able to get hired on in another lab here. We had had her farewell party last week and the prospects then were bleak. I am so thankful that someone realized that losing Robin and her experience (22yrs!) would be really bad thing for this place. I am thankful that she is back and that we will be able to walk together every day.

I feel like I’m ending this week with a a heavy sigh of relief and contentment. Thankful that it is Friday, but not in the way I have been for the past few months. As in “if Friday didn’t hurry up and get here I’m going to slit my wrists” kind of way. Have a wonderful weekend.

One of the things I wanted to start doing in the new year was to burn more candles, or any actually. The thing is, I’m always a little disappointed in candles. They rarely smell like I think they should or I never have the right kind of holder so the candle leaves a mess. But I love the idea of the candle, the soothing flicker of the flame and gentle calming scent.

Chris talked me into buying this candle from the farmers’ market. It’s made of soy and now…NOW…I get why people burn candles. This candle burns evenly with out a mess and the smell is subtle and not overpowering.

Now, I’m finally really enjoying the candle thing. This winter has been brutal. When I light that candle, I can imagine it warming my room and remember the countless times I curled up in a blanket and fell asleep on the floor in front of the fire as a kid. The candle is a reminder of warmth.

Happy Love Thursday!

I did not forget about the list. It’s just that work has been…work and I’ve been busy. So here’s the Happy List for the week.

When I have a student that finally gets it
Tuning out the lab with my new iPod
My new chai tea and tea basket
Happy hour with friends from work
Finishing up a task that has been bothering me for a week on a Friday and being able to completely leave the lab behind
Going to a yoga class (as opposed to teaching one)
Lunch with friends and then impromptu movie watching
Lazy Sundays
The new fake chicken soup recipe I invented
Getting that @#%$ Western Blot to work
Having the house to ourselves all weekend, no kids.

There’s probably more. In fact, I’m sure of it. I just can’t remember right now. Save it for next week.

Tomorrow is Chris’s birthday, so I thought I’d devote today’s entry to him. I am thankful every day for his presence in my life. I know. I know. Roll the eyes and gag ya with a spoon. But it’s true.

It’s impossible to imagine what my life would be like if I had never met Chris. Most of the friendships that I have now that are so dear to me, I made through Chris. Every day he lets me be me and pushes me to be a better person. He was the driving force behind my yoga teacher certification even though he gets dragged along to all the classes I teach.

I am thankful for the silliness we share and our serious political debates that we have in the car on the way to work. I am thankful that he reads and has a brain and that most the time he knows how to use it. I am thankful that he is my better half.

Hope every one has a great weekend and a thankful Friday.

I am normally not a fan of the cold weather. Our winter storms are usually accompanied by high freezing winds, the kind that cut right through to the bone. But the one that hit us last week (and is still sticking around) didn’t come with the winds and it allowed us to have a day off from work.

The best part about this weather is that it forces you to slow down. There’s no getting any where in a hurry on our iced over roads. I was able to really rest and take a moment to really look at the snow and ice. I’ve been really trying to hold onto that idea through out my work week. I think I finally got my boss to understand that faster isn’t always better and that I need to time to process and actually look at my results before plowing ahead to the next thing.

Hoping that this lasts, not the snow, but the slowing down. Hoping that all are having a wonderful Love Thursday

Have I got a list for you today!

My new iPOD Touch (the next few things on the list all has to do with this thing)
The Zen timer app for the iPOD
The skee-ball game on my iPOD
The “prizes” I’ve purchased with my skee-ball winnings. So far I have clown glasses, a spider ring, a kazoo, nail clippers, a watch and a glitter pencil.
Snow days
My own yoga practice
Spending the day reading a really good book and finishing it (The Lacuna, Kingsolver’s best)
Vegan cupcakes (yeah.. this can make the list many times)
Hanging out with Chris at the Drunken Fry
The organic Edelweiss beer we had at the Drunken Fry
Wearing one of Chris’s sweaters on laundry day
Taking pictures of how everything re-froze over the night
Seeing our usual Sunday breakfast waiter at the bar, totally wasted.
People watching at the Drunken Fry. Dude looks like a lady!
Chris’s silly key chain flashlight

Have a great day!

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.