Dear Gratithursday #2,

I'm grateful for these things this week.

My dog, Florence, that loves me and cuddles with me when I ask her to.

My Keurig machine provides me with all the things I need to get the morning started.

My new Fiat is just the car I've been wanting for years.

My podcasts are always there. They're there when I need them, even though they don't know me.

The ability to be recognize my emotions.

For now,

Dear Grown Up Warren,

The other day I got the dreaded, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" question during a mentorship meeting at work. I know, I know, I'm with you, I still hate that question. It's daunting, terrifying, and honestly, at 27 I feel like I should have figured that out by now (at least have a general sense of where I'm headed). However, my answer generally lies somewhere in the spectrum of "oh I don't know..." or "working with people." Something very generic and non-committal. However, this time I decided to do something extremely different, I answered with the first thing that came to mind.

In other words, I answered the question honestly. I said I wanted to write, to do something creative with my life. As an introvert who rarely likes any attention put on me (unless I'm directing it), I've never shared that outloud. Luckily, the meeting I was in felt safe. The person I was talking with felt trustworthy. It was comfortable.

Now the question is, what do I do with that? I mentioned in our blogiversary post on Blog to Taste that I love having a creative outlet there where I can express myself through something I love. I want to continue to commit to making that a place where excellent things come to life. I also want to take baby steps with this blog. It's a curation of things that make me feel. I want this to be an experience. I hope that you will find this place and want to come back for more. If you don't, and this was a one and done visit, thanks for this view babe.

For now,

Dear Scout Finch,

My heart broke today. I didn't think Harper Lee passing would be a big deal to me. I don't think of Harper Lee much in my day-to-day life. However, waking to the news that Harper Lee had died at the age of 89 hit me. I had a visceral reaction to the news. I started crying and that didn't make sense. I can sum it up best by saying today it felt like Scout Finch grew up, got old and died. It hurt.

To Kill A Mockingbird is a book I think of often. I was just talking to my best friend, Holly, about it. I have always loved the story and it's characters. I want to know Atticus Finch. The book remains relevant today, in fact, I shared this quote this morning from the book because it hits home even in 2016.

"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what." - Atticus Finch

Rest well, Harper Lee.

For now,

Dear Earth, Wind & Fire

Apple Music has been totally getting me lately. Here's a song that hit me the other day.

Dear Gratituesday #1

These are the things I'm grateful for this week.

Good shoes to walk around in that don't make me fall on my ass in the snow.

Even though my bed is probably too old to be considered habitable, I love it. It knows me.

When I'm bored, stressed or just need a little music in my life, my iPhone is my escape.

I know it sounds cheesy, but honestly, I'm just really grateful for Oprah this week.

Finally I'm grateful for a good job that understand life happens and is flexible when it comes up.

What's on your gratitude list this week?

Dear Snow

It snowed in Portland this morning, and I have to admit that it was nice. I haven't been a super fan of snow since I've been out of school since there aren't any snow days for adults. It just means it cold, wet and hard to drive in.

However, today's snow day was just what I needed. It was pretty. I didn't have to go anywhere today and I had an excuse to cuddle up with my dog and watch stuff that's been sitting in my Netflix queue for far too long.

The snow also created a sense of quiet in our neighborhood, and it was so nice to just have a calming sense going into this new year.

Okay, pleh that's too mushy.

Anyway here are three pictures to sum up the snow.

 

For now,

Dear 2016

Hello 2016. You're sure to be more interesting that 2015, at least I hope so. I've been arduously working on cleaning up this blog, so I'm obviously off to a good start.

I'm doing my annual list of resolutions, and of course, my number one resolution is to get back into blogging on my own. Granted, I'm already posting on my group blog that I run with my friends, Blog to Taste, but I'm always wanting to work on my own blog. My problem though is that I never know where to begin.

When I think of where to begin I always want to share about the book I want to write about things involving poop, or review my favorite music/movies/TV shows, or pseudo-funny things about me. However, as with all beginnings, I cringe when I go back and read them, yuck!

So I guess this post is more of just a "hi, I'm here" and a "more to come" type of post. I'm going to share what I want and make it a personal-public journal full of all the noun-type words (person/place/thing)  I love. I'm excited to share regularly all the great things that make life great.

For now,