Hey, Y'all!

Gratitude

First of all, OMG, I'm posting on two consecutive days! Over the shock? Fantastic.

Molly had a great post today about finding happiness. It reminded me of something I've done over the years, on and off, called a Gratitude Journal.  There have been times in my life when I've sworn by gratitude journals and I've even been known to give them as gifts.  Whenever I'm having trouble seeing the silver lining on a particular set of clouds, I buy myself a blank journal and start writing down five things each day that I'm grateful for right at that moment.  They can be big things like my health, my family, my job, or small things like seeing a pretty flower in the park, filling up at the cheapest gas station in town or eating a Hershey's Special Dark.  Coffee also frequently appears on my lists.  I prefer to write my entries at the end of the day so that I go to bed with a smile on my face. I find that no matter how crummy my day has been, I can always find five things to be grateful for an that those things have the power to change my perspective drastically.

Today I'm thankful for:
1.  My friend Tanya. We had lunch then went shopping this afternoon. We also had frozen yogurt. I like Tanya a lot.

2.  A 2-show day at a job I love doing a play I enjoy watching over and over again.

3.  My grey pants. My mercy, they are comfy.

4.  Inside jokes.  They are just such fun sometimes.

5.  Blog comments on yesterday's post. I've missed you lovely people.

What are you grateful for today?

Hello, is it me you're looking for?

Oh, friends.  I've been in tech rehearsals for the better part of a month. I've spent this week on death's doorstep thanks to a horrible cold, which in my world, means a horrible cold sore to boot. But my shows are open. BOTH OF THEM. I'm enjoying my second day off this week with my favorite three year old and almost all the laundry is done. I've missed the internet, truly I have.  I've also missed sleep, home-cooking and my DVR.

I feel as though I'm going to almost have to start over in the blogging community. Betweeen super long days and a broken laptop, my poor little corner of the internet has taken a beating and is probably going to sue me for neglect any day now.  I'm scared to even glance at my stats. It's sad because this time last year, I was cookin' with gas, as my dad would say.  I was gearing up for my trip to BlogHer, networking like crazy and even getting hits from some of my favorite "big time" bloggers.  The stats and such, of course, are not really the reason I blog, but I certainly do love the connections. I miss my fellow bloggers.  I miss really feeling like a part of the blogosphere.  But anything worth having is worth fighting for, right?  I'll just have to climb back into the saddle ASAP.

Let's talk about what you REALLY want to hear. DEAN! He's amazing. He talks like a real person these days and has a wonderful sense of humor. He is kind and gentle, but also rough-and-tumble and mischevious.  Just what I'd expect from a boy his age.  Nearly every piece of clothing he owns has a picture of Buzz or Woody on it these days and he's wearing real socks without skid-soles now.  He still calls me Sugar, and thank God for that. If he stopped right now, I'd have to start therapy.  He's such a big boy, such a fun little guy and such a full-on part of the family now. I love his opinions when it comes to decision-making in our household. Just last night, we asked what he'd like for dinner. After we'd said no to his first suggestions (ice cream and chocolate chips), he exclaimed, "I know! Meatballs!" And so I made him meatballs. And pasta. And marinara sauce. And he chowed down.

Work is good, very good, though it's challenged me in big ways recently.  The sickness didn't help. Fortunately, the big boss gave me a lovely card on opening day saying he'd never detected anything less than 100% from me, so that was nice to hear.

Maybe now I can start giving at least 1% back to the blogosphere, right?

 

Celebrating Mozzi (due in) May

A very special lady is expecting a very special baby this May and a bunch of us around the internet are celebrating, thanks to the mad organizational skillz of this gal. 

I wrote to Casey asking for a picture to share with this post.  If you read her blog, you know that Casey is an AMAZING photographer, and I knew it would be an honor to share one of her photos with you all.  She wrote back asking, "What type of picture?  A flower? A kitten? My bum?"

Here's what I ended up with:

So if you don't already love Casey, you do now.

She's overcome obstacles you wouldn't believe to have this baby and we are all so SO excited that Mozzi is on her (her!!!) way soon.

Casey, you are beautiful, honest, hilarious and just plain wonderful. I wish you, Cody, Addie and Mozzi all the happiness in the world. Congratulations!

Now it's your turn to shower Casey with love!  Leave a comment here or at her blog or hit her up on twitter. (@mooshinindy)

 

Greetings from the tech table

Oh, friends. I've missed my blog.  I'm spending my days sitting in the dark running technical rehearsals for my show, which opens Sunday. After that? I go back into studio rehearsals for the other show in the afternoons (this current show will be playing morning matinees next week), then it's back into tech next weekend.  Things are actually going swimmingly well, but very busy.  My laptop is still broken, as I haven't had time to take it to the laptop doctor. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow.  Dean's doing much, much better and is spending the week at my mom and dad's house. I miss him SO much. I'll be collecting him on Monday for two straight days of baby lovin' before I go back to work.

Here's a photo that pretty much sums up the past couple of days:

Whatever gets you through, right?

Hope all's well in your corner of the world.