Sunday, December 1, 2013

all good things: whelmed.

All Good Things is a weekly feature on the blog. It started as a one-hour Sunday night radio show on KSTO St. Olaf radio, featuring feel-good music and 10 highlights from the past week. The show, and its current written form, is brought to you by Clara, Second Set of Baby Steps creator, and my radio co-host Cassie. Sit back and enjoy!

1. Song of the week: Christmas is All Around by Billy Mack/Bill Nighy. The first scene of one of my all-time favorite movies and hands-down my favorite holiday movie, Love Actually, catchy, terrible/great, now classic. I feel it in my fangers...

2. The Happy Light. J got me a set of full-spectrum mood-boosting lights for my birthday, so I've been trying them out and so far I do think they are making a difference!

3. Days off. I am very grateful that I had a few days off this week after moving to get the house in order. It will cut back on stress when I have to go back to work next week.

4. Holiday movies. 'Tis the season! I have watched Love Actually and Rent so far. Next up: The Holiday. What is your favorite holiday movie? Tell me in the comments and maybe it'll make a future Good Things list!

5. Deep breaths. Lately I have been feeling more anxious than usual and last night I couldn't get to sleep! I remembered how at peace I feel at the end of yoga or BodyFlow when we just lie there on our backs breathing deeply, feeling like I'm melting into the floor. So I tried to call that feeling to my bed by taking some serious inhales and exhales, and I actually smiled because it made such a difference!

6. Decorating! We aren't totally unpacked yet, but I have been switching between putting practical things in their place and putting pretty things in their place, like on the walls or in frames... And of course, Christmas lights! I also spent some time today working on a piece of wall art I started last year, and I really needed that catharsis. This is what really makes it feel like home.

7. Frozen. My family has this tradition of going to see an animated movie matinee for everyone's birthday, and there are almost always good movies out for mine because of Thanksgiving weekend. The first theater we went to was sold out! But I bought tickets from my phone on the way to the second theater, and we actually got six seats together, and the movie was pretty great! The snow and ice animation was excellent, and the twist on "an act of true love" was five-star.

Plus, there was a snowman named Olaf (um ya ya!)

8. My family. Speaking of my family, they really deserve a special shout-out this week.

First, because we have awesome traditions - but we don't get anxious about them.

Second, because I consulted my dad and brother on a box spring/bed frame problem we encountered while moving into the new house (a queen-sized box spring doesn't fit up the stairs), and they went to work building a modular bed frame with built-in storage units, that will be easy to move and will make it through any doorway and staircase.

Third, because my mom got two separate birthday cakes on two different days, and they completely enabled me to finish off my Birthday Month with a bang.

I'll include J's family in this too, if you'll bear with me, for all their help and moral support in our moving process - and a housewarming gift of lasagna from J's future sister-in-law, which has fed us all week, along with other leftovers that grace our fridge and our lunchboxes on a regular basis.

We are very, very lucky.

9. Cars. J went to start his car on Thanksgiving and it wouldn't start. So I drove him to work on Friday, he borrowed my car on Saturday, and then we went out and got a new battery to replace the old one. The car is now running just fine!

So the good things here are: having backup, being handy, and good luck that it wasn't something more complicated or expensive. And it really has made both if us grateful every time our cars start without a problem!

10. Thanksgiving! No, I didn't forget! Thanksgiving is a great and important holiday, because food is great and important, and good food even more so; and because our society desperately needs to focus on spending time with family, and upholding our nuclear traditions, more and more every year; and because we can always use a reminder to give thanks, to say thanks, to be thankful!

Thank you, readers, for being with us tonight, and for giving me reasons to write, and things to write about.

And thanks for joining us every Sunday night! Join the Baby Steps on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/TheBabyStepsSaga for good things every day, and updates on new posts. Come back next week for another reminder of 10 more things to be thankful for!

Until then, be kind to each other, and find a reason to smile!

posted from Bloggeroid

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