38 Things I Love

In celebration of my... *coughcough* 29th birthday, I present a list of simple things that make me happy.

1. When the perfect song for the moment comes up on random play on my MP3 player.
2. Warm, sunny days.
3. Shoes that look great yet I could still walk all day in them.
4. Snuggles from my cat Mina, who could easily be mistaken for a total bitch otherwise.
5. When the government calls and says, hey, we've made a mistake and actually owe you thousands of dollars. (this happened this week.)
6. Gnocchi with basil pesto, chopped tomatoes, roasted pine-nuts and gobs of feta.
7. Green tea, brewed so strongly that it seems to strip the first couple of layers off my throat.
8. Floaty clothing in strong colours. (You oughta see me today.)
9. The colour orange makes me supremely happy.
10. Friends who rock at buying gifts for you, and know what you'd love, even if you don't.
11. Sitting in the back garden with a drink and chatting with friends.
12. Eating fresh herbs straight from the garden.
13. The smell of sweet peas wafting through the house on a hot summer day.
14. Foot-rubs from my husband as we watch TV together.
15. Brushing my kitties and making them fall over in ecstasy.
16. Hugs. I need more huggy friends.
17. Being perfectly on time for the bus in the morning.
18. President's Choice caramels with sea salt. I am a junkie.
19. Chocolate gelato eaten straight from the container.
20. Working so hard to understand a problem in school, and then finally figuring it out.
21. Total physical exhaustion following a work out.
22. Also, hurting like crazy the day after a work-out... but hurting in the way that tells you the workout was effective and that one day, your abs will rock.
23. Raspberry vodka.
    
24. The perfect dance, where neither of us needs to work too hard to think about what needs to happen; our bodies just take over and we go along for the ride.
25. Random connections with strangers; I wish I was brave enough to make more of them.
26. Friends who will go (sometimes thousands of kilometers) out of their way to spend time with you. This also happened this week. Thank you, Neal.
27. Friends who are so close that you realize they're more like family. Again, thank you, Neal. That's why I hugged your son. If you are family, so is he. Hope he wasn't all weirded out by it.
    
28. Time alone, to eat cereal and toast for supper for a week and not bother to get dressed if I don't have to.
29. Totally not looking my age.
30. Fresh pineapple juice.
    
31. Spending hours in the sewing room, losing myself in the zen of creating beauty.
32. Giving *the perfect gift* to someone, especially if I've made it.
33. Lavender linen spray on crisp, fresh sheets.
34. When I get let off of kitchen duty by my husband to let me do homework. That, friends, is love in action. :)
35. Having a maid. There are far more important things to do with my life then to make sure my shelves are free of dust.
36. Being in a state of anticipation. For example, being very hungry but able to smell the food as it is being prepared, or turning a package over and over in your hands before you open it. The anticipation of an event is (almost) always better than the event itself... I enjoy dwelling there.
37. When men look admiringly after me as I walk by, and women who are strangers to me smile and tell me I'm foxy. That was this week, too.
38. Finishing an exam and knowing in my core that I aced it.

I hope your day is full of the things that *you* love... I'm off to bake a Citrus Poppyseed Cake from the Rebar cookbook.