2/4/11

I was pretty stressed today. I didn't get to bed until very late last night. We woke up late. I had a ton of grading and planning to do. And, the NC Symposium on Teaching Writing started tonight (which I was very excited, but also very nervous, about).

However, today was a rainy day. I love rainy days. There's just something so inexplicably comforting about watching the rain drops splash onto the ground and listening to them patter off the roof.

I love just looking out the window on rainy days and watching the world grow blurry and misty. The rain gives everything a shiny and magical feeling that makes me want to curl up and read fantasy novels all day.

Today, the rain brought me happiness and a smile even though I was bound and determined to be a Negative Nancy.

2/3/11

For quite awhile now I've been toying with the idea of keeping a daily gratitude journal. I always imagined it to be something handwritten, private, and kept hidden under the bed. However, this semester my students are keeping a weekly blog, and their entries have been inspiring me. Reading their blogs every week brings me happiness.

So, I've decided to take my original idea of a private gratitude journal and expand it to a (hopefully) daily blog about something in my day that brought me happiness. It's been so painfully easy lately to allow stress and worry to cast their shadows over what could have been perfectly wonderful days. In the midst of budget crises, stacks of papers to grade, cleaning left undone, and a calendar that seems to get more and more full each day, I need to remember to stop and breathe and smile.

Today is the perfect day to kick off this blog.

Why?

Because today was grocery shopping day.

Yes that's right. Grocery shopping day. Yesterday I went to bed feeling less accomplished and more sloth-like than I have in a very long time. I woke up today with the same feeling. I sat in the library for three hours and had barely nothing to show for my time. All of this certainly has the potential for a grumpy Meg. But if anything in the world can turn my mood around, it's grocery shopping.

It's not the fact that I get to go buy food and restock our pantry for the week that's exciting. It's the time I get to spend with my husband. We look forward to this day every week. I look forward to it more than Date Nights. We plan our week's meals together. Make our list together. Get coffee for the trip. I push the cart and neglect the list while he chooses our items and puts them in the cart. We get to talk and discover new foods together. We get to explore Raleigh and try new stores. We compare prices and almost make a game out of trying to get our bill as low as possible. This week, we spent $40 at Trader Joe's. *win*

In the end, although it was grocery shopping that turned my crappy mood around and brought me happiness, it's really my amazing husband that I'm grateful for. He's taught me what life is really about and how wonderful it can be. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life grocery shopping with him.