Day 26

We had a beautiful, sunny day.  For the end of November I consider myself lucky and enjoyed as much of the sun as I could.

On a funny note, I went to my annual check-in with my allergist and when doing my spyrometry test the machine told me "good job!" ... that made me laugh and almost ruined the next one, but it make for an interesting start to my day.

Days 20 - 25

Day 20 (Wednesday, November 23):

Today was the final day of work before a looooong weekend.  The beauty in today was the result of hard work, it was a clean house.  We scrubbed everything down and had the house ready for Thanksgiving day guests.

Day 21 (Thursday, November 24):

THANKSGIVING!  My family was the highlight of my day.

This is just a small section of the crew visiting us but we were surrounded by friends and family all day and enjoyed it very much.

Day 22 (Friday, November 25):

Game day - more friends, more fun and leftovers for snacking.

Day 23 (Saturday, November 26):

Lazy day - lazy days are beautiful all on their own.

Day 24 (Sunday, November 27):

Today I finished my grandmother's scrapbook.  It was fun and touching looking over all the old family photos.

My grandmother is one of the most beautiful people I know, inside and out.

Day 25 (Monday, November 28):

Today was a day off of work - I took a vacation day to extend my weekend and I was able to enjoy a wonderful lunch and crochet with a dear friend.

Days 17, 18, and 19

DAY 17 (Sunday, November 20)

A minor catastrophe at my Sister's home on Saturday lead to an overnight visit from my Niece (Z) and Nephew (A).  Saturday night was pretty low-key.  I picked up Z from her house and I waited for A to be dropped off after a UW-Madison  basketball game.  Z and I watched a movie and she did some coloring.

Sunday morning I was able to spend time with these two...

my house wasn't very tidy, but it was cheerful with these two keeping me company.  We spent all day doing projects and watching movies.  We had a goo
d time, I was exhausted, but we all survived quite well and my sister was able to deal with her house issues (a plaster ceiling collapsed and made a HUGE mess).


DAY 18 (Monday, November 21).
No photo today but I had a very positive Dr.'s appointment.  I need to make a few tweaks to my diet but things are looking good.

DAY 19 (Tuesday, November 22)

Whew I'm falling behind Days 14, 15, and 16

I'll be catching up this weekend by posting a few days at a time.  Life got in the way, I got busy and I've fallen behind with posting, but I'm still observing the beauty in every day. I'm also failing to take a photo each day.  In order to continue the theme of peace and beauty I'm not going to stress myself out over photos.

DAY 14
I failed to get a photo but Thursday the 17th we went out to dinner with friends.  A great dinner with great company made for a nice ending to the day.

DAY 15
On Friday the 18th I got this ...

A Kindle Fire.  Woot!  I'm really enjoying using an e-reader and enjoying flying my geek flag with the  new gadget.

DAY 16
Day 16 (Saturday the 19th) was spent with my husband.  He bought a new monitor for his PC, and when he ended up unhappy with it, we actually had a nice outing to return the monitor, choose a new one, and run some errands.  It started out rough, but ended up being a nice afternoon with my honey.

Day 13

Fun nail polish ... makes me grin like a little girl.

Day 12

Random acts of kindness are always a joy to receive.

My morning stared horribly including meeting mixups and a project schedule eaten by the server... or user error.  Then suddenly a co-worker showed up at my desk with a treat.  

I turned the picture sideways so you can see how cute it is.  I gave her some advice on cake pops last week and she enjoyed making them so much she 'whipped up a few' last night and brought one in for me.  What a great little pick-me-up today.

Day 11

COFFEE  some days that's the only thing that keeps me moving.  Today was one of those days.  When you have a 'bad case of the Mondays', this lovely liquid, no matter what it's color, is like a BFF.  I like mine sweet and tan.

Days 8, 9 and 10

Day 8 - Friday:
After a long week I went to Devil's Lake to enjoy a girl's weekend organized for a good friend's 40th birthday party.

I don't want post a photo of the birthday girl because I didn't ask her for permission.

Day 9 - Saturday

It was the actual birthday and we had a great time, games, laughter and a great meal.  We also squeezed in some shopping and I got a new winter coat.  Red coats make me happy.

Day 10 - Sunday

Home again... it's great to be home and I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed.  I enjoyed the weekend with friends but some quiet time alone with my knitting was just the thing.

Day 7

It's been a week already and I like finding the beauty in each day.  I also like the low pressure way that I have refused to define beauty.

Today is the first snowy day but it's not beautiful yet, it's just gray and brown and not very pretty.  However, there is one tree near my office that refuses to let go of autumn.

With the dusting of snow on the ground, the fiery orange leaves are just that much more beautiful.


Since I'm just getting started here I feel as though I need to warn you (if there are any readers out there at all) that you will most likely see repeats during my journey.  There are a few things I love like crazy and you will find different variations of them throughout the year.  This list currently includes, but is not limited to:

• My family - all of it, in-laws, siblings, old, young ... They almost always make me smile so you'll see them periodically through the year.
• Food - I do a lot of baking and sometimes even I think it looks awesome
• Yarn - I play with it every. single. day.  You'll see finished creations and sometimes just a skein of colored fuzziness that just makes me happy inside.
• Nature - I live 'in the country" so I am blessed to see lots of trees, snow, grass, wildflowers, and once in a great while, an animal. 

Days 5 and 6

I'll start with day 5 - Tuesday.  It was a gray, rainy day outside and a stressful day in the office.  Surprisingly this is what I thought was beautiful today:

I went to the gym for Zumba after work.  I used to dread exercise, but after a year of classes I look forward to it.

Day 6: Wednesday

Another rainy day and I didn't see the sun at all.  I spent the day in Pewaukee at a PMI seminar for work.  This was today's beauty...

The best thing about this picture is that this was the state of the plate when staff cleared the table.  It was DELICIOUS, but I held myself to just 1/2 the piece and it was the narrow half.

Day 4

I'll stop putting the date in the title - I just took a second look at the blog and it's really redundant - what with blogger displaying the post date.  

This is the photo for yesterday's post.  Sara is my cousin, my friend and my hairstylist.  She's the best of all three and one of the kindest, most decent people I know.  Her beauty is inside AND out.  While she's many years my junior (let's not discuss how many) I want to be like Sara when I grow up. 

Also - I'm not affiliated with the salon at all but if you want an amazing salon experience and a fabulous haircut visit Serena at Anaala Spa on Atwood Avenue in Madison.  There are multiple Saras at that location so she picked a 'stage name'.


Now for Monday's beauty: it's something I have taken for granted most of my life.

My hands - not that mine are particularly beautiful in the grand scheme of things, but I have had some problems over the last few months that are finally being resolved and my hands are looking and feeling normal again.  It's very difficult to describe what it's like to be all but deprived of your sense of touch.  I had flaky, calloused skin on my fingers for months that eventually impacted my quality of life.  I'm not trying to get pity points here just trying to explain why today I feel like my pudgy, pasty-white hands are beautiful.  I'm able to actually feel the texture of fabric and yarns, and cook without wearing gloves.  I'm feeling blessed today because I can tell I'm on the road to recovery and hope that by the end of this year I'll have all the information I need to either put this behind me, or have the ability to manage my condition moving forward.

Day 3 - 11/6/11

Today was a lovely day - and my everyday beauty was a person.  I've asked permission to post her photo on my blog so the story behind today's beauty will need to wait.

I got a great haircut from a wonderful person and had a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Day 2 - 11/5/11

Today was a beautiful day all around - the weather was nice, I had a great morning with my mother and sister, followed by a Madison Area Crochet Guild meeting.  A day full of friends and smiles.

Today's photo: The birthday roses from my husband are blooming.  They make me smile whenever I see them.

I'm not much of a photographer - using my cellphone probably doesn't help.  Maybe a happy benefit of this project will be better photography skills.

The first day of a new year

Yesterday was my birthday.  No biggie - just another trip around the sun.  I've decided that this year I'm going to look for the beauty in everyday things.  I will find one example of beauty every day for the next 365 days.

Day 1 - 11/4/11

This is the view out my window at work - all things considered it's not bad.  I missed the peak color of those trees, but it's nice being able to look out the office window and see actual nature.  Sometimes there are even deer in the field.