felicitous findings: part 30

1. Finding new blogs. I spent the majority of Sunday morning in bed perusing new sites. And falling in love.

2. Mumford and Sons. The Cave. Awake My Soul. Little Lion Man. Roll Away Your Stone. All of them. I can't stop.

3. Twitter. I can't believe no one told me how fun this was before now.

4. Goddess Leonie's Goddess Guidebook. She's indescribably wonderful. Everything she writes is pure magic. I'm inspired beyond belief. I want to be her.

5. Brand new notebooks, with pretty feathered covers, blank and white to fill with words.

felicitous findings: part 29

1. More batches of flax seed bread. I think soon I'll have the recipe memorized.

2. Finding solace in staying home sick for two days (it's been miserable) when friends make a special delivery of homemade soup, bread, and ginger ale.

3. Pre-class "homework" for a Philosophy and Ethics of Yoga course I'm taking on Sunday--it makes me feel smart to be doing "homework" again after so long.

4. Upcoming birthday parties and preparing caramel sea salt brownies as a gift (yes, they're that popular).

5. Drinking enormous amounts of orange juice, with sickness being an excuse. My body needs it, right?


(I actually thought about making this an anti-Felicitous Findings, and posting about all the things that are making me crazy right now, as that would be much easier to recall, but quickly realized that that would defeat the purpose. Uh, oops.)

felicitous findings: part 28

1. Blueberries and tulips. On sale at the grocery store and my body has demanded  blueberries ever since. Good thing the largest package was so cheap!

2. The prospect of a weekend retreat to Kripalu in a couple of months.

3. MC Yogi (especially Om Namah Shivaya). I can't get enough.

4. Breathing in the morning. Tomorrow I'm aiming for two whole minutes. This is no mean feat, in my book.

5. Excitement for a trip to Ohio to see my very dear friend Abby this weekend :)

felicitous findings: part 27

(Has it really been since April since I last wrote one of these?)


1. Watching little kids jump into leaf piles. I remember when I was one of them.

2. Going from just a mattress, to a mattress topped with a (too-small) piece of memory foam that seriously improves your sleeping conditions all the same (and makes it ten times harder to get up in the mornings) (thanks, Lauren!).

3. Brand new fleece jackets that are your greatest idea all winter.

4. Realizing you had more money than you thought.

5. When Stella sleeps right on top of me at night, and keeps me warm.

felicitous findings: part 26

1. My Ingrid Michaelson Pandora station--I pretty much listen to this station only, and since I've given so many thumbs up and thumbs down to songs over the months, it knows exactly what I want to hear, all the time. It's magnificent.

2. And did you know Pandora now shows song lyrics and artist bios? Now not only do I feel compelled to listen to every fantastic song, but I must sit there and read it, too!

3. Clients bringing in homemade, authentic, Mexican tamales for us office gals to eat for lunch on a Friday afternoon. Yum.

4. My new $13 handbag that is almost exactly, exquisitely perfect (and yeah--THIRTEEN DOLLARS). (Although, my life quest for the perfectly perfect handbag continues . . .)

5. Gifted Hands. Seriously. Go watch it. And then go read it. (That's where I'm headed next.)

felicitous findings: part 25

Okay. I know. You don't have to tell me, even.

After my last post ranting about the evils of my oh-so-unfortunate life, I snapped out of it (thanks to your encouraging words). Sometimes I regret posting things like that, wishing I could take those words right back off the page like no one had ever seen them. But I guess that wouldn't be real life, would it? Let's just let this new post make up for my mopey mood yesterday and call it even, okay?



1. Coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. I've actually cut back a lot (my stomach hasn't been thanking me for much caffeine, lately) but after nights like last night when I babysit overnight and I remembered how entirely uninterested I am in having children in any near future, I need coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

2. The thesaurus option on Microsoft Word. I kind of feel like I'm cheating when I use it, though, like I probably shouldn't be needing it after studying the English language for four years in college.

3. Skirts, dresses, and open-toed shoes. Oh yes, you're being dragged out of that closet.

4. Getting out early on Fridays.

5. Wedding photography, always.



What do you find felicitous today?


Happy weekend,

felicitous findings: part 24

1. Knowing that I have all weekend to catch up on all of life's little annoying tasks that I'm so behind on (hello, student loan bills!)

2. Beating my personal record in running at the gym (New Year's resolution #2, hurray!)

3. Trying new oatmeal recipes

4. "Meeting" fellow AmeriCorps bloggers!

5. Only spending two minutes on my hair in the mornings



What do you find felicity in today?

felicitous findings: valentine's day edition

1. Anything made out of construction paper

2. Hearts, hearts, and more hearts

3. Chocolate (dark, please--and preferably in a heart-shaped box)

4. Mylar balloons

5. Poems


Will get back to regular posting once I get out of this city of ice! (Current temp: 27 degrees F)


Also:
My feelings on Valentine's Day, summed up


Happy Valentines!

Felicitous Findings: Part 22

1. My Sigg bottle full of cold, green tea with honey and lemon (or, today, because I was out of both honey and lemons: with raw sugar and oranges).

2. The Catorialist. Yeah, The Catorialist. I know what I typed. It will make your heart melt and your belly hurt (you know, with all that laughter).

3. iPods without broken screens . . . . . I can dream, can't I? Mine's been broken for so long I can't even remember what it looks like with a clear screen.

4. A good pen.

5. Google. I mean, have you seen their offices?

Felicitous Findings: Part 21

1. My new favorite lunch/dinner (sometimes both!): spring mix with feta cheese, dried cranberries, grilled chicken, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Yum!

2. Neat handwriting

3. Birthday season (seven birthdays in two months!)

4. The duplicate pair of Old Navy flats that Jana got for $.48 on clearance--and that just happen to fit me perfectly, are comfortable, and are super cute! (Yes, that says FORTY-EIGHT CENTS.)

5. The fact that when my coworker just referred to "corporate," my first thought was of The Office


What do you find felicitous?

Felicitous Findings: Part 20

1. Woohoo I made it all the way to twenty!


2. "Hanitizer"--what the kids in my after-school class call hand sanitizer . . . I have to try really, really hard to turn my laugh into a cough


3. A different balloon story from For Me, For You, also heard on RadioLab (I'm gonna go ahead and put my full trust in this one . . .)


4. All things Halloween--decorations, candy, costumes . . . (yes, I've just been working on my homemade costume!)


5. 5pm and driving home, knowing that I can do anything I want for the next sixteen hours





(Photo via The Drifter and The Gypsy)

Felicitous Findings: Part 19

1. Being able to take my time driving to work, letting crazy people pass me on the highway, and not succumbing to my usual irritation with imbecile drivers (read: road rage)

2. Having my big sister come back home for a visit and feeling as excited as if a long lost friend were returning

3. This newfound artist

4. Hosting giveaways!!!

5. Friends getting in on Felicitous Findings, too!



(Photo via Dan-ah Kim, via Got a Girl Crush)

the alter ego of felicitous findings.

Sometimes I think I should have an installment that's the opposite of Felicitous Findings. Something like, Disastrous Discoveries, or Bleak Bargains. I'd be popping them out like that if only I didn't have to think of things so damn happy.

You don't have to tell me, I know.

Yesterday, at a work meeting for our Center For Youth program kickoff, we each were handed two sticky notes, one for things that inspire and motivate us, and one for struggles or barriers we want to overcome. I sat for about two solid minutes before I could come up with something that motivates me, and that I'd want to share with everyone (which, we did--so lame). But when it came to time to name a barrier, I was scribbling away before she even finished telling us what to do. Sad, isn't it? That came so much easier to me. Like I was more in a mood to be depressing than optimistic.

You know? Sometimes it's just easier to just be mopey and pitiful rather than happy-go-lucky and Ms. Positive all the time. Sometimes I feel like it's a constant struggle just to be civil and polite. Do you ever get like that?

(This photo is my attempt to perk myself up. I'm sitting here at my desk with what feels like strep throat and not a ray of sunlight to be seen, when all I want to do is drag my butt home and gulp a bunch of Nyquil and cuddle up in bed and sleep till tomorrow morning. I figure, maybe if I surround myself with enough happy things I can trick my mind into being it? Yes?)

(Photo via Gris Bleu)

Felicitous Findings: Part 17

1. Finding the salt-water taffy my mom slipped into my brown-bag lunch before I left for work this morning

2. Reading Jackson Katz on The Huffington Post

3. Pretty scrapbook paper

4. The autumnal equinox--I'm totally going to try balancing an egg on its end no matter what anyone tells me

5. Being sore from the Global Mala

Felicitous Findings: Part 16

Despite the fact that I'm considering myself in a huge slump right now and it's somewhat difficult to think of things that invoke felicity, I'm nevertheless forcing out an installation of Felicitous Findings. Fake it till you make it, right?

1. Swiss cheese. Lots and lots of Swiss cheese. The bigger the chunk/slice/bite, the better.

2. Wearing socks and sweaters in the morning.

3. Shopping for a new planner (I have been pining for a Filofax!)

4. Being able to delete all UConn emails without even glancing at the subject (why oh why am I still getting these??)

5. Getting excited at the prospect of grad school while starting some research :)

Felicitous Findings: Part 15

1. I Heart Strangers--fascinating!

2. Finding new blogs and making them new favorites

3. Having a good cry and then feeling better than ever afterwards

4. Parks and Recreation

5. My very own desk

Felicitous Findings: Part 14

1. The sounds of seagulls and waves lapping at the shore of Long Island Sound

2. Quiet children

3. The prospect of Jana coming home on Sunday and going to see "The Time Traveler's Wife"

4. Flaxseeds

5. A freshly vacuumed carpet


Where do you find felicity?

(Photo via circo de invierno)

Felicitous Findings: Part 13

1. Waking up after three straight days of rain to the sun shining and filling my room with light

2. Vintage curtains

3. A nine-year-old's super-skilled piano playing

4. Reading good books from cover to end

5. Flower arrangements (I never thought I'd say that, because working in a flower shop throughout high school positively scarred me, but I have to admit I'm rather coming around to them...)

Felicitous Findings: Part 12

1. Songs from Mariah Carey's Daydream album randomly popping up on my iPod and well, just having to listen to her :)

2. This quote from Richard Bach: No matter how qualified or deserving we are, we will never reach a better life until we can imagine it for ourselves and allow ourselves to have it.

3. Soymilk in my coffee

4. Google Reader. Best invention ever.

5. "Ruth, I have a charge from Subway on my credit card! Wha?!? I don't even go to that restaurant! Oh, wait, they mean like the actual subway system..." --Rachel

Felicitous Findings: Part 11

Man, have I been slacking with these Felicitous Findings or what? Here's my eleventh installment, which should really be much more than eleven by now...

1.) Warm, sunny cars

2.) Wandering through Target and seeing the new "Class of 2009" graduation stuff on the shelves....yikes!

3.) My new phone! (but you all know about that hassle...)

4.) For Me, For You

5.) SLR cameras (I will get one someday!)


PS
Stay tuned for big news and blog changes.....