Life's Little Blessings

My week in photos.

Happy Valentine’s Day! My wonderful husband had a dozen roses delivered to my office first thing this morning. This was a lovely surprise! I don’t think he has ever had flowers delivered to me before and I specifically told him to not get me flowers because I know they are so rediculously overpriced on V day (I’m scared to know how much the flowers and delivery cost him). So I was extra surprised when I got them. Definitely a nice surprise though.

I must say a part of me feels bad having these gigantic roses sitting on my desk. My office has a large single female population. One girl is my age (young) and fresh off a divorce. I especially feel bad when she walks by. Oh well.

I especially love my card. I call my husband the real-life cookie monster because he is obsessed with cookies. When I make a batch of any type of cookie, it is literally gone in 5 minutes. He has no control. So for him to love me more than cookies- well, that’s just true love right there.

I don’t buy into the hype of making reservations at an expensive restaurant and fighting the crowd, so my husband and I have the tradition of just ordering pizza and watching a movie with a glass of wine. That is my most perfect V day. So tonight we are going to actually make our own pizza, since it’s healthier that way. We have been eating like fatties lately.

I’m so lucky to have my amazing husband as a permanent Valentine. Every day is Valentines Day for me!

It’s 65 and sunny today. So beautiful. Usually during this time of year we are getting snow storms. It has definitely been the warmest winter I’ve ever seen. So blessed to be able to sit outside soaking up the sun during my lunch break, with this amazing view!

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“The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine, or the slowest form of poison.” - Dr. Ann Wigmore, ND

so true.

i heart Trader Joes.

Today I would like to celebrate Trader Joes.

This little grocery store is kind of amazing. I am very lucky to have one within walking distance of my work. I spend my 30 minute lunch there at least once a week. I can spend up to an hour browsing their wine, breads, fresh herbs and plants. I get almost all of my small plants there- they have some great ones for under $5.

Overall I tend to eat pretty healthy so I love how many of Trader Joes items are healthy, organic and fresh. I recently learned that products with the “Trader Joe’s” brand contain no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. They also contain no MSG or trans fats and are sourced from non-genetically modified ingredients. Amazing!!! I also love how their Mexican products are labeled “Trader Jose”, their Italian products are “Trader Giotto’s” and their Chinese products are “Trader Ming’s” and so on. You cannot get more adorable than that as a grocery store.

Yesterday I went there for tomatos and walked out spending over 50 dollars (oops). I was in the chips aisle looking for a guilt-free crunchy snack and found Skinny Fries. Amazing!! I love how it says “Reduced Guilt” at the top of the bag lol.

Only 110 calories per 64 sticks. This goes perfect with my daily salad at work. Trader Joes has done it again!

The only thing that would make Trader Joes even more amazing is if they had a fresh salad bar. Maybe one day!

counting my blessings.

I would like to start my very first blog by saying I am not a blogger. I have never blogged in my entire life (and yes, I know I am very late to jump on this bandwagon). I am also not a writer. Funny thing is, I used to be. When I was growing up I used to write stories (by hand! Remember those days?) for fun and hoped to one day be an author. I took many writing classes throughout high school and I even graduated college with a minor in Professional Writing. But now it is 6 years post-graduation and I can barely write anymore. I’m very out of practice. The only “writing” I’ve done recently has been in Microsoft Outlook (yuck).

So, I am not a writer. Not anymore. So please bear with me.

My goal is for my blog to be something like the book 14,000 Things To Be Happy About by Barbara Ann Kipfer. It’s a (long) list of things that makes the author happy. My friend Jamie had a copy of it in high school and we used to highlight the things in the book that made us happy too. We would even add our own happy things with a pen right onto the page.

I want to focus on happiness in my blog, on life’s big AND little blessings. If I am ever having a really horrible day, a day where I am struggling, I want to be able to bring up my own blog and remind myself how blessed I really am; even if at that moment I don’t feel very happy or lucky. Truth is, I do feel very blessed in my life and try to take a moment or two each day to give thanks. I hope to use this blog as one of the many ways I can give my thanks.

So, here it goes!