Six Unimportant Things That Make Me Happy

Waking up to warm weather and the sun shining.

I am such a happy person when the sun is shining and it’s warm outside. Mom has even said she thinks I should get one of those natural sunlight lamps during the winter because I’m so affected by the lack of sunlight (Mom – please let me know if that should be been “effected”). This is a picture of the sun shining in our house first thing in the morning...I love waking up when it looks like this.

Walking instead of driving.
It might seem crazy, but I love walking. I walk about 10 city blocks to work most days - that's about a mile. Mike and walk to restaurants, to the grocery store, to the gym.... It's easy because everything is so close. I especially love when I walk and see how crazy traffic is. Sometimes I'm tempted to drive because I love my car SO MUCH, but then when I see how nuts it is and that I can actually walk faster than I could drive, I'm so happy. This is a picture of the rush hour traffic on my walk home.

The skyline.

For some reason, I've always loved the city. Not just a big town or a small city, but a big city. Like, if I could afford to live in Manhattan, I would. So one of the things that always makes me happy is the skyline. I love going home to where I grew up, or visiting other places, but the moment I come within sight of the skyline, I ALWAYS sigh and feel like I'm home. This is a picture of the skyline 1 block from our home.

The water.
I’m not sure why being near water makes me so happy because I didn’t grow up anywhere near water. I always wait for the weather to turn warm so I can ride my bike to the lake. I have been known to go to the lake/coast/beach early in the morning and stay until the afternoon. I don’t ever get bored. I could sit and listen to the water all day long. This is a picture of the Chicago River...not necessarily a "big" body of water, but water nonetheless. When I walk to work I cross this bridge over the water. It's a great way to start the day. (by the way, the big building on the right side of the picture is the Civic Opera House....another thing that I love seeing every day. My bassoon professor at DePaul is the principal bassoonist of the Opera.)

Our grill.

Yes, I realize this is VERY weird, but I love our grill! I love to cook and especially love to grill. Our brand new one is awesome. My salmon comes out looking like it was made at at a restaurant! And I can sautee veggies on my new grill pan that I got to go along with our grill. I was extra excited about this new toy - no more asparagus falling through the grates! As long as it's not snowing or above 40 degrees, you can find me grilling our dinner. (This is a picture of our new grill before we even put it on the deck!)

Old text messages from Mike.
I have this silly habit of keeping text messages from Mike that make me happy. I like to go back and read them every once in awhile...I used to have a whole bunch of texts from the very beginning...but when I got a new phone they were all lost. Here are just a few since last year....

September 26, 2008 (12:01 am) – “Happy Birthday, my love! Can’t wait to be there with you!” (I was traveling for work on my birthday and he wrote me a message the minute it turned midnight. He flew to meet me that night in Colorado Springs.)

October 20, 2008 – “I’m so sorry you’ve had such a long day – wish I could give you a hug...I love you – hang in there!” (this was at 10:40 pm on a night I was traveling for work – I was still working and it was in the middle of a 2 week stretch when I had to be gone a lot. I was so stressed out and tired.)

February 9, 2009 (8:27 am) – “love you – miss you already” (I got this just as I was taking off for a work trip)