What's Good . . . Right Now

So, do you ever have those days or weeks when things just seem to go right? When you just do some stuff that makes you HAPPY? Or you have a day that you go shopping and find just the RIGHT thing? Or you have things that are really irritating, but you can deal with it anyway? It seems like that's been this kind of week for me--and that's a VERY good thing!

So, here are some random thoughts about some good things RIGHT NOW (I think I'll make it a Top Ten list, how's that?)

(1) Fried Green Tomatoes (and a new magazine!)

Okay, I had my first fried green tomato of the summer at the Pleasant Grove ballpark two weeks ago and it was SO yummy!! I LOVE these things!! Then, this past Monday we went to Captain D's and they had them on the menu--for just 99 cents (so, of course, I had to get an order to go as well!). No one else in the family likes them, so I can't really make a big helping of them at home (I guess I could, but I'd be packing on like major calories!). I have just had them on the brain lately; I'm thinking I need to go get me some more tomorrow!

When I came home with some to-go the other day, I had the chance to sit down in the living room all by MYSELF, open up a brand-new scrapbooking magazine, and enjoy some alone time--just me and my fried green tomato! LOL It was SO nice!


(2) A really good haul at the bookstore!

Summer is the PERFECT time to catch up on fun reading and I've finally had the chance to do some of that in the last few weeks. Just this past week I read two fun mysteries by two of my favorite mystery authors--Joan Hess and Carolyn Hart. I especially enjoyed Murder Walks the Plank by Hart (go to www.carolynhart.com to learn about her books).
And then today, we went to Barnes & Noble with my best buddy, Angela, and had TOO much fun shopping. Angela usually gets the girls books for their birthdays and since she missed all three of their birthday parties this year, she caught them up! Here are Delaney and McKenna with all the loot they scored!

(McKenna got this book, Speak, which Angela said is GREAT; Shopaholic, which has been a huge bestseller and I may have to steal from her; TTYL, which is a sequel to a bok she already had and loved.)

(Delaney got the fourth Series of Unfortunate Events books, the first in the Judy Moody series, and this cool book called Divide.)

I got two new books for me, too--another fun mystery (yay! Can't wait to sit down and start reading it tonight!) in the "Trailer Park Mystery" series which sounds hilarious; and the scrapbooking book Freestyle, which I am SO excited about. (Go to www.autumnleaves.com/freestyle to see how awesome the design work from this book is! Very inspiring!)

(3) Spending a lot less money than you'd expected!

I knew I had to spend some money on getting McKenna some new clothes for her upcoming trip to Washington, D.C. (the conference she's going to requires its teenagers to dress professionally, so she needed some MAJOR clothes--like three "dressy casual" outfits, two "nice casual" outfits, and two professional outfits ). I was SO afraid that I'd be spending $200 -$250 or more on just these clothes. Then, today we decided to check out a consignment shop in Hoover that we'd heard about (one of McKenna friends said she'd bought all of her outfits there). Anyway, to make a long story short. . . we went there today with Angela and got a dress, two skirts, two camisoles, four shirts, and a pair of shoes for $72!!!! How excited were we?? VERY excited!! And these were NICE clothes (one of the skirts was an Anne Taylor and very nice).

(4) An air conditioner that works!!

Here is the example of when something that is very irritating and uncomfortable actually becomes something that I can deal with in a positive way . . . we have been without air conditioning for two days now and let me just say that it's been VERY HOT!! We have huddled in our bedroom the last two nights with a window unit that Gary went and bought, but tonight Bobby (bless you, Bobby!!!) came and helped Gary get it fixed. Boy does it feel WONDERFUL right now!!

(5) Good food.

Let me see . . . some of the really good food I've enjoyed this week (in addition to the fried green tomatoes)-- homemade vanilla ice cream, fresh blueberries (am LOVING these!), Italian nachos (ate these today at Johnny Carino's with Angela), good cold and sweet watermelon!

(6) Feeling like you're doing something good!

This morning, I got onto the weblog for my favorite scrapbooking store (go to www.scrapetc.net) and found out that the storeowner was collecting old scrapbooking supplies to donate to Birmingham's Children's Hospital. The girls and I immediately went through our stash and found a ton of stuff to donate! The idea is that the kids in the hospital can scrapbook for fun, and that the parents can scrapbook as a form of therapy! What a cool idea!

(There ended up being a nice extra thank-you as a part of this, when Monique gave us 50% off our purchase today for bringing the donations in! Cool!)

The girls and I are putting our thinking-cap on to think of some other things we can do over the summer to help out. We're thinking maybe of going up to our church's food pantry and helping out. We'll see what else we can do . . .

(7) The Atlanta Braves actually winning some games!

Okay, they're still 10 games behind the Mets, but they're making progress! They are tied now with the Marlins, after almost blowing a game tonight. (They were ahead 7-2, let Cincinatti tie it back up 7-7 in the ninth, but then pulled out the win--whew!!--in the tenth!). Maybe they'll keep on winning. We can sure hope!!

(8) Some regular work.

I have felt much more fulfilled this week because I actually have assignments for FOUR articles in my planner! Yippee!! I really needed these assignments (for the money, of course; but also just to make myself feel like I'm actually DOING something and ACCOMPLISHING something). Very good news!

(9) Friends!!

We've had some nice, quality time with some good friends this week. And I tell you what--friends make everything else so worthwhile!! I have such GOOD friends and I'm so extremely grateful for each and every one of them! Spending the day today with Angela just capped of my week for me. She makes me feel like I'm 20 again, and that also is a very good thing!

(My girls love my friends too, as you can see here by the big ole smile on Sydney's face after eating lunch with Angela.)

(10) The promise of more good things to come.

Life is definitely worth living when you can look into the next few days and see good things on the horizon. Whether it's a new DVD to look forward to watching; a gallon of ice cream in the freezer; a planned evening out with some friends; or just the promise of some reading time to yourself . . .that makes things GOOD!