Wednesday, August 14

Making Lemonade

In light of minor unpleasantries I've recently experienced, I decided to write down the things that are really right with my life. Things that make me happy. Things for which I am grateful. And as most of you could have guessed, this list is much longer than the number of lemons I'm juggling. Here's to tossing out the lemons and making chocolate chip cookies instead because that's how good life really is!

1. I've got all my teeth, no current toothaches, and my Sonicare toothbrush is one of my most valued possessions.
2. Buying 5 avocados for $1
3. Facebook
4. Friends who fly/drive in to spend the weekend with me
5. Hair that is getting longer
6. I had a clothes designer recently name a skirt after me
7. I have a job where I get to help a lot of people
8. GPS
9. Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father, and prayer
10. My work commute that has never been longer than 40 minutes, averaging 20 most days
11. The Imperial Hwy exit that lets me go 120mph for a mile to bypass 405ers
12. Forgiving cops
13. Farmer's markets ALL OVER
14. The Book of Mormon
15. Hulu, Redbox, and Netflix
16. Brothers who have such varied talents and find ways to use them to show love to their sister who has a man-shortage in her life
17. Pinterest
18. Articles, videos, and memes that make me laugh
19. Volleyball
20. Phone calls from nieces
21. Notes from nephews
22. CrossFit especially workouts involving double unders, box jumps, or deadlifts
23. 3 airports less than a half hour away
24. 7 minutes to the temple
25. 10 minutes to the beach
26. Spotify
27. OneRepublic and good music in general
28. Living amongst a culturally diverse population
29. Speaking Spanish
30. Ice cream, Diddy Riese's, Cold Stone, self-serve soft serve frozen yogurt
31. Mexican food
32. Lights on the 3rd Street Promenade
33. First Friday food trucks in Venice, walking the canals in Venice, people watching at Venice beach
34. Running the stairs in Santa Monica
35. My bed
36. Perfect temperature EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
37. "I miss you" texts/phone calls and texting in general
38. Gchat
39. Free samples
40. Clothing trends that hide recently acquired padding
41. Meeting so many people with such interesting stories
42. Homeless people that teach me valuable lessons
43. Self-tanning lotion that makes it believable that I actually live in SoCal
44. Teaching opportunities
45. Knowledge of who I am, why I'm here, and where I'm going from an eternal standpoint
46. Getting a student a job, finding a friend a roommate, and hearing about a date I set up that went well
47. Color
48. Smells, especially plants/flowers blooming year round everywhere
49. Comfy couches
50. LinkedIn
51. Excel documents that are useful
52. Cafe Rio
53. Conversations about how incredibly silly the big stickers on Facebook are
54. Conversations about how incredibly silly the bachelor/bachelorette is and how we keep watching it
55. Well-written books, articles, quotes, poems, songs
56. Good girlfriends who make great therapists
57. Portable phone charger
58. Pluots
59. Star sightings
60. (Somewhat) reliable transportation
61. Walking down HB and SM piers
62. Wireless internet
63. Laptops
64. Chocolate covered cinnamon bears
65. Chocolate covered anything
66. Mascara
67. Great health
68. Lasik
69. Church at 9:30
70. Catalina Island
71. Dried fruit (namely mangoes, pineapple, pears, and kiwi)
72. Acquired tastes (namely sushi and all things sweet potato)
73. Inspiring leaders (namely Elder Holland and Elder Uchtdorf) 
74. Being able to touch up my roots for $4 by myself instead of paying someone else $80
75. Laughing so hard it snorts
76. Writing
77. Learning opportunities
78. Words of affirmation, validation, flirts, and compliments
79. Inventing new words
80. Living in a country where people volunteer their lives to keep me free and protected
81. Fireworks
82. Hearing about how dull cruises, church, volleyball, softball, dinner parties, and game nights are without me, even if it's exaggerated
83. Straws
84. Free parking and finding a good parking spot
85. Clean car, bedroom, desk
86. Coworkers who bring in donuts
87. Playing the donut/Prius game
88. Friends who make me take note of my daily highs
89. Realizing that I missed out on learning so much and then realizing how much time/opportunity I have left to learn
90. Individual peanut butter/almond butter packets
91. Flat irons that make my hair look like it has shape
92. Outlet malls
93. Workout clothes
94. Going to baseball games
95. Kisses
96. Anything with the word pesto, nut, cheesecake, Oreo, apple, banana, chicken, bacon, avocado, potato, panini, coconut, or tamale in it
97. Learning how much I was loved and learning how much I loved/love others
98. Good grammar
99. Hearing about miracles and joys in other people's lives
100. The fact that this list only took 45 minutes to write and that I could probably go on for another few hours

What are you grateful for?

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