Ten good things

1. Receiving amazing emails from blog readers filled with kind words about my new career direction.  Your words mean more to me than you know.  Thank you!
2. Having time to practice yoga almost every day...and discovering an amazing yin yoga class.
3. Half (or "one-legged") Pigeon pose.  It's amazing for the hips and lower back.  My body has been craving this pose so much lately!
4. Anticipating my mom's upcoming visit.
5. Planning a yummy and healthful Thanksgiving menu...details forthcoming.
6. Having time to take Basil on lots of long walks and watching her pounce gleefully on the crunchy leaves.
7. My new favorite green tea.  The roasted organic brown rice lends a sweetness that makes it not at all bitter like some green teas.
8. Making delicious vegan enchiladas (sautéed kale + sweet potato + onion, wrapped in Ezekial sprouted grain tortilla with red chile enchilada sauce, topped with diced avocado and a spritz of lime juice).
9. Reading two amazing books (yes, simultaneously...I can never seem to stick to just one at a time): Deepak Chopra's Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul and Debbie Ford's The 21-Day Consciousness Cleanse.
10. Last, but not least, learning so much about health and wellness through my IIN courses!  I am just filled with so much gratitude every day that I'm able to pursue this passion.

What's new and good with you?  I would love to hear.


Image via Happiness is Like a Sunny Day.

What's making me happy right now

Today, I'm feeling really inspired by one of my favorite bloggers, the lovely Lexi of Ellecubed and her delightful Happy List. (By the way, do you all know Lexi? If not, please stop by her blog and say hello. She is such a sweetheart and a fabulous source of inspiration.) Just reading her list brought such a smile to my face, so I decided to start off this week with my own gratitude infusion. Here are the things that are making me happy right now:

• No work today! Due to this past weekend's snowpocalypse, most of the DC area is still shut down. I love my job, but it's always nice to have an unexpected day off, isn't it? I plan to use today to do a bit of organizing around the house, get in an extra-long gym workout, browse at Anthropologie, and see Avatar in 3D.

• Losing nearly 15 pounds since the holidays and, more importantly, feeling really great. As I've mentioned a couple times, I've recently made some serious changes to the way I eat and I'm amazed by how dramatically my body has reacted. When I wake up in the morning, instead of feeling tired and foggy, I'm energized and clear-headed. I've been getting compliments on how shiny and healthy my hair looks, and my skin has never been happier. Working out feels easier. I'm wearing my skinny jeans with ease. And I swear, I have been laughing more. It's like my body is giddy. Oddly enough, the hardest part about this whole thing has been admitting that I really want it. Acknowledging that yes, my health and well-being really are that important to me. Putting it on my Mondo Beyondo list and saying it out loud. Once I was able to get to that point, taking steps to implement a healthier lifestyle felt like the only logical way to proceed.

• Other stuff making me happy: Having a super clean house (we did a major cleaning this weekend), pouring over recipes in The Kind Diet and Super Natural Cooking, doing Google image searches of the beautiful places we'll be visiting in Italy, miso soup for breakfast, signing up to run a local 5K later this spring, submitting my volunteer application to the animal shelter, finally springing for a subscription to Body & Soul, doing yoga almost every day, this dress (wouldn't it be lovely for a rehearsal dinner?), fiancé digging our car out from under the snow yesterday and generally being a super rad and helpful kind of guy, home-cooked meals with friends, watching Biggest Loser on my iPod while I work out (super motivating), receiving our wedding invitations from evapaul (love, love, love), anticipating my mom's visit a couple weeks from now (so that we can do wedding-related stuff together! yippee!), finding kindred spirits via blogs, ordering The Happiness Project and Babycakes (vegan, gluten-free and sugar-free baked goods recipes!), drinking lots of tea, watching the neighborhood dogs frolicking in the snow, Epsom salt baths, feeling super sore from working out (but in a good way), this list (brilliant), vegetarian chili in the slow cooker, getting closer to discovering my Style Statement (stole that one from Ellecubed, but it's true), and making progress on some Mondo Beyondo dreams!

What's making you happy right now? If you post your own list in your blog, please share a link below - I'd love to read it!

Image via Anthropologie.

Thankful

For hot coffee on cold mornings. For bubble baths and fuzzy slippers and cozy scarves. For candlelight and warm, crackling fires, and blankets to cuddle beneath. For striped socks and polka-dot pajamas. For dinner parties and holidays and meals shared together around a table. For pumpkin pie and cranberry relish and mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. For evenings with good friends, drinking wine and telling funny stories till we're laughing so hard we can't remember what we're even laughing about. For wonderful parents who encouraged my creativity and have supported my dreams and decisions, large and small, my entire life. For twitter and blogs and Google, and for the occasional sanity to "unplug" from the computer completely for a little while. For the incredible community of people I've connected with through this blog. For eccentrics and wild women and soul sisters. For Sephora and Anthropologie and Etsy. For Food Network, Mad Men, and The Office. For good books, and magazines, and the unending joy of wandering bookstores for hours. For the ability to run and do yoga. For my breath, my balance, and my good health. For decent skin and naturally curly hair (even if I do straighten it sometimes). For access to good, fresh food. For farmers markets and CSA and the growing sustainable food movement. For increasing awareness of how our food choices affect the planet and our bodies, and for an administration that actually cares about that kind of thing. For a job, period, but especially a job that I love that fulfills me and enables me to be surrounded by art. For the fact that I get to marry a supportive, kind, intelligent (and darn handsome) man who loves to cook, makes me tea for no reason, rubs my feet, installs virus protection software on my computer, anticipates when I need a hug and gives me one before I ask, and generally goes out of his way to make my world a better place in any way he can.

What are you thankful for this year?

Image via Martha Stewart.

Thank you notes

Thank you legs and lungs for allowing me to run 3.5 miles with ease yesterday.

Thank you sun for setting so beautifully while I ran.

Thank you hair for the recent string of wild, curly and wonderful hair days.

Thank you Teaism chai for waking me up this morning.

Thank you autumn for the amazingly beautiful foliage all around me.

Thank you yoga, for clearing my mind and steadying my breath.

Thank you Jason for always making me laugh and for doing the dishes tonight. Oh, and for rubbing my feet.

Thank you weekend for arriving soon, so that we can go hiking here.

Thank you REI for having a wedding registry option.

Thank you Ellecubed for this beautiful list.

Thank you job for being stimulating, challenging, and enabling me to do lots and lots of writing.

Thank you universe for being so good to me and nudging me in the direction of my dreams.

Thank you chocolate. (For existing.)

Image via Flickr user Moominsean.

Birthday Gratitude List

Well, my friends, it totally snuck up on me this year, but yesterday was my 25th birthday! It was a truly wonderful day. Jason surprised me in the morning with a new iPod Touch, which I am quite excited about. At our weekly staff meeting, my co-workers surprised me by presenting me with a sweet card and homemade brownies that my boss baked. I have gotten lovely emails, phone calls, and cards from many friends and family members. And even though I couldn't be with my parents today, we celebrated while I was in Chicago last weekend by going out for a fabulous sushi dinner and, more importantly, spending lots of quality time together. Oh, and while I was in Chicago, I found a wedding dress which I love! I am a lucky girl indeed. So in honor of my birthday, I decided to list 25 things I'm thankful for.

1. My awesomely supportive family

2. My amazingly sweet, funny, kind, super-smart and totally handsome fiance, Jason. I am so excited to be marrying him!

3. My job, which challenges me, and enables me to do lots and lots of writing while being surrounded by beautiful art

4. Living near the water

5. Great friends, both new and old.
6. My good health
7. Discovering yoga in the past couple of years and the benefits that my yoga practice has brought to my life

8. My naturally curly hair (which I have finally come to appreciate)

9. The ritual of making delicious home-cooked meals with Jason (and access to a wide variety of yummy and healthy ingredients)

10. Crisp autumn weather

11. Music, music, music

12. The fact that my sister now lives in the DC area and I get to see her often

13. Regular foot rubs from Jason
14. Really soft and cozy pajamas

15. Our uber-comfy new mattress (one of the investments we made when furnishing our new place)

16. Google Reader

17. Beautiful sunsets (that we can see from our deck!) and gorgeous sunrises

18. Regular running and the fact that my endurance is improving (yay!)

19. Chai from Teaism and cupcakes from Hello Cupcake

20. Owning a home

21. Books, books, books

22. The wisdom of mentors

23. Weekends

24. Spending time outdoors, enjoying the abundant beauty of nature

25. Last, but certainly not least, the blogging community!

What are you thankful for?

Image via Flickr user Theresa Thompson.