7 Things I loved about this week

It's SO easy to get wrapped up in life and to forget all the little things that make you happy - so today I felt like writing about ten things that I loved about this week.

1. I met my new team at work! These are the people I'm going to be leading for the next year and a half, I was thrilled to meet them sand start getting to know them. MY job is to make THEIR jobs easier and making sure they are living up to their potential. Seeing people better themselves makes me happy, and I am blessed with a bright crew that wants to learn and improve :)

2. Silver Linings Playbook. Whoa. I know this movie has won tons of awards and whatnot, but I just got around to watching it this weekend and, again, whoa. Have you ever known a movie was going to be special within seconds of it starting? This was like that. Impossibly unique characters, impressively witty and challenging dialogue, and an incredible plot. And even though it was a relatively serious movie, it was HILARIOUS!

3. Django Unchained. I love everything by Quentin Tarantino so I had high hopes for this movie -- and I was not let down. The music, creative camera work, and brutality screamed Tarantino, but the movie was MADE by Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz. SO well acted, incredible chemistry, and also hilarious.

4. The Mark. I finally got my ass back in the saddle and wrote another flash fiction. I usually participate in Chuck Wendig's Flash Fiction challenges on Fridays, last week was the first I had skipped and it felt kind of odd, probably like how a runner would feel after a week of not running...but THIS WEEK, I jumped back into it, not wanting to make a habit of not finding time for writing. I was happier with this piece of work than I have been with the last several flash fiction stories.

5. Cinnamon Roll. Simple, and soooo worth it. I had the best cinnamon roll of my life this week. OF. MY. LIFE! It wasn't smothered in cream or glaze sauce, it wasn't the size of a bean-bag chair. It didn't look special at all. As a matter of fact, when my co-worker said he saved it for me, I ate it out of politeness, it didn't really look all that appetizing. It was made like a doughnut, each layer of the roll had a firm outer coating of glaze and it was warm and soft on the inside. One thing I don't love about this week, is that I drove 15 miles to get it this morning and they were all out...NOT cool Daylight Doughnuts...

6. So You Think You Can Dance. It's back on. 'Nough said.

7. Yard Work. What was supposed to be an hour or so of mowing turned in to an all-day yard work extravaganza when I realized I hated my yard. It all started when I was weed whacking, minding my own business, and I came across a giant wolf spider. I screamed and ran away (as any sane human would do), and switched Eric for the mower. I was mowing...and everything just started pissing me off. I had clover everywhere, grass wasn't growing in half of my yard, the branches from the neighbor's tree were hogging some of my yard and were too low to mow under, my patio was covered in branches and leaves, our lawn chairs were covered in bird poop and muck, there were limbs piled in my driveway that we didn't know what to do with. I was feeling very overwhelmed.

We took trip #2 to Lowes (trip #1 was in the morning, when our hopes were high for the world's best cinnamon rolls, and we had to get fertilizer for our garden). We got a saw, a metal rake, grass seed, a hose, a water wand, a hose reel box, and a fire pit. Then I made Eric stop so I could get frozen yogurt, still mopey that my yard was so shitty.

I was feeling refreshed and hopeful by the time we got back, and after 5 hours of yard work, I feel like we're getting somewhere. We assembled the fire pit, Eric chopped down the intrusive branches and sawed some of the piled up limbs to burn in the pit. I hoed and raked up the dirt in the back yard and planted grass seed and cleaned off the patio. Eric set up the hose reel and I  fertilized and watered the garden...and at the end of the day we sat in our now clean lawn chairs and admired the work we did. And I FINALLY understand. With the cool breeze blowing the hair off our faces, our muscles pleasantly sore after all the hard work, and a cold bottle of water in our hands, I UNDERSTAND why my dad made us do all of the yard work. Because it fucking sucks.