28 Sights I Love

More Simple things that just make my day:

1) Fireworks

2) the way the sky looks just after the sun has set

3) the ocean

4) my cat, peacefully sleeping

5) old, hardcover books

6) sun reflecting off of snow at sunset

7) spring grass (in May, when it's that goregeous, lush, green)

8) neon and marquis lights at twilight

9) the North Saskatchewan river valley in late September, when the leaves have all changed colors

10) really old buildingslittle

11) pretty much any page in this book

12) clouds from an airplane

13) the Rocky Mountains (it's amazing how small you feel standing next to them)

14) couples holding hands (it's cool that they've found one another, and it makes me hopeful that one day the same will happen for me)
15) St. John's row houses (so colorful)

16) sunrise as I drive to school on Friday mornings (it's like a reward for getting up early, which, is something I tend to avoid at all costs)

17) afternoon sun shining in through the dining room windows (bonus: it makes a nice, warm place to sit)

18) flocks of geese migrating (change is in the air right with them!)

19) the tulips blooming- spring has arrived!

20) palm trees :)

21) rain dripping into puddles
22) cumulus clouds roling in before a thunderstorm

23) the San Antonio Riverwalk

24) waterfalls!
25) cotton candy machines as they spin cotton candy
26) flowers growing through cracks in the sidewalk
27) Double Rainbows! (so intense!)
28) when the sun filters through the clouds

Single's Awareness Day

 Like many other poor, unfortunate souls, I'm still searching for some one to buy chocolates, heart shaped pizzas, and cheesy hallmark greeting cards for. For the 18th year in a row. What I fail to understand, however, is why single people always get so bummed out around Valentine's day. I mean, sure it's kind of lonely flying solo on a day meant for couples, but there are some things about it that single people can still enjoy. For instance:
-it's an excuse to wear colors that would normally be considered unfashionable together at the same time (fuchsia, light pink, and red all at once? hello!)
-when else can you watch 5 chick flicks back to back without it being completely lame?
-sitcom specials (call me crazy, but this is something I look forward to)
-next week, all the chocolates that couples paid $10 to buy for their significant others this week will be on sale for $2. Five times the chocolate for the same price? Yes, Please!
And anyway, the longer I spend becoming a unique person on my own, the cooler Valentine's day will be because I'll meet someone who will love me for all the quirks I've developed over the years. I'd rather wait for the write person, than rush into anything just to be paired up on Valentine's day.
And, hey, there's always next year for all that couple-y stuff. ;)

28 Smells I love

28 More things worth noticing:

1) Cookies baking
2) Ozone just before it starts raining really hard
3) Vanilla
4) Towels just out of the dryer
5) Chlorine at the pool
6) Christmas dinner
7) Coffee (even though I hate the taste of it)
8) Salty air near the ocean
9) Baby's breath (the flower)
10) Lemons
11) Soap
12) The smell inside of a grreenhouse (it's a hard scent to exlpain, but it's a really lovely mixture of freshness and flowers)
13) Homemade bread
14) Play-dough fresh out of it's container (it smells like childhood)
15) Baby powder
16) Wet grass
17) Roses
18) The Cinnabon in the mall food court
19) The inside of Tim Horton's (come on: coffee + baked goods = win!...bonus points if you're there because you rolled up the rim and won a donut)
20) Campfires (until the next morning when you realise the smell is still on your clothes)
21) A fresh box of crayons (you can just smell the creativity)
22) New car smell
23) My car smell (whoever owned it before me must have had an awesome air freshener in it, because the inside still smells delicious)
24) Pine trees (real ones, not the cardboard air fresheners)
25) Febreeze (ah, chemicals...)
26) Pomegranates
27) The inside of Marble Slab creamery (freshly baked waffles + ice cream)
28) Chocolate

28 Sounds I Love

I really dig the idea of enjoying the simpler things in life. And it's not always easy. Sometimes you're too depressed, sometimes you're too stressed out, and other times life just gets in the way of being able to see the forest for the trees, so to speak. This week it has been the stress that's been holding me back from my goal. So, I decided to write a list of some little sounds that I love to hear. In the spirit of helping anyone else who might be sharing my stressed frame of mind right now, I'd like to share what I've come up with. So, without further ado, 26 sounds (and 2 non-sounds) I love, in no particular order.

1) the clicking of a keyboard when you're typing
2) the pssshht of a can of soda being opened
3) the cracking of ice cubes as you pour that soda into a glass
4) the fwoosh of a campfire starting
5) the subsequent crackling of burning logs
6) the crunch of fresh leaves being stepped on
7) a chickadee's bird call early in the morning (chic-a-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee)
8) the sound that melting snow makes as it runs down the gutter
9) the swish of the wind blowing through aspen leaves on a summer day
10) my cat's "I'm happy to see you" meow (he has one, I swear!)
11) the sizzle of the first raindrops hitting the pavement on a really hot day
12) rain falling on the roof of our old tent trailer (it kind of makes me sad that I'll never hear this one again...)
13) the little chime melody the clock in our den makes every hour
14) that plodding sound when you step in a puddle
15) ocean waves crashing into the shore (I'm so fortunate that I got a chance to hear this one a few times, living in a landlocked place- I recommend that everyone try to hear it at least once in their life)
16) wind and rain against the windows during a thunderstorm
17) the sound of my car starting
18) the electrified silence in the air just before a big thunderstorm
19) the fwoosh of my cat fluffing up his fur
20) the crunch of lettuce when you rip it up to make a salad
21) the sound a camera makes when you take a picture
22) two words: sizzling bacon. yum.
23) the sound of a barbecue firing up
24) popcorn popping (you can tell I'm starting to get hungry)
25) that perfectly calm silence you can only hear on a snowy winter's day
26) the rhythmic ticking of a clock
27) the popping of bubbles in a bubble bath
28) echos... echos... echoes