Daily 5 - Day 142

Welcome to 2010.  Or at least the technical first daily 5 list of 2010.  (Technical since I'm pretty sure I wrote the daily 5 for December 31, 2009 at like 1:30 this morning.)

Today's Daily 5:

1. Zoo trip
2. Giggling at the anteaters - I really can't quite explain just what kind of a moment that was.  It was beautiful to just feel those giggles kind of well up inside me and escape.  For me, after such a hard year, and so much sadness, and having to so deliberately choose joy and thankfulness at every turn, it was a special gift from a loving Abba to stand there, watching that crazy part of creation, and feel the joy simply well up within me and burst forth.  It was a really wonderful way to begin the year.
3. Watching a movie with mom and dad, T. & L.
4. The annual Chinese food New Year's day dinner with both of my parents, both brothers, and L.
5. The ironic moment of being goaded into opening a fortune cookie I wasn't particularly wanting to eat, "just for the fortune" and cracking mine open to discover it didn't have a fortune!  Not sure what that says about my year to come!  But it was a pretty funny moment.
6. Playing crokinole and Dutch Blitz with mom and dad and J.
7. time this afternoon to do a bit of cleaning in my bedroom
8. making a list of goals, hopes, dreams, self-reminders etc. for the coming year
9. taking photos at the zoo this morning with Dad's camera
10. Clean laundry - yep, I kicked off the new year with washing my sheets and towels, and other laundry.  Because there's something about celebrating newness with such fresh smelling sheets, towels and pajamas to crawl into at the end of the jay.  I know, it's weird, but it really is a joyful thing for me.
    

Story

I was thinking again today about story, and how it shapes and forms us.  More thoughts on that to come in the coming days, but here are a couple of links worth checking out.

Donald Miller talks about living a good story, and New Year's on his blog.  Worth reading.  I'll be blogging more about his book "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" in the coming days.

Ali Edwards chooses a word for each year, and this year her word was Story, inspired, in part, it turns out, by Donald Miller's book. 

I made a list today, of some goals or resolutions or hopes and dreams for the new year.  I'll share those likely tomorrow.

In the meantime, I also liked Dana's post at Of Wool and Water looking back and looking forward to 2010.  Here's to a year of new beginnings!

Zoo Year's Day :)

I started the new decade and new year off with a trip to the zoo.  I love heading there on days when I know it won't be busy, because it's so much easier to just sit or stand and appreciate the animals, without other people pushing to catch a glimpse.

I had several objectives this morning - visit "my" gorillas, see if the new baby giraffe was on display yet (nope), check out the newly redesigned and re-opened conservatory, and see the giant anteaters.

Here are some photos, and a couple of videos from the morning.  The rest of the photos can be found in a facebook album here.

The videos are of the giant anteater, which is currently one of my favorite creatures.  Mostly because it's so entirely bizarre with that long nose, skinny body, and feather duster tail.  I stood and watched him for probably 10 minutes this morning, giggling out loud at how funny he looked!

Hanging out at the zoo is a great way to start the year.  The incredible creativity of God is so on display, and it's a place I find so incredibly peaceful and full of the certainty that God is a God of hope and creativity and laughter and beauty and new things - all reminders I've needed regularly through the difficult last few years.

Daily 5 - Day 141

Happy New Year!  Okay, now that we've got that out of the way, here's the December 31st edition of the Daily 5.  We'll revisit the whole new year/new decade/dreams/plans/hopes/resolutions/goals thing in the morning, after I've slept for several hours.

Today's Daily 5:

1. Brief conversation and "e-hugs" with a dear friend who understood in a way most wouldn't have
2. A few great deals at the scrapbooking store this morning, including something that will I think be a challenge for the new year
3. Finishing a book I've been reading for months (more on that to come as well)
4. Finishing the rather larger than I originally thought project of organizing all of my recipes
5. Mostly enjoying a quiet day alone, even if it was one of the harder days of the holiday season for me
   
6. cooking hamburgers for lunch on the George Foreman grill my parents gave me in August for my birthday  - the George Foreman definitely ranks up there in terms of birthday gifts - or at least in terms of really boring "practical" birthday gifts :)
   
7. Hanging with my parents and their friends tonight - better than being alone I think - though I've got to tell you that I've got tons of dirt for the next time they accuse my brothers and I of having warped minds!  After several hours with all of these people, some of whom we're related to, and some of whom we've basically known via the church since birth, well, I think I know where we got the warped minds!
8. Watching the cooking movie "No Reservations" while I typed and sorted and organized recipes (thought it seemed appropriate)
9. Loving the new straightening styling product I picked up at the salon yesterday.  the second attempt at flat ironing my hair when quite a bit more smoothly than the first, thanks in large part to the new styling product.
10. 141 days of daily 5 lists, to round out a really challenging year - grateful for the way it does help me think through my day and see things differently, recognizing the things I can be so thankful for.