Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 87

Today's Daily 5:

1. ducking into a downtown coffee shop to escape the cold and for green tea and a scone when I was early for an appointment and had a few minutes to kill
2. a cozy scarf on a cold morning
3. laughing with a fellow passenger on the bus
4. getting a manicure and pedicure, and not having to pay thanks to a groupon purchase earlier in the year
5. getting a call about a cancellation, allowing me to schedule a badly needed massage two weeks earlier than planned
6. sitting in the massage chair at the nail salon, while my fingernails and toenails dried and getting some relief for some badly tightened and aching muscles
7. passion tea lemonade
8. Chinese take-out for supper - I love me some Chinese pork dumplings.
9. reading a whole book on the bus this afternoon
10. taking a bubble bath and treating myself to a novel
11. working a bit on a hobby of sorts
12. watching food network
13. fortune cookies - dang those things are good.  I need to see if I can buy a box of them at the grocery store

31

My parents are celebrating their 31st anniversary today.

31 years ago today there was apparently a bit of a blizzard, and they got married in a church in Oshkosh. For many of my mom's family, including my grandma, it was the first time they ever set foot in a non-catholic church. In fact, my grandma was so distressed by the fact that the church wasn't Catholic, that she refused to have her photo taken in the church.

There have been some rough years in my relationship with my parents, but today I want to stop and say how grateful I am for what I recognize as an increasingly endangered species - parents that are still married to each other and still in love after 31 years. I have no idea if I'll ever marry, but I'm grateful for the legacy of love and commitment through good and bad times that my parents have modeled.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Why I Like November

To be honest, I'm not actually sure that I can say I like the month of November.

But there are some things about it that are very, very likeable.

Things like the fact that someone, somewhere declared it some sort of blogging month, and a number of blogs that I greatly enjoy suddenly come alive with daily posts.  Insights into the lives of friends and strangers abound, and I enjoy the influx of thoughts and words.

Things like starting it off with an anniversary of healing.  An anniversary that almost always carries relief, since the weeks leading up to it seem to be brutally hard and dark and miserable every single year.

In a good November, there is still some warm weather.  I contemplated wearing flip-flops the other day.

This November has little things like manicure/pedicure and haircut appointments.  (And being thankful for a groupon purchased early in the summer for the mani/pedi, making it a scheduled treat I don't have to worry about paying for.)

It's had productive days.

And days for lazily sitting on the couch with hours and hours of escapist television.

Moments of laughter and tears.

Yes, it's a month that generally brings the onslaught of the much dreaded winter, but November has lovely things, too.