Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 202

Today is one of those days where I can't believe I've made a daily practice of listing at least 5 moments that made me smile, or for which I was thankful, into something that has lasted so long.  One year and two hundred and two days.  It's one of those days where I'm struck by the slow changes this practice has wrought in me.  It's a day where, honestly, I was exhausted and drained, and spent various chunks of time working to fight off random spats of tears.  But it was a day that held beauty, in which I reached often for my phone and jotted items to add to tonight's list.

And so, here's today's Daily 5:

1. 1 year, 202 days of making these lists
2. coconut scented body butter, slathered on my legs after a shower.  On a day when I was longing for sun and palm trees, this was sort of a breath of hope.  A scent reminding me of summer.
3. whole wheat toast with butter and jam
4. a quiet Sunday morning, home alone
5. One last chance to spend time with L. before she gets on a plane for other continents, literally completing a trip 'round the world over the last four months.
6. Shopping with J and L, my former roommates and laughing together, enjoying the comfortable familiarity of those who have lived together and know each other's habits well
7. I finally purchased a rack for my collection of earrings, and I'm super excited about it.  It's pretty and cute, and I can't wait to get home tomorrow evening, sort through my collection and add them to the rack.  I took before (and will take after) pictures to share.  I wasn't planning to buy anything today, but I've been looking for a way to visibly display my earrings for literally years, and when I came upon this one that was both cute and reasonably priced, J and L, who have been on many a shopping trip with me where I've pondered options, convinced me that I couldn't afford to walk away.  I'm so glad they talked me into it!
8. catching up on blog reading - google reader has revolutionized my blog reading, and I'm loving that they're all in one place, just waiting for me
9. watching The Food Network, both on television, and online today.  Absolutely my favorite background for sitting to read, write, or otherwise putter.
10. Anthropologie - new to Canada, or at least to Calgary, but so pretty, and full of inspiration, even if I will never really afford anything there.  We spent a long time wandering around in there, fingering clothes, sitting in furniture, exclaiming over pretty things and fun ideas, and smelling candles (our favorite was a mango jasmine scented one).  I walked away feeling separated from the greyness of March in Calgary, and inspired to create something beautiful.  Not bad for a free pastime!

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

Quite honestly, I'm embedding this video as part of a contest to win a free paperback copy of Donald Miller's book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.

That said, I think the message of the video, and more importantly, the message of the book (available here on Amazon - and no I don't get any compensation for linking to it, other than maybe winning a paperback copy), is a really important one.  Last year my "one little word" was Story, inspired by this book.  Honestly, I think it's become the one word that will influence all of the one little words to come, and some of the reasons why were in this book, which I read at just the right time in my life, in a moment when my life needed some editing and rewriting.  So, I'm sharing the video with all of you!

Go buy the book - you'll be doing yourselves a favor!


What story are you telling? from Rhetorik Creative on Vimeo.

High Tea and Hotsprings

I thought I'd share a few photos of the time I spent with one of "my people" the other day.

We had two very specific things on our agenda, and everything else we fit was just a bonus.

We were going to have afternoon high tea at the Banff Springs Hotel, and we were going to visit the Banff Hot Springs.

The photos I have are all from high tea.  We didn't take any photos at the Hot Springs, because, well, why risk a very nice camera falling into the water for shots of my blindingly white skin that no one should have to see anyway!

This is us, enjoying our tea service.

One of the two varieties of tea we sampled.  I think this one was an apple spice tea.

The tea service.  It also included a cup of fresh fruit, and a fabulous scone.

The view out the window from where we sat to enjoy tea. Not bad, huh?

Because no trip together to Banff would be complete without a bit of a photo shoot.

Have I mentioned how much I love the mountains that I live near?

This is the Banff Springs Hotel where we had tea, from across the valley.