Texas Lou

Archive for the ‘Thankful Mondays’ Category

Good morning and happy February!   Can you believe we are already in the second month of 2013?!?!  It seems like January flew by!

Here’s what I’m thankful for this week:

1. I’m thankful for an invitation to a Super Bowl party last night that gave me the opportunity to spend time with new and old friends!
2. I’m thankful for a mother-in-law Virginia Mom who is so crafty and planned a day with family to make Valentine’s Day Houses!  It was tasty, fun, and best of all, I got to be crafty with my family!
3. I’m thankful for a husband that enjoys running with me (and motivates me to keep from quitting).  Yesterday morning we ran 9 miles in preparation for the Charlottesville Ten Miler in March!
4. I’m thankful for the opportunity to get to spend time with so many good friends and family last week (running with Becky and Ben on Sunday, restaurant week  with Kristen, Tim, and Ben on Wednesday, dinner with Ashley and Dana on Thursday, Shopping with Sarah on Saturday, making Valentine’s Day houses with Peter, Phyllis, Ben, Robin, Sarah, Abby, and Elise on Sunday, and James’ Super Bowl party last night with lots of new friends and Kelly and Marian who I miss so much).  My life is certainly rich because of the wonderful people who are in it!
5. I’m thankful that for the past couple of weeks, I’ve finally started to feel like my happy self again with less anxiety and worry and more happiness and joy.  Maybe these posts are helping!  🙂

Good morning and happy thankful Monday!

This week, I’m thankful for the following:

1. I’m thankful for the opportunity and affordable plane tickets to travel to New Orleans in March for my cousin Jennifer’s bachelorette party!  It’s going to be AWESOME!
2. I’m thankful for another great long run with a new friend on Sunday.  We ran 8.3 miles!
3. Again, I am sooooo VERY thankful for the option to work from home.  We have had ALOT of winter weather in the past week and I am very lucky to be able to stay warm and safe while working from home and avoiding the accident-prone roads.
4. I am thankful for wedding gift cards and the lovely friends and family that gave them to us.  They allowed us to buy a new Breville Juicer this weekend while only spending $17 out of pocket (after gift cards and a 20% off coupon).  Juicing is my new favorite thing, especially after watching the touching documentary, Fat Sick and Nearly Dead.
5. I’m thankful for living in a country where I can go to the grocery store any day and buy most fruits and vegetables at a decent price to use with my new juicer and stay healthy and energized.

Have a great week and don’t forget to remember to be grateful!

Good morning!  Welcome to this week’s thankful Monday blog post!

Today, I am thankful for the following:

1. I’m thankful for the fit body and sufficient health that allowed me to run 8 miles and walk another yesterday morning with my husband and a new friend.  We are all training for the Charlottesville 10 Miler this spring and we had a great training run!
2. I am thankful for the various free educational opportunities out on the web.  I’ve been taking online courses, lectures, and seminars from Code Academy, Coursera, and I Will Teach You To Be Rich since the new year started and I am learning so much valuable information as well as building my experience base, and it’s all FREE!
3. I am thankful for birthdays because they give us an excuse to celebrate and a chance to come together with new and old friends.
   

   Thursday night at the Melting Pot celebrating Kristen’s birthday with friends!

4. I’m thankful for Netflix and Comcast On Demand that allow me to escape my worries and stress temporarily at the drop of a hat by having thousands of movies available.  This weekend, I watched Total Recall, The Switch, Man of the House, and Insidious.
5. I’m thankful for the fresh start to do better and live fuller that Monday brings us each week!

Have a great week!

Good morning and welcome to this week’s Thankful Monday post!

Here’s what I’m thankful for today:

1. I’m thankful for good friends and their creativity.  I had a wonderful time crafting and spending time with girlfriends on Saturday and even made a lovely bracelet!
2. I’m thankful for cool in-laws.  I’ve always said that I’m very lucky to love and get along well with my mother and father-in-law especially when I hear other people complain about theirs.  My in-laws let me watch the Texans game at their place last night at the last minute and even made an event out of it complete with dinner and beer!
3. Again I am thankful for today’s technology.  This past week, it allowed me to chat with my brother, talk to my sister, Skype with my mom, and text with my dad.  I’m so thankful to be able to stay close with them even when we are far away from each other.
4. I’m thankful for my cats.  My husband went camping Saturday night and they cuddled with me and kept me warm all night while he was gone.
5. Lastly, I’m thankful for God who watched over and protected a friend who was in a car accident this weekend and turned out to be just fine.

Have a wonderful week!

Good morning and welcome to week 2 of 2013 and today’s Thankful Monday post!

Today I am thankful for the following:

1. I am thankful for a job where I can work from home on occasion.  I was sick with a cold most of last week and luckily I was able to work from home in my pajamas on the couch rather than come to work and infect others while an endless stream of mucous flowed from my nose or waste my precious PTO!
2. I am thankful that for now, my body seems to be getting over this cold quite quickly.  It’s been less than a week since I started feeling badly and with the exception of some leftover congestion, I’m already feeling pretty much back to my old self.
3. I am thankful for a husband that went to the grocery store Friday after work and bought me the ingredients to make my mom’s homemade chicken noodle soup that always makes me feel better when I’m sick.
4. I am thankful my brother made it home safely from South Africa and had a good trip.
5. I am thankful my sister has found a job at Starbucks and seems to be excelling at it.

And as a bonus,

I am thankful that the Texans beat the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday in the first round of the NFL playoffs!  Go Texans!

Have a great week!

Good morning and welcome to the last day of 2012 and today’s Thankful Monday post.  Here’s what I’m thankful for:

1. I’m thankful for a fresh start with a new year starting tomorrow.  I’m ready to do right by 2013!
2. I’m thankful that my brother comes home from South Africa tomorrow.  Even though we live 6 hours apart, we’ve been talking alot and I miss our little chats.  Plus I’m really excited to hear about his adventures!
3. I’m thankful for the ability to work from home on occasion.  It made me feel alot safer to work from home rather than drive to work last week when we had a snowy and icy day and there were lots of car accidents being reported.
4. I’m thankful for my wonderful mom and her amazing talent for gift giving.  We are loving our new AeroGarden and Soda Stream, both of which will save us some money and help us to live healthier lives.
5. I’m thankful for my mother-in-law Virginia mom and her craftiness and creativity.  She helped me make an amazing New Years wreath yesterday and has really introduced me to some great projects lately that have allowed me to healthily distract myself from my anxieties.

Happy New Year everyone!  May 2013 be your best year yet!

Welcome to today’s Thankful Monday Wednesday post!  Monday was my birthday and yesterday was Christmas and my mom was in town so there was little time for blog posting.  Here’s what I’m thankful for this week:

1. I’m thankful for the BEST most wonderful mom who loves me so much.  She knew I was down in the dumps about not being able to fly to Texas for my birthday and Christmas this year (the first time ever) so she flew to Virginia and surprised me!  I love her so much it makes my heart hurt!
2. I’m thankful for my wonderful husband and friends who helped facilitate my mom’s trip by picking her up from the airport and delivering her to me at the ugly Christmas sweater party I was attending.
3. I’m thankful for my Virginia family who not only helped my mom plan the surprise but were generous hosts while she was here, making us dinner and desserts on several occasions.  I’m also thankful for them welcoming us into their home on Christmas Eve and Christmas.
4. I’m thankful for airports, pilots, airplanes, and everything else that allows us to travel far and wide these days.  Mom was able to travel to Virginia Friday night and then back to Houston on Christmas morning in order to spend time with my sister on Christmas after she got off work.
5. I’m thankful for my husband for being caring, considerate, and understanding, and giving me a shoulder to cry on when it was finally time for my mom to leave.  I miss her so much, but I’m so thankful for the people who I love who live close by to get me through the times when I find myself missing my family unbearably!

Merry belated Christmas to everyone and mom, if you are reading, I love you so much and am grateful for you everyday!

This Monday, I’m thankful for the following:

1. I’m thankful for my wonderful AMAZING friends who threw me a surprise birthday party this weekend!  I’m a lucky gal to have so many great people in my life!
2. I’m thankful for the opportunity to get to know some of my coworkers better on Friday at an unofficial work Christmas party.  I had a blast!
3. I’m thankful for a cooperative and wonderful husband who not only attended my work party on Friday and spent all day Christmas shopping with me on Saturday, but he also helped my friends with surprise party planning!
4. I’m thankful for a good job that pays well and has allowed me to buy my loved ones Christmas gifts this year.
5. I’m thankful for the long phone conversation I had with my cousin Megan yesterday.  It was so great to finally catch up with her!

I hope everyone is having a lovely and grateful Monday!

Yesterday, I watched the documentary, Happy, which explores what makes people happy in all different walks of life.  The movie was very enlightening and definitely worth the hour and a half it took to watch.

Lately, I’ve been doing quite a bit of research: reading (books, blogs, and articles), watching (online and TV), and exploring of myself to try to become a happier and healthier (mentally and physically) person.  I know that true happiness does not come from a pill, or other people, or money, but from inside myself.  So I’ve been trying to figure out how to access this happiness that I know is hidden somewhere inside of me.

One of the methods for finding happiness within that the documentary suggested was listing 5 things you are thankful and grateful for on a regular basis.  I’ve heard that this is a great way to bring about feelings of happiness and well-being from many other sources, so I thought that this blog could server as a great medium for listing what I’m thankful for on a regular basis.  I’m going to try and remember to post 5 things that I’m thankful for every Monday here on the blog.  I like to think of it as a good experiment.  If it works and succeeds at making me a happier person, then I’m better off.  And even if it doesn’t make me happier, it will serve as a good reminder as to why I should keep my chin-up and count my blessings.

So here it goes, 5 things I am grateful for on this Monday morning:

1. I’m thankful for my cat’s health.  We found a large lump on Revolver Ocelot’s chest Friday evening and I’m so grateful that not only was the vet able to get us in for an appointment at the last minute on Saturday morning, but also that the vet seems to think that the lump is not a tumor, but only an infection that is being treated with antibiotics.
2. I’m thankful for cell phones and wireless networks.  It is because of these, that I was able to call my twin brothers, Christian and Bradley, last night and wish them a happy 7th birthday.  I would have liked to be there to celebrate with them, but I’m very happy that I could call them and talk to them on their birthday.
3. I’m thankful for my husband’s family and that we live close to them.  I am often whining and feeling sorry for myself about the fact that I live so far away from my family.  However, I realize that many people have no family or friends close to them.  When my dad moved to America, his entire family was half way around the world (and a much longer and more expensive plane ride than the one from Virginia to Texas).  So I am very thankful to live close to my Virginia family and have lovely traditions to share with them during the holidays.
4. I’m thankful for strong legs and a healthy body that allows me to run on a regular basis.
5. I’m thankful to have the ambition, desire, and knowledge to seek out a happier and healthier me.

A couple other things that the documentary mentioned that I’m hoping to try are compassion meditation and committing regular random acts of kindness.