Celebrating the Good Stuff.

I added another MantraBand to my stack today. This one in honor of my 2016 intention for more celebrating the good stuff.

The card that accompanied the band included these "instructions":

Celebrate love.

Celebrate family.

Celebrate friendships.

Celebrate small victories.

Celebrate courage.

Celebrate life, and you will always

have more to celebrate.

(see why I'm a fan?!)

I love how thinking about things in the frame of "celebrating" helps me focus on the good stuff. And in the spirit of beginning how I mean to go on, here's a short list of what I'm celebrating right now.

• Katie was home sick today (not the reason to celebrate!) so I had the opportunity to bring her soup for lunch ...and she just texted it was delicious (yay Costco!)
• Today was a newsletter Thursday and my part was done early this morning. Someone else pushed the "publish" button. (and that same someone else is also posting on the shop's Instagram feed and blog). That's not even a small victory - it feels huge!
• Only forward progress on the purple sweater.
• It's bookclub tonight - no book, but we're still getting together for a chili potluck. I've wavered about going (Marc just got home from Asia last night), but now I'm showered - and soon I'll be dressed and made up. Celebrating neighbors...who are friends.

How about you - what are you celebrating right now?

Ten on Tuesday | More and Less.

Charlie is all about more these days. If you know baby sign language, you might recognize "more" in the middle of this story board.  This is from New Year's Day, when Marc showed Charlie the horse game. and then had to play it over, and over, and over.

Today I saw more milk, more eggs, more kiwi (oops, sorry, that was the last one), more book (he likes to read most books at least two times in a row), more puzzle, more cheese and I'm sure there were a few others, too.

Which sets me up nicely to share this week's list - what I want more (and less) of in 2016.

1. more real food. hopefully cooked by me (and/or Marc).

2. more play. and not only on Tuesdays.

3. more current events. I gave up news a few years ago and I must admit, I didn't miss it. But this past week, when I mentioned to Sara that "I don't do news", she told me that wasn't something I should be proud of. She's right. Especially in an election year. So...I'm listening to Morning Edition and All Things Considered and looking for a few more sources. I'd really love to read something (vs listen), but I find it hard to read on my computer and I definitely don't want any paper coming home. Ideas welcome!

4. more celebrating the good stuff. I feel like I do a pretty good job of celebrating the big things (birthdays and such), but I want to be more mindful of the ordinary things.

5. more reaching out.  emails, letters, cards, coffee meet-ups...

6. more music. and not only because dancing is fun!

7. more photos & stories.

8. less WIPs. I want to finish what I start, not necessarily have less starts! (and I really want to finish all the things I've started in years past).

9. less caffeine....and hopefully

10. more sleep. It feels wimpy to admit this, but I need more sleep. I'm better equipped to deal with life when I've had 7+ hours...and my typical night is closer to 6 (or less). as I type this, I think maybe wimpy is just another word for grown-up. We'll see!

Thank you, Carole, for another inspiring topic. I look forward to seeing what y'all have planned - and to cheering you on!

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