Gratitude*Monday

I'm joining Taryn at Wooly Moss Roots and several other lovely bloggers in honoring the things for which we've been grateful for throughout the week. A quiet, weekly practice of appreciation and positivity. A time to breath and reflect.

If you would like to join us, just click the image at the bottom of this post.

This Week I am Grateful For:

* Day trips in to NC! I grew up in the mountains and desperately miss them, so any trips out of the flatlands in to those cool, hulking places of Earth make me so very, very happy.
* Fresh apples (soon to be made in to apple butter and pie!), local honey and old postcards found at an antique store during our day trip. They date from the 1920's and 1930's and feature my much beloved Asbury Park back in it's glory days.

* Getting rained on! What a bizarre thing to be thankful for; but it's true. It was so hot all day long that the thunderstorms that rolled in and drenched Joe and I as we walked through town (why duck in to overcrowded shops? It's only rain.) were a welcome refreshment.
* Tiptoeing back in to my practice of working with oil pastels on a regular basis. I once thought I wanted to make myself do this every day, but if I'm not in the mood to create, I'm not going to force it. That's as bad, to me anyway, as stepping away from something you're working on out of fear. Ick, ick, ick.

*Hubby scrubbing up the bathtub so I could have a good end of the week soak.
* Taking a few hours for uninterrupted self-care/home spa time. A warm bath, a pint of cold Octoberfest, candles, homemade oatmeal bath soak, deep hair conditioning (with natural oils), topped off with a sparkly mani/pedi. For some reason as I get older, I've grown way more fond of bright colors and glitter. My nails used to only be black or deep wine red. Not anymore! The more unicorny it is, the better.

* Time curled up with a book on the couch with a napping hubby and furbabies.
* Taking a self-imposed technology break. Do you ever feel like you've been a bit too sucked in to the depths of social media, the internet, television? Ever been appalled by how much time you've spent vegetating in front of a screen for no good reason? Yeah, me too. I've found myself sitting aimlessly on Facebook or Twitter looking at the same shit over and over again, or getting sucked in to the vortex of "news" and "gossip" that the internet is so good at creating. And so, I've decided to take a break from all that. No social media, limited internetting; I don't count blogging, as to me, this is comparable to writing in a paper journal (which I'm am honestly less likely to keep up with, sad as that is). I'm not sure how long my break will be, we'll see when I feel that I've been off enough to be better at regulating my time. I'm not proud of the fact that this happens to me, that I find myself -for lack of a better word- addicted to the internet, but it happens and so I need to deal with it when it does.
* Finally applying for my Passport. I was so worried about doing it, I'm not sure why! Now, fingers and toes crossed it processes smoothly and comes back fast, so Joe and I can go on our planned vacation to celebrate our 5 year anniversary.

* Small street festivals! It's fun to wander about, dance to live music and sip on craft beers in to the night. :)
* The return of Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte. Normally, I'm not a huge Starbucks fan, but I'm happily devoted to the PSL.

To join in Gratitude Sunday, click on the image below! Happy Week, lovelies.