Life's little joys and wins

I have been journaling since 2011ish. I still have all of those old journals somewhere, probably in a box that has *still* yet to be unpacked from our move almost a year ago (Hey...it happens). It's been within the last year, though, that I have sort of slacked. Where I used to write at least a few days a week, it's now come to the point where I've gone a month + without writing. Not anything bad, it's either just not been a priority. Most days, I'm so tired that I just want to go to bed and read a chapter or so of whatever book I happen to be reading, and then go to sleep. So fast forward to a couple of weeks ago...

A sermon at Eastside was titled "Perspective" and one of the notes I took away from it was "don't sweat the small stuff". Hello?! Since that Sunday, I have tried to get back into journaling more routinely again, and one of the things I have started writing down is "wins for today" or "life's joys". It has really helped me to stay grounded and practice gratitude and reflect on the fact that, even on the not-so-great days, I have something to be grateful for. 

With all of that being said, here is my list that I have come up with, spanning the last couple weeks of life. I hope to post more of these in the future 😊

• The Friday mornings during summer schedule where I'm able to sleep in and have a cup of coffee and finish a book
• my pretty new bookmarks
• my soft new scrunchies, seriously they're the best. Here's the link in case you want them too! 
• good movies made better by good friends, aka double dates. Just an FYI, if you all haven't seen Sound of Freedom yet, you really need to. It's pretty intense, and HEAVY, but such a good, powerful message! 
• evening (or sometimes morning) walks with Justin
• the smell of my hand soap, "Poppy" from bath and body works. It makes me so happy
• I had a new person clean my teeth at my dentist appointment a couple of weeks ago and she asked if I had ever had braces before. I said no. She then proceeded to compliment me on my "beautiful teeth" 😁
• recently having the ability to switch my flight to Boston to an earlier time- aka more time with Kelly!! (I am visiting her in October) 
• my mom doing better after a year of up-and-down health 💗
• getting our outdoor umbrella set up with a base and buying an outdoor table- from ALDI, of all places!- and enjoying many more evenings out in the backyard. When it isn't miserably hot, of course 😬
• the discovery of a new- to me!- consignment/thrift shop in Richmond where I recently acquired several fun treasures and trinkets
• friends who text you and say "hey we have a ton of food come over"