Daily Gems

This summer I started a writing habit (well not quite a habit yet) to remind myself to be grateful and to appreciate my favorite things in life.  Each day (that I remember) I write down five, or more, things for which I am grateful. I stole this from a women who called it her "Ode to Joy". I named mine, Daily Gems. After stumbling across a few inspiring blogs, I see others have done this too, but posted them to share their thoughts with the world.  I think I'll give it a shot. It may be more weekly since posting is a little more involved than just jotting down a few things, but I will include pictures, links and hopefully a little encouragement for you to be more grateful/appreciate everyday. Warning: some of these will be deep and emotional, but often it will be fun and borderline shallow. It's good be grateful for silly things too, even if they don't really impact my life beyond making me smile. But I think a smile has a huge impact. :)


Daily Gems:
1. New recipes that are easy, somewhat healthy and totally yummy.  Just 1 cup of plain yogurt and 1/2 cup of Nutella. Simply stir and dip anything you can find...pretzels, strawberries, fingers...

2. Successful Do-it-yourselfers.
You are an inspiration and someday I really will learn how to sew, paint, decorate...but for now, I'll pick up tips and spend all my time exploring abeautifulmess.typepad.com and i-do-it-yourself.com

3. Pinterest.I blame Rachel.

4. Thursday gym time. I get to spend over an hour in the nearly-empty gym every Thursday. The weights I want are free and I have nowhere else I need to be.

5. Wonderful, understanding people that I can just vent to, talk with and who will always give me encouraging and loving advice.  Today was a wonderful day!