- One crazy day. Church, choir practice, dance competition, dance party/practice, bed.
- Concrete, off-the-dancefloor tips for improving my dancing: at least 2 weeks of pilates, and “strutting around” in skyscraping heels everywhere (around the house and when I go out) until I can keep my LEGS! STRAIGHT! in the latin dances.
- First choir performance in church. It’s so cool because we’re looking out into the congregation, sitting behind the pastor during his sermon and we can see EVERYONE and exactly what they’re doing. Once you’ve seen things from this perspective, you’ll never fall asleep in church again!
- Friends who appreciate becoming a social recluse as much as you do. Have I ever mentioned that I have the best friends in the world? Because I do. Hardly anyone else would understand this concept.
- Compliments in critique that make Inner Chanel go “hehehehe” and do a happy dance inside.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Great friends who can give balanced perspective on things I am not really in a position to judge.
- Choir practice. Have I mentioned how much I love choir? Because yes, I love choir. And I love love love this medley of four songs that we’re singing for special music tomorrow. :)
- Getting something done that is 1) overdue and 2) been weighing on my mind all week. It feels so good to have that out of my hands now.
- Eating in the mall food court alone, listening to my mp3 player and watching people. Have you ever tried this? Because you really should. It’s absolutely fascinating.
- Public transit. Don’t hate. I love it.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Listening to a cute vet give a lecture on dental health.
- Staying up until 4am. What am I, 14 again?
- Playing with fire.
- Discovering how easy it is to be a homewrecker.
- Introspection. It’s been awhile.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Apple naming their new product iPad. And just the iPad in general. Really, Apple? Way to disappoint.
- Having one of those days where all you can seem to do is think about how little direction you have in life, and somehow, not be terrified of that.
- Long, casual “about nothing in particular yet surprisingly deep” phone conversations.
- My first plaid print shirt (made of linen, not the normal plaid fabric) … for $5. It’s grey and white, of course, and yes, I jump on trends as they’re ending.
- The cute tomboy look.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Sweet, glorious, cloudless-sky SUNSHINE!
- Using something that has been available to you all along and only now realizing how valuable it is.
- Walking the dog on a beautiful sunny morning. Makes me realize how many things I am grateful for.
- Writing essays you expect to be painful but end up being not so bad.
- Realizing when to quit something and move on to the next thing in order to make the best of time.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- When my heart and mind start cooperating for a change.
- Finally feeling as if I’ve hit a couple breakthroughs in my training.
- Attempting balance between school, social and personal.
- Youtube makeup tutorials. I don’t wear much makeup so these aren’t exactly useful for me, but I absolutely love watching them.
- Friends who give you good perspective on things.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Getting to know acquaintances better.
- Coming home at 2:30 A.M.
- Having a surprisingly productive day for such little sleep.
- Organizing things that have been disorganized for so long.
- Working out. Trying to develop this into a daily habit!
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- The color black, even if it’s not technically a “color”.
- Learning a lesson, even if it’s tough to swallow.
- The european customary greeting.
- Watching this couple dance. I am in love.
- Compliments given without ulterior motivations.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Backless dresses.
- White nail polish.
- Being inspired to write.
- Analyzing, judging and making predictions.
- Sweet friends.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Trying out the bath pillow I got for Christmas, and soaking in a scorching hot tub after freezing my ass off all morning.
- Taking that module-end exam I’ve been putting off and being surprised by how much easier it was than I had expected it to be.
- Catching up with Facebook messages after having an awful dream that people were actually ANGRY with me for not replying them. :(
- Sauteed onions. Ohhhh lord how did I go almost two decades without loving these.
- My best friend’s artwork. She is so ridiculously talented, and even though I’ve seen much of her work over the many years I’ve known her, it never ceases to delight me!
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Finally getting that essay I had been putting off since FOREVER done. It was not as bad as I had expected.
- Working out for the first time since Christmas. (Yes, I’m awful.)
- Healthy, light, small-portioned, frequent meals.
- Instant curried Lentil soup with all of 5 ingredients that I can both 1) pronounce and 2) recognize.
- My dog showing remarkable improvement. Words cannot describe how happy this makes me.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Dress shopping on a 1.5 hour time limit. Found one for under $25 CAD at XXI (Canadian version of Forever 21). This is what I call efficient shopping!
- American Apparel’s nail polish in “Office”. Love this color.
- The smell of all Hollister / Abercrombie & Fitch stores. They might scare me, but they smell soooo goood.
- 2 hours of Latin ballroom instruction: very informative, and THANK GOD IT WASN’T THE JIVE. Because I probably would have died. That is all.
- 11pm pizza run to the hole-in-the-wall pizza store across from Joyce Skytrain Station. Deliciiious. (Tip: ranch on pizza – makes junk food even fattier, but omg SO GOOD.)
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- My dog not needing sedation for his x-rays. This is pretty much a miracle considering that he tried to bite the vet technician when she tried to take him from me – i.e., we all expected him to be wholly uncooperative. With sedation comes the risk he may not wake up from it (it’s always a risk, but greater so with him because of his heart) and I can’t even begin to describe how relieved and elated I felt when I saw the vet carry him out to me, awake and unsedated.
- How ridiculously favorable my dog is to the person who feeds him most – and right now, that person is me.
- Going driving with my dad. I practiced right and left hand turns, drove up to 50 km/h, u-turns, parking, and parallel parking!
- 2 hours of solid dance practice (and rewarding my hard work with a fresh strawberry & green apple bubble tea afterwards!) My legs and feet ached when I got home, but it felt so good to see improvements in one practice by concentrating & just doing it [over and over and over again].
- Feeling confident and sexy. These days have been pretty rare in the last six months, but I think they’re making a comeback. :)
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Dad’s birthday dinner at the very posh Milestones on Beach Avenue, overlooking the ocean. I paid. It was lovely, and the food was sooooo good.
- Family walks on the beach. It made me long for summer, but at the same time, appreciate how beautiful this place is even during the so-called “worst” months of the year. (And surprisingly, even right by the ocean, it wasn’t even cold – more like, 10°C or warmer!)
- Nutella & Grand Mariner Chocolate ice cream cake from La Casa Gelato. Holy mother of cupcakes was this “cake” ever delicious. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
- Sitting by the fire with my dad, listening to 1940s records and reading. At this moment, everything felt right with the world.
- Having the whole family together again.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Getting a different perspective – literally – on something I see week in and week out.
- Connecting with people who would have otherwise been passing faces at the back of my mind.
- Playing other people’s pianos. If I am in a room with a piano, I will have an insatiable urge to play. Sometimes fear holds me back, but usually, my desire to play overrules.
- Choir. I recently joined (and convinced Cam to join with me) – and I looove it. It feels good to sing & get involved.
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I was hesitant to watch this at first because I heard it was very sad, but it actually turned out to be a very good movie – sad, yes, but very good. And it made me think, which is a quality in movies I generally dislike, but turned out to be not altogether unpleasant.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Waiting for someone outside the mall and instead getting hit on & followed by a russian dude in his 30s whom I’m pretty sure may have been a prostitution recruiter. Can’t say this wasn’t amusing / scary.
- MY FIRST EVER DRIVING LESSON! I drove on actual streets next to actual cars. Not only that, but I made a left-hand turn onto my very busy street and drove all the way home, no instructor intervention needed. SO PROUD OF MYSELF.
- The satisfaction of comparing the “before” to the “after” and marveling at how great it looks now after you clean an appallingly dirty space.
- The great feeling of personal satisfaction when you do something outside your comfort zone and survive it.
- Adding to my sketchbook/yearbook/lifebook project – there is something so therapeutic about this! Not only that, but it provides the perfect “hard copy” creative outlet and great balance between art, a scrapbook, personal lists and a journal.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Turning what would have ended as a “frumpy day” into something entirely different by simply getting out of the house.
- Getting a glimpse into how stereotypical “normal” females feel; i.e., the joys of retail therapy. I’m not, and god-willing, will never be a shopper (except when it comes to groceries) but I think I finally get why women go to the mall and try on clothes when they’re in need of “retail therapy”.
- Public transit. Sorry – but taking it every day still doesn’t deter me from loving it.
- Strangers who take a leap of faith and offer to share their umbrella to the girl in the hoodie standing in the pouring rain waiting for the bus. I love random kindness – and we ended up having a nice conversation in the process. Strangers are friends you just haven’t met yet. :)
- Buying the most ultra-awesome pair of black, angora-like legwarmers that go up mid-thigh. They were super cheap ($7!) too.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- FINALLY BOOKING MY FIRST DRIVING LESSON. I have literally been putting this off for about a year and a half, and you have no idea how good it feels to finally do it. The first step is always the hardest! (This also fulfills one of my “one-a-day”s – do something you’ve been putting off.
- Grocery shopping. Love this.
- Having a day full of productiveness with very little idleness. I’ve come to realize these are among the days I’m happiest with.
- Vegetarian shepherd’s pie. Sooo good.
- Experimenting with different outfit combinations, and finding one that both looks good on me & makes me feel good wearing it. (It’s all black of course – black goes with anything, and happens to be my favorite color for things.)
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Telling people things that are hard to say outloud, even to yourself.
- Taking hump day a day early.
- How writing about something can make you realize how much you value it. It was in you all long, but it took committing words to paper to bring it to the forefront of your mind.
- Prettifying the sidebar of this layout. I love the feeling of satisfaction after being dissatisfied with something for so long.
- Having conversations via txt. I almost never do this.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- You. Even if you look straight through me like I don’t exist, you are so freaking cute I just want to die every time I see you. I can live with that.
- Making to-do lists to organize the panicked chaos going on inside my mind of all the things I need to do and am terrified i’ll forget.
- Narrowly escaping potential disasters.
- Feeling like I’m finally living a well-balanced life.
- My Don’t Mess With Texas t-shirt. Love.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- When you do something good for someone else, entirely without self motivations. (Although I won’t lie -It was pretty fun to pretend to be a CSI photographer and document all the flood damage in the four apartments!)
- The bus arriving one minute prior to my ticket expiring, and precisely on its scheduled time; by the time I got on it had expired but the bus driver let me on anyways. This bus is aaaalways late – Just two days before, that same bus was nearly 45 minutes late. I love small miracles. :)
- Shopping restraint.
- Texting. This was a cool invention.
- The Jane Austen Book Club. Cute chick flick.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Tights that are surprisingly effective at acting like a wind barrier to cold outdoors.
- Taking the bus places. So maybe I’m crazy – I just really like it.
- Not upchucking and losing my appetite forever when I had to cut up a raw chicken breast for my dog. GOOD LORD THAT WAS SO NASTY. If I wasn’t vegetarian before I sure in hell am now.
- Running errands & grocery shopping at Whole Foods on a Saturday night. This is me living life on the edge and acting my age. Totally.
- Dinner with a friend wherein we talk about everything from weaves to the LSATS to basketball. Until 2 in the morning. It’s crazy difficult to tell the time at The Naam by the people around you; the place was still busy and fairly packed when we left.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Alternative medicine. You never realize how much this means to you until you (or someone you love) is sick and conventional medicine offers no more solutions.
- People who genuinely love & care about dogs.
- Grocery shopping in 10 minutes or less.
- First choir practice of the season! I used to be in the choir maybe 4 years ago – back then, I only joined because my mother nagged me and my best friend agreed to join with me. This time around, I joined because I love singing. I’m so excited for what this year will bring!
- Having a plan. I feel helpless and useless when I don’t know at the least the next step I need to take.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Unexpected phone calls from friends.
- Designated family time.
- Costco’s french fries with vinegar, sauerkraut and ketchup. SO GOOD.
- Feeling balance.
- Just doing it so you can get it done.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Learning how to embrace “off days” and make them work for you regardless.
- Leisurely mid-afternoon walks with my dog.
- Writing in my scrapbook/journal/sketchbook.
- The vast amount of information the internet provides at the tip of your fingers.
- Experiencing this: “It is only when we’ve burned through all our options that God can work his best. Tonight, faith is all I need; and perhaps, all I have left.”
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Rocking pigtails after the age of 15.
- Balancing a water bottle on my head while I dance a foxtrot routine by myself, perfect heel turns and all. This is what you call skill.
- Getting to know new people.
- Meeting people who seem like they’ve lived several lifetimes because they’ve lived in so many parts of the world & have had so many different life experiences.
- Eating pizza by the ocean at midnight.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Living through 7 straight hours of Chem labs without terrible effort or suicidal feelings.
- Being gutsy and stepping way outside my comfort zone; I expected what I knew I had to do (and then did) to be way harder than it actually was. Adrenaline, maybe? Emotional head rush? Either way, I impressed myself—and that rarely happens (and that rarely happens, because I am my own harshest critic!)
- When I don’t spend my study days looking like a hag by wearing the clothes & greasy hair I slept in until I’m forced to change and/or take a shower. (This happens to frequently that it was, embarrassingly enough, on my new year’s resolution list.)
- Having a kickass best friend.
- Moments where it suddenly hits you how far you’ve come from the person you were three years ago.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- The delightful feeling you get after replying to the mountainous amount of emails, texts and facebook messages.
- Cleaning and organizing desks.
- Hot and sour soup that hits the spot.
- My darling new 2010 planner. We’re switching things up now!
- Stumbling on useful, stalkerish facts accidentally.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
- Hitting another one of my new years proposals, completely unintentionally and with complete ease: becoming more social and getting to know acquaintances better.
- Running errands downtown.
- People who make you laugh.
- Being a position to kill time delightfully, instead of grudgingly or forced by circumstances.
- Coming home to what feels like the perfect family, at the perfect time, in the perfect place.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things. Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things. Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things. Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things. Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things. Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things. Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things. Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things. Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace In Small Things.
