Gratitude

Another post on practising gratitude for the little things in life today (the first one is back here). Just because sometimes it's nice to reflect on the things this week that I am thankful for. I started writing this last week then we got some pretty bad news, hence no weekend post sorry, but I think it's good even when times are bad to think about the little things that make it better.

• My messy flat, because it is filling up with all the kit and detritus for Kilimanjaro and the wedding. Kili is 2 months away now! Also because we are too busy to clean it we are now running on a reduced housework 'as long as we have food and the floors are hoovered, the kitchen and bathrooms are sort of clean and we can sit on the sofa and get in the bed then it'll do' system. So yay no dusting. I joke, but the standards are low at the moment guys, do not come round unannounced you are likely to have to climb over backpacks and tents to get in!
• We have been doing less climbing (boo) because Tom is resting his ankle, and I need to focus on kili training so cardio and gym and walking. The unexpected benefit of this is that we now get Tuesday afternoons/evenings together. Tuesdays are often Tom's day off, so I get home at just gone 4pm then we have the rest of the evening. It's nice in a busy week to get some uninterrupted time, even if we usually just watch Heroes on Netflix. 
• Last week on Tuesday afternoon we went for a picnic on the park which Tom prepared, bless him he bought all veggie stuff and a bottle of wine and had it all ready when I got in from work. Plus he'd been researching honeymoon flights and dates all afternoon. It's little things like this that are the reason I'll never have cold feet about marrying him, anyone can buy a bunch of flowers or spend money on presents but the thoughtful things are what matters. 
• I got 2 free £200 bridesmaid dresses! My dress shop had an offer on that if I bought my dress in July (was going to anyway) then I would get 2 free dresses. So my 2 sisters now have dresses on order, and when we have the money for them we will order the next 2. But £400 worth of free dresses!! Plus my dress is ordered and paid for. Can I have a girly squeeee moment?! OK done promise to not do that too often but this wedding malarkey is turning me into a right girl :)
• All the walking has really got me out in the fresh air and I am thankful to live in such a beautiful place and be able to enjoy it like this in the nice weather we have been (sometimes) having.
• On a more materialistic note we got a Sonos speaker and it is amazing! I was all 'but we have a stereo, why do we need a new thing, I don't understand it, it won't play my CD's and what about radio?' yes I am old and not convinced about digital music and I want radio and disks. However, Tom gets points at work and can then order stuff out of a catalogue for them...so it didn't cost us anything! At the cost of them we would never have bought one (probably, although we now want another play:1 for the other side of the living room and are contemplating buying the 'bridge' so we can move it from room to room wirelessly - amazing - and maybe a Play:3 for the dining room as we could then hear that through the back of the flat) but I would recommend them if you have a spare few hundred quid (also sponsor me if you do). If we got 2 more and built up to getting the playbar over time (it's £500 so a looong time of Tom saving his points!) we could double them up as surround sound. And yeah, I'm converted, and grateful that we didn't pay £169 for it. This post was not sponsored by sonos I am just kind of amazed by this little speaker!

I am aware that in comparison to a lot of people in the world my life is pretty awesome, and even when I get bogged down in the mundane (and not so mundane) sagas of modern life I sometimes have to check my attitude and remember that I am thankful to live the life I have.

Sponsor me to climb Kilimanjaro! 

www.justgiving.com/katie-kili

 

Cheers!

It was thanks giving last week in America, and I follow quite a few American blogs so reading all their thanks giving posts over the weekend got me thinking of everything I am thankful for...and it made me feel all warm and fuzzy so I thought I'd share the list. It is so easy to think of what we have yet do accomplish, or what we need or want that we don't have that it really puts things into perspective to look at what we already have.

So I am thankful for:

1. My Grampy had a recent cancer diagnosis but following radiotherapy has been given the all clear. I am so thankful that he doesn't need to go on to have chemotherapy or surgery and that they caught it early enough to treat it.
2. My family - Just generally that they are all here and that as mad and massive and expanding as our family is it is loving, caring and mine.
3. Tom - That we are engaged and planning our wedding. And that he makes me cups of tea in the morning and gets the pasta off the top of the cabinets for me, and when I'm hungry and grouchy he will just laugh off my terrible mood and make me something to eat (I get really moody really quickly when I'm hungry), and motivates me to go climbing when I don't want to, and humours all my weird habits and quirks, and a million other things.
4. My health - I know everyone who is healthy is thankful for their health in a vague kind of way, but seeing and speaking to people near my own age at work who have such huge health problems, and some people who are terminal and will not see 40 or even 30, makes me thank my lucky stars every day that I have a strong and healthy body. Sure I might wish to be a jeans size smaller, or my skin to be better but what does that matter?
5. That I am at a point in my life where I am content, this started over the last year actually and I love the feeling of being in charge of my life and that I am starting to get to where I want to be. I like where we live. I like my job. We're getting married. I have a new hobby in climbing that I enjoy and is helping me get fit, and has prompted me to even started trying other exercise. I feel like financially we are doing ok, although the wedding will take up a lot of our disposable income next year! Generally I feel secure, happy, settled and healthy. I don't know if this is because I am edging my way to my later twenties, or because we are getting married, or because we moved to a new area and a new property where I am about 100% happier but I just really like my little life at the moment.
6. You guys for reading...I started this blog as a way to keep people we knew in the loop about our new flat and just a little space for me to share stuff that I thought someone might find useful, so I'm very thankful that anyone is reading!

Did any of you celebrate thanksgiving last week? I hope you had a lovely time if so!