Danielle Blog

An excellent day

Yesterday was an excellent, fabulous day!

What made it so great? Well, 3 major things, but there were other smaller things that added to the fabulousness.

My day started with a great cup of tea and a nice bowl of oatmeal with golden raisins and dried cherries added to it. I’ve cut back on my tea so that I only drink 1 large mug of caffeinated tea in the morning and then switch to decaf or herbal for my post-lunch cupt of tea. This means that in the morning, I kind of end up nursing my large mug in an attempt to really try to savor it. So, I did that yesterday.

I had a nice breakfast while talking to my dad and hanging out. Then we worked together at hanging most of the decorative glass pieces around the house with fishing line and coffee cup hooks.

Here are the pieces in the front window. They sparkle more in person, but you’ll at least get an idea of what I’m talking about.

Here are the pieces in the kitchen window.

There are still more to go. But now, I walk through the house and I see them when I turn corners or walk into a room and they bring me such joy.

I also had an excellent lunch. To top it off, my dessert was half of a Caribou chocolate chunk cookie! I still have one cookie left, so I’m kind of spreading out the joy of the 2 cookies over a 4 day span. *grin*

One of the three major events yesterday that made my day so great was a gift from my parents of new shoes!

It has been a couple years since I got new shoes. I was way overdue for shoes since I actually had worn a hole in my old pair, but even with the hole I just never made the time to go do it. Also, my shoes for exercising were so worn down that I was walking with my feet turned inward (pronating). I went to the best store ever for my ‘problem feet’ – Foot Solutions. This is the same place I went to right before Texas Seestor’s wedding to get a pair of heels that I could actually wear for 8 hours and feel okay in them. The shoes are the most comfortable ones I’ve ever owned. They just feel perfect.

The second of the three major things that made my day so great was also a gift from my parents. I had an hour long full-body massage! I specifically asked the therapist to focus on my head, neck, shoulders, and back, because I carry a lot of tension in my back. Sure enough, my therapist had his work cut out for him trying to work the knots out of my shoulders. It was really fantastic. I even had some knots in my upper arms, in my hands, and a bit in my jaw that he worked out. That was really amazing.

And then, when I got home, I found the third major thing that brightened my day. A package from Therese and Jim, my ‘second mom and dad’ who I mentioned to you before in the tulip picture. Therese wrote this wonderful note to go with the present, and I want to share it here because it is clever and fun and is like a poem, but also so that it is archived for posterity.

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Tea is always for two.
Chocolate is for the inner core of you.
The book – I don’t know – but it’s you – you know.
A dream can come true – it can happen to you.
Plant your garden – watch it grow
write them down – then you will know
which flowers have the most beautiful show.
The candle in the moonlight will cast a glow – for you and HB – well, you know!
The journal is a journey of your life -
look at the colorful cover and always remember “the little girl” in you.
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Isn’t that neat!?

The tea is a Wedgewood brand from England it is strawberry!
The chocolate is choxie and has raspberry in it which is just perfect.
The book has a note of it being by the author of “The undomestic goddess” which just made me laugh and laugh.
The dreaming part refers to this beautiful silver bookmark with a cut out of a flower in it that has a beautiful quote by Henry David Thoreau “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.”
Isn’t that perfect?!
The garden gnome is the cutest little guy. I’ve decided that he needs to have a little bit of soil to live in on my kitchen window.
The journal will be a perfect spot to track my flowers. It is the cutest thing and is covered with flowers. It even has little beeds glued to it that are blue. I’m sure that when Therese was picking it out, she was remembering the time that I visited her and Jim and how I pulled out my journal of the landscaping that we’d done on our new house. I had made a journal where I’d glued in ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos of the front of the house, but also had included individual pictures of flowers and a description of where they’d been planted along with the little plastic things that come with the plants.

And to end the perfect day, HB made a wonderful supper of salad with chipotle dressing, salmon (I put dill sauce and capers on mine) and my favorite rice pilaf!

It was just an amazing day, and it wasn’t even my birthday yet! I hope you are having a nice day too.