It's the little things, really.

The other day, I had a conversation with my mom that seems to be a monthly, or, hopefully, closer to bi-monthly, occurance. It involves me freaking out, getting stressed about money and work and the PURPOSE OF LIFE and all those other things that get un-thought-of and suppressed most other times of the day/week/month/year. But sometimes, things pile up and you need to just let it out. And my mom typically has the perfect mix (though I wouldn't admit it to be perfect while said freaking out is happening) of being a listening ear and rational advice-giver.

And, through our conversation, I realized something I already knew. There are so many things in my life that give me joy, things about which to be thankful. And it is so easy to go through life not noticing these things and focusing on the annoyances, the stresses, and the complicated crapiness that sometimes happens.

So I decided, right then and there, to do something about it. In an effort to recognize those things, from the smallest, most seemingly insignificant things, to things I just don't recognize are important during my everyday life, to those things that I realize in the midst are joy-giving, I need to be aware of them. And, to be honest, I am killing two birds with one stone, as I've also been wanting to take more pictures more often. So I am documenting those things which give me joy. And sharing them with all of you. Hopefully weekly (which is already a lie because I wanted to start this the first week in March and just got around to compiling the pictures. But now I have one down so the subsequent ones will hopefully be easier to do now that I know what I want. And I'm going back and doing the weeks I missed).

Maybe it will inspire you to take a look around you and give you perspective. Maybe it will give you amusement at the totally ridiculous things that I find exciting. But either way, posting them keeps me accountable to continue doing it. And I really like crossing things off of my to-do list, so to have a recurring weekly thing on there is pretty great too.

Joy. 3.1-3.7

1. Ladybug bean necklace. From China.
2. New MonKeys from Old Friends.
3. The first thing to live in the new apartment.
4. My Family.
5. IKEA cinnamon rolls. Every. Day.
6. This face.
7. Finding and trying new and soon favorite recipes with friends.
8. Long phone calls with favorite people.
9. Blueberry muffins with REAL blueberries in them.