A few months ago, when I was going through a really rough time in my life, my friend Rebecca sent me a book to cheer me up. It was called The Book of Awesome, and it has made me happy every day since. I’m actually surprised it’s taken me so long to blog about it!
Back in 2008, the author started a website called 1000 Awesome Things as a “getaway” from his everyday life. He writes:
Polar ice caps are melting, hurricanes swirl in the seas, wars are heating up around the world, and the job market is in a deep freeze.
Whoa.
It’s getting pretty ugly out there.
When he started the site, he never imagined that writing about finding money in your old coat pocket or watching The Price is Right when you’re at home sick would amount to anything, but he soon realized that these tiny moments make an awesome difference in many people’s stressed-out, jam-packed lives. The website grew and grew, and eventually it turned into a book.
Like many people, it’s sometimes easy for me to forget the things that make me smile, but this book constantly reminds me that awesome things are all around. I started to read it from the beginning, but now I skip around and read one or two chapters every night before I go to bed. The Book of Awesome always makes me smile, so I go to bed with all sorts of happy thoughts in my head. It’s a nice way to end the day.
Here’s my list of AWESOME:
- Laughing so hard I start to cry
- When Murphy does elephant butt
- The sound of the door opening when Mal comes home from school
- Eddie Money’s “Two Tickets to Paradise”
- Realizing someone else emptied the dishwasher
- Crossing the finish line of a race
- Cream cheese frosting
- Randomly bumping into an old friend
- Sleeping in new bed sheets
- Evening walks with Mal and Murphy
- When it’s sunny and raining at the same time
- The sounds of New York City at 34th and 8th
- Waking up and realizing it’s Saturday
- When people send me funny photos of pugs
- The first scoop out of a jar of nut butter
- Wearing flip flops in October
- Adding more weight to my bar in Body Pump
- Puppy dreams
- Text messages from my mom
- Getting Extra Bucks with my receipt at CVS
- Listening to old DMB shows really loud in my car
- The smell of burning leaves in the fall
- Scoring a parking spot in Harvard Square
- Seeing dogs run free at the park
Dinner
A couple of months ago, I bought a box of Trader Joe’s Vegetable Masala Burgers, but I never tried them. They just sat in my freezer until last night.
I finally cooked one up, and I was pleasantly surprised by its ‘meatiness’ and strong flavor of Indian spices. Let’s just say, it wasn’t a boring veggie burger!
I added my Vegetable Masala Burger to a salad made with arugula, tomatoes, cucumbers, steamed spinach, navy beans, broccoli, carrots, and balsamic vinegar.
Breakfast
This morning’s breakfast looks sort of gross, but it wasn’t at all! In the mix: oatmeal, pumpkin pie spice, baked cinnamon apples (that I cooked last night), crumbled Chia Charger Xpresso, and a big scoop of Chia Charger nut butter. Holy yum. And holy chia seeds.
Question of the Day
What’s on your AWESOME list?
