6/9 5 Gratefuls

5 things that I'm grateful for this past week.

1. Talking. I know this sounds like something silly to be grateful for but its true! Sometimes talking just helps. Whether its about a problem, trying to work out a solution or sharing something amazing that happened. Having someone to talk to is great!
2. My date night with my wife. I had good food, a Wolverine burger at Red Robin!, we watched a great movie, Iron Man 3, and had plenty to talk about. It was a nice refreshing break from the week 
3. My artistic ability. I don't like to brag or boast or even claim that I'm artistic in any fashion but I'm glad I have the ability to draw. Lately I've been carrying around a small sketchbook and just jotting down notes and doing quick doodles whenever I can. It's very therapeutic to just work something out or to just let go and simply play with pencil and paper.
4. My sister. She always helps out when she can and even when its not needed she helps anyway. My wife and I owe a lot to her and she is way more appreciated than we can ever show her. 
5. My friend, Sabz. I had a really crappy day earlier this week. She might not have made it complete better but she reached out in such a way that it helped make a huge impact. She showed love and caring when I needed it. Others did as well and not to downplay them at all but what she did to put a smile on my face left me totally speechless. 

5/18 Gratefuls, a friendly event

This week's 5 Gratefuls will be very friend heavy. What can I say, I love my friends!

1. I'm grateful to have two best friends. My loving wife, Andrea, who is always there for me no matter what. We've had 7 great years of marriage and a few before that of being together, and caring for one another and always having each other's best interest in mind. My other is a relatively new bestie, my friend Ayesha. It's been kismet to have become such good friends so fast and to just have so much to relate to. From the beginning of our friendship it was like we picked up from having known each other forever. I am so ever grateful to have both these extraordinary women in my life. 
2. My great friend and little sister, Sabah. Always so fun to hang out with! She graduated with a bachelor's yesterday and I'm so proud of her. I'm very thankful and lucky to have gotten to know her and be there for her her last part of her journey through college and so glad I get to be there for her new journeys. 
3. I'm very grateful that bf mentioned above got to come back home for the weekend. It's been a busy weekend but we've had the chance to hang out and create another bond in our friendship. It's continues to amaze me how much our friendship grows and grows. She's truly appreciated. 
4. I appreciate my new found family. I'm lucky to have my own, my wife's family and now a third. Mom treats us amazing and is an amazing woman herself. Little brother is super cool. Tough shell exterior but now that, that has been cracked he's all convo and smiles. Then there's my two great friends. I count my blessing to have them and hard to imagine life without them now. 
5. Lastly for this week, I just have a general appreciation for friends and family. Today is the first day I haven't hung out with anyone in a long time. Wife worked a full closing shift which is something she hasn't done in a long time. Bestie was busy so she couldn't hang out. Then the last few days was full of family and friends. To all of a sudden have no one to hang out with and be home with nothing to do just felt so...alone. I got that, "you never know what you have until you lose it" kinda feeling. Days like these definitely let me appreciate being around, not just people, but people I truly like.  

5 Grateful things, 5/12

My second weekly 5 grateful things that I was thankful for this past week:

1. My mom. Without her I wouldn't be the person I am today. I have a deep admiration and respect for women because of her. 
2. My friends' mom for feeding me! She invites me over for dinner and welcomes me into her house as if I was one of her own. 
3. My wife and Ayesha, for putting up with my moods on a daily basis. They deal with me and diffuse my moods in a way that no others can. They both have a way to lift my spirits without knowing it or without even knowing I need it. 
4. For seeing and being able to hang out with my niece who has served a few tours in the Air Force over seas, and has now retired from serving our country. 
5. To the Stockton Thunder ECHL West Coast Champs!! For the past 5 years I've cheered them on at games and last night they won the Western Conference Championship for the very first time. It was an emotional moment to countdown last few seconds of the game and see what hardwork and a great team can do when they work together. 

Grateful for 5 things this week.

I want to start weekly Sunday night blog. It'll be simple, just 5 things that I'm grateful for that happened in the past week, or just moments that I appreciated. This will be in no particular order. Here's the 1st entry...

1. I attended the Multicultural Graduation of my dear friend, Sabah, then had dinner with her and her family. 
2. I got to hold and play with my niece's 1yr old son, even though he peed on me! 
3. That my cousin Danny got into a major horrible motorcycle accident and that he survived, is doing well, and still has his awesome sense of humor. 
4. I had a rough work week. This past week was hell week at work and despite everything that could've gone wrong, nothing did. I worked hard and was told by both my supervisor and manager that I was doing an awesome job and going above and beyond. 
5. Through technology I was able to watch a documentary and tv shows at the same exact time with a friend that's far away and through texting it seemed like we were hanging out together. 

That's my 5 for the week! Again in no particular order. Wonder what I'll be grateful next week?

Mellifa...wha?!

Someone I know just recently started blogging. I hope she doesn't mind the shout out but its a cool blog so far. She only has a few entries and its great. She has a good writing style that makes it enjoyable to keep reading.

The one thing that really reached out though, the thing that hit me and made her blog stand out a bit more so than others was at the end of the first entry I read she had a list titled, "Today, I am grateful for...", and she had a few things she was grateful for. It wasn't necessarily what was on the list that struck me but the fact that she took her time out to make a list like this, and she added it to the end of every entry!

It's so common to see people rant and bitch and complain about how horrible their day was or or how hard life is but its rare to see someone stop and list things that they are grateful for. I really appreciated this and it made me stop and before I finished her list I actually said a small little prayer of everything I was thankful for.

How much better would the world be if everyone took 30 seconds out of their day to do this? Just a pause on a busy day and saying, "I'm thankful for the sun shining on my skin and making me feel warm", or something of the sort. I bet that would help a little with anxiety, or stress, or whatever...thing, someone is dealing with.

I wont copy her style and do the same to my blog but I do want to start being a little more thankful. Just at the end of the day maybe saying one thing to myself that I'm thankful for that the day has brought. It wouldn't hurt and I can see nothing but the benefit of peace, tranquility, and happiness come from it.

I know in one of the 1st posts that I said I'd close comments but they're open and I'm interested, What are YOU thankful for?




To check out her blog please visit:

http://amellifluouslife.wordpress.com