Gratitude is one of the sweet shortcuts to finding peace of mind and happiness inside. No matter what is going on outside of us, there’s always something we could be grateful for.- Barry Neil Kaufman
1. Girlfriends
Through my days, I’ve connected with some pretty incredible ladies to love the shit out of. Life’s speckled us across all corners of North America at the moment, but a mini university reunion to celebrate the bump in our friend Kel’s belly had some of us in Toronto for one magical weekend this month. I love being with these girls – all it takes is one fragment of an idea to spiral into moments like the above. And that’s mild. Hallelujah for private Facebook albums. My favourite quote of the weekend happened during our dinner date: “Let’s go home so we can be weird.”
2. New Life
Though a big part of going home for two weeks meant my grandfather’s passing, this little bundle was our blessing. She was born on both my grandmother and Blair’s birthday. This angel’s my new ‘niece’ as I like to say and she’s going to be very, very spoiled by all her aunties XO. I’m so happy I got to meet her last week and look forward to January.
3. NYC
NYC this time around has been very different. I’m high on life, simply because I don’t have the commute to town like before. I can leave my doorstep and be in a community with restaurants & cafes & laundromats. Yes, even they excite me! Blair took this pic for his brother – they’re Seinfeld maniacs:
Jerry: Well,where are you?
Cosmo Kramer: I’m at the corner of 1st, and 1st.
Wait a minute. How can the same street intersect with itself? I must be at the nexus of the universe!
4. Pre-Cut Butternut Squash
Trader Joe’s. I’ve mentioned this love affair before way back in Kansas City and again in Towson, Maryland. Their pre-cut butternut squash inspired me to cook some fun things this week like black bean, butternut squash, feta + arugula tostadas and a roasted veggie + garlic side dish. Yum.
5. Live Music
THE BEST. I could do an entire post about this Of Monsters and Men show, but then it wouldn’t be very interesting since I didn’t even have a camera on-hand to document it! Idiot! My sole proof is this concert tee. A few comments: every song from this Icelandic band was unreal. The drummer was sick and the highlight of my night. The trumpet, phenomenal, and the chick playing it was fierce! NYC’s Terminal 5 venue had no bad spot in the sold-out house of just 4,000 people. Kind of felt exclusive, kind of felt wrong. This band is the real stuff.
So guess what I found? Youtube always pulls through for concert memories!
The best version I could find of their NYC performances:
