So, this week (the one we just got done with, not the upcoming one, or not yet) has felt like a bit of a downer. And a lot of blah. The weather finally got all wintry on us. People that inspired people, namely David Bowie and Alan Rickman (or apparently Snape to some of you, I haven’t read/watched Harry Potter), passed on. Many of us realized our next work holiday isn’t until May (MAY?!?!). In other words, it’s January and inspiration just hasn’t been out in full force. It’s been a week when I’ve procrastinated procrastinating, but I’m trying to be a bit more positive on a daily basis so I’ve forced myself to suss out some of the little things that make me happy.  Here they are in no particular order:

Tea

Just to be clear, if I’m ever forced to narrow my choice of hot beverage down to one, I will be team coffee until the bitter end (the delicious, Italian roasted bitter end). However, I’m currently in a bit of a tea mood. A hot mug of  peppermint tea before bedtime is helping me sleep the best I have in years. And I love little kitchen gadget things and tea totally wins on this end. There’s infusers, strainers, holders, kettles… many, many adorable things to make me smile about tea.

Purple Toad Wine

OK, so really any wine. But I absolutely love the fruit wines from our local Purple Toad Winery (purpletoadwinery.net). They’re super sweet and oh so good. I highly recommend the Black & Bruised, Allen’s Blueberry and Black Peach. Drink up.

My Desk!

Thanks to my husband’s willingness to lug furniture down the insanely steep stairs in our house, I now have a super cute little work area in the corner of our living room (you may have noticed, I prefer hiding in corners). I have no idea why this little square of space makes me so happy, but it does, so it’s on the list.

 

My Favorite Podcasts

My car’s stereo is absolutely horrible (when the car works correctly that is, it also currently has a case of the blahs), so I’ve taken to mostly listening to podcasts during drive time. There’s so many good ones out there but my absolute favorites right now are:

Slumber Party with Alie and Georgia (alieandgeorgia.com) – I discovered this one because  I found out one of their guests was the hilarious Mamrie Hart and since then I’ve gone back and listened to just about every one they’ve recorded. They fill a very specific void for me in that I have wonderful girl friends, but for the most part none of us live in the same part of the country (or, for the ones that do, have the same schedule) so getting together regularly to just talk about everyday stuff isn’t really a possibility. Slumber Party is my surrogate girl talk time. Fair warning: If you don’t care for profanity, it might not be your exact cup of tea. If you’re like me and couldn’t care less, give it a listen.

Welcome To Night Vale (welcometonightvale.com) – The last time I tried to explain Welcome to Night Vale to someone, they stopped me and said , “I don’t even understand the references you’re giving to try to help me understand this.” So I’m not even going to try. It’s weird (so, so weird, I’ve warned you now) and wonderful and Cecil’s voice is

delightfully soothing. I loved it so much that I devoured three and half years of the podcast in about three and half weeks. And they just announced additional tour dates! So exciting! I missed all the first round since I hadn’t discovered it yet and now I’m ecstatic that I’m getting a chance to see it live.

 

So, small things, but happy things! What tiny, everyday things keep you going through the winter time blahs?