I've Got Sunshine On a Cloudy Day

Another thing that I am extremely grateful for, at this age and stage in my life, are my grandparents. Quite simply, I'm lucky to have them. Unfortunately, my mom's mom and my dad's dad passed away from different illnesses only a few years apart from each other when I was in elementary school. I do have fond, positive memories with both of them, and pictures to last a lifetime as well. But the years that followed are the ones that are fuzzy. Being a defiant pre-teen and eventually a moody teenager, I don't really recall ever being excited to spend time with my grandparents. They were at all the important celebrations and holidays, so I would talk and visit with them then. It kept me happy and we kept in touch. Then college came, and time with grandparents while I was home on breaks meant time away from my friends who were also home on break. I managed to see them for the holidays, and they did always bring that comforting smile of home back to my face. But I must admit,

This kid gets it. He is the happiest, cutest, most inspirational little one out there. Check out the video below, which will definitely leave you smiling, and challenge yourself to say these things more! Kid President's 20 Things We Should Say More Often

According to the amazingly wonderful people at Soul Pancake , those of us who are the happiest in life are the ones who say thank you the most and show the most gratitude. As I just prepared myself to sit down and write tonight, I realized something. As a lover of writing, an English teacher, and a positive person, my favorite word has always been serendipity - making fortunate discoveries by accident. It's a beautiful word, it has a charming look to it, and it's most certainly fun to say. However, I just decided that serendipity is now tied with my second favorite word and I suddenly have two favorite words. Gratitude. There are many different definitions, all touching on the same idea but lining their words up in different poetic ways. For example, "an emotion expressing appreciation for what one has," " thankfulness, gratefulness, or appreciation, feeling or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive," or simply, &

Things I'm thankful for today: 1. Arriving home safely from NY last night 2. Waking up this morning 3. The sun rising on my way to work 4. The ability to see, smell, taste, feel, and hear. 5. The ability to breathe, think, and love. While driving to New York yesterday morning and back home last night, I found my mind wandering to a variety of locations. I was thinking about some of the things in life I'm most afraid of- what I worry about and show concern for on a pretty regular basis. I was thinking about how beautiful the trees looked as the sun shined through their yellow leaves as we are now in the second half of my favorite season. I was thinking about how lucky I am to have the ability to do so many things that really shouldn't be taken for granted- including the ability to drive, to move my muscles, to breathe, to think and understand, (or try to understand) to empathize, to wonder, to believe, to show faith, and the strongest of all, to love. Love is patie

Why start fresh on January 1st? What does January have that November doesn't? There are a few personal things I want to work on in the coming weeks to improve my health, mood, and mental capacity. I'm in a mood for lists lately so here we go. 1. Put less sugar in my coffee. 2. WORK OUT. I'm envious of people I see running in the morning while I'm driving to work at dawn. However, a yoga class here or there as well as a continuous practice of my Jillian Michaels DVD should be better than what I'm doing now for a work out (nothing) and should give me more energy and a bit more strength. 3. Change my alarm clock to sleep an extra 10 minutes in the morning. Waking up before 5am is insanely early, and now that it's pitch black outside for my entire commute it's even more insane. I think waking up at 5am and leaving the house by 6:15 should be plenty of time to get to work, park, and get settled in my room before my meetings and lessons begin. 4. Pray more an