Acts of Joy
Season’s greetings, friends! I hope you all had a very merry Christmas, and spent lots of quality time with your loved ones. I enjoyed the break from work, although it was filled with more time for social events and less time for relaxation :) But that’s how I enjoy celebrating the season! I’ll find time for rest and reflection over the next few weeks…Today’s post does involve a little reflection, and I have been looking forward to writing it for quite some time. Lately, I’ve heard many of my friends tell me that they had a hard time getting into a festive mood for Christmas, or that they’ve just been feeling down. I can definitely relate - a substantial part of my job involves scanning the news and keeping up to date with current events, and 2016 has been a TOTAL bummer (to put it lightly!!). Almost every morning I sit glumly at my desk, and have a moment where I think to myself “Really? Really, world? We’ve come to this?”Some mornings it’s so bad it leaves my whole team in a melancholy funk, but to combat it we do something really fun - we find the wackiest, quirkiest, funniest/most sensational headlines in the news that day and read them out loud to each other :) It might seem trivial, but it really lightens the mood! Here are a few that I remembered to round up:
Beaver walks into store, finds only artificial Christmas trees, and proceeds to trash it
Dildo-hurling sex shop workers fend off robber - Lotions and Lace employees take matters into own hands
No clean getaway for twins who stole 180 bars of soap
Patient suffers severe burns after fart ignites fire during surgery (not funny, but very sensational!)
‘Rather be in jail’: 70-year-old man robs bank to get arrested and away from wife, police say
Olympic speed walker collapses in sad puddle of his own poop (worth a read, just for the puns)
Belleville, Ont., police investigating after 11 female mannequins stolen from boutiques (what the what?!)
This small routine reminds me to appreciate the little acts of joy that happen all around me, and I’ve been keeping a list to share with you. Hopefully it makes you smile :)Recently I was walking home from a lovely dinner out with my best friend, and became absolutely enchanted as big fat snowflakes started falling all around me. It wasn’t too cold, so I was able to slow down and actually enjoy it :) Yonge Street was lit up with Christmas lights, and shoppers were heading home for the night. There was a young family in front of me - a mom, a dad, and their adorable baby. She was bundled up in the cutest snowsuit and having the best time stomping through the snow! Normally I’d hurry past, trying to make it home and into my PJs as fast as possible, but I’m glad I took the time to enjoy how magical Toronto can be in winter.
I had been waiting for this book to come out for YEARS!! And when it finally did, I thought I’d check the library first before buying it. The librarian who helped me find it was just so kind, she really made a lasting impression on me. She was able to get the book to me in two days, but besides that she was just truly good at her job and so obviously a voracious reader, it made me really happy!
I always appreciate it when my friends tag me in hilarious instagram posts, or send me funny memes. I am a sucker for a good meme. I’ve been known to laugh until I cry over silly gifs. What can I say? I’m easy to please, and easily amused!
Slow-walkers are not a pet peeve of mine, but they can be pretty annoying, especially because I often feel like I am rushing around. The other day I got stuck behind a young couple as we were walking out of a store, with them in front of me pushing open the door. They were taking SO long to exit the premises and go on their merry way, I could feel my active bitch face setting in (opposite of resting bitch face). But my cold heart melted a little when I realized their delay was due to the boyfriend reaching out to adjust and pull his girlfriend’s hood up properly to shield her from the snow. I went from ughhhh to awwwww in two seconds flat :)
My mom told me this for the first time a few weeks ago: my ah-kung (grandpa) cuts AND files my ah-po’s (grandma) nails for her, because they are so brittle and hard that she has a tough time doing it on her own. This is one of the sweetest things I’ve ever heard. My face hurts from smiling so hard when I think about it.
I’m so lucky in my own love life. Azim is constantly doing little things to make my life easier. My place has fallen into disarray with the crazy hours I’ve been working lately, so he’ll often do the dishes for me or make my lunch so that I don’t have to in the morning. I had a pile of clean laundry sitting on my couch for a week that he folded and put away, and he’ll always pick up our take-out so I can stay comfy in bed :) He wants me to be as comfortable as possible, and that means more to me than any fancy dinner or expensive date (I still like those too though..hehe)
As always, thanks for reading! Azim and I did a bit of Christmas and boxing day shopping, so stay tuned for some style posts xox