Pesto

- "you are so funny i almost peed my pants reading that" - my pre-teen cousin's response to an email I sent her.

- I made pesto for the first time.

- I played the guitar for my niece and I think she was dancing (or waving her arms and legs because that is what babies do).

- My friend's kickstarter (CD) project got funded.

- The white shirt I wore today which feels summery and refreshing.

Online Dating

- My father taking action on a request I made a little over a month ago (he agreed in the moment, but I figured I would need to remind him.)

- Tempeh Reuben - a sandwich I enjoy at restaurants. I found a recipe in a cookbook from the library and made it today. (It involves sauerkraut which I don't know if I've ever bought before.) It was yummi.

- I read an article in the New Yorker today on online dating. Three interesting tidbits...

"Rudder, for his part, has determined that Republicans have more in common with Republicans than Democrats have in common with Democrats, which led him to conclude, “The Democrats are doomed.”

This reminds me of a friend who is in an interfaith dialogue group. He says that the biggest disagreements in the group are not between religions but between the fellow Christians.

"OK Cupid has also analyzed couples who have met on the site and have since left it. Of the 34,620 couples the site has analyzed, the casual first-date question whose shared answer was most likely to signal a shot at longevity (beyond the purview of OK Cupid, anyway) was “Do you like horror movies?"

Maybe I should start asking this?

This last one is my favorite, and at least for me, completely accurate.

"Rudder has discovered, for example, that the answer to the question “Do you like the taste of beer?” is more predictive than any other of whether you’re willing to have sex on a first date. (That is, people on OK Cupid who have answered yes to one are likely to have answered yes to the other.)"

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/07/04/110704fa_fact_paumgarten#ixzz1TFsjQJaW

Bouquet

I never bought a bouquet of flowers in my life until the Farmer's Market Saturday when I saw these and felt drawn towards them. Now they are sitting right beside me as I type this (and typing this gratitude is reminding me to look up from the screen and at the flowers!)

Listening to a friend's catechism and Lord's Prayer recordings on the internet (he is a pastor). They brought a smile to my face (specifically Small Catechism Lord's Prayer #7).

That he is using his musical creativity in his profession.

Listening to The Story, I was touched by a moment of connection in the one about American rock climbers climbing in Iran. I can't even remember what it was exactly, I just know the human connection touched me.

I've been sitting here for 15 minutes trying to come up with one more gratitude. Gratitude practice...think small, is what I always have to say in these situations. So here it is, that my friend remembered to email me a phone number I wanted without me reminding her. HA! Got it.

Reminderer

In rethinking how we might create our world - there could be a lot of new career options. For example, there is a woman who calls herself a "Joyologist". She might be one of the first, because if you google it she will come up pretty fast, but I certainly believe and hope she won't be the last.

Anyway, tonight I was thinking one of my careers might be as a "Reminderer," doesn't have quite the ring of "Joyologist," but it's the word I've got for now. This is my first draft of my job description - the things I would remind you of -

Reminderer

*What You Have
*To Search For and See Beauty
*What Matters
*You Don't Have to Travel Far to Feel Like You Are in a New World
*To Practice Gratitude
*Take Care of Your Health - It is Important because You Are Important
*Enjoy Nature
*Find Something You Enjoy that Creates Space
*What Wealth is, Looks Like and Feels Like

This might seem a little out there, but upon further reflection a lot of money is paid daily to remind us:

*of what we don't have
*of what is missing
*to buy things
*to take pills
*of what will help make - our hair shine, our teeth white, our skin clear, our legs smooth...

Since there is a whole industry based on these reminders - a whole industry that at one point in time not too long ago didn't exist. This whole industry was somehow dreamed into existence. Tonight I am dreaming another one.

Reminderers

There could be daily reminders, for example,

If you happen to be blessed enough to live a reasonable distance from a relatively clean body of water,
I would like to remind you to
GO SWIMMING.

Buddha's Jewels

This yummi dinner, "Buddha's Jewels" and "Armenian Green Beans."

The New Recipes from the Moosewood cookbook where I got the previous recipes.

Opening my principal food storage cupboard, easily finding what I wanted and not having things trying to fall out.
(I organized it yesterday.)

Having parsley in the garden.
Whenever I buy parsley for a recipe it almost always calls for 1/4 cup (exactly what the recipe called for today) and then I have this whole thing of extra parsley that often isn't used. That is why parsley I find to be a very useful item to have a small plant of in the garden.

How soft my hair feels today.
(I have concluded this is because I went swimming yesterday, in a lake, and have not washed my hair since. A similar thing happened previously this Summer, thank you lake water.)

Snack

(Did you know that unlike woodland wildflowers that bloom in the Spring, most prairie wildflower bloom in the Summer?)

• Learning that a friend of mine who goes on an annual retreat (and is the only person I know who consistently makes such a thing a priority in her life), does so because of a visit she made to where I lived ten years ago. She said it was because of that experience that she felt brave/interested enough to try Clare's Well.
• This friend and I went to the beach today and we both (without planning) brought snacks to share. She brought strawberries, cherry tomatoes, goat cheese, and cracker-bread. I brought strawberries and sugar snap peas.
  
• Feeling comfortable to stop at a friend's unannounced. She shared a song she was memorizing today for a wedding, I shared a poem I memorized last week.
• Hanging out with the baby. I didn't spend much time with her at first, but today and an evening earlier this week she literally hung out in a sling I was wearing :)
  
• That I follow through on self-imposed deadlines. I had something that needed to be done by the 15th, I sent it in today.