The Friday list (nice things you did for yourself this week)
This is why I do the Friday list. Because last week Jen wrote this:
“Tonight I went out of my way to pick up a pizza at my absolute favorite local place (it’s hard to find decent pizza when you’re a New England transplant in Northern California - trust me on this), and then I opened up a moderately nice bottle of wine to have with it. And very shortly I’m going to sit down with the newest Julia Spencer-Fleming, an adult mystery series that I enjoy. Creature comforts all the way!”
I have been being Jen all week.
I’ve sort of done this for myself off and on over the past few years–asking myself exactly what it is I want to eat, then going out and getting it (or staying home and making it), but Jen inspired me to really pay attention to doing that this week. So I’ve been eating well, enjoying spinach one moment, frozen yogurt with Reese’s peanut butter cups on top the next, and life has been very, very good. Thank you, Jen.
This week I also put the time into reading that I’ve been wanting to commit since the beginning of the year when I gave myself the 50-book challenge.
So there you have it: eating Ethiopian food and tofu and chocolate, and reading three books this week. Ahh. We really can make our own happiness.
Let’s hear your reports, please. I need more ideas for next week.
Technorati Tags: The Friday List, Happiness, Success, Jen Robinson Is My Hero For Eating Good Pizza
April 13th, 2007 at 5:55 am
My husband and I are away right now for a short holiday. Last night he took me to a Harry Connick Jr concert. It was incredible! Today we are just going to leisurely stroll around the town where we are staying and just relax and do whatever we want. How’s that for nice?
April 13th, 2007 at 6:54 am
Kimmy, that sounds wonderful. I especially like the “leisurely” part. We all need some slowness.
April 13th, 2007 at 7:12 am
can’t beat kimmy’s i’m afraid.
I played hooky one morning from work and went to a national radio broadcast that was airing from our little burg with a couple of friends. it was great fun.
April 13th, 2007 at 7:55 am
Remember, Annette, the only competition is to see if you can be even nicer to yourself this week than you were last.
April 13th, 2007 at 8:06 am
I went to a Kaiser Chiefs concert and had the BEST time. The crowd was amazing - the show was sold out and everyone was REALLY into it. It was a great feat that 1500 people could get together to scream and jump and chant along, but nobody got hurt. Quite amazing.
I also saw an advance screening of Hot Fuzz, which I HIGHLY recommend!!! (It drops April 20th) It’s absolutely bloody brilliant, especially if you’ve watched a fair amount of big, explosive action movies in your life and know all of what they’re spoofing. I think it’s my favorite movie of 2007 thus far…Grindhouse is #2, which I also saw this week
April 13th, 2007 at 8:14 am
Since everything I do is ABOUT and FOR me, I am always nice to me.
It’s those crazy other people who aren’t nice to me.
So, today, I pawned off all my work on one of the new guys. See, that was VERY nice to me.
April 13th, 2007 at 8:23 am
Patrick, too easy. I need you to work a little harder. Maybe go get a mani-pedi today or something.
Lizzie, I’ll take your Hot Fuzz recommendation into consideration. I might just be in the mood for that. Glad to hear you got out so much, even in the midst of so much school work!
April 13th, 2007 at 9:31 am
Been meaning to line up a massage or at least a chiropracter for some time now. Going to get a hair cut on Monday, I think.
April 13th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Patrick, I just came from a massage. I think it’s essential for everyone–but for people who work with their hands and arms especially, like writers–to get regular massages to keep all the joints supple and the neck and shoulders loose. Consider it part of your equipment upkeep.
April 13th, 2007 at 11:29 am
I took a nap this morning! I have to be honest when I say there is absolutely nothing I like better than a good nap
April 13th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Oh, Kelly, I am with you. Isn’t a midday nap DELICIOUS?
And Happy Birthday! Does this mean you’re resting up to do some serious celebrating?
April 13th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
No, you know we (husband, kids) were going to go to Chicago for the weekend, but we moved it to May because of the weather. No one wants to walk around Chicago in the rainy 40s. So we’ll have our celebratory meal (duck) and just hang out. As a fairly low key type of person, this is just fine with me
April 13th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Well, yesterday I watched Bridget Jones Edge of Reason (which is awful, but funny!) and ate an absolutely unreasonable amount of this stuff called Moose Munch. It’s my favorite food and I didn’t even know what it was ’til yesterday! God bless the Internet for introducing us to people in the know. :o)
April 13th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
Yeah, Molly, Moose Munch is both good and evil. I pity and envy you.
That Bridget Jones sequel broke my heart. I was so prepared to love it, and it was absolutely horrendous. It was like watching the sequel of Legally Blonde. Awful, awful, awful.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Ethiopian food? ENVY.
I have to start off by saying that yesterday was a singularly bad day. There wasn’t any huge reason for this, just a bunch of little things from the past month or so piling up. So I went out to the bookstore, bought Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 8, and Fruits Basket, vol. 16 (which I didn’t know was out yet–yay!), and topped off with a trip to Cold Stone Creamery for sweet cream ice cream with caramel ripples. Then I went home and proceeded to read both of purchases that night.
Could I have bought three traditional books for the same amount of green? Well,yeah. But sometimes you just need a manga. Fruits Basket is a stunning reminder that people can have it worse than you and still work through it, and Fullmetal Alchemist is like a really good B-movie. Silly but thoughtful (and downright tragic on occasion).
I need to try to be that nice to myself when I haven’t had a bad day sometime. It cleared my mood right up. Books and ice cream. That’s all I need, really.
April 13th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
“Books and ice cream. That’s all I need, really.”
Miri, you’ve said it all.
April 13th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
This isn’t really launching til tomorrow, Earth Day, but you guys get to see it first. It’s what I did for myself this week.
http://greenspeak.org
April 13th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
As always, love reading the nice things people do for themselves.
This week I…
Worked from home one day and let myself take it a little easy.
Spent money to make myself look prettier.
Accepted compliments graciously, without trying to dismiss them as untrue or exaggerated. (Saying, “Thank you for saying that,” or “I’m glad you feel that way” instead of “No, I’m not really that great.”) This is something I need to work on more, but I did pretty well at it this week.
April 13th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
BJ, that’s a beautiful site with a great message. I really like this line: “The focus here is on Positive Action. There are enough sites out there telling everyone what they’re doing wrong.”
Patrick is planning on doing some solar and other alternative things with his new house. Hope he’ll go to Greenspeak to post.
Nancy, that thing about accepting compliments is HUGE. How great that you let yourself have the pleasure of not turning those away. But I know from experience that it takes effort. Total bravo to you.
April 14th, 2007 at 6:58 am
It won’t be until my next house that I really get to the fun projects.
I’m not convinced of the gloom and doom of global warming or that it was caused by people, but I really don’t like that the most volatile part of the global population is funded almost exclusively through sale of a finite energy resource.
And I hate calling it ‘alternative’ energy. I hated that for a music label in the 90’s, too.
Let’s call it intelligent energy. War-Free energy. Serious, who’s going to go to war over the sun or the wind? renewable energy. Just not alternative….
April 14th, 2007 at 11:11 am
I’m so happy to have helped inspire you this week, Robin! I think we’re in a nice positive feedback cycle here. On Thursday afternoon I did some nice things for myself, and I was totally thinking “Robin will be pleased.” I had a wretched travel day yesterday, and couldn’t quite make my update a Friday update, but here it is:
I was in Dallas on business, but had Thursday afternoon free (meetings Thursday morning and all day Friday). I had planned to work in my hotel room, but it was a beautiful day, so I:
- Went to Half-Price Books (a Texas chain that I miss from my days living in Austin and Houston) and bought five books that I’ve wanted to read.
- Went to Barnes and Noble and bought two more books that just came out in paperback.
- Went for a walk outside.
- Went out for a steak dinner (it was Dallas after all) and a nice glass of wine. All that was missing was chocolate, but I was too full.
It turned out to be good that I had those extra books, too, because I had some serious tornado-related delays leaving Dallas on Friday. I read one entire book before the plane even took off.
Thanks so much for the encouragement, and have a great weekend!
April 14th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Jen, great list. Love that you treated yourself to books and good food–you and Miri have a theme going here.
So that’s my assignment for next week: books and good food.
April 15th, 2007 at 6:11 am
Lizzie-
I also saw Grindhouse this weekend, and absolutely loved it! It’s nice to hear of someone else who enjoyed it. Aside from my husband and I, we knew of no one else. Sad, isn’t it?
Also, glad to hear the good report on Hot Fuzz. That just happens to be next on our list to see;-)
April 15th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Thanks, Robin!
Patrick– Intelligent Energy or Renewable Energy both work for me. I’m thinking of which one to use on the site, since I think you’re right. The focus has to change. I’d love it if you contributed. I need all the help I can get.