Gratitude Project 2009 Day 1

A few days ago I was going through my blog archives looking for something and I stumbled across my Gratitude posts from last November (Day 1 is here). I was thinking that I should do it again this year and then I got an e-mail from Jilliene saying that she was starting again today! Great minds think alike, I guess! :) Then Heather joined in and posted today, too. I, too, am in need of refocusing on gratitude, so here we go! I'm going to try to post 20 things every day for seven days in a row, without duplicating anything (although I'm sure there will be some overlap!). Some are big and some are small and they are in no particular order, just whatever comes to me!

I am thankful (for):

1. My sorority alumnae book group. I love these ladies! They've totally accepted me into their group even though I'm as young as or younger than most of their kids! :)
   
2. Spinach and berry salad at Bittersweet.
3. Random conversations with strangers made possible by the shared references of Seinfeld and Friends episodes!
4. Every single person who has served or is serving in our Armed Forces.
5. Every single one of their family members and friends who have had to sacrifice so much in support of them.
6. That we have a good Cajun/Creole restaurant in our town.
7. My car, which is safe and reliable and paid off.
8. Hardwood floors.
9. Clean water. (Click here if you don't think this is a big deal.)
10. Society being thankful for our military, unlike during the Vietnam War.
11. The DVR... dumb, I know, but it's so nice that Jason and I can communicate when we need to just by hitting pause on the TV instead of having to wait for commercials or annoy each other!
12. My new phone; I now have a keypad and a decent-enough sized screen that I actually looked something up on Google today for the first time ever!
13. All of my artist friends all over the continent that I met at Inspired and with whom I stay in contact via our blogs, Facebook, e-mail, and Yahoo Groups!
14. Inspiration in everyday things.
15. My husband and my dad getting along! :) And by that I mean that they do get along, not that they usually don't but are right now, LoL! :)
    
16. That my parents are still married AND Jason's parents are still married... that's so unusual!
17. My friends on Twitter who post such interesting links to articles that encourage self-growth and learning and self-improvement.
18. Strong bonds formed in extremely trying times--relationships forged in fire are strong.
    
19. Big comfy sweaters!
    
20. That my biggest annoyance of the day was that Jason drank the last of my wine even though he had beer in the fridge; my day was pretty good if that was my biggest annoyance! LoL!

If you'd like to play along please leave a comment here letting us know so we can check out your gratitude list! You don't have to do 20 per day or 7 days in a row; you can do more or less or whatever suits you! There are no rules except having a spirit of gratitude! In fact, you don't even have to have a spirit of gratitude; you can be cranky and pissy and annoyed. You just need to want to have a spirit of gratitude and then look around your life for things that you should be thankful for; write up a list and you will be surprised at how quickly you start feeling more grateful! Fake it 'til you make it and I guarantee that you will make it! :)