Saturday, January 24, 2009

Shout out for random acts of kindness

The other day after work I needed to pick up a few things for dinner so I swung by the grocery store on my way home. I was pretty hungry and had been craving red Gatorade for a few days, but that's beside the point. I had just a little bit more than I could carry to the car, so I took the cart out and put the groceries in the car. Naturally, I had purchased my red Gatorade and so I pulled it out of the bag to consume on my way home. I was holding that and my keys in one hand and trying to maneuver my cart back to the cart return with the other. Just then a guy walked past me, returning his own cart, and said, "Here, let me take that for you," and returned my cart for me!

It really was such a small thing for him to do, but I was cold, hungry and feeling a little harried. That small gesture meant a lot. So to the random grocery store guy: Thanks! and keep up the good work. This world needs all the random acts of kindness it can get.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

A New Year, a New Post

Okay, okay, okay. I admit, blogging is not my thing. But I know that all my loyal fans out there want to know all the details of my extra-exciting life so I will try to post at least once a month in 2009. I was inspired by my cousin Brooke's "thankful" blog so I'm going to try that route. I think we could all spend a little bit more time focused on the things we are grateful for anyway, so here's my grateful list for January.

I'm grateful for:

1. The little baby BOY growing so well within me! We found out the end of last month that we have a very healthy little boy on the way. We couldn't be happier-- we both wanted a little boy first. We've decided to name him: Wesley Eric Avarell.


2. Snow boots and a snow/ice scraper/brush with a really long handle. At the beginning of the month, we got some SERIOUS snow in Provo and I was very grateful to have something to push it away with, even just a little.

3. My cat-like reflexes. Yesterday morning as I was rushing out to my car to go to work, I slipped (and went flying) on some sneaky black ice. It could have been much, much worse, but I landed on my hands and knees like a cat instead of on my face, belly, hip, etc. I came back inside and Eric helped me bandage up my skinned knee and wipe the blood off my pants. He's gonna be a good daddy. :)
4. My yoga class. I get to teach every Monday and Wednesday night. Not only does it keep me in shape, but I've made some great friends and gotten great advice from some veteran mothers.



5. The extra cute Moses basket I found for only $30. I saw the exact same one online elsewhere for $90. Gotta love a bargain.


6. Friends that let me hold their sweet one-month-old baby boy for about 3 hours. I can't wait to hold my own!

7. Trident Tropical Twist gum. Nothing else beats a sugar craving quite like it.
8. A stable job with non-crazy co-workers. Mostly anyway... we all have our moments. Eric and I have gotten really into The Office lately and I'm constantly grateful for the lack of drama/craziness in my BYU office. Relatively, of course.

9. Grocery stores-- particularly the fact that I don't have to milk my own cows and butcher my own meat.
So there you have it. My first post of the year. I even tried to go the extra mile, what with pictures and all. We'll see if I can keep up the blog ambition. And maybe if you're lucky, I'll even think about taking/posting a belly picture one of these days!