Disclaimer: this blog post may be a stream of consciousness… be aware, tangents may ensue.

SCENE: Right now, it’s 68 degrees, there’s a slight breeze, I’m sitting out on my patio, writing, I have a Magic Hat Circus Boy in hand [in a Christopher Newport University alumni coozie], my dog is sleeping at my feet, and I’m listening to a mix tape I found that I had made in the summer of 1993. Yes, an actual cassette tape with songs recorded from the radio. [WPGC 95.5 and 93.9 WKYS, FTW!]

Thumbs up for painted Elvi

I worked for 14 hours straight today, yet I’m totally relaxed. This is the first time this has happened in easily, uhh, a while. For those of you that know me, those of you that don’t, and those of you who just read this blog, you may or may not know that a lot has changed in the past year. A lot. Some good, some bad, some happy, some sad, but needless to say, I’m a stronger person now than I was 365 days ago.

And the truth is, I’ve been incredibly stressed lately. Like, I honestly think the last time I felt this much stress for this amount of time, was my senior year of college when I was going through all that stuff. (Not going to rehash it all… I’ll simply link to the blog post where I discuss it.) Loss of sleep, migraines, back pain, the works – I’m going through it all right now. I’m not complaining by any means – life is a “rollercoaster” (or some shitty cliche like that) – and good and bad happens. It’s how you deal and how you handle it that matters.

So, to not digress any further than I already have, and in this solitary moment of relaxation I seem to have found, I wanted to “Yes, And!” the awesome day I’ve had and list the things that for realsies make me swoon (i.e. things I lurve):

• Spending time with my family
• A Diet Coke from the soda fountain
• Crushed ice
• Chipotle burritos
• Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds LIVE recordings
• Writing
• A really good laugh
• Romantic comedies
• LOST
• 24
• A really good heart-to-heart with someone
• The way my dog licks my face in the morning to wake me up (even though her breath STINKS)
• Even though I hate running, the way I feel after a long run
• Naps
• Walking on the beach holding my flip flops in my left hand
• Comedy bits
• New York City
• Getting flowers when I least expect it
• Spending time with my best friends in the whole wide world and giggling for hours
• The feeling I get when I’ve just played in an amazing improv set (it’s like no other feeling in the world)
• Sleeping with my window open and waking up a little bit cold so I have to put another blanket on
• Watching old home videos or looking at old pictures
• Googling my mom and reading old pieces of her writing or news articles about her and remembering her for just 5 minutes
• Telling “you had to be there” stories
• Holding an impromptu dance party… anywhere
• Taking a longer than necessary shower
• Using a brand new toothbrush or brand new tube of toothpaste
• The way a brand new magazine/book smells
• Karaoke
• Sitting outside at night and staring up at the moon
• Pool parties!
• Being Frattastic… super frattastic
• Football season (even though the Browns always suck)
• First dates
• First kisses
• Making new friends or rekindling an old friendship
• Teaching myself something new
• Trying something I’ve always been terrified of
• Hearing the words “You’re beautiful”
• Vacations
• BLASTING my music in the car and not caring that the other cars are staring at me
• Cracking myself up over dumb jokes
• Talking to my sister, Bridgid, who is quite possibly the strongest person I know – I don’t know what I would do without her
• Laughing with my dad and calling him just because I need to talk to my daddy
• Never being too old to call your dad, daddy
• Never being too old to laugh at a good fart joke
• Never being too old to swing on a swing set
• Getting awesome and being myself no matter what

I’m sure there are more. But I’ll stop there.

I want to know, what makes YOU swoon? By the way, have I told you today that YOU, are awesome? Because you are.

Word.