thankfulness Archives - Lexical Abandon

Thankful Thursday 9: The Little Things

Welcome to the ninth instalment of my Thankful Thursday, The Little Things! Finally back to actually posting on Thursday.

This week I’m focusing on gratitude for the little things, of which there were several this week.

Here’s my Thankful Thursday for the Week of June 8 – June 14, 2018!

Things I am thankful for this week:

Andrew brought a Lucky’s donut home from work for me today
These floofers on Granville Street

I got a lot of marking done! There are still huge mounds to go but I feel like I’m actually going to make it.
This owl mug I got at London Drugs for $3.99. $3.99!!! (I actually got two, and they are slightly different)

These views on my runs

Our favourite brunch locale, Craft Beer Market in False Creek, empty and super peaceful on Sunday morning after I ran 20k (more on that in a sec).
This view from my best friend’s apartment.
This piece of art in Starbucks while I did some marking with said friend.
The view I get every day when I leave work.

Also, some not-so-little things.

I knew I wanted to see if I could run the 20k scheduled for Sunday (the last run longer than 10k until race day), so I decided to do a slow stationary bike ride on Saturday to loosen up my legs instead of the 6k steady. I biked for the same amount of time it would have taken me to do the run. Then, on Sunday, I planned to head out around Stanley Park for a 10k, and then turn around and go all the way back if it went well. It did, so I completed 20k!! It took me 2:33, so I’m changing my expectations for the half, but I’m thankful I was able to do it at all.
I’m also hella thankful for this gorgeous 7am view about a quarter of the way through:

Finally, I had to schedule an appointment in the middle of the day on Tuesday, so I decided to take the day off work and schedule some other appointments too. I got by thyroid checked on the new dose and it’s back to normal (I could have told you that myself based on how I’ve felt, but it’s nice for the blood work to confirm it for me). Physio was amazing as always. I had a fantastic counselling session. And I got my nails done! It was a much-needed mental (and physical) health day. And it turns out I got my favourite TOC in for me! 🙂

Here’s my nails!

There you have it!

So, that’s my Thankful Thursday list for this week. I hope it inspires you to make your own, and get on that gratitude train!

Peace and love,

Bee

Thankful Thursday 8: Healing

Welcome to the eighth instalment of my Thankful Thursday, Healing! I’m really late this time, even with the best of intentions. I actually finished the post a while ago and then forgot to actually hit the button. I think I’m going to stop making promises, considering I’m in the thick of the last two weeks of school!

This week I’m focusing on gratitude for healing that has happened this week, both mentally and physically.

Here’s my Thankful Thursday for the Week of June 1 – June 7, 2018!

Things I am thankful for this week:

I got a yummy donut and coffee for Camp Day at Tim’s
We celebrated #nationaldonutday with Lucky’s

It’s been kind of grey but still warm
I’ve been really busy (more on that in a minute) but I haven’t dropped the ball on anything, which feels awesome
I went to this lovely café called the Corner Stone with some friends from work whom I worked with on an innovation grant project this year to wrap up
I also went to an awesome bike-themed café with a friend

And we walked on the seawall after

The Capitals won the Stanley Cup (fight me, Ovechkin deserved to finally win)
Registration for my first year MEd courses went reasonably well (one class didn’t work for some reason, gave me a mild panic attack, and then worked on the second try – as usual)
This crazy large brussels sprout (I bought a whole bag of them, all this big)
My friend Joy got me the most beautiful paint-by-numbers for my birthday
Joy and I went to our favourite Starbucks, the fancy Reserve one on Main Street, for reward Nitro Cold Brew floats and we got the best table in the place!

The title of this post, Healing!

First and foremost, this week I’m really grateful for physical healing: MY HIP AND QUAD ARE FINALLY WELL ENOUGH FOR ME TO RUN! And this is what I got to see on my first trip back to the seawall… baby geese!

So cute. Anyway, at three weeks to race day, I finally felt well enough to give my legs a try. At this point in the program, Tuesdays are 6k fast, Wednesdays are sprints, Thursdays are 8k steady, Saturdays are 6k steady, and Sundays are looooooong distance. The geese photo is from Tuesday evening when I did a slow 3k, which felt stiff but good.

Then on Thursday, I decided to test my distance and was able to do the scheduled 8k (but a lot slower than target pace). I got this great view!

My hip is a ton better, but my quad still has some progress left to go. It’s not getting any worse from the running, which is great. I’m going to be my stubborn self and train and race, and then I’ll make sure it’s fully healed before I do anything else. I’ve done weekly physio and bi-weekly chiro this whole time, so don’t worry about me! 🙂

Second (and last but not least), I’ve really noticed some mental healing this week.

It’s obvious to me that this has been progress that I’ve made over the last almost two years on medication. However, it’s often things like these that we don’t really notice until we get thrown in hot water. Which is where I am now. Well, I wouldn’t say hot water. Just slightly uncomfortably warm water. It’s the last two weeks of scheduled classes at work. I’m coaching a rep rugby team, my report cards are due, and I’m getting things sorted for the MEd I’m starting in September. Oh and all the rehab and training that’s happening for my half that you just read about.

Anyway, the healing that I’m trying to get to is that I’m not panicking. I’m still sleeping eight hours a night. I’m able to get out of bed in the morning. I’m not crying. I don’t have daily headaches. I’m eating properly. It’s amazing. It used to be that when I was working through a really work-heavy, stressful time, I would start to self-combust. Now I’m fully functioning, albeit a bit more tired!

Another thing I’ve noticed is that I’m functioning better socially. This week, I had 4 social events after work. Now, I’m not going to go so far as to say that I was excited for them (I still dreaded them as usual), but I managed them especially well IMO. I’m an introvert, and I usually use most of my extrovert energy at my job as a teacher, so being required to go socialize with coworkers or other volunteers, etc. is often incredibly difficult for me. This week, although I dreaded each event, I quite enjoyed them while I was there. Healing!

There you have it!

So, that’s my Thankful Thursday list for this week. I hope it inspires you to make your own, and get on that gratitude train!

Peace and love,

Bee

Thankful Thursday 7: Birthday Week

Welcome to the seventh instalment of my Thankful Thursday! This week’s theme is my birthday week. Sadly, I’m a day late again, but I’m vowing not to make it a trend! Next week’s Thankful Thursday will come out on Thursday.

This week I’m focusing on gratitude for my life in general and what turning 27 has meant to me.

Here’s my Thankful Thursday for the Week of May 25-May 31, 2018!

Things I am thankful for this week:

The awesome birthday I had on Wednesday
- Work was a low-stress day, and I had my prep block (on day 1 I teach all 4 blocks, but on day 2 I teach 3)
- I got my free Starbucks birthday drink (Triple Venti Caramel Macchiato)
- Andrew and I went to dinner at Earl’s and watched the hockey and tennis
- Then we went to see Deadpool 2 which was HILARIOUS

The title of this post, Birthday Week!

Every year on my birthday, I naturally get retrospective about the last year. Usually this leads to gratitude. My 20s have been incredibly eventful so far, and I have so much to be thankful for, this year especially!
- I finished my Diploma in Guidance Studies, the first step to becoming a counsellor.
- I got a full-time continuing contract with West Vancouver Schools, at the school I’m at this year. For all you NB’ers, this means a B contract. I’m here to stay!
- I got accepted to my Master’s program of choice at UBC, School Counselling. This will be my fourth (and last!!!) university program. I’m very excited to start in September (and excited to finish May 2021).
- I coached three rugby teams (girls’ age-grade club, high school girls, and girls’ PRCs).
- I signed up for two more half marathons and ran one (the next is June 24th, and I’m rehabbing my butt off to be able to run it!).
- Andrew and I got to spend a rejuvenating weekend in Whistler around our second wedding anniversary.
- We also got to go to Calgary for Christmas and spend a week with family.
- I travelled to Cuba with Mom for a week over Spring Break.
- Both Andrew and I are feeling happier than ever and really excited about our life plans.
Life is pretty good, and on my 27th birthday I was and am feeling really grateful for my past 27 years of life. I’m working in a professional field that I love, and I get to write and be creative and read like a fiend in my spare time. I’m active and do community activities, and I hang out with friends virtually and in-person often. Mental health is a struggle as it always has been, but I’m really getting good at appreciating what I have. Here’s to my 28th year!

There you have it!

So, that’s my Thankful Thursday list for this week. I hope it inspires you to make your own, and get on that gratitude train!

Peace and love,

Bee

Thankful Thursday 6: Organization

Welcome to the sixth instalment of my Thankful Thursday! This week’s theme is organization, but ironically, this is the week that it went off the rails a little (considering today is actually Friday). I knew it would happen eventually. It also makes a lot of sense to me that the first time it would happen during a holiday week.

This week I’m focusing on gratitude for the organization I’m making happen in my life.

Here’s my Thankful Thursday for the Week of May 18-May 24, 2018!

Things I am thankful for this week:

All of the amazing food I’ve eaten this week
- Drinks and appies at Uva with my best friend, and then pizza and a s’mores calzone at Firecrust!
  Drinks at Uva.
  
  The arancini we ate at Uva.
  
  My build-your-own pizza.
  
  The s’mores calzone!
- Brunch (and dessert) (and coffee coffee coffee) at Craft Beer Market in False Creek (this is my husband and I’s favourite weekend spot).
  The beautiful view near our favourite brunch place in False Creek.
  
  It’s called “dessert in a jar.” It’s awesome. Banana, chocolate sauce, toffee, ice cream, brownie, and whipped cream. Two spoons, of course.
- Free popcorn and pop (and nachos we paid for) at the advanced showing of Solo: A Star Wars Story that we got to see through Andrew’s work. I’m also grateful for getting to go see the movie early!
- Coffee at Matchstick with another best friend!
- A delicious Starbucks breakfast with Andrew on the holiday Monday
I had a guest speaker in for most of the week in my Planning 10 classes, which meant that I got a bit of a break at work. Of course I was still in all of my classes, but I didn’t have to plan the lessons, which was really nice for a change.
As I mentioned above, we had a long weekend for Victoria Day, and I’m really thankful for that! Andrew now gets his holiday Mondays off, which is really nice because we get to spend time together.
In addition to the holiday Monday, Friday was a Professional Development Day (in BC we call them Pro-D), which meant that I got to go to work and get a lot of things done and organized. Speaking of which…

The title of this post, Organization!

There are two main reasons that I chose organization for this week’s gratitude theme. One is that because I had a guest speaker in many of my classes and a Pro-D on Friday, I had a lot of opportunities to get organized at work. The other is that I got a burst of inspiration over the long weekend for how to further organize our home.
I’m always grateful for the opportunity to do some organization for work. Teaching 7 different classes with only 1h20 to prep once every two days leads to a lot of organizational backlog sometimes. It’s hard to stay on top of things. The Pro-D day really helped. Most of the time we have organized activities on these days, but this time we just got time to work on new curriculum implementation, and I got a lot of things done. It felt great!
Also, now and then I start to go stir crazy in our apartment. So I’m really thankful for the spark of inspiration and motivation I got over the weekend to change things up a bit. We have a kind of useless space between where our kitchen and entryway are, and our living room. We’ve had a small dining table there for the last while, but we never eat at it – we tended to use it for food storage instead. It was really a wasted space. So I decided that it would be a great idea to do away with the table and get a big shelving unit for that wall area instead. We decided on Sunday, and off we went to IKEA on the holiday Monday. I had the shelf together by Monday evening, and I’ve spent the rest of the week moving things around and organizing. It’s been great! Here’s the process:
BEFORE: The awkward space in our apartment. At this point, I had already taken apart the dining table, but for reference, that square piece of glass was the top of it, and the table was in the left-hand corner.

The shelf, put together!

The shelf, mid organizing! This is about where we’re at right now. More to come later!

There you have it!

So, that’s my Thankful Thursday list for this week. I hope it inspires you to make your own, and get on that gratitude train!

Peace and love,

Bee

Thankful Thursday 5: Restoration

Welcome to the fifth instalment of my Thankful Thursday. I can’t believe it’s been a month of doing this already! This week I’m focusing on gratitude for the restoration that’s going on in my life.

Here’s my Thankful Thursday for the Week of May 11-May 17, 2018!

Things I am thankful for this week:

This week Andrew had a big win at work which I’m thankful for and really excited about.
I’m also thankful for the delicious Breka treats we got to celebrate that win – donuts and torte!
For another week, it’s been hot and sunny. We actually hit a temperature record here in Vancouver on Monday at 25 degrees Celsius! Over the past couple days it’s cooled down a bit, but it’s still not rainy, which is awesome.
These beautiful flowers:

On my walk from the parking lot into work.

As usual, I spent a big chunk of time with my best friend over the weekend doing work (teachers don’t just work M-F 8-3!!). I was super productive. I’ve had a lot of marking hanging over my head for a few weeks now and I managed to finish ALL OF IT!

And the title of this post, Restoration!

The main reason I chose restoration for this week’s gratitude theme is that I’m working on restoring my hip to full health.
I’m thankful for the good chiro session I had last Thursday, which helped.
I also went to physio on Monday and Wednesday. I’m thankful to my friend Sagal, who recommended the physiotherapist that I saw and liked. I’m also thankful that he determined that I likely haven’t actually injured anything. I just have a LOT of sympathetic/compensatory tightness after twisting my hip a bit coaching rugby. I also made it angry without giving it the rest it needed. Lesson learned.
In the same vein, I’m thankful that my physiotherapist now thinks it’s within reason to aim for me to be able to run the next half I’m registered for, the Scotia Half toward the end of June!
At yesterday’s appointment, my physio did IMS which is probably the weirdest feeling I’ve ever experienced. It’s not exactly painful, but it made the insides of my muscles twitch involuntarily, which he said was textbook. Now that I’ve rested and my muscles have recovered a bit, my hip is feeling miles better, which is amazing.
This restoration of my body that I’ve done while resting post-BMO half has also allowed some other types of restoration to happen.
The state of our apartment tends to run on a sliding scale exactly the opposite of the sliding scale that shows how busy we are. Training for a half-marathon takes about 10 hours a week. When you’re working full-time and coaching a high school sport and tutoring, there’s not much time for a clean kitchen or clothes. Now that the rugby season is over and I’m resting, the dishes are getting done with more regularity, which does wonders for my mental health (I’m not exaggerating).
I’m also thankful to restore some of my time writing and planning, which really fell off the table during the busy season.

There you have it!

So, that’s my Thankful Thursday list for this week. I hope it inspires you to make your own, and get on that gratitude train!

Peace and love,

Bee

Also, some not-so-little things.

There you have it!

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Here’s my Thankful Thursday for the Week of June 1 – June 7, 2018!

The title of this post, Healing!

Second (and last but not least), I’ve really noticed some mental healing this week.

There you have it!

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Here’s my Thankful Thursday for the Week of May 25-May 31, 2018!

The title of this post, Birthday Week!

There you have it!

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Here’s my Thankful Thursday for the Week of May 18-May 24, 2018!

The title of this post, Organization!

There you have it!

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Here’s my Thankful Thursday for the Week of May 11-May 17, 2018!

And the title of this post, Restoration!

There you have it!

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