weekly gratitude

thank you neon yellow leg warmers for being excellent stand-ins for my (as of today, nothing but dirty) socks

Oregon's weather patterns are unpredictable. At best.

People ask me all the time when they come up to the winery how long I've lived here and, upon finding out that I'm a native Californian, always go immediately to - "How do you deal with all the rain?!"

I'm the wrong person to ask that question of. 

I love the rain.

Every heard the Rocky Votolato song "She Was Only In It For The Rain"? It's kind of like that. Not really, but in terms of the title, it's like that.

Except I'm in it for other reasons than just the rain (have you any idea how obsessed with food this town is? I'm also in it for that reason).

So the fact that it's been bucketing down rain for the better part of the week (once the snow melted) doesn't exactly have me down - kinda diggin' it, actually. Now granted, after much more than a week of this I'll be craving those December days of sunshine and freezing temperatures (seriously, how wonderful is that cold, crispy kind of weather when the sun is crystal clear in the sky? I LOVE IT!) but until then, I'll happily listen to that pitter patter, pitter patter, whoa-oo-oa-oah! 

And count a few other blessings while I'm at it...

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1. Thank you for the following text from Robin:

"So I just had to chug 3 pints of Guinness and 3 shots of Jameson to prove myself. Now everyone is afraid of me."

Lady has been back in the midwest for her best friend's wedding and apparently had to teach the boys of the wedding party how it's done! Mixing their whiskey with coke? Cream and/or sugar in their coffee?! ANATHEMA!  After a phone call spent reassuring each other that we're basically just better than the boys because we drink our whiskey straight and our coffee black, it was decided that not only are we better at life than these so-called "men", but our daddies raised us right! Haha.

2. Thank you Shamoo for being so dang sweet sometimes. I made dinner for the boys Tuesday night and since it was a crock-pot situation there was some time to play with while things were crocking. So while I propped up in their living room watching 30 Rock and attempting to make some beaded necklaces (tutorial here!), the macho men headed off to the gym. Anyone who knows our Shamoo knows he's a quiet one, a man of few words ("He's tall, that's all!") but as he headed out the door I hear, "Thank you, Lairen, for all that you do. I really do appreciate everything you do for us." ::smile:: Thank you, Shamoo!

3. Thank you for drinks with Jodi to celebrate all of the exciting new things in her life! I'll leave the details up to her to blog about, but can I just say how proud of her I am?! Ready, fire, aim! You're going to do amazing things lady, so glad we got to raise a glass to your new adventure!

4. Thank you for just an overall good day. Church was packed this morning (at 8am!) which always makes me happy (seriously, Portlanders like their sleep so the early service is usually pretty mellow, open seats pretty easy to scout out, but not today!). The message was awesome (among other things, Matthew 6:34, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." And the one and only Bob Dylan when asked if he was happy, "Those are yuppie words, happiness and unhappiness. It's not happiness or unhappiness. It's blessed or unblessed.") Work was, eh, what it was. Nothing groundbreaking. But after work I picked up Jared, Shamoo and Dean to meet some friends over at Salvador Molly's where a good meal was had by all. And where, I do believe, Jared and Dean worked out some preliminary plans for the eventual Zombie Apocalypse. Ah - yes - priorities. 

5. Thank you for letting me be joyful overall. Hearing John Mark talk about how he's just not one of those people who wakes up on the "right side of the bed" in a good mood everyday just makes me all the more thankful that even when I feel downcast and sullen, I still can't help but be a little happy inside. I can't help it. It's in my nature. 

"I love smiling! Smiling's my favorite!" 

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One of the other things that John Mark was talking about today was how for him, a lot of his anxiety and depression stemmed from things entirely within his control, one of those things being ingratitude. As a perfectionist he said one of his biggest struggles is thinking things could always be better than they are which, in turn, makes him overlook the beauty of life happening all around him and all of the amazing things he has to be thankful for.

It made me that much happier to have this little outlet for gratitude (and you wonderful readers who listen to my warbling). It really is wonderful to sit down each week, think back and take absolute note of all the things I have to be happy about.

No. Not happy.

Blessed.

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And though yes, this song is pretty much a downer, I absolutely love it and had to mention Rocky again. I can't wait for him to come back to Portland.