calissa

As my last post probably indicated, things have been rather difficult on the work front recently. This weekend has gone some way towards remedying that, partly thanks to the fact that it was a long weekend locally. I spent most of it camped out on the couch, reading in my pyjamas. I also spent a few hours with a great group of local writers who were holding a mini writing retreat over the weekend at a house close by.

In fact, over the last few weeks there have been many good things helping to counterbalance the nastiness. Since so many of you lovelies have been struggling as well, I thought I would share some of these good things in the hopes that they will counterbalance more nastiness--and as a bit of a thank you to those that responded to my Little Things post (which I am still making my way through).

Let's start with the shinies.

Sahaquiel worked especially hard to cheer me up. He made lots of terrible jokes, bought me Within Temptation's latest album and then a couple of weekends ago (where does the time go?) took me to the Old Bus Depot Markets. While there, I spotted this:

I did well to resist indulging in retail therapy but made an exception for this beauty:

My first ever fountain pen.

sidheblessed inadvertently talked me into it and gave me some great recommendations. I totally love it and wish I had bought one years ago.

Other awesome things that have kept me going:

My nephew (now four months old) is a wiggling bundle of energy. He can't yet walk or even crawl but spends a lot of time trying to jump around (especially when held). So my sister bought him a jumping harness which attaches to door frames and supports his weight enough that he can jump around. He absolutely adores this. My sister sent me a couple of videos and the cuteness makes my heart explode.
My sister was also awesome enough to bring me giant, homemade chocolate-chip cookies.
My grandmother was in town for a few days and I got to visit for a little while. It was nice to see her get another chance to nurse her great-grandson.
I also got to cuddle my nephew at my dad's birthday dinner just the other night. (Yes, my family is awesome. I don't know what I would have done without them).
Is there anything more joyful than a dog on a walk? (untonuggan might argue that it's actually a dog playing fetch)
And, of course, doggie cuddles are pretty wonderful.
The leaves are changing colour with Autumn's arrival.
Which means lots of Russian Caravan tea in the mornings. Yum.
I've had some very interesting conversations on gender equality in anime (with specific reference to Log Horizon).
In fact, my internet friends as a whole have been fantastic about keeping me going. So THANK YOU!