Three Things 28th of February

So, here we are: the final day of Three Things February. How did everyone find it?

I’ve had days when it wasn’t easy to focus on the positives; I’ve had days which were so uneventful I really had to think; I’ve had days like today when it was really, really easy – but over all I found it useful to spend a few weeks practising the art of looking on the bright side.

Anyway, like I say, I had masses of things to choose from today but (after quite a bit of amaretto; the bottle was almost empty; I couldn’t leave what turned out to be a rather large cupsized dribble in it, could I?!) here are the three at the front of my mind right now:

1. Fresh air! It was warm enough to leave the windows open and the air freshener which has been burning my throat raw at work has finally been chucked out.
2. Watching The Princess Bride with Steve.
3. And I’ve just logged on to find an email quote for chimney repairs waiting for me – it’s a third of the price of the other quotes because it involves that cherry picker instead of a huge amount of scaffolding. I’m full of the joys of not seeing how my neighbours could possibly object (so let’s hope that they see it that way, too).

Three Things 27th of February

1. Beautiful Mountain sandwiches and a hunt for secret city centre houses with Lola.
2. Me (in a charity shop, already fishing out my purse): “I have a sheet in the
exact same print as this duvet cover! Isn’t it pretty?!”
Lola: “Yes, you use it as the background on your blog.”
3. Reading for hours and hours and hours.

Three Things 26th of February

I can’t believe February’s almost over! I think most of us have had days when we’ve struggled with this project, but I’m going to miss reading about the happy moments of everybody’s days come March.

Anyway, my three things for today are:

1. Donating all my loose change to the Maritime Museum. Steve and I went for a wander around it today (hence the photo of the boat; this sits by the Adelphi entrance) and spent ages peering at the ancient maps of Aberdeen, pointing out familiar place names and figuring out where our flat would be – but the best bit, for me, was dropping coppers into the donation box; the coins go twinkling down across a sloping glockenspiel, making the prettiest noise. I think the security guard was laughing at me… 🙂
2. Steve’s excitement about making loose leaf amaretto tea in our proper tea pot.
3. And I’m looking forward to slightly belated drinks for Kirsty’s birthday this evening.

Three Things 25th of February

1. Taking £20 out of my bank account at lunchtime (hooray pay day!) and going round a few charity shops. Not that I ended up buying anything but, after a couple of years of very tight finances, things are finally easing off; it’s nice to know I can fritter a few quid away if I want to.
2. Finally getting a mortgage assurance policy. Last time I applied I was considered too a high risk (because I had been given an ECG after fainting a few months earlier); it’s a relief to have it sorted at last!
3. Medicinal amaretto. I’m sure if I drink enough of it my sore throat will ease away.

Three Things 24th of February

1. Getting to tell Jonathan that one of my workmates had (without knowing he’s a friend of mine) shown me one of the flyers for his first exhibition because she loved the artwork and thought I would, too.
2. Sunlight and mild temperatures at lunchtime. It feels like spring has almost sprung. Fingers crossed!
3. My first sewing class this evening. I even got to be the class swot this week because I could already thread a machine and sew in either a straight or a wavy line. By week six we will apparently have made ourselves skirts!

Three Things 23rd of February

1. Un-fished-for compliments on my designs (for work), photography (on here) and exhibition (with Lola. Which ends this weekend). I guess you could argue that that’s three separate things so let’s just say: feeling extra arty because of outside approval.
2. Buying a stack of magazines on the way home. I hardly ever buy magazines these days but sometimes curling up with a heap of them is a nice, relaxing treat.
3. An unexpected gift from my great-aunt.

Three Things 22nd of February

And a very happy birthday to Kirsten!

Today’s three things:
1. Sunshine!
2. Steve had the day off which meant we could spend my lunch hour together.
3. And this evening he has spent about an hour cooking a super-fancy dinner (at least, it involves stuffing mushrooms which is super-fancy to me) while I got to muck about with all my Glasgow photos. I feel so indulged!

Three Things 21st of February

Over the next few days, I’ll be sharing my pictures and stories from our weekend away, but right now I’m far too sleepy to copy URLs or spell that many words. Here are a quick three things for today:

1. Sharing a huge pot of camomile tea at Vanilla Black on Sauchiehall Street; Steve and I were lured in about this time last year by the glittery meringues in the window and made a point of going back today.
2. Two and a half hours of reading and napping on the train.
3. Hot cross buns and 30 Rock this evening.

Three Things 20th of February

The final auto-post of my long weekend (expect a sleepy catch up message tomorrow!).

You know what? I’m not that bad a person.

I think sometimes a lot of us can be too self-effacing. We don’t notice our own strengths or, if we do, we don’t believe they’re of value to anybody else or that it’s polite to mention them.

Pah! Three Things February is supposed to make you feel happier in and about yourself, so today I’m going to celebrate three of my own good points:

1. I love to learn new things. Even if they’re a bit scary. Especially if they’re complicated. I come with a healthy dose of enthusiasm.
2. I would rather be kind than always right. I believe often friendship is about biting your tongue and offering silent support rather than telling folk what [you think that] they should do.
3. On the other hand, I would rather research and form my own opinions than gurn along with the crowd.

What about you? What would you say that your strengths are?

Three Things 19th of February

Another auto-post while I’m off on my travels.

The Three Things Thing is all about focusing on the things which have made you smile that day, but today I thought I’d look forward to three things which I’m really excited about.

1. Sonisphere! Especially now Weezer have confirmed. Steve and I went to Sonisphere two years ago and loved it; the atmosphere was so friendly and relaxed and we got to join in as a couple of thousand metalheads sang along to an ABBA tribute band.
2. Learning to sew. Properly. I already have a sewing machine and have bashed out a couple of bags and skirts, but most of my attempts at creating things involve a lot of swearing about stitch tension and occasional tears. This coming week, I’m starting a beginners’ sewing class so that I can either reinforce or learn all of the basics in a structured way and get the confidence to try trickier projects (like, maybe some living room curtains…).
3. The panto. Already. It’s a birthday tradition. And this year it’s Jack and the Beanstalk.

I’m also looking forward to a wedding and a couple of births, but as the dates for those are unconfirmed I’m not properly obsessing over them yet!

What about you? What fun things are you looking forward to this year?

Three Things 18th of February

Steve and I are off gallivanting for the weekend – yay! – but I’ve set up a few auto-posts to make sure you don’t forget me…Has anybody started to notice any themes to their daily three things? Has it made you think about your strengths or interests or ways of making your day to day life more enjoyable?

The first time I did this project, I was surprised by the results; I credit the three things thing with the following:

1. Teaching me to enjoy food. For most of my life, I ate for want of a better form of sustenance. Neither of my parents was the greatest of cooks and nor was I. Food was an inconvenience. But then I started to notice cakes and hot chocolate and garlic bread popping up in my Three Things lists; I realised I did enjoy some foodstuffs and I started to experiment a little more and put a bit of thought into what I was eating. These days, I’m still lazy in the kitchen and I do let Steve do most of the cooking, but I appreciate what I’m eating so much more.
2. Getting me back into photography and, by extension, general arts and crafting. I always loved art and I always wanted to be a good photographer but, once I’d created something, I didn’t know what to do with it. It would just lie around cluttering up my bedroom until I eventually decided it was rubbish and threw it out. Then I realised just how many of my Three Things were flowers and sunsets and vivid colours; I realised how important pretty and/or striking images are to me, and I made more space for them in my life.
3. Bringing me out of my shell. I’m naturally a very shy person and was always prone to self-doubt, but spotting how much in jokes and unexpected texts and impromptu coffees made me happy really drove me to push past that. And the more I forced myself to pretend that my friends really liked me, the more I accepted that they actually do.

Three Things 17th of February

1. A good experience with a builder (who seems to think he can be stealthy about parking a 28 metre cherry picker outside my home).
2. Putting on my out of office. I [generally] love my job but I love long weekends so much more!
3. Steve bringing me a teeny tiny packet of mini jelly babies home from work.

And because I’m in a good mood, here are three other-people’s-blog things for the day, too:

1. Lola getting back to blogging after her laptop being poorly – how I’ve missed her posts!
2. Elinor also getting back to blogging after a bit of a hiatus. She’s started doing the sweetest illustrations to accompany her posts – check them out!
3. And Emma has been blogging about her plans to do a firewalk and the Baker Hughes 10k in aid of MND [motor neurone disease] Scotland – a really good cause.

Three Things 16th of February

1. It was an obscenely long day (the third this week), so shutting an office door and chatting to a colleague for the last forty-five minutes before home time was definitely a high point!
3. My Tickette scribble necklace. Steve originally bought it for me back in November but it fell victim to the Christmas/snowtime postal confusion; a replacement was sent out last week and arrived today! I love it!
2. And tonight was date night: a pub dinner, wine and True Grit.

Three Things 15th of February

1. Season 4 of 30 Rock arriving. I know what we’re doing this evening!
2. Having someone round to quote for chimney repairs… and realising just as he was leaving that there was a mushy message scrawled on the back of the door. *blush*
3. Finally – after one of those seemingly never ending afternoons – getting home only a few minutes before Steve and splitting a Crunchie over our first cups of tea.

Three Things 14th of February

1. The sun peeking from behind the rain clouds for a whole five minutes this afternoon (just as building firm number two-of-three called me back about my leaky chimney).
2. Making April plans with Kirsten already. Whoooooooooo!
3. Being given a bunch of red roses by the shop downstairs from my flat (and a butterscotch sweet by my boyfriend).

I am and always have been pretty oblivious to Valentine’s Day. I’m told that’s easy for me to say when I have a boyfriend – which is true – but, on the other hand, don’t forget how hard it is to explain to a lot of people why he isn’t taking me out for dinner this evening! I think Valentine’s Day is a sweet idea for shy people with crushes, but established couples have 364 other days a year during which to say, “I love you”.

Standard anti-Valentine’s sentiment expressed, I did read three 14th of February posts today which made me chuckle:

Diana’s husband talks about choosing engagement rings.

How to give a gift to someone who said they’d throw it right back at you.

Really just an animated rant.

Enjoy!

Three Things 13th of February

1. A pub brunch with Steve, Lola and MRWillox.
2. Playing Scrabble in Kilau.
3. Which is where Lola’s and my exhibition is being held and some of my pictures have red dots beside them!!!! Yay!

It seems a bit early to be summing up all the good stuff in my day, but it’s rotten outside and I’ve got a crushing headache so all I plan to do from now until bedtime is hide under a blanket with a book. Hope everyone’s having a great weekend!

Three Things 12th of February

1. Sitting around in my dressing gown and reading a book until half past two in the afternoon.
2. Hot drinks and paninis with friends who are visiting from Edinburgh.
3. And tonight, we’re going for a few drinks for Pauline’s birthday.

Three Things 11th of February

(an old photo today, I’m afraid; this was taken in Armstrong’s in Edinburgh a couple of years ago)

1. Looking through the window of a shop which is being renovated and being able to see straight down into their basement through a great big hole in the floor.
2. This post by Funnelcloud. And I don’t even have a dog (though I do have an allegedly “toast proof” smoke alarm).
3. Going to see Tangled with Kirsty and friends.

Three Things 10th of February

Day ten. We’re now more than a third of the way into this project and it’s been interesting not just to read people’s three things every day, but to see their responses to the project overall.

One or two of the original participants have drifted off; one found it disheartening how difficult it was for [an anonymous non-gender specific] them to think of three happy moments in their day. But every day somebody else joins in and I’m thrilled that most seem to be finding this useful and/or rewarding. Deborah talks about what she’s getting out of it in this Diamonds on Toast post and it brightened up my morning to read it.

Anyway on to my three things for today!

1. Sunshine! Lots and lots of sunshine!

2. A unexpected text from Kirsten with happy news.

3. My own handwriting. Yes, yes, I know, but it’s all swirly and pretty and neat on the birthday parcels I’m posting tomorrow.

Three Things 9th of February

1. Getting to spend most of the day browsing quirky fonts and drawing pretty garlands.
2. The shop downstairs sticking a sign to their fire exit door (which opens into our lobby) asking that it not be blocked as that could “endanger the lives of some very handsome men.”
3. An lazy evening filled with pyjamas, crappy freezer pizza and these weird little popcorn cake things from Markies.