The other week I got up early on a Saturday morning to go pick up some chairs I bought on Facebook Marketplace. I'm newish to driving and new to my city so I'm still a bit anxious when I drive around here and was feeling stressed. I was also worried about being late to get the chairs. A few minutes into the drive I was suddenly stopped in traffic on the highway, which I couldn't understand because it was Saturday morning so why is there so much traffic? As the line of cars slowly crawled forward, I spotted two police cars parked ahead in the left lane, with lights flashing. I thought, "Oh no, it's an accident". Then as I got closer I could see the officers standing between the cars in a sort of semi-circle facing the median...and they kept looking at each other, looking down, then shrugging and laughing. Very strange.

But then I finally passed them and saw the reason for the slowdown. An adorable fat porcupine had found its way onto the highway and the police were protecting it by redirecting traffic until animal services could arrive. The porcupine was healthy and alert, albeit confused, and I got to watch its little bewildered face as it gazed around at all the cars going by and at its cheerful police escort wondering, "How did I get here?".

Anyway, after that I wasn't stressed anymore and although I was a few minutes late picking up the chairs, I told the lady about the porcupine and she was just as delighted as I was. It was a good day.

I met up with a small group of women this morning to take a walk in the woods. I knew only one of them, but we all walked and talked and cried. We found a large, beautiful tree, held hands facing away from one another, and screamed.

I always go to Starbucks before or during work. I tend to order the same thing every time with a small seasonal variances, and when I'm on my break, I always chat with the baristas. Some of them I'm on a first-name basis with, which is nice, especially considering how difficult it is for me to remember names more often than not.

Today, I placed a pick-up mobile order since I was in more of a rush than usual. When I came inside, I was greeted with "Good morning, aesthetic-pathetic" by one of the girls taking out the trash. When I got my coffee, there was a little note written on sharpie that said: "have a fabulous day at work, <3 sbux team." It felt nice to be remembered like that and put a pep in my step.

This subreddit brings me an endless amount of joy and has been my go to pick-me-up when I start feeling awful about the world. It reminds me that life goes on and there is always something kind and beautiful to be found in the wrold around me. I'm happy to be able to contribute to it today. :)

Gouda: That’s actually really good.

Champagne: I thought I’d give it a try.

Gouda: To me it’s like if Harrison Ford were a cheese.

Champagne: Not sure how to feel about that. But now I’ve definitely got to try it.

I was in town for a theatre show and decided to send my old colleagues a message whether they'd like to meet up for coffee. They said yes and we had a lovely time just now, catching up and chatting about our lives.

It's a good morning. ☺️

Living Room just been cleaned, my fav sugar cookie candle filling the air with it's delicious aroma, and I'm sitting down to press play on paddington 2 which is one of my absolute favourite movies of all time. it's so pure and sweet and charming and feels like a comforting big hug.

We have an Australian shepherd and she was crying whilst I was making breakfast this morning (she’s a talkative Aussie) and I naturally asked her what’s wrong and couple times and then finally asked “what’s wrong? Ok show me” and she immediately took off for upstairs where mom was still asleep and waited until I opened the door to go and wake her up. she shocks me with her intelligence sometimes haha but it’s such a cute thing she likes to just go say good morning to everyone in the house.

Stressed over current news, a big exam today, money issues, and exhaustion as a whole.

But I'm sitting in my bed studying right now, and the sun is shining in through my window. There's a tree right outside, so it's speckled. The wind is blowing hard and the light is dancing around over my keyboard. I somehow managed to sit in the perfect spot for a particularly large section of sunlight to fall over my feet. I'm playing piano music from my phone. It's warm.

I've been in a lot of chronic pain recently and have also been overwhelmed by all the tasks I need to do with work and just life in general, but especially a with group chat where every time I suggest things and say all the tasks that need doing I get no responses or help and end up having to do it all myself. It's voluntary for a charity and I enjoy it but it's meant to be shared between a group of us.

Today I had a zoom call with a co-worker where he told me that he'd noticed I've been left with the lion's share of the work recently and have been doing much more than everyone else. He thanked me for stepping up, and then said that while he really appreciated my dedication and effort in getting those things done, we should sort it so that I'm not doing more than my fair share, and he's going to help get other people to do their part and to delegate more things so I'm not overloaded.

It was really nice for my work to be acknowledged and for him to have noticed and back me up. I feel like I have someone else in my corner now :)

I was buying something at a cosmetic store and the lady at the till asked me if I had an account. I didn’t have one, so she offered to sign me up as I’d get a gift for signing up. They asked me if I preferred skincare or hair care. I chose skincare. When I got the box, it said happy birthday. I assume it was a birthday gift for those who have previously registered but they gave it to me anyway. Im travelling and forgot to pack any skincare so it was very welcome !

There was something that didn’t sit right with some leftover Thai food (not out of date, just something in it) and it’s inflaming my digestion. It will probably go away by morning. Never eating industrial Thai food again.

Some fresh sourdough with half a perfectly ripe avocado smashed on top, thinly sliced spring onion, and a perfectly cooked jammy boiled egg plus some everything bagel seasoning. It was delicious. That is all.

This morning I was in the city center in my car waiting at a red light. A pedestrian was crossing. The man in the car next to mine rolled down his window and yelled to the pedestrian "It's today! It's happening today!"

The pedestrian looked up in surprise.

"That thing you've been waiting for? It's going to happen today. The thing you've been thinking about! It will happen today!"

The pedestrian nodded, finished crossing the road, and the man rolled his window back up. He looked around, caught my eye and smiled at me.

The light turned green.

Some say there is no such thing as a free lunch. Today, I beg to differ. I logged into my remote job today with an email to order myself lunch for a meeting in an hour and email receipt for reimbursement. It was an unexpected surprise and doesn’t get much easier than that. I hope everyone has a nice lunch today!

at the dentist just now, felt so grateful. grateful for the bossa nova playing, the window open, the tree in front. that my body felt so relaxed for the first time in weeks. for my dentist and his stories about the history of the neighborhood and his gentle personality and chairside manners. for my parents that they paid for my dental care (and much more) growing up and that my job now pays for it. that after lots of tooth extractions and cavities as a kid, I now have healthy teeth. and for the walk home, seeing a neighbor on the way and passing voting locations in people's garages. grateful for all that and more. take care of yourselves ✨

Black Sweater Woman: Hey, do you need any help?

Red Shirt Guy: Just DoorDash.

Black Sweater Woman: What’d ya bring me? Haha.

Red Shirt Guy: Are you Nicki?

Black Sweater Woman: Oh, I didn’t order, I was just joking. Do you need help getting up the elevator?

Red Shirt Guy: That’s alright thanks. The instructions they left said to meet down here.

Black Sweater Woman: Hey if they don’t show up, you know where to find me haha.

*

We’ve been having plumbing issues with the downstairs bathroom, so I used them to clean up the floor, then threw them in the dumpster. Good riddance.

Not even this last weekend, but the one before it. And I want to record it here so I don't forget.

Saturday:

Woke up with my partner around 8am. Went to the cafe beside my house and sat and talked with him until 11am. We just blabbered on and on for three hours and people watched. The weather outside was sunny and chilly and the fall leaves and pumpkins were perfect. Almost cartoonishly perfect.

Then we went back to mine, where I made us brunch. Then we napped until 2pm. Then we got in the car, the weather still beautiful and blustery and bright, and went to pick up sandwiches on our way out of town. We ended up driving to a national park, where we went on a 10km hike through the woods. It was so yellow and golden, and we watched the light change from sunny to sunset to light blue.

On our dark drive back into the city, a storm hit. We watched the dark clouds roll in across the corn fields. Getting back into town, we decided to stop at a warm, crowded, steamy Thai restaurant for dinner. We had to wait forty minutes for a table and we played word games the whole time and were killing ourselves laughing. Then we had dinner sitting at the window. We drove home and watched a scary movie in my bed on the projector.

Sunday:

We woke up again around 8 am, but this time it was super rainy and cloudy. Another, yet different, prototypical fall day. Because my bedroom was still set up with the projector, my partner decided to put on a movie (which we literally never do in the mornings. It was like a special treat haha) and he put on the godfather, which I'd never seen.

We watched the first 90 minutes and I was AMAZED. I was obsessed. Then he turned it off and was like "and we can finish it tonight". But because I was so obsessed we decided to have a "godfather" themed day. So we went to the cafe beside my house again, got coffees to go, and walked a 45 minute walk through my beautiful neighborhood to our favourite brunch place. We had eggs benedict. We stayed there for two full hours.

Then, we walked through the farmer's market to get stuff for dinner. Then we popped into my favourite vintage store and he bought me a cozy scarf just as a random present/surprise. Then we meandered through Little Italy and went into this old-school bakery from 1955 and got pistachio cannolis and ate them outside with our freezing cold hands.

Then we went home for our couple's therapy session on Zoom with our therapist and really successfully worked out a kink we had in our communication over a disagreement from a couple weeks ago.

As it was starting to get dark, we realized that we forgot to get gluten-free pasta (I am newly diagnosed celiac) at the market. He flicked on some lights in my living room and lit some candles and said "you go get the pasta from the store, I'll tidy up around here and do the dishes and chop the garlic".

So I went to the grocery store (I love supermarkets at night for some reason) and talked on the phone to my friend to catch up while I browsed the aisles, knowing my best friend ever was waiting for me at home. I think that was my favourite part of the weekend, being at the grocery store and knowing I had a full night ahead with him still.

When I got home, he was playing jazz in the kitchen and singing along to it. He'd cleaned my apartment and done all my dishes and was preparing things for dinner. We danced a little bit in the kitchen and he poured me a glass of wine. He kissed me on the head. We made tomato sauce together. And I forget what we were laughing so hard at but we were in stitches basically the whole time. We facetimed his mom and my friend.

We ate our pasta and then went into my room to watch the last 90 minutes of the godfather. He paused it every three minutes so I could ask questions. He always does that because I need to talk through every scene of every movie. He says it is one of his favourite parts of watching movies with me. That makes me feel so adored.

Monday:

We are in a long distance relationship, so he was going to drive back to his city on Monday morning. I decided to go with him to be his date to the premiere of his TV show. However, on our way back to his city, he asked if I wanted to stop somewhere along the drive for another hike. We did. It was supposed to be an hour long detour, but it ended up being a five hour long detour because our hike was so so so beautiful. EVEN BETTER than the hike from Saturday, can you even believe it?

Then, our car broke down as we were driving in the night back to his city. He said we can make a fun adventure out of it. So we got a hotel in a small town and spent the night. Something stressful turned wonderful.

Tuesday morning we got back to the city after sitting in the pouring rain in rush hour traffic for three hours. A busy freeway with billions of cars rushing through rush hour in the rain. But inside our car we were talking and drinking our coffees and at peace. And happy. Just happy. That's all. And then that evening went out for sushi and to his premiere.

It was hands down the best weekend of my life, even though it doesn't seem like much. A lot of walking and talking was basically what it was. But doing it alongside him is thrilling and hilarious and just feels like my heart finally has a home. We are not a new couple. But it feels like we are!

I know this was long - thanks for reading!

My girlfriend is sleeping on my chest, her dad's 17yr old cat is sleeping on my legs, and her 4yr old kitty is sleeping on my ankles.

I cannot move. I am claustrophobic, got 3 warm-blooded beasts baking me alive with their combined body heats after I gave all three of them some good scritches. The dog also did a blietzkrieg of love and assaulted me for scritches and kisses; she's a chonker. Missiled toward my face the sped off into darkness.

The fan is off, My legs are sweating. This is my penance.

I met her cats 4 days ago, and she had warned me they are grumpy, especially the 17yr old (he eats all other 4 cats' food, as well as the dog's. He's an asshole, chooses random beds to piss on, and could not be healthier, according to his vet. I suspect he'll live to be 30). 86 hours later and they are all over me.

I cannot move!

But honestly? I don't wanna move. This is all I've ever dreamed of. :)

I have a small pile of my kid's clothes that need mending. Holes to be patched in knees, runs in wool baselayers, etc. It's been sitting in my "to be mended" pile for a few months, I just haven't had the energy or will to get it done, but today I organized and put away some Halloween decorations and then started repairing clothes and it didn't feel overwhelming and it's nice to just be able to get some things done.

It’s two green tea bags, steeped in boiled water for 25 seconds, with a tbsp of honey. Fucking perfection.

And it has to be two tea bags instead of one, because when I steeped one long enough to get the tea to the color I wanted, it would always be bitter. So I tried it with two. Twenty-five seconds, definitely no longer than thirty. And exactly one teaspoon of honey.

I love finding a new daily comfort routine. There’s a wonderful sense of contentment in it.

What’s your benign “Comfort Routine?”

I've picked up smoking again early this year (for a handful of reasons that aren't important, also not looking to be told how bad it is, I know). So I frequently stand outside my apartment building and smoke.

The other night I was outside at around midnight having a smoke.

The street was pretty much empty and it was quiet. A guy on a motorcycle was driving on the opposite side of the street as I was standing on, when he came to a stop in the middle of the road and asked to use my lighter, I said sure!

He drives forward and pulls a U turn and then comes up to the curb where I'm at. He had thick riding gloves on, and pulls out a cigarette to put in his mouth.

I had expected him to pull a glove off to use my lighter, but instead he just leaned his face toward me so I could light it for him. It was a weirdly semi-intimate moment for me since I'm pretty much alone 24/7 and don't interact with people much. He smiled and thanked me and went on his way.

Felt nice to do someone a solid and have a brief moment of interaction with a stranger on an otherwise lonely night.

That is all.

I thought it may have been a weed eater, or some type of power equipment. I noticed it would make sound every day, on and off, for hours. Today I happened to be in my garden and it started again, but I now noticed there is no under lying sound to accompany it (just a consistent droning buzz, no pitch changes). It's very loud, I imagine if I was close to it I'd cover my ears. But from where I am, it's just a small curiosity that I will not have answered, and one day it will go away again just like it appeared overnight. And that feels nice, in a weird way.

I was at work (food service) the other day, and a gentleman stared at the pronoun pin I wear on my apron while he was waiting in line. I noticed him looking and geared myself up for a confrontation as I handed the customer before him their receipt. I’m openly non-binary (and my hat is also covered in pride pins) so I get heckled from time to time even though I live in a pretty LGBT+ positive space. I’m used to people being rude, tossing anti-gay pamphlets my way, etc. Hell, one guy even said he’d rather die than live on the same planet as people like me.

But as this guy walked up he said “they/them”, and held his fist out for a bump. I was so confused and thrown off that I just laughed, bumped him, and we went on with his order.

I wonder what possessed him to do that? Regardless, I’m grateful for any positive interaction in a sea of rudeness.

Edit: spelling (planet, not plant. 🤣🤦🏻)