Count your blessings, one by one.

I think it happens a lot and my last couple of weeks have been no different. We get busy, pulled in different directions. We get lost in our own thoughts. I know I sometimes forget to stop and rest. I'm a worrier and although I know things are beyond my control, I need reminding. I forget to acknowledge how fortunate, blessed, we are.

A friend linked to a Time magazine article about someone who was laid off and how the 'ripple' of one job lost has affected the small town... my hometown. It is sad and scary, because it has happened to numerous people in towns all over the country. The article says the first week of unemployment is hard to take... I counted them up (I know I shouldn't have) and it has been 32 weeks for DH.

Moments like this do help me realize how much I (very much) need the little pick-me-ups of every day life. So, to count them, here are the every-day things that I've been up to... remembering them and naming them, one by one.

We made a second trip to the Outer Banks, which was super windy and rainy due to a non-tropical low pressure system. Basically, something popped up just offshore and never had a chance to become Tropical Depression anything. Just my youngest brother went with us this time and we still had a pretty good time, but spent a lot of it reading or playing "Go Fish" in the tent!

I finally got the results from the architecture exam I took on June 30... I passed! I still have a few sections left, in a new format, so I'm not holding my breath for when I'll be able to get to them.

We're still working on house projects, but making progress and wrapping some of them up. I have the patience to do a decent joint compound/plaster job or caulking and painting siding, both projects which move things right along!

My second Wardrobe Refashion pledge is going well! I didn't actually post anything there last week, but posted my intro and a project the first week. I'm hung up on what to do with this little shrug/sweater I've rebuilt, although the idea became clearer last night.

DH and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary on Sunday... without much fanfare, which is, traditionally, how we celebrate. We ordered takeout and cuddled up with a cute movie. We did have a nice simple dinner at our favorite Irish pub one night last week, too, and they were even giving away free Guinness! Hard to believe, still, that we've been married 6 years, and that we'll celebrate the 12th anniversary of our first date on November 1st!

Tonight we're having dinner at our friends' house, which means spending time with our favorite curly-blonde girls and their fabulous parents. I'm so sore from my workout yesterday, but will grin and bear my ache-y arms to cuddle my one-year-old goddaughter, Samantha!

We have wonderful, supportive friends and family. I'm married to my best friend in the whole world. Every day is an adventure and a blessing.