Day 3321: National Optimist Day

In honor of National Optimist Day, this optimist is going to share some quotes about optimists and optimism.

Because I’m an optimist, I believed that my birthday yesterday would turn out well despite some challenges, including a mysteriously missing game of Sorry. I went to two different Target stores in the morning, optimistically believing I would find that favorite childhood game, and my optimism paid off.

Even though I’m an optimist, I didn’t expect to win both games of Sorry I played with my husband Michael and my son, Aaron, but I did!

What would an optimist see in the rest of my images for today?

Here’s Dame Kiri Te Kanawa singing “Cockeyed Optimist” from South Pacific:

Optimistic thanks to all optimists reading this blog, including YOU.

Day 3279: Better than expected

If this blog post is going to be better than expected, I’d better start adding some interesting elements, like my last question yesterday on Twitter:

That question turned out better than expected: it already has over 200 answers. And the answers were better than expected: many people answered with “my life.”

Are any of my other images for today better than expected?

Those images came together better than I expected. Sometimes I think one secret of life is having low expectations or, better yet, letting go of expectations.

When I search YouTube for “better than expected,” I find this …

… which unexpectedly made me want to see “Free Guy,” which I expect I’ll watch once it’s free for me.

What’s something that turned out better than you expected? I expect I’ll see some comments, below.

If you’re expecting gratitude from me, here it comes!

Day 2522: Success

One thousand, five hundred and seventeen days ago (but who’s counting?), I published Day 1005: What is success?  Because I’m feeling self-confident today, I think it’s time to revisit success.

Here’s a quote from Emerson about success:

Reading that, I believe I have succeeded.  My success would be complete if you could admit that you’ve succeeded, too.

I had success taking these other photos yesterday:

Even though Michael says he doesn’t like tilapia, he has great success in transforming it into delicious and nutritious meals.

Here‘s Squeeze launching MTV Unplugged with great success:

It’s love.

The day before Thanksgiving here, I now aim for success in expressing my  profound thanks to all who help me create this daily blog, including YOU!

Day 2396: Choose to focus on good things

Yesterday, a good friend chose to send me this good thing to focus on:

 

It’s a good thing that soolooka created that, so that Vivian could send it to me exactly when I needed it.

Let’s choose to focus on good things in my photos from yesterday:

 

I chose to focus on that donkey last night during a good long walk with Michael and Aaron. I chose to focus on its expression and to share that the good donkey looked a little judgmental to me.  My good boyfriend and my good son chose to disagree.

I choose to focus on this: civil disagreement is a good thing.

I choose to focus on this great rendition of a good song:

Here‘s the original version of that good song:

Choose to focus on good things in a comment, below.

I always choose to focus on gratitude at the end of every post, so thanks to all who helped me focus on the good things here and — of course! —  to you, my good reader.

Day 2183: It’s What’s Inside That Counts

Yesterday, when Michael and I were inside a Target Store, counting the moments until  my son was going to arrive from inside the United Kingdom to inside Boston’s Logan Airport, I saw this inside the Target gift section:

Inside my mind, I counted several ways that “It’s What’s Inside That Counts” could count, counting on that to be the title of my next blog.

No matter what our appearance at whatever age, it’s what’s inside that counts.

No matter  what we’re wearing, it’s what’s inside that counts.

We may hide,

duck,

and pretend to be something we’re not, but it’s what’s inside that counts, so we might as well be honest.

Let’s see what counts inside the rest of my photos from yesterday.

It’s what’s inside Aaron’s room that counts — it’s Aaron! (And he’s majoring in mathematics —  does that count?)

I’m counting two songs titled “It’s What’s Inside That Counts” — one from Cinderella 2:

and this one from The Mighty Boosh:

It’s what’s inside that counts, so please leave your inside thoughts and feelings inside the comments section, below.

Countless thanks to all who help me create these posts and  to my readers, who — of course! — count.

Day 2134: _____ your way to good health

Last night, as I was window-shopping my way to good health, I saw this sign:

As I read my way to good health, I thought, “I haven’t gotten eight hours of sleep for decades!”  But I didn’t want to worry my way to bad health about that.

Instead, I figured I would blog my way to good health today by filling in the blank of “______ your way to good health” in other ways, including:

• Walk
• Talk
• Hope
• Vote
• Think
• Feel
• Share
• Create
• Smile
• Laugh
• Cry
• Eat
• Drink
• Sing
• Dance
• Write
• Read
• Work
• Rest
• Socialize
• Meditate
• Exercise
• Watch
• Participate
• Accept
• Change
• Move
• Love
• Live
• Imagine
• Express
• Act
• Believe
• Picture

Do you see ways to good health in my other pictures from yesterday?

As I watch my back,  I DO want to know how you’d fill in the blank of  “_____ your way to good health.”

Watch your way to good health with these two videos (here and here on YouTube):

Please comment your way to good health, below.

It’s time for me to thank my way to good health, so here’s gratitude for all who helped me create today’s post and for YOU.

 

Day 1980: Now what?

Now, what happens when you accomplish something?  Do you ever ask yourself, “Now what?”

Now what should I do after performing my first original song at an Open Mic? Now what can I do to top that? Now what makes me think I have to top that?

Now what gets in the way of my being here, now, and enjoying all the now has to offer?

Now what photos do I have to show you?

Now what do you do during busy times? Now what do you think I was doing when I took that photo?

Now what wants to be chosen, heard, stuffed, stitched, fluffed, dressed, named, and taken home?

Now what are we fighting about if we are all human?

 

Now what helps you stay cool? Now what is a museum of ice cream?

Now what kind of person would wear that t-shirt? Now what kind of roll is that?

Now what music does that Meowsic make?

Now what video could I possibly include here?

Meow what video could top that?

Now what are you going to say in a comment?

Now what should I end with, except gratitude for the now, the meows, and YOU?

Day 1746: Appropriate

Is it appropriate for me to tell you that I’ve never written a blog post with the word “appropriate” in the title before? It is appropriate to reveal the inspiration for today’s title?

That’s a sign for a parking lot where I work. I don’t park there. Does that mean I’m not appropriate?

When I read the news these days, I see a lot of inappropriate behavior, which contributes to my  sense of chaos. Is it appropriate to ask whether we can agree on what behaviors are appropriate?

Are these photos appropriate?

 

Is it appropriate to discuss stool/poop in mixed company? Is it appropriate to use the term “mixed company”?  Was it appropriate for Michael and I to both wear that cat head at Target and then not buy it? Is it appropriate for me to share what I write during group therapy sessions about topics like self esteem? Is it appropriate for me to reveal that one of the group members talked about “dumb asses” before I wrote down some thoughts about self esteem?

Is it appropriate for me to bombard my readers with so many questions?

Is it appropriate for me to use this photo to introduce today’s music?

Please leave an appropriate comment below.

Can we agree that gratitude is an appropriate way to end all of my daily blog posts?

 

Day 1413: ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW about the title of today’s post is right here:

ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW about that photo includes the fact that I took it last night at Target.

At times in my life, I’ve thought to myself, “That’s ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW.” Soon, though, I knew I needed to know more.

Recently  I thought, “That’s ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW” about

• the 2016 U.S. presidential  election,
• my very unusual heart,
• recovering from open heart surgery,
• the late Robert Vaughn (who played Napoleon Solo on my favorite TV show, The Man from U.N.C.L.E)

and then I learned it wasn’t.

ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW about this blog includes this: I try to share ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW  with my photographs from the day before.

 

 

 

ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW about those chocolates:

• my two managers from work sent them to me,
• they’re incredibly delicious,
• I ate too many of them since they arrived yesterday,
• they remind me of “Life is a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get” from Forrest Gump, and
• they are now inspiring this song:

Did you get  ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW from this post? I’ll get absolutely everything I need to know about that from your comments.

ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW about who I need to thank: absolutely everybody I needed to create this post and you, absolutely!