Day Thirteen: Gratitude

A few days ago I was enjoying a glass of wine with M and CA, when we started talking about macaroni necklaces, which are very much in vogue and EXACTLY what 30 year old women around America are all about right now*

*No.

Being a jackass, I said we should get a bunch of Tiffany's boxes and put macaroni necklaces in them to give as gifts. Can you imagine?!?! The thrill of seeing that beautiful blue box, only to discover some kind of pasta nightmare inside. But then CA made the valid point "What kind of first world bullshit craft is that? Oh no, we've got so much food, we're going to string it on necklaces or glue it to construction paper."

 Are you fucking kidding me?

And you know what? She's right. It does seem pretty silly that we the fortunate have so much excess food we glue it on things or wear it around our necks, when there are people going hungry. This got my brain over-working (as per usual) and thinking two distinct lines of thought.

1.) Ok. I want to start re-doing all the crafts of childhood and like, ACE them. I want to trace my hand and make it into a turkey. Like dis:

I want to paint a pumpkin, and make a potholder out of loops. I'll make a clay pot, and some cottonball snowmen. But I want to make them AMAZING, because now I am adult and these things should not be done half-assed!! So that's going to be a little crafty side-project for me this fall. Doing my own grown-up renditions of grade-school crafts. I'll make them, and share the photos with you. If I decide to display them on my desk, maybe I'll even get some co-worker reactions. I think this will make for an exceptionally fun and stupid autumn.

2.) Going back to that ever popular hashtag #firstworldproblems I think it is important to kind of put my own silly problems in perspective and be grateful for most of the stuff I take for granted on a regular basis. For example, that same day I got caught in a thunderstorm and my shoes got soaking wet, all melty. But then I thought, well at least I've got shoes. And I can change into a dry pair at home. So be cool. I try to think about that with most things that make me irritated. Most times it works. Bummed about being single? Well, I was never forced into marriage! Hooray. Broke? Not really. I've got a good job with a nice salary and if I want to buy something I can adjust my budget (Yes, I make a budget and you should too) and set aside savings. I want to travel back to the UK in early 2013, so I'm going to start setting aside a bit of every paycheck. It might take a bit of time, but it will happen, and I'm being proactive, rather than just being a whiny brat about not being able to drop $700 on a plane ticket. Boom. Done. So I think with a bit of perspective and a grateful for what we DO have mindset, life's a lot easier to navigate. You know? I don't mean to sound like Oprah, mostly because Oprah is a terrifying megalomaniac, but I think little changes in attitude can go a long way.