Well, my life of late hasn't had any nice stories of sweet-things-done-for-me-by-schmoopies but...in lieu of those I will tell you some things that I love. Things that make me very happy.

1) A highway in my rearview - I've been making a ton of roadtrips in the last 6-8 months and I am enjoying it so much that I don't think winter is going to slow me down. I'm also in the midst of planning an 11,000+km road trip for early next fall. LOVE IT.

2) Live music - many of my recent roadtrips have been to Toronto to see bands. I've been stretching a bit, and going to see stuff that is a little out of my normal tastes, and man it's been FANTASTIC.(Highlights have been Mayer Hawthorne, and the Tallest Man on Earth, oh, and the Avett Brothers were really great too. Also a canadian indie band called Minotaurs. SO GOOD)

3) My girls - they've been dealing with my recent split so well, and this makes me very happy.

4) My new home - it feels more like MY HOME every day.

5) Laughter - I really enjoy laughing and making those around me laugh, and there's been a ton of laughter in my life of late. This makes me happy, and I LOVE IT.

I love the mornings when Elliot Mason will wake up smiling and want to snuggle with Mummy and shower her with gooby kisses.

My colleged-aged niece recently came home for a weekend... and Saturday evening, she called me up to see if I was free to hang out with her. I was quite startled and it made me feel so loved.

The Fella got off work unexpectedly early last night, so he got home two hours early and loaded down with groceries... including lots of things he doesn't enjoy, but I love: spinach for salads, fruit, prosecco. He (a longtime vegetarian) also bought me a chicken pot pie to warm up on a cold autumn night.

A newish friend (whom I ADORE) said good night after a big party by hugging me hard and saying into my ear, "We only came because we knew we'd see you! I love you!"

I love you.

Aww, schmoopy!

Mr. Arkham and I are going to see one of our favorite bands tonight...a band we thought we would never see again. I love that we can do things like this together.

(Also: pie in a jar??? I am intrigued.)

Get wide-mouth glass jars. Grease the sides. Install a thin layer of pie crust. Add filling. Bake. Add lid. Voila! Pie in a jar. More impressive than I thought it would be. And so tasty.

And since this is a love thread, I love my chickens. And my housemates! I was looking out from my bedroom window the other day, and one of my housemates had tried to perch the people-friendly one on the clothesline. Poor thing couldn't balance, so then he took her down. It was a lot of fun to watch.

My honey's birthday is on Halloween. Which (until this year) was my single-boy party-time holiday weekend where I'd get all hedonistic in the hills of Silver Lake with 200 or so of my closest gay friends. But this year I had to do something different, given the honeydom.

As with many people whose birthdays fall on big holidays, he haaaaaaaates Halloween, so there was no taking him to the party, even if he would've done so out of deference to my traditions. So instead I stuffed him silly at an amazing Argentine restaurant, had his favorite red velvet cupcakes delivered to our table, and kidnapped him to a surprise Of Montreal/Janelle Monae concert at the Palladium.

The Silver Lake party would have been lame by comparison.

Awwwww that's sweet, mykescipark.

Yay richat! :)

I swapped cars last week. Sold the high fucking maintenance Mini & got back into a Honda and I LOVE IT. It's my 4th Honda, and I don't know why I ever strayed from them.

We have a new neighbor upstairs who is cool & she wants me to design her a new kitchen. She hired me today!

A new pet food store opened up next door, and we can take Otto over & not have to tie him up outside.

There is an artisan chocolate shop a couple of blocks over & they have a giant mixing machine & a big window where you can watch them make the chocolate. They are little works of art, each hand painted in colored cocoa.

I love my husband, who's seriously stressing out about the mare with the abscess, He belongs to her, you see. She chases the other horses away from him. It is most precious. Duchess loves him to bits.

I love my puppies. I miss my Tessa [RIP], but am happy to still have her "sister," the adorably-cuddly 60-lb lapdog Saedy. We also have a dog who's convinced that the whole world is his playground, and the world is a wonderful place to be a dog, mister Galahad.

I love my ponies. Ponies ponies ponies ponies. I can go out into my backyard and see my ponies. It's the fulfilment of a lifetime dream, and it's wonderful. There's Duchess and Katherine and Firefly and Serenity. They're all wonderful in very different ways. If you treat a pony like a puppy dog, they act like puppy dogs, and develop really strong lovable personalities.

I also love tools, but that's a post for another day.

In spite of what I said in the other thread, I love road trips.

And my beasties.

And my husband.

I love my family and wish they weren't so stupid far away.

Love my friends and wish I were better at being a friend.

In the next hour or two, probably while we're watching Top Chef Just Desserts on TiVo, I'll look over at Mrs. Beese and ask, "Will you sleep next to me tonight?" She'll reply, "And every night."

And if I'm the first to turn off the bedside lamp and roll over, she might - as she does on occasion - caress the crown of my bald head.

I love the chef. I can't believe how hard we've fallen so quickly, but so it goes.
He cooked an amazing meal for my mum for her birthday on his day off. At the dinner my grandparents told him a funny story about them travelling with some camembert in France, and how much they love that cheese - so a few days later he hands me one from France that he's procured from his restaurant to give to them. He's wonderful. :)

I love that story. A man who woos your parents is a keeper.

I love my writers who are writing for me for free while I very slowly get the website and the back-end and the business plan and everything else ready.

I love that they trust that I won't screw them over when I do start making enough money for me to pay them.

I also love dabitch, for having an awesome S.O. who is designing my new website for a not-large amount of money and for the experience.

Finally, I love that my friends are supportive of the very small steps I'm taking towards financial freedom.