Things To Look Forward To

As many of you know, at least I've mentioned before, I tend to gravitate towards natural cheerfulness.  That doesn't mean I'm always happy or anything, I simply am often happy and really small or silly things make me happy.  My personality allows me to see the positives easily, in fact, much more easily than the negatives.

Sometimes, though, I do get down, and this last week was a down sort of week for me.  I think it was a combination of fighting off a cold, being stuck indoors most of the week with sick kids, and being the first full week in two months with no friends or family around.  I have had a really hard time seeing the positives.

So, as an exercise in cheerfulness, I'm going to share with you a list things I have to look forward to the rest of the year.  My hope is that this snaps me out of my funk, but we'll see.

Soccer starts next week.  At the very least, I'll get some cute pictures out of it.  We're also going to the Open House at the dance school and probably signing Jubee up for ballet classes.

We're going to see the in-laws over Labor Day weekend.  I love my in-laws, they are super fun.

My sister and niece are coming to visit the first week of October, probably.  We're gonna party like it's 1999.  Well, maybe not, I think in 1999 I still referred to Katie as "Princess Lipgloss," and we generally got along like 13-year-old and 17-year-old sisters, in other words, not well.  So, instead, we'll party like it's 2012.  Only without the Mayan Apocalypse.  We'll probably go get our first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season.  That's probably more fun than the Mayan Apocalypse anyway.

By that time, it's officially Autumn.  Autumn is probably my favorite season and I'm really looking forward to Fall/Winter here in Laramie.  Hey, I like to be snowed in, at least until about mid-January, and then I get a little bored with it.  I also love pumpkin-y, spicy flavors, so the kids and I are going to do a lot of baking, a lot of playing in the snow, and a lot of crafts.  I'm going to cook lots of stews and soups and curries, and experiment with egg nog recipes.

We are tentatively planning on visiting the in-laws for Thanksgiving, or making them come visit us, depending on how much time Cam gets off work.  Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, like I said, I'm generally cheerful, and thanksgiving just makes sense.  Food makes sense, too.  I think that no matter what "diet" a person is on, feasting is important.  We Americans tend to overeat all the time, and then feel guilty during feasting days, but I find it much easier to maintain some semblance of self-control when I have a feast to look forward to...so I'm looking forward to it RIGHT NOW.  Haha.

And then there's December...the month of Christmas.  I already have a Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar in my closet, waiting.  I'm going to watch ABC Family and Hallmark Channel original holiday movies until my brain turns to magical elf glitter and comes out of my ears, and it's going to be awesome.

I have family coming to visit over Christmas, weather permitting.  That's going to be fun, and I get to spend Nov/Dec Christmas shopping!  I love presents, especially picking out the perfect one for each person.  I think I needed to start saving six months ago.  Uh oh.