Friday spirits

HEY CHICKLETS! It is Friday, blessed Friday at long, gorgeous last! My house is a mess, my cardigan is nobbly, and I have a conference call in an hour, but BABIES WE ARE IN THE HOMESTRETCH. When I'm off of that call (my input: 'Sounds good. Yup. Sounds good. No, don't mind me, just eating a cookie. Yup. Sounds good') I'm going to tidy up, move the bags of firewood - currently stacked three deep and neck high in the living room - to the garden shed, boil some cinnamon on the stove so it smells like I've been cooking, then act entirely natural when our visitors arrive at 8, swanning my hand, 'Oh, this old place, it's always like this, thank you for noticing!'

My friend Annelies is doing a month of gratitude and each day on Facebook she posts three things she's thankful for and every time I read them, it makes my heart warm. Conscious gratitude is such a lovely thing. I would like to do something similar today, because there is so much to appreciate:

1. That it's Friday, and there is a weekend ahead with just the right amounts of quiet in and social out.

2. The friendship of a beautiful set of women and a Thursday night together, complete with Chinese takeaway and period dramas involving codpieces, ruffles, and (our) laughter.

3. The first truly cold weekend of the winter ahead, and a warm fireplace to get us through it.

Let's pretend this is our place instead of a lodge in the Argentinian rainforest.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend ahead, and I'll see you tomorrow!

Big hugs and lots of love,
Esss