A Fresh Outlook ! Step One.

So we officially began this blog yesterday, but Erika (me) didn't get to it! With the shining sun and summer dresses out on all the what seemed to be ocean side boardwalks of downtown Lincoln today, it was difficult to not be smiling and happy as well. This blog, however, will continuously seek the joy and beauty despite the bone chilling cold and depressing clouds that are sure to come. Ups and downs, cold fronts and heat waves, joy and pain, that's just the way life is, and we are going to celebrate.
Here is Rachael's Top 10 things for which she is grateful from
SATURDAY, February 12, 2011 :
1. Conversations with my best friend Erika — no matter what kind of day I have, she can go from making me laugh, to tearing up, to inspiring me, to drawing me to a deeper love of God...a good conversation (like good movies) should be both entertaining yet thought-provoking.
2. Mo Java Coffee House: seriously, cutest coffee shop atmosphere in Lincoln. It's quaint, it's small...and they brew CASHEW CREAM coffee. Free refill.
3. A random text message from my roomie and friend Michelle telling me she loves and misses me! Little things really touch me.
4. Newman-O chats (the healthy version of Oreo's) with hot tea at Holmes Lake with my best friend Marcie. Another angel that moves me.
5. Watching the best movie ever, The Human Experience.
6. Eating yummy pasta I made the night before, and realizing reheated pasta is really delicious if you cook it in a skillet with plenty of olive oil!
7. I'm in love with my new Dijon mustard skinny cords from J.Crew. Uh, you're probably never gonna believe this story, but it's true — if you imagine it in your head, it can sometimes come true! I was laying in bed one night thinking about my clothes, and how I have many blah tops (grays, brown, black) — see why I needed a gratitude blog — and, a thought struck me...colored bottoms! I imagined mustard yellow cords (straight-leg, not flared) from J.Crew, I kid you not. I found them at a thrift store two days later. Even my mom was freaked out.
8. The many random conversations I had today, one was planned — the beautiful Stacey Cawfel, but the rest weren't — seeing a guy I used to work with, the single mom at Barnes & Noble, and the cashier at Open Harvest.
9. My friend Carmen's voice mail telling me she met my future husband. It cracked me up.
10. Pink Sisters visit...Aww, my Jesus, time heals so many childhood memories.
Gratitude is like Pringles: once you pop, you can't stop!
Erika's list of 20 things since it is a mixture of things I am grateful for from yesterday and also today!
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, February 12-13, 2011
Photo of the day: Picture of delicious coffee I drank, the scent and taste for which I declare my gratitude!

These are in no particular order! Just the order in which they came to my mind, but certainly the number denotes no order of importance, they are all just as important and all just as beautiful!
1.) The sunlight hitting my face as I write this, and the pale bare arms that I am finally exposing and quenching their thirst for rays of sun.
2.) Forgiveness. That and the freedom and peace you feel when you have finally forgiven someone.
3.) "I'm sorrys" and the reconstruction of relationships that come from a simple admittance of wrongdoing, and the warmth it makes you feel getting an I'm sorry you never thought you'd get.
4.) Despite the terrible sadness of the death of a friend, I have seen so much beauty — human emotions are so beautiful. The understanding hugs from people you love feel so good, so much more important and so much more real in those tough moments.
5.) Iced coffee with caramel and soy milk and Studentská chocolate and thoughtful gifts at the Mill with an unexpected combo of people: Vladimír and Laura.
6.) Funny jokes and "Pushy Christian Men" — running into random friends: Tyler Huckabee and Kaylie Cordingly.
7.) Little teeny baby chairs and the amazing tiny creatures who fit into them.
8.) My best friends: Rachael and Kaytan and the crazy conversation that ensue. The fact that they fulfill me in so many ways and inspire me with the beauty, love and joy they are full of, the boldness they show, their awesome sense of fashion and the "sassyness" they show to me and the loving conviction with which they can tell me I am wrong. They are beautiful and more like family to me then some of my own blood.
9.) International friends, getting cards from them, spending time with them and most of all: the amazing bonds I form with them and the incredible amount of knowledge and beauty they always impart upon me each time I see or hear from them. It is always a new experience with them.
10.) Living by a lake and my beloved cousin Jacob sharing his hamburgers! BBQs with his kids.
11.) Smiles from so many beautiful strangers.
12.) Being in SUCH a good, happy mood that when I walk into the bathroom and it smells so strongly of rancid poo that I don't even care and just laugh. (Hey, this is real). This is life!
13.) Innocent children and hugs from Silas.
14.) Beach House album, especially this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPoGhXcrLgQ
15.) The smell of coffee and cigarettes on a fresh sunny day.
16.) Friends and their ice cream. Ignoring lactose intolerance for a day. Or every day and just farting up a storm. Sorry, I hope poo and farts and bodily functions do not become a theme of this blog, though, knowing me...they probably will!
17.) Planning a spring break trip to the East coast with my sweet, precious, beloved friend Alissa!
18.) Waking up wanting noodle soup and no one responding to me...then having my Chinese friend randomly asking me if she can take me out for Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup! God loves me! haha
19.) Silly text messages from my friends.
20.) My big fluffy bed with my 12 pillows, down comforter and summery flowery spread + the general homey feeling of my bedroom and the fact that I get to sleep in the house where my daddy lived.
 Tengo una vida de puta madre! :)