Good Vibrations Gratitude Friday #17

It’s Friday!

You know what that means…

Good Vibrations Gratitude Friday

I am still recovering from my trip to Chicago and Wisconsin and Easter weekend.

This week has been a whirlwind but I am thankful for it because it has been full of engagements with friends. I am so thankful for my friends.

Here are the 5 things I am thankful for

Easter Traditions, new and old
On Saturday, my daughter and I went to our friends house for the second annual Easter egg hunt.

Always a challenge to get them to look at the camera

Fun with SnapChat

After the Easter egg hunt, my daughter and I traveled to my cousins house in Massachusetts where we spent Easter with her branch of the family.

Again, hard to get them to all look at the camera at the same time.

I was also thankful that this was a Happy Easter because last year was not a Happy Easter for me. I am thankful that I am past the raw stages of grief. The good days outnumber the bad. In fact, I don’t really have bad days anymore, just moments that hit me hard. And I will always have those moments and I am okay with that.

Last Easter I was very upset but this Easter I was happy and I am thankful that I can find joy again. I am thankful that I am healing.
A night out with my cousin
While I was visiting my cousin, we had the opportunity to go out.

We went to a local speakeasy called Less Than Greater Than which is located in the back an ice cream shop called New City Microcreamery. We had to wait for seats in the speakeasy so we did have ice cream while we waited and it was the best ice cream I have ever eaten. Legit.

As much as we love our little ones, it was nice to be able to talk to her without getting interrupted.
Living in America
I love living in America because we can all take part in each other’s cultures.

Monday was Dyngus Day and while I am not Polish, my daughter is Polish. I heard that there was a Dyngus Day celebration at The Hill at Muza, a Polish restaurant in the nearby city of Troy and decided to take my daughter. I want her to know her heritage, including her non-Irish heritage. And I heard that Dyngus Day was like Polish St. Patrick’s Day so I was sold.

It was a great party. Good food, good music. A very nice lady gave my daughter a pussy willow to tap her crushes. Then she gave one to me and I was like “Haha…thanks…*awkward laugh*…”

My daughter tapped every man that walked by. They would turn around and then see her smiling at them. I don’t know if she was flirting or if she was trying to set her poor mother up. I mean, she signed me up for tinder after all.
The birthday girl
I have no pictures from this week with my friend who celebrated her birthday. (She doesn’t have a blog name yet). But here is a pic from when we went to the casino after Christmas.

She is one of my absolute favorite people. Her interactions with my daughter are always cracking me up. I have so much fun with her but our friendship is much deeper than fun.

We also spend so much time talking about things like the meaning of life. We read the same books and have deep discussions about them.

I am a bridesmaid in her upcoming wedding. Well her and Our Favorite Community Helper’s wedding.

I mean, it is 40% his wedding.

Before you freak out, I am kidding.

It is a How I Met Your Mother reference from Season 1 Episode 11. When Ted is insistent that he RSVP’ed with a plus one to Claudia and Stuart’s wedding and Claudia says that he did not RSVP with a plus one.

Lily [about asking to bring a date]: You can always ask Stuart.
Ted: Can I do that?
Lily: Sure, you guys have been friends for a long time, and it’s 40% his wedding too.

Today I was helping my friend at her wedding dress fitting. I have good fine motor skills but I was having trouble with the buttons because I was shaking. I was getting so emotional seeing her in her wedding dress. There is a 70% chance I will cry at the wedding but it will be tears of joy.
Time with Robin Brillantes
I got to spend time with another friend, who is a Spanish teacher. It was her school break this week so I got to spend a lot of time together.

We went to the mall. We were looking for dresses because we have a few social events this spring. We sat on those massage chairs and I took a very unflattering SnapChat pic. I wrote “Let’s go to the mall…today!” and sent it to our friends.

Two How I Met Your Mother references in one blog post…I am on a roll.

Because it is hard to talk about my friends without references to How I Met Your Mother.

Our Favorite Community Helper snaps back and said I had to refer to our Spanish teacher friend as Robin Sparkles in my blog but it had to be in Spanish. My friend said the closest Spanish work to “sparkles” was “brillantes” so she is officially Robin Brillantes.

Robin Brillantes also came out to my daughters dance class, had dinner at Chipotle with us and then three of us got mani/pedi’s. Well, except Robin- she just got a pedicure.

It was my daughters first mani/pedi. She chose bright orange. I felt it was important to let her express herself.

We also saw a guy who looked just like Mike Ehrmantraut on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Though #fauxmikeehrmantraut was much chattier and friendlier.