Happy Sunday! Welcome to my weekly gratitude list.

I was supposed to have spent last night with friends for some silly belated-birthday karaoke, but unfortunately, my immune system had other plans. The hilarious irony of being laid up with laryngitis is definitely not lost on me. I’ve at least been able to find the humor in things like watching Wayne’s World on Netflix at 3 a.m. while also reading Real Simple. As I said the other day, I’m an incurable optimist.

I was able to use the extra inside-time to get some cleaning done and make a vision board. I didn’t make one last year, but this year, I really want something more concrete to focus on. I also watched a lot of Friends on Netflix over the weekend. #sorrynotsorry

Anyway, here are some things that made my week:

1.) Eli ate a bunch of rat poison and didn’t die—woohoo! I don’t think he has any idea what a close call he had. Back to business as usual at home…

2.) On Wednesday (pre-laryngitis) at the ALS clinic, a deceased patient’s family came by to share with the team that one of the patient’s last wishes had been for them to come back to the clinic and say Thank you for making such a terrible illness more tolerable. I have learned so much from my time spent working there—I feel so lucky to work with and learn from the other team members and our patients.

3.) My friend Surkhab sent me this week’s Modern Love column from the New York Times: “To Fall in Love with Anyone, Do This.” Wow. Just, wow.

4.) This weekend, I enjoyed the first of my Steak-of-the-Month Subscription my parents gave me for Christmas. They’d seen a Facebook post of mine about menstrual rage/needing to replenish my iron stores in which I listed my favorite cuts of beef. We had a good laugh over it. Talk about a thoughtful gift. My family is hilarious…So, for the next couple months, I’ll be getting a bunch of meat in a styrofoam package filled with dry ice. This filet was delicious, served with shredded brussels sprouts and sesame-roasted carrots & squash. You don’t even want to look in my freezer right now.

5.) I’m glad I saw this article on when hard work becomes an obsession.

6.) This may be a pipe dream, but I think I found a (professional development-ish) excuse to go to Italy this year. This year’s Universal Exposition (World’s Fair) will take place in Milan from May1st-October31st. The theme is Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life and will focus a lot on nutrition and sustainability. I spent some time Saturday afternoon looking up prices on flights and hotels and thinking about how long I would want to stay, if I might go anywhere else, anyone else I might want to invite, if I could somehow some up with a project worthy of having my travels funded by someone else…A gal can dream.

7.) José González and Augustifamiljen performing TLC’s “Waterfalls.” Jose Gonzalez has been on my radar since my sophomore college, when I friend from my writing class used to share mp4 files with me over AIM. I don’t miss many things about being that age, but these kinds of memories make me smile.

8.) Oh, did you see my post on the Chex oatmeal website? Breakfast is served.

What’s made you smile recently?