Day 26 of 101

Tonight concludes the worst week ever, the precise antithesis of the VH1 show that I was once so fond of watching and once determined to be included as a feature on. Work has been devastatingly and unexpectedly wicked. It seems that every day has been fraught with familial medical emergencies, and I capped it all off with a hundred dollar trip to get Mary Louise fixed up at the vet this morning. I was only able to afford a very minute amount of retail therapy before coming home to take a nap, but I think it did what it was supposed to and help me escape from reality for a short while. Now, I'm trying to find a happy place, so I decided to make a modified gratitude list...a few things that exist simply to make life a little more pleasant:

1. The Thrifty Peanut (both locations);
2. Gina, Lisa, and Lola (the latter finally back in town) at The Peace of Mind Center;
3. Peppermint Essential Oil;
4. Opening a new box of Marlboro Lights;
5. Agatha Christie's Evil Under the Sun, the first in my newly created stack of beach reads: before, during, and after;
6. The first season of Ugly Betty on Netflix, especially Amanda and Marc;
7. Super Hit incense;
8. Text messages from Stacy Stubblefield;
9. Having two consecutive nights off once a week;
10. A bag full of used paperbacks for less than twenty bucks;
11. Movie recommendations from Stephen Failey and/or Rhonda Failey;
12. Imagining conversations in the Jeep on the way to Gulf Shores;
13. Amy Sedaris;
14. Red Bull;
15. Late night conversatoins with Tyler Smith.

T-minus 5 days till I'm avoiding jellyfish.
T-minus 9 days till I'm alleviating pain.