Simple pleasures

DH and i have "beach Thursdays" in the summer when we go down to the beach, walk on the water and catch the sun set.

Great thread! I’ve been struggling with a flare up of depression lately and it’s much too hot to do what I would normally do, which is to go for a long walk while listening to a good book.

A new cookery book I'm really enjoying   It's full of low cal recipes that are giving me new inspiration for my 5:2 diet days 

My favorite thing to do as a simple pleasure is walk in nature. That is one of the major reasons for relocating to Oregon. Here in SoCal, With all the concrete everywhere, I have to drive to either the beach, which I love, or one of the few parks that have rustic trails. Unfortunately, there are no dogs allowed in those areas. I just want to take a nice stroll in nature with my dog.

The last thing I did that made me incredibly happy was to throw on an older one piece bathing suit, start pulling weeds and unwanted plants in the back yard, and then fall into the swimming pool to cool off. I just started bringing my dog into the pool, against his will a bit, and just floating in the deep end. I put a life jacket on him and just ordered sun glasses and a little visor hat so that he can be in the water without squinting so much.

Yesterday, I put him on the steps where he can reach the edge of the pool, thinking he would climb out and run as far away from the pool as he could. Surprisingly, he turned around on that first step and begged to come back into the pool with me. I am going to be using the pool daily as I get the back yard in shape and relandscape certain areas. It is a lot more fun than doing the front yard in 85 degree heat.

DH and I just drove from the San Antonio area to Boulder and the only time the music was on was when he was listening to an inspirational book his coach wanted him to read on the way up. So for a few hours I sang along to my favorites. Which was fun, but not as fun as us yacking our heads off and enjoying each other

A physical simple pleasure, new white space/empty space created around the house by organizing/decluttering. The bottle of foam soap and good TP I brought with us so the bathrooms were a little better equipped while we were there and I didn’t have to deal with bar soap or single ply TP (shudders). Flat pretzels, who knew? Great for using with PB. A great parking space at his race so I could get out of the sun and enjoy the a/c while he was biking and running for hours at a time.

My simple thrill today is we have finally found a place for ds to live in Boise where he is going to college. He didn't manage to get into a dorm, and we've been tearing our hair out trying to find last minute accommodation for just half a year. Phew, he is taken care of.


I love driving around and chatting with dh.

Painting or any kind of creating usually gets my mind moving in a positive way.

Exercise, like walking. I put on my headphones and some fun music (for me, that means something like Taylor Swift) and get moving.

Working towards a goal is good for me - thinking about it, breaking it down into steps, etc.

Hope your son soon finds his way through the depression. It runs in our family, so in addition to medication we are always looking for ways to lift that fog and move into the sunlight!

Getting up earlier. For years I took meds that made getting up a real chore. I was always running out the door late to work. Now I'm on a new med and I get up and enjoy coffee on my deck. Catch up with Facebook and peas and sometimes get to work early (and leave early).

Yesterday I drove the 2 hours to spend the day hanging out with my elderly parents. It was great!

I also love this early morning time with my coffee and laptop. I Pea, check my email, and whatever before DH gets up. It's so peaceful.

Butterflies! A couple years ago we raised about 18 monarch butterflies from eggs and released them in our yard. We have had way too much on our plates this summer to foster them this summer but I have been cultivating the milkweed that grows naturally at our cabin, digging up and replanting the ones that have come up in the middle of the yard that would get mowed and leaving the plants at home intact for them, and there have been so many more butterflies this year. Next year I’m going to get a setup like my friend has with a pop up mesh container to raise them in, it’s so much better than a Rubbermaid tote with holes poked in it!

I buy myself bubbles every summer. There's just something about reconnecting with that little kid inside, even if it's just for a minute. I also really enjoy tending my garden on tough days.

My simple pleasure is sitting on the back patio on my flex Friday morning (ff = every other Friday off) drinking coffee and chilling. I even have a new-to-me mug that I got last weekend at goodwill! Cell photo is too big to attach but it says "First coffee then adulting."

We did the same thing on our road trip!   It's amazing how bad the TP is even in nice hotels.