This week's best "Lovely Little Things" (Dec 4, 2010)

This has been a STRANGE week. We had a cat arrive in our lives by an unexpected method. She won't replace our cat who died in November of liver cancer but she is certainly taking the edge off that sadness.

As a result of the oddities of the week, I didn't post much, and I probably won't for the next two weeks either. We're off to Florida next weekend and I am woefully unprepared. But I WILL post on my return!

For this week, my favorite lovely little thing:

My mother loved my most recently released novel. She HASN'T loved everything I've done so I'm thrilled. :)

Up until this book, she felt that my best work was the first draft of my first book. It's nice to know I'm back to where I started. :)

Have a lovely week!

This week's best "Lovely Little Things" (Nov 27, 2010)

A few things I loved this week:

• RT @alisonbova: "We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude." - Cynthia Ozick
• RT @madsmonsen: RT @dennycoates: "Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy." - Jacques Maritain
• #gratitude journal seem like too much work? How about tweeting just one thing you love every day?

That last was my idea, but I like it anyhow. :)

Have a fabulous week!

This week's best "Lovely Little Things" (Nov 21, 2010)

I've been working hard this week and am thrilled with the results. I hope you're thrilled with your week too!

A few of my favorites from the Twitter feed this week:

• A retweet from @channing_h: "Gratitude. There are those less fortunate than you who wonder why you do not appreciate all that you have."
• One of my favorite quotations: ""Success is loving life and daring to live it." ~Maya Angelou"
• A thought I had as I worked on my next book: "If you work like a dog, you can purr like a kitten at all your #achievements. :)"

Have a wonderful week, and watch for the lovely little things in life!

This week's best "Lovely Little Things" (Nov 14, 2010)

My apologies for not posting a summary last weekend; we had to have our precious cat put to sleep on Saturday and I was having a hard time seeing anything lovely.

Now, I'm doing better, and I can remember how adorable she was and how sweet. Having her in my life, even if only for five years, is definitely a lovely little thing.

I also like the $11.2 million lottery winning couple who've given nearly all of it away. http://yhoo.it/aJ6UGi

And finally, a cute video: Tigers/leopards/lynx playing with pumpkins! http://bit.ly/dzV1jN

Have a wonderful week, watching for the lovely little things. :)

This week's best "Lovely Little Things" (Oct 31, 2010)

I have a few great ones from this week to share with you.

First, there's the cute Gratitude Dance video, at http://fb.me/KcHuOuMq. It made me laugh, and that's a good thing, right?

Second, I love this quote from @HarmonicLife: "There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy." Yesterday I was having iPhone issues and was frustrated, and then had a flash of "sure, but you have the money to have an iPhone" and calmed myself down. Rereading this quote this morning has even more meaning for me as a result.

And finally, I have a guest post I wrote for an online friend's blog, about my five favorite motivational quotes. Check it out at http://ow.ly/2YLhN and maybe you'll find your new fav!

Have a calm and quietly joyful week. :) Oh yes, and happy Halloween! :)

This week's best "Lovely Little Things" (Oct 24, 2010)

I am rushing to get ready to go play my first theatre concert on drum set (eep!) so I'll give you just one thing from this week.

This set of quotes on gratitude is fabulous - I found several new favorites!

Have a great day, and if you hear drum beats think of me. :)

Welcome yet again!

I know, I've already got a welcome post, but I feel the need for another. :)

At the beginning I wasn't sure that I could do "Lovely Little Things" the way I wanted, but I've been doing it for a few weeks now and I'm thrilled with how it's going. I monitor Twitter for a few inspiring quotes and for as many beautiful moments of life as I can find. Then I pass them along to you.

The quotes are no problem. What I'd love to find more often are those "lovely little things". I'd love to have more of those moments to pass along, those little sparks of gorgeous life that make our lives so much better.

You can post your lovely little things as a comment on this or any post here, and I will send them along via Twitter. You can also send them directly to me on Twitter @lovelylthings and I will again retweet them. We so often look only at the dark side of life. Let's find the joy too.

Oh, and I would also love your photos of lovely little things.

(The picture on this post is my feet at the pool of my friend's gym in Kuwait, from my visit there earlier this year. I'd gone for a hard swim in that very pool and then settled into the chair to relax and watch the water. So peaceful!)

Feel free to post links to your pictures, and/or send me a link to them via my contact form. I'll give you full credit, of course. :)

This week's best "Lovely Little Things" (Oct 17, 2010)

The number one this week, of course, isn't that little but it's certainly lovely: the Chilean miners' being rescued without any loss of life. Amazing!

I also love the attitude in this tweet from @zen_habits: "Today, realize the miracle of everything you do. Every breath is cause for amazement."

And finally, my own lovely little thing from yesterday... "I'm delighted! Previous best 10 km race time 1:16. Today? 1:12! Hurray for hard work in training!"

Share your lovely little things with me, either here as comments or on Twitter, and I'll pass them along to the world. :)

This week's best "Lovely Little Things" (Oct 10, 2010)

Here are a few of my favorites from this week:

http://twitter.com/lovelylthings/status/26870923304 - RT @LATunleashed: California is now home to 100 wild condors! Most in the wild in 50 years!

http://twitter.com/lovelylthings/status/26837126133 - RT @Eddelatorre: Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.

http://twitter.com/GratitudeStream/status/26698734319 - Via @GratitudeStream, I'm grateful for my bruises cuz they mean I'm healthy enough to study martial arts. -- Lyn in OK

If you have any lovely little things, sparkling moments in time, you'd like to share, either comment here or send them to me on Twitter.

Have a wonderful week!

It's coming together!

I've been monitoring the #gratitude, #goodnews, and #livehappy hashtags on Twitter and have found some great stories.

I'd like to have the Lovely Little Things feed be mostly a collection of individual incidents, "I ran an hour without stopping" rather than "I'm grateful to be able to run". At the moment, I'm posting both, but as I gain contributors I hope to move away from general statements.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter to get a running feed of happy news. Can't we all use that?

Welcome to "Lovely Little Things"

I'm delighted that you're here. I haven't yet completely got things set up to my liking, but at the moment I'm intending to make the "Lovely Little Things Community" be centered around Twitter.

You can follow me at http://www.twitter.com/lovelylthings and get all the newest tweets that way, or subscribe to the blog and I'll give you a weekly "some lovely little things that happened this week" update. I intend to post this on Sundays.

If you're wondering why I keep referring to "lovely little things", let me explain. It comes from my latest novel, "Planning to Live". Check out the two desktop graphics I made from a key letter written in the book and you'll know what "LLT" are and why they matter.

Keep your eyes open for a LLT of your own, and feel free to send it to me on Twitter or comment here and I'll pass it along. The world needs to hear about all the wonderful things instead of just the dark and sad ones. Let's make that happen!