This week has been kinda crazy (mostly with laziness, lets be honest) so I’m a bit late in posting this (okay so almost a week late). These are more things that mildly annoyed me, not so much sucky things, but anyway, here’s the list:

1. My lovely (hideous) rental kitchen cabinets still look like this (hideous)

But I’m hoping to change parts of my kitchen to move it in the right direction with a little bit of white and marble contact paper, some old baling twine, a bit of glue, some copper spray paint, and a whole lot of patience (frustrated screaming).

2. I forgot to take out the recycling again. I hate taking out the recycling. It’s on the way to my car, so I don’t know why. Maybe because I know it’s not likely to grow maggots like my garbage did when I forgot about it for too long (sometimes you learn adulating lessons the hard way, folks).

Also in this photo, you can see the discards of my shoe shopping addiction, which is why I’ve bought nothing but food and essentials for the past 18 days. You heard that right, my summer shopping ban is actually working. And i’m amazed at how not difficult it is for me. Probably because I also haven’t stepped foot in Target in 18 days. Let’s just say I’m beginning to see a correlation.

3. This TV stand (?) has been sitting in the middle of our elevator landing for the past 2 weeks. Seriously people? You made it a foot from the elevator and what, figured “good enough. The dumpster is a full minute away. And besides, it really adds to the whole ambiance of the place.”

4. Also by the elevator someone/thing oozed some sort of substance at least a week ago that I’m 95% sure is some form of vomit. Sure smells like it. I’m so close to grabbing some carpet cleaner and scrubbing it myself. Just kidding, I’m not even close to someone who owns carpet cleaner. And I have a current strict policy against scrubbing any vomit but my own. And it’s been a full year since I’ve had to do that (sorry Mitch’s floor), so I don’t wanna break my streak, ya know?

5. There used to be  a recycling bin here, but I’m thinking that because many of the residents have taken the recycling only sign quite loosely (or they actually think their old microwave is a crumpled college assignment they just found stuffed under their car seat that they only got 78% on) the bin is on a boycott. I’m such a Hermione in her SPEW phase about recycling sometimes aka I feel strongly about it, but I show it in a slightly preachy and mildly annoying manner. This may sound weird since I just professed in my earlier picture that I hate to take out my recycling. But that’s just because I’m a lazy procrastinator, not because I dislike the environment. Anyway, people casting off their large discards here irks me.

So those were the things that annoyed me. Or at least, those were the things that annoyed me before I drove through rush hour and had a horrible day at one of my jobs. But anyway, it’s time to focus on positive things!

Here’s the things that didn’t suck! Mostly little things, but if there’s anything my credit card statements have taught me, it’s that little things add up fast.

1. Waking up to sunlight every morning. I recently started raising the blinds before I go to bed (making sure I’m in pjs as I do so, because everyone in the courtyard has a very good view of the inside of my bedroom). I still set an alarm on my phone, but since I started this practice, I’ve never woken up to the sound of my alarm. Yes, this is in part because some days I don’t need to leave for work until after 11 a.m. and the fact that I am plagued by nightmares most nights, but still. I’ve been feeling so much more refreshed waking up with the sun instead of whatever the hell that annoying sound my iPhone makes..

2. This bowl of lemons. I also began the habit of starting the day out with a glass of lemon this summer, and I really love it as an alternative to all the glasses of sugary lemonade I sucked down in previous summers. Also now I have something to put in this bowl I probably shouldn’t have bought at Target. Even if it was 50% off.

3. I actually left for work on time. And remembered my watch. And my lunch bag! I usually manage only one of these at best.

4. My car interior is completely free of cereal bar wrappers, used tissues (Post-Its), broken CD cases, and empty Coke bottles. And it’s vacuumed! Yes this is because both my windshield and my AC broke and I had to get them fixed and I didn’t want the workers at the repair shop harshly judging me, but still. Though I missed a few things in my cleaning.The people at the shop were so generous as to clean out the dead bee that resided in the corner of my windshield for about a year that I consistently forgot to remove. Yay! (RIP Bee. I have no idea how or when you died, but it was tragic nonetheless).

5.The butterflies at one of my jobs started emerging from their chrysalises. I learned that the oozy orange stuff is supposed to happen, as gross as it looks. I spent like 15 minutes watching the process. It was like the time I watched a calf being born, only less blood, less, hooves, less pained Moo-ing, and it really wasn’t like it at all. Still, fascinating to see nature at work! (Literally AT work)

6. I had enough time in the morning to cut up fresh veggies and such and pack my own little Subway sandwich assembly ingredients. I even started packing cloth napkins to work so I would stop using so many paper towels (one of my many goals for this summer). It was delicious. I also got free Jimmy John’s that day for Customer Appreciation Day, so it was a double win for sandwiches.

7.My mom made a few batches of zucchini bread from the zucchinis in their garden and I got to swipe a loaf. So good. And yes, I ate most of it in bed with a fork while watching Psych reruns.

8. And while drinking this cocktail made of blackberry ginger ale, rum, and frozen blackberries. It was delicious, but I am sad to say I drank this after a hard day at work and I was so exhausted after two sips I fell asleep.

9. Okay, I’m out of things that happened on Tuesday. In fact, a couple of the previous pics are from Wednesday and Thursday, so the title is misleading, but I’ll share some other happy things from last week so we can get to 10.

I started utilizing my apartment community pool more often. I really need to use it even more, since it’s part of my rent and it’s only open for about one more month. Stupid Minnesota.

10. There is a great park just a couple miles from my apartment, which is kinda amazing since it’s so close to the city, and we also started utilizing that a lot more. There’s a part of the trail that opens up to water on both sides of the path, and this day it was covered in blooming lily pads (which is what my boyfriend is taking a picture of). Every time I walk the trails here I realize how lucky I am to have this kind of nature so close to me and I always wonder why I don’t visit it more (oh right, because I have a slightly irrational fear that if I walk there alone my life will become a Criminal Minds episode).

This post is just to show (mostly myself, because I need to hear it sometimes), that for every bad day or annoying thing, there are twice as many good ones. Even if some days it seems like you have to search harder for the good things.

I know I said 10 things, but I found this picture, and though it’s not Lake Lida, I was still lucky to spend the first few days of July at this beautiful place: