{beautiful}

there is so much beauty today. and i'm still so inspired by that darn song playing. can't get enough of it. so, here are my beautiful monday things.

first off, ch-chck. (that's the sound of me marking an item off my accomplist.) i donated blood today. shots, blood and the sort have always made me squeamish, but i swore that one day, i would do it. knowing i can do something to help save someone else is helping me get over this hurdle. after pregnancy, labor and birth, my squeamishness has decreased, but i felt i needed something more to push me over the last bump in the road. last month, that happened. harper goes to a daycare that has several locations around the area. there was a sign posted a month or so back that a little girl around harper's age in another building was diagnosed with leukemia in december, and the family was asking that people sign up if interested in donating blood so that the red cross would hold a blood drive. they needed 45 participants to commit in order to get it going. i signed up and rallied my family members to sign up as well. there were enough participants, so they scheduled one. for today. and i went. and i made it through. i got to the car afterwards and just cried. i cried for the little girl who had to go through chemo. i cried that it could just as easily be my baby. i cried for myself, selfishly that i did something i never thought i would do, and lived to tell about it. thirty has been an amazing year so far, from my first running race to my first blood donation. and it's not stopping.

another beautiful thing that i am loving right now is the way we can sneak a kiss out of harper even when she resists. the second she slyly says no, my lower lip juts out and i tempt her with a plea of "mommy's sad." she just can't live with this fact, so she puckers up and plants a big wet one and immediately proclaims "happy!" and we can repeat this over and over and over until we've exhausted kisses. how she knows her kiss can turn a frown upside down, i don't know. but i don't question it. i just relish in it's adorableness.

i gave her mini chocolates today, just because as i was sitting on the floor, she got in front of my face, hands on her knees, knees bent as if she was bouncing to a song, and so sweetly looked into my eyes with the most endearing plea "chocolates?" i couldn't resist. we've been home all day, fighting a cold (or allergies?), but enjoying the loungey day. pillows have come off the couch. fresh waffles were whipped up this morning. toys have been touched outside. i love my job, but it's so difficult to go back after spring break. it's like a teaser, then you return and have to work those loooong few months before summer vacation. i so enjoyed our day off today, and am looking forward to more of them in just 2 short months. that will be beautiful.

and finally, there is more beauty in the world today. my cousin, katie, gave birth to a sweet baby boy. collier kenneth was born 6 pounds, 8 ounces and 20 inches long on 4/19/10 at 9:45 pm. i can't wait to snuggle up this bundle of love. congratulations katie & kenny!

how much more beautiful than that can you get?