Happy.

I am really happy.  I keep marveling over it because it feels so good, and lately each day it gets better. I'm just really happy with my life right now.

It's the little things.  For one, it's October, which is my favorite month, and it's fall, which is my favorite season.  We've been having this spectacular fall weather in recent days, and I am loving it! Jackets in the morning and evening, the air getting that crisp autumn smell to it, and leaves starting to dance around outside.  There's football on more days in the week than not, and I got to break in my new electric throw blanket last night at bedtime, after a weekend where I wore a hoodie and it was weather appropriate.

Beyond that?  I love my family, my friends, my boyfriend, the animals in my life.  I'm so glad I got to visit Omaha recently and spend time with my crazy family.  I went shopping with my mom, watched football with my brother and sister in law, played with my bulldog nephew, and got to spend time with my grandfather, even if it was in the hospital (he's okay and released the day after I left).  My ticket home for Christmas is bought, so that's one less thing to worry about.

My friends.  I got to see a few of my Omaha girlfriends when I was home, and this included meeting one friend's fiance.  It was so amazingly lovely to see her so happy and with someone who clearly loves her dearly.  She deserves it, and I can't wait to celebrate her marriage next year!  I also got to see another friend's adorable two kids who are smart and funny and energetic and so fun to interact with.

I also adore my friends here in the DC area.  It's such a mixed group, coming from my old job, my current job, meetups, online dating (ha!), meeting through a friend of a friend.  I'm going out for dinner tonight with my two favorite girlfriends in DC and I'm really looking forward to it.  I also just love that I can keep in such good contact with so many people all over the country via texting, IMing, Facebook, Instagram and this blog.  It's really pretty amazing!

Animals....my animal count has depleted significantly over the last couple of years.  My heart still misses Mercy every single day, and now Gatsby is with Mercy, and I miss both of them all the time. Found a really cute video on my phone yesterday of Gatsby and Riley wrestling, it made me smile!  I do have an adopted second cat in the form of BF's cat.  She is so sweet and affectionate and loves to sit with me when I'm over.  The cats are getting along so much better now, as I bring Riley with me every weekend.  I love that they've made peace after an initially rocky start!

And BF.  Oh, boyfriend.  God, do I love him.  I love spending time with him, I love his sense of humor, I love how thoughtful he is and how he factors me into everything he does.  I love that we love to watch football together, and that he will go see movies he doesn't really want to see with me, like Gone Girl.  ;-)  I love that even though he told me a few weeks ago he doesn't decorate for Halloween, he has now bought decorations with me on three separate occasions, and has his living room properly spooked out with lights and pumpkins and skeletons and all sorts of Halloween coolness.  There is nothing better than opening someone up to something they'd not really been into before and having them enjoy it!

We also bought a picture to hang in this same living room this weekend, and I LOVE that I got to help choose it out.  I don't know why that mattered to me so much, but it did.  He really trusts my taste, and this spans from things like this to relying on my football picks for the weekend as a first line of information when doing picks with his friends in his Fantasy Football League.  He wears a certain scent because he knows I love it, even though he would have changed otherwise just for variety....even though I've told him he can obviously wear whatever he wants!  He likes wearing what I love, and I love him for that because I have such a strong scent association with people, and the one he wears is perfect.

We  have plans to carve pumpkins, to go to fall festivals and pumpkin patches with his daughter in coming weekends.  I brought him a couple of things from Nebraska including a random t-shirt and a coffee mug, and he wore the t-shirt this weekend.  I'm gradually accruing more and more small things at his house, and he's offered me a drawer awhile back.  I didn't accept yet only because I'm too indecisive about clothes and can't think of anything I want to decidedly abandon there during the work weeks.  :-p  But I love seeing even the gray zipper hoodie, the lip balm, my yogurt in the fridge. I feel more and more a part of his household and his family and his life every day.

I gave him a couple of the prints I got from our vacation this weekend, and he framed them both. One is at his house, now the second of us together, and it's right in the living room on prominent display. The other is on his desk at work as of this morning, right next to his monitor.  This just made my morning!

In summary?  I am just really, really happy right now.  I feel like there are so many things to look forward to, and I also just really love that I have my own things going on, too.  I still work out with my trainer, I still run my miscellaneous errands.  I'm going to make chili this week to nosh on for a few days, and finish my Halloween decorations tonight.  I'm considering a random day off soon to just go see a movie or two, just to indulge.  I've been reading so many good books lately, and getting into some really good TV shows.  I listen to my music loudly when I'm driving and sing along even though I can't sing.  I consider if I need an oil change before we drive to Charleston in November for Thanksgiving.  I make lists and I make plans and while I abide by them sometimes, other times I just do what I want, and that's just as lovely.

Did I mention that I'm happy?  :-)