Occasionally, I have days that make me go, “What?” Today, so far, has been one of those days.  So in a rare moment of story telling, I’ve decided to regale everyone with my Friday. I even come baring pictures!

First off, I think maybe I’ve broken my insomnia. Maybe. Last night was the first night in over a week that I slept at night. Not naps through the day. I slept at night, and I woke up feeling FABULOUS. So YAY to that!

I woke up to find I’d typed the wrong date on a flyer the night before. It’s what I get for designing while sleep deprived. But on the up side, it was easy to fix. Here is the final product:

So anyone in Nashville with spare coats, please bring them out! We start gathering the coats next week!

Anyway, up “early” for me, I was a little discombobulated with where to start! I have plenty to be doing with packing, etc. But, I was to get boxes from a friend after 4 pm, and I really didn’t want to run errands, come home, then go back out again. I’m a big fan of killing a whole bunch of birds with one stone. (Or for an Angry Birds analogy, a bunch of pigs with one bird.) So, I puttered around the house. Made a to do list, finally. Started to break down the guest bedroom so we can use it as a storage room for boxes as they are filled. Etc. Grabbed a shower.

Finally, it was time to head out. First stop was the post office. Which is NEVER a pleasant experience. Taking stamp machines out of post offices was, in my opinion, the biggest disservice ever to customers. Four of us in line waited almost 20 minutes to buy stamps as those ahead of us shipped packages — some of which had to be set up to go through Customs. But, at least the lady who waited on me was pleasant and cracked me up several times in the 30 seconds it took for my transaction. And my Christmas cards finally hit the mail today. YAY!

Then, it was off to throw some gas in the truck. I just wanted to put $20 in to give myself a little extra cushion. On my way, I got a phone call for a little design work, which is another a yay!

I pulled up to the Kroger gas pumps, and found them lined up three deep all the way across. Hey, you gotta get the best price you can get! I wasn’t in any hurry, so I pulled up behind an SUV on the end. Another truck pulled in behind me. A car, I noticed, was coming towards us, but there was no where any of us could go. Can you say gridlock?

Anyway, as I finished my phone call, the lady in the car that had been coming at me, laid on her horn. I looked over to see her flailing her arms at me to move because she couldn’t get out. I looked around and thought, “Now, where does she expect me to GO!?” If I pulled forward, I’d rear end the SUV. If I backed up, I’d back into the truck behind me. Plus, its not like my truck turns on a dime, (I really think everyone should drive a pick up truck at some point… car drivers tend to have NO CLUE that trucks don’t turn as tight as cars) so making any spectacular turns and shimmies was impossible. Should I get out, and try to push my truck sideways? I was baffled on what, exactly, she wanted me to do.

The SUV in front of me noticed the flailing honking woman, and she could roll forward about 2 feet. So she did… then I did… then the truck behind me backed up and let flailing honking woman get out. I, of course, proceeded to Twitter my annoyance with the woman while I waited my turn.

I finally filled up, and pulled away from the pumps to let the guy behind me fill up. I found a place to park and put my debit card away. Oh and to continue Twittering my annoyance.

Mid-Twitter-rant, I got a picture message from my sister-in-law. She doesn’t text much, so when she does, I know it has to be good. I opened it and, and boy was it good! Downright awesome. Good Bull if you will.

She sent me this:

My nephew with former Texas A&M head coach RC Slocum!!! I literally squealed out loud, and, of course, proceeded to share it on Twitter and Facebook. Because I like to over share. And because it made me so ridiculously happy! I still keep looking at the picture and grinning from ear to ear. LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture. LOVE.

I finished my over sharing, and I headed to Starbucks. I had a postcard from Starbucks for a free drink for my birthday, and it was about to expire. So I went and grabbed myself a free Peppermint Mocha. I saw this mug as I waited, and if I had a little extra cash to spare, I’d have totally snagged it:

I have way too many coffee mugs anyway, but is that not the coolest mug!? And it was huge!

Anyway, as I left Starbucks, I saw him. Santa on a Harley. Yes, you read that right. Santa. On. A. Harley. So you know what I did, right? I followed him. I literally stalked Santa. For about five minutes, I followed him until I got to where I could snap a photo.

How can you not get a smile from Santa on a Harley? Especially when, as I followed him, I watched little kids jump up and down and point and wave and squeal. SANTA!

Flailing honking woman forgotten… this was what the season was about. Garnering joy from watching others.

My attitude was adjusted for the rest of the day.

I headed to get boxes from my friend, and I found myself going out of my way to be courteous to others. I made sure a man and his son could cross the street safely by stopping and letting them cross in front of me. I let others merge ahead of me. So I lost maybe five minutes in my day… it made me feel good and happy to do so! It’s CHRISTMAS for goodness sakes! We should be a little more patient and helpful. We should smile more and care more.

I got home safely, with a different spring in my step. Now, I finish writing this to go start packing the office up. It’s been a strange day, but it gave me stories to tell. It ultimately made me smile and reminded me that while this can be a stressful time of year, it can also be one that makes you laugh.