Happy Things Friday | January 16

In all honesty, I was debating between a Five Things Friday and a “Happy Things Friday” post (inspired by Elisabeth) again this week, and I could have gone either way, but I decided that some Happy Things are in order because the world is dark enough, and you all don’t need me to rehash the daily news of the week. So let’s see what’s going well.

Half Marathon Training

I am in week 2 of my 10-week half marathon training (which I started right at the beginning of this new year), and I feel in full control (which I can’t say about a lot of things right now). I’ve been nailing my workouts (I run 4x a week again), and it gives me so much control and structure. I’ve been cross-training with cycling, three strength sessions, and yoga, and I feel like that’s a really great mix. I feel good about starting this year strong!

A good laugh

I am counting this for this week’s Happy Things because it was technically within the weekly timeframe. I mentioned last Friday that we had tickets to see Trae Crowder LIVE, and it was such an amazing night.

If you don’t know Trae, he’s also known as the “Liberal Redneck”, a guy from Tennessee offering a refreshing (witty and funny!) perspective on the current state of the country and the other various absurdities of life in 2020s America. He also has a podcast, if you’re into that. Weekly Skews is a podcast with “the smartest take on the dumbest timeline“.

The show was at the “Punch Line Comedy Club” here in Sacramento, which has a seating capacity of 240, so every seat felt close to the stage. Trae put on a great show, and he’s a real wizard with words. His jokes were funny and relatable, and his mix of sharp political humor and real-life stories had the audience laughing from start to finish. The small, intimate venue made the show feel very personal, and if you have the chance to see him, it’s well worth it. We really needed a good laugh during the stressful times.

Trae did a little Meet & Greet after the show, and I could convince Jon to get in line to shake his hand and take our picture. He was super-personable and so nice. Trae’s been on TV and a guest on many podcasts, and I have a feeling he could get really big, so I feel like we’re early supporters (although I’ve only known about him for a couple of years and he’s been doing comedy for much longer).

Owl Watching

It’s been so much fun observing the Great Horned Owl that is nesting outside my office window. As I mentioned before, it’s at eye level with my 4th-floor office, and I can watch it through the window, but we also have a live stream via webcam and can observe it up close. It’s been busy sitting on and puttering around the nest, so I think the arrival of babies is imminent. I’ll keep you posted!

Skis

I was gifted a hand-me-down pair of skis this week, and I feel so giddy. You might be confused because you know that I ski and assumed that I own a pair of skis, but the truth is that the (old) skis that I still own are at my parents’ house in Germany. I never brought them over to the US, so I always had to rely on renting when I went skiing here in the past. Jon is not a skier, so I don’t get to go very often (it’s not like we plan skiing vacations), but I do live close to Lake Tahoe (close, as in “can drive up for the day to ski”).

I just haven’t gone very often because I didn’t have skis (and planning to rent is an extra step that discourages spontaneity), and our old Jetta was “unfit” to go up into the mountains. I could have bought skis, but then I hadn’t gone skiing very often, so making the call to invest in a pair of skis was also hard for me (you see the vicious thought cycle here). Anyway, now I have skis, and hopefully that will make it more likely for me to get on the slopes.

Bonus Happy Things

• Sunrises (over our community pool on the way back from my treadmill run).
• Virtual lunchtime walks with my #BCBabes friends (two of them live on the East Coast but it happens to work out that I walk during a late lunch hour (1 pm), and they walk in the afternoon.
• High Sleep Scores. I have been wearing my Apple Watch at night to see how I am doing on sleep, and although I stay up too late sometimes and don’t get the 7.5 hours I am aiming for, my sleep score is still pretty high because I usually sleep through the night without many interruptions.
• The glow of our Christmas tree lights (yup, the tree is still up. What of it?)

• A new bread recipe that turned out so well. It’s very similar to the rye-spelt bread that I usually make, just with different proofing times, and this schedule makes the dough rise so much better.
• A belated Christmas Card from Tobia. THANK YOU!
• The arrival of my paper planner.
• I started a new book this week, the second one for 2026. That deserves mentioning because I put a reading goal on my goals list.
• My mom enthusiastically told me that she’s been to the gym twice already this week and that the strength training plan that she started is fun. This came out of her mouth! Who would have thought? It makes me so happy (because we all know the key to longevity is – among other things – strength exercise and mobility).

Do you have some happy things to share from this week?

photo credit: @ceryslowe_1 via Unsplash