Things to be thankful for

It's the start of the new year, which I think makes even the most practical among us a little reflective. So I was pondering last night, as my hangover ebbed thanks to homemade pizza and the evening had "cooled" to just 29 degrees, some of the things I have to be thankful for.

1) A pretty fantastic husband who loves me enough to put a compression bandage on my yet again sprained ankle and get me a series of ice packs. But most of all I'm thankful that he loves me in spite of my short temper and squidgy bits. And I love him despite his ability to always be at least 15 minutes late, work too hard and his mild case of OCD when it comes to cleaning the kitchen.

2) My health. While my fitness may need some work (or a lot, insert standard new year's resolution here), I'm still thankful to have a functioning, healthy body that does everything it's supposed to do.

3) Living on the land. I'm damn lucky to live on a farm and have wide open spaces all around me. Room to shout, run and play music really loud! Not to mention the scenery, the sunsets, the changing seasons and the crazy wildlife.

4) Social networks. It sounds silly but I'm pretty thankful for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram! It's awesome to get a glimpse of other people's lives and to make friends you have things in common with (like life on the land for example). #Agchatoz and the number of farm/family blogs I've found in the past year have been an amazing opportunity to share and learn and laugh.

5) Manicures and pedicures. I don't get them nearly as often as I like - mostly on trips to Sydney - but boy they're so much fun! And OPI Cajun Shrimp is just fabulous :)

6) Friends and family. Last year (feels weird to say that when it's only January 2) I doubled my family by getting married and I'm damn lucky that they're lovely, or at least no more crazy than my own family! And on the friends front, while it's been hard to stay connected to old friends in Sydney, I do feel that 18 months into the community down here I've finally got a great gang of girls. Plus I can only hope these friendships will blossom more in 2012.

So on reflection, there's plenty to be happy about and I should really try and be a little more positive in my outlook day to day!