Opal

Moody Blue
Originally uploaded by jessajune

My parents gave my sister and I each a piece of jewelry to celebrate finishing grad school. Alicia knew pretty much exactly what she wanted, and got hers almost right away. I waffled for a long time... it didn't take me long to decide I wanted an opal, but it took me forever to find a piece that spoke to me. This was made by Artisan Impact, who I found via Etsy (of course). Sometime when I am less caffeinated and excited I will try to take some better close-up shots so you can see the lovely detail. Today, I can only really operate on the level of excitement! blue! sparkle!

It all really happened. I have my degree, and I'll think of that every time I wear this lovely piece.

(Yes, the stone is manufactured. No, I don't care. It is fiery and blue and large and perfect and I have wanted one ever since I was a little girl.)

Happy Things

So I've been pretty stressed out lately, for both personal and economic reasons. It's starting to manifest itself physically - kinked neck, soreness, etc. I'm sure it's manifesting in other ways too, that my friends and family can see.

A while back, Kristin linked to something called the Happiness Project, and it has me thinking. I'd like to keep better track of the things in life that I can be happy about. So I'm going to try to start posting regular "Happy Things" entries - the things may be big or small, the point is that I will stop and take a moment to recognize them.

And with that, here is today's list of happy things.

• The plumber was just here, and not only did he fix my shower, but he was pleasant, discouraged us from having more work done than was necessary, and was careful about not letting the cats out.
  
• The fixed shower meant that I could have a cool shower on a hot afternoon, and it felt pretty freakin' fantastic.
  
• My Dad planted some beans a few weeks ago, and somehow in the past 2 days without my noticing, tiny bean flowers have turned into almost full-length green beans. Nature is incredible.
  

And this one gets its own list, because it's huge:

• I got my diploma in the mail! It is really and truly official - I have a Master's degree in Library and Information Science. The Governator has signed it and everything.