Hi sweet readers of mine! I hope this Wednesday finds you all doing well. If you’re on my side of the world, you are covered in rain and quickly being reminded of Fall. I really enjoyed last week’s edition of Five Simple Things so I am excited to be here again for round two.
Last week was my birthday and I have so many reasons to be thankful. It was such a great week and so surprising as I didn’t expect it to be so lovely. If you are a new expat {you seasoned expats probably remember} then you must know that sometimes it can be disheartening to have your first birthday and celebrate the first round of holidays in a new country so far away from friends and family. I have been down this road before, but it didn’t change anything. I still woke up that day feeling like it was just another day only to be pleasantly surprised. My husband got me this yummy cake, bought my favorite flowers and gave me a foot spa for home pedicures and massages. My mother-in-law brought over some chocolates and a gift card to DM, one of my new favorite stores. And, the most surprising event of the actual day was all the love I received from you, my readers and followers, plus my friends and family back in the states. My personal Facebook, as well as the Facebook page for my blog, twitter and my actual blog were overwhelmed with birthday wishes all day long. It completely made my day and for that I am thankful to all of you.
In addition to my birthday thankfulness, here are last week’s five simple things to continue my journey in practicing gratitude.
{By the way, those gorgeous flowers M bought me are in this photo}
1. We finally painted our living room and hung pictures, which in addition to the “new to me” furniture, made it feel so much more like home.
2. My son LOVES cucumbers. I LOVE cucumbers. This makes me happy.
3. My mom sent us a care package from home; by us I really mean her grandson, but there were some goldfish in there I could enjoy too. This always means so much to us because there are definitely things we miss from home and international shipping is so expensive that it is almost not worth the cost.
4. We finally set up a VPN and now we have NETFLIX! I have another site I use and love where the VPN is not needed, but I was really excited to be able to stream Netflix as well.
5. On Saturday all the stars aligned making it possible for M and I to go out on a date. It’s the first time we’ve been out since our trip to Vegas in May. There was one time in June, but we had to come home after only an hour or so because Monster wouldn’t stop crying. We had the best time at a cute place called Chilax with two good friends of ours. There was even alcohol involved; well, at least for me and my girlfriend. 
So there you have it, one of those weeks where I had so much to be thankful for, I could have gone on and on. Some weeks these things present themselves in more obvious ways and other times, you have to look a bit harder. Practicing gratitude and writing these weekly posts help me to continue to see things that I may have otherwise missed. One more thing to be thankful for…..
I love hearing from you, so if you have the time, take a second and share something from your past week!
Love this, love your week, love your lovely birthday flowers! I’m so happy you had a great week. Looks like I need to start practicing some gratitude as well.
Thank you, thank you and thank you!
I will say, it has made a difference in my attitude. If nothing else, it makes me smile on Wednesdays. 
Ooooh, that cake looks amazing!
This week I am thankful for getting an appointment to have my wisdom teeth removed. If it must be done, I’d rather get it over with than spend weeks worrying!
Ouch! But I agree! Sooner the better so there’s less anticipation!
Awesome! So glad you were able to have a fabulous birthday. And being able to stream Netfilx, well that’s worth its weight in gold!!! lol
Lol! It sure is! It’s also nice for all the kid shows for my son; more variety than we have on regular tv right now.
Glad you had such a great birthday! I’m thankful that it’s short weather in Riga and that my flat no longer looks like a hovel
Should have been shorts weather
As in, sunny and warm!
Glad to hear you are getting settled in your new place!
It took a while
Happy belated birthday, Deanna! I’m so happy that you had such a wonderful week and celebrations!!! It’s always fun to be pleasantly surprised! And also, your comment about cucumbers made me laugh!
Thanks for contributing to this project! And I’m glad it’s sending positive waves through your life! WOOHOO!
Haha! I had to mention it! I should’ve also that he can eat a whole small cucumber in one sitting he likes them so much.
I love seeing little bits of me in him! {that sure isn’t my husband! Haha}
What a lovely week you’ve had! Also that’s so nice you got so many birthday wishes, I experienced being away from home on my birthday this year and I was a very strange day.
I think the weirdest part was the lack of phone calls from family with wishes as we tend to email now.
Yah I know what you mean. My mom has called me at midnight for my entire adult life. She posted on Facebook this time but I had to call her (its easier and cheaper). It’s those little things that sometimes make expat life a little disappointing.
Happy birthday! Your flowers are beautiful. I’m glad you’re settling in and feeling comfortable. I love gratitude posts. Netflix = happy day! Netflix streaming has saved me.
My gratitude for the week - my husband got a job! He’s been out of work for two and a half months and it’s been very tough. It’s been hard to watch his ego take hit after hit while interviewing. It’s quite a relief to have him feel better about himself. And it will be so nice to have money coming into the house again.
Stopping by from SITS. Happy day to you.
I love the little cheese cracker/goldfishy things from the States! It’s nice to “share” them with the child
What a great list for the week - and it’s great to hear you had a good birthday!
Haha! Who are we kidding? He shares them with me
Hello from the link up! Oh my gosh- I love VPN! I need it to feel a little closer to home. I have a whole year before I celebrate my birthday as an expat, but now I feel a little nervous and a little excited. However, I thought last birthday would be rough because I was alone in Hawaii since my husband had already moved to Korea, but it turned out great. http://alexfahey.blogspot.kr/2013/06/my-birthday-weekend-my25th.html
Thanks for sharing!
Hi! Yes, it’s VPN a life saver? It’s amazing what some small pieces of “home” can do for your piece of mind! Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Belated Birthday!!
Love those flowers! Oh, and I am a huge cucumber lover, too. Sprinkle a little bit of salt on them and they are the best snack!!
Thank you! That’s how I like them too! I think they make a great healthy replacement to chips.
It’s good to hear that you had such a nice birthday! Your cake looks quite delicious! You made some comments on your post that I smiled about as I read them. I too love cucumbers and hope my future children do also because they are tasty, haha. Getting care packages from home is such a good feelings. I got a very small one today, not even really a “care package” but my dad sent me a DVD and I got it in the mail today, something fun nonetheless. The last thing that I smiled about was that you got Netflix, that is awesome! My wife and I watch it all the time. I wish they had a better selection of movies but I’m not gonna complain. Everything together - VPN and Netflix account is like $10 a month, works for me!
I have a couple of other websites for some good stateside tv. Message me of you’re interested and I’ll email you the links.
Its just a funny thing in our house because I’m “the veggie” and my husband is “the carnivore” so we joke about who our son is more like. So far, I’m winning! 
Care packages are the best!
Yes they are!