the little things

The older I get, the easier it is for me to be happy.

You'd think it'd be the opposite, considering the fact that kids are experts on enjoying the little things in life...but somehow, as I've grown up, I've found that it doesn't take much to make me happy.

Today I was driving back to school after a nice weekend spent at home, and I was so happy. I was happy to be on Highway 99, I was happy to have enjoyed my weekend, I was happy with the weather...in essence, I was happy with everything.

Always inquisitive, I tried to put my finger on why I was so happy...and I couldn't think of a reason.

Highway 99 is probably nothing special to most people, but to me it is a beautiful road that connects my two homes. Its lovely farm scenery inspires my thinking and boosts my spirit, and it further solidifies my desire to live somewhere outside of the city.

My weekend was also nothing spectacular - I spent most of it with family, which is always a joy for me. I spent Saturday in Portland with my mom to watch my brother's cross country race, which also crossed my path with my grandma, uncle, and ex-boyfriend's parents (I love his mom dearly). I spent today at church, doing homework, doing laundry, watching football with my brother, and catching up with my sister.

The weather this weekend was my favorite kind - cold and sunny. It's the kind of weather that encourages people to wear boots, jackets, scarves, and hats...my favorite kinds of clothes. I love that my favorite clothes and favorite season go hand in hand...and I love that I rocked my new boots this weekend. Icing on the cake, definitely.

If you look at the things that made me happy on that short 45-minute drive back to school, you can see that there wasn't anything major there that should have made me grin ear-to-ear like I did. Nothing out of the ordinary or especially fantastic...it was just the little things.

And that's what it takes to make me happy.

If you think about it, our lives are made up of little things - even the big moments aren't really that big, because they too can be broken up into something much smaller.

A big, happy moment for my family and I this summer was my uncle's wedding. That in and of itself was huge, but break it down and you can see that we were happy because of all the details...yes, he got married, and we were so happy for him and his wife.

But what's more, we were together. We were at the beach. We were celebrating love. We were bringing families together. We were relaxing. We were in the sunshine. We were eating at Pinkberry for the first time. We were taking walks. We were sleeping in. We were cooking. We were all under the same roof. We were sitting on the balcony, taking in the mornings slowly. We were laughing.

It's really all about the little things...and I'm glad I have that figured out. Because now I've realized that even if the big picture isn't turning out exactly how I want it to, that's okay, because the little things along the way are what matter.

Add in the fact that I know I will end up exactly where I need to be, and I can rest easy and really appreciate the fact that the little things are my life...and I love my life.

♥ abigail

I digress. A lot.

Call it a sickness, but I can't tell one story without telling the pre-story first.

Lucky for you (my three lovely readers), this means lots of ramblings for you to read.

Unlucky for you, I lack a camera, so my rambling words aren't broken up with nice photos for you to rest your eyes upon for a second.

Lucky for you, once upon a time I was editor-in-chief of my high school newspaper, so I know about breaking up paragraphs into two to three sentences for reading with ease.

Unlucky for you, explaining all of this resulted in you reading more ramblings...and I haven't even gotten close to the point of this post!

Just so you know, in case I never get around to it, the point of this is to talk about my new workout regimen. If I forget to talk about it, feel free to yell at me in the comments section.

I feel like Ted in How I Met Your Mother for saying this, but before I tell you that story, I really do need to tell you this story.

I just returned home from a lovely weekend in Portland. My younger sister (she's 18) and I made the two-hour drive on Saturday to visit our cousin (she's 16) for a highly-anticipated sleepover.

Clearly this warrants another story...this summer we spent a lot of time together. We were inseparable for 10 days in Manhattan Beach, we saw each other a mere two weeks later for the annual family camp out, and then we saw her a week after that for a trip to the coast.

I'm pretty sure I spent more time sharing a bed with her this summer than I did sleeping alone. That's a lie. But it feels true! She and I moved past our days of having cover-tugging battles all night long to having cousin snuggle love all night long...I really had trouble sleeping alone after our Manhattan Beach trip!

But I digress.

Upon realizing (on August 22) that we wouldn't see each other again until the high school state cross country meet (November 6), we decided that would be too much time apart. We decided to orchestrate a sleepover on one of her free weekend's before my sister and I have to start classes...hello, this weekend!

After getting off to a late start on Saturday due to my sister's visit to Urgent Care (nothing too serious, her earache ended up being caused by a canker sore on her throat...weird, right?), we finally made it to our cousin's house in Aloha by 3:00.

From there, we took our bags to our grandma's house in Beaverton, the site of the sleepover (my cousin's house is in the middle of a remodel, and there isn't a kitchen...this is a problem at sleepovers. Especially when pancakes are required in the morning for breakfast).

After leaving a note to our grandma explaining our whereabouts (we showed up unannounced and didn't want her to be alarmed by the mess of clothes we left all over the front room), we set off for the MAX station.

We had a brief encounter with an interesting stranger, in which he gave us the following advice: "When you meet Prince Charming, don't let him lead you into the ocean because when you get bit by a shark it's for life. An arm and a leg. You don't want to live with that."

Thank you, kind stranger. We'll take that to heart.

We hopped on the MAX and wandered Portland for awhile, making a stop at Buffalo Exchange and Powell's, before our cousin (the cousin we were with's older brother) came and picked us up and took him to his house.

He cooked us a fantastic dinner of the most delicious paninis we'd ever had (jury's still out on whether that was because of how hungry we were or because they were just that good), then took us to a MAX station for our ride home.

We then went to a Safeway and spent a good 15 minutes debating what flavor and brand of ice cream we should get (we settled on the store brand's "Extreme Moose Tracks", which was a good choice), then spent another 10 minutes deciding what other snack foods we wanted (we picked Pirate's Booty and cookie dough). We grabbed a movie at a Redbox on our way home, then finally got back to our grandma's.

We proceeded to eat our weight in junk food and watch our movie, all the while perusing my grandma's scrapbook...she just scrapbooked this summer's events (which included two family weddings), so we were anxious to see what the pages looked like (read: how many pictures we were in, and how we looked in said pictures).

Remind me to get back to the picture I found that inspired my workout regimen. I feel compelled to finish the story about the rest of the weekend...stick around, it might amuse you.

Not because it's amusing. Maybe you're easily amused and just like to read my ramblings. I won't judge you if you do. I'll thank you, though!

After snuggling the night away, we woke up and went to breakfast with my grandma (how perfect was it that today is Grandparent's Day?!). Next, Grandma took us to the zoo, where my cousin played tour guide (she's a Zoo Teen volunteer during the summer).

I fell in love with naked mole rats all over again.

Try to convince me they're ugly.

I dare you.

We went and had a quick visit with another cousin and aunt and uncle before heading back to Grandma's for a late lunch before my sister and I hit the road for home.

It was a lovely weekend.

I love my family. Don't worry - my cousin and I will be reunited on October 10 for the Tyler Hilton concert. Yes, he's coming to town again. I am so excited. Again.

If you want to read about the second time I saw him (the first time I blogged about him), check it out here.

What a pretty man. With a pretty voice. I'm dying, seriously.

Anyway. I'm getting to the point here.

We looked at my grandma's scrapbook pages from our time in Manhattan Beach, and this is what I saw:

That's me in the swimsuit. Let me address a few things:

Yes, I know the dangers of skin cancer. Yes, I wear sunscreen (SPF 45 and 55 the entire trip). Yes, I am blessed with the skin of my father, who is of a Polynesian/Hawaiian bloodline. No, I don't know why I'm so excited about eating that apple. No, those party cups are (probably) not all filled with alcoholic beverages.

What struck me about this photo was the fact that I don't look like this anymore.

This was two months ago, and apparently I was doing a much better job of maintaining my fitness. This photo inspired me to get my butt back in gear and get in shape.

I don't look that different, but I have lost a lot of tone. (By the way, I'm not looking for any sympathy or anything of the sort. I'm definitely not one of "those" girls.) But I have lost a lot of tone and definition, and my stomach doesn't look like that.

So tonight, I decided that instead of complaining about it, I would do something about it.

I'm normally an active girl, but the lack of a gym (I don't belong to one at home, and just have access to one while at school) makes me sluggish...for some reason, I can work out for much longer on ellipticals and treadmills than I can while running outside.

I don't like it, but that's the way it is.

Despite this, tonight I went for a two mile run, did 100 lunges, 50 squats, plus a whole bunch of sit-ups and push-ups. (I also wandered the zoo for two hours today, which definitely got me some exercise.) On tonight's run I discovered that my favorite time to run is at dusk - for some reason I have more patience with it and get less bored.

That photo showed me not only what I used to look like, but what I can look like. And that's all the motivation I need to get myself moving again...which I will be doing every day this week (and in the coming weeks), one way or another.

What motivates you? (Besides reaching the end of this post. Congratulations, you did it! And I am so happy you did. But probably not as happy as you are.)

♥ abigail

the mcbride clan

I honestly think I have the best family in the world. Obviously I'm biased, but I really don't think you can beat the McBride clan.

Last night I got back from a week-long trip to Manhattan Beach for my uncle's wedding. It was a fantastic week filled with family, lazy days and nights on the beach, and plenty of wedding festivities.

Even though I'm home now, I'm feeling extremely homesick. After spending every waking (and sleeping) moment with my cousins and aunts and uncles, I feel incredibly lonely being home with only my younger sister and brother for company right now.

The McBride family is loud. We're opinionated. We're messy, we're ridiculous, we laugh at inappropriate moments, we interrupt and talk over each other, we make fun of each other...but there is so much love in this family.

We look out for each other. Whether it's keeping an eye on your younger cousin who got drunk for the first time, or giving the cute boy your cousin/niece/sister has been eyeing the stink-eye whenever he comes in a 5-foot radius of her, someone has your back. Sometimes it's obnoxious, but mostly it's a very sweet gesture.

We take care of each other. We make each other lunch. We clean the kitchen together. We help slather on sunscreen in those hard-to-reach places. We help slather on aloe when those hard-to-reach places get missed. We share clothes. We make sure everyone has what they need out of the bathroom before we go take a shower. We see if anyone wants to go running with us (usually not). We see if anyone wants to go grab food with us (always yes).

We take too many pictures together. We laugh until we're crying and our abs hurt. We yell things like "cousin touch". We call our new aunt "auntie" specifically because she said she didn't want us to. We get locked in bathrooms. We compete to be our grandma's favorite. We reminisce about "that one time..." We eat. We drink. We make merry. We're probably one of the happiest families you'll ever meet.

We love each other. We may give each other a hard time (I was the butt of far too many jokes this week), but there is so much love. So much love.

It is so great when the whole family can just exist together for a week, with nothing keeping us from spending all our time together. It was a fantastic week, and I am already looking forward to the next time we can all be together again...

Here's me and two of my sibbos with some of our cousins:

missing my family,

♥ abigail

How to pack for a week in California

How to pack for a week in California, Abigail-style (I am a notorious over-packer):

Step 1. Find every summery article of clothing I own (shorts, tank tops, dresses, etc.).

Step 2. Throw said items of clothing on my bed to sort through because it would be crazy to bring everything.

Step 3. Try on different outfits with all the aforementioned articles of clothing in order to ensure that I won't look like a fool in California, and to ensure that I won't over-pack.

Step 4. Decide I look awesome in all of my 7 million outfits, and decide to skip step two (in which I would weed out some outfits).

Step 5. Put all of my clothes in a suitcase I have nick-named "Gigantor" and feel accomplished before realizing that I have not packed shoes or toiletries yet.

Step 6. Curse my unpredictable hair and the fact that I'll have to take up precious space with my hair dryer and straightener.

Step 7. Curse the fact that I have feet and need to pack several pairs of shoes.

Step 8. Attempt the weeding out process again.

Step 9. Feel very accomplished for removing two skirts from my suitcase.

Step 10. Go to bed, feeling ready to leave tomorrow for grandma's.

Step 11. Wake up and realize that there's a huge pile of "Things I'm using today but need to pack for California" on a table in my room.

Step 12. Attempt the weeding out process again.

Step 13. Fail miserably at weeding out, and actually add more clothes.

Step 14. Weigh Gigantor. Breathe a huge sigh of relief when it's only 40 pounds.

Step 15. Pack a mini suitcase for my mom to drive down to California on Wednesday.

And now, I'm ready for California. Two days and 41 minutes until take off!