Friday's post, plus interest

I guess I sort of forgot about that whole Friday Five thing this week. OK, no, you know damn well that's not true. Of course I didn't forget about it... (Um, hi, have you met me? I am all about structure and routine, and I do not just forget to do something I have done for 62 of the past 63 weeks.) Anyway, since I'm two days late, I'll add two more and we'll call it a Sunday Seven. Fair enough?


Seven things that pretty much always make me happy

1. Going to bed without setting an alarm, knowing I can stay in bed as long as I want the next morning. (What does not make me happy is the fact that I am typing this on Sunday night, knowing I will not be able to do this again for another six days!)
   
   
2. Wearing my blue yoga pants. This week's sudden snap of fall weather made me pull them out for the first time in months, and I love their stretchy, cushy comfort every bit as much as I did last year. Too bad I'm still no better a housekeeper than I was last year. The trailing bottoms are still serving as Swiffer cloths as I walk. Obviously I'll never learn.
   
   
3. Mashed potatoes. 'Nuf said, I think (that is, if you're anybody except Red).
   
   
4. That moment in an airplane when the whooshing along at ever-increasing speed suddenly gives way to the nose tipping up and the wheels leaving the ground. Most people on planes feel better upon landing. Me, I love takeoffs. Always have.
   
   
5. Going out for sushi. I don't even eat cooked fish, so it should be baffling that I love sushi restaurants so much, and yet I do. I love the food, the flavors, the inevitable glass (or two) of wine, but also I love the rituals of it... rubbing the wooden chopsticks together to rough off the splinters, pouring the soy sauce and swirling in the wasabi... I love the tiny, pretty little ceramic dishes and the lovely presentation of assorted rolls on a big, gorgeous platter. I've sort of missed that last one when I've gone to the floating sushi boat buffet, but as a movable feast has its own charms, it's a fair trade-off, I suppose.
   
   
6. (Speaking of wine...) The second sip of the first glass of wine. As I was told at my friend Simone's in-house wine tasting recently, you should never judge a wine on your first sip. The first sip is sort of a shock to your system, the introduction of "Hi! We're having wine now!" That second sip is the smooth one, the one that makes you want to keep sipping the rest of the glass. Damn. Now I want wine. Moving on.
   
   
7. The caller ID display, when the name of someone I actually want to talk to is on it. As a general rule, I hate the phone, so the ratio of times this happens is probably less balanced than it should be. (Friends, please take no offense. Just because I don't love the phone doesn't mean I don't love you.) Still, there are certain names that, on that display, will always make me smile. Always.
   

I could go on and on, of course. The smell of fresh-baked waffle cones at Grand Ole Creamery... The feel of sunshine on my face on a just-warm-enough day... Store mistakes that work in my favor... New episodes of Gilmore Girls. (Oh. Right. Scratch that one.)

So tell me... what makes you happy without fail?