My drive to work. It’s 12 to 15 minutes on country roads, often without seeing another car until I’m close to work. Most mornings I see deer, turkey, vultures, squirrels, groundhogs, etc. Our three dogs and parrot are with me sharing the experience. I talk to them the whole way and they really seem to be listening. If I’m quiet for some reason, the dogs poke at me.
There are lots, but a couple that standout.
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Putting a Lego model together. The bigger and more advanced the better. I’m 43 and find it very hard to justify buying Lego for myself, but when I do I enjoy it very much.
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Getting into a hotel room on a work trip when I know I don’t have to work for at least 12 hours. I throw the bags on the floor, get out of my uniform, get a beer from the minibar and peruse the room service menu. All expenses are paid for to a point so I just chill and enjoy drinking beer and eating food that I didn’t have to make or help make myself. It helps that I drink very rarely at home so it’s a bit of a treat.
As much as it drives me nuts that our older dog loves waking me up with a sharp bark, I’d be paranoid if he didn’t bark.
Our younger dog is very much into morning belly rubs, LOL.
Hearing my dogs eating. It means they are happy, healthy, and not bothering me for at least 30 seconds.
I’m smiling all the way through this thread. Possibly the only thread in my regular Dope queue that invites that reaction.
You stole mine! I love listening to my dogs munching on their kibble. I also love listening to them snore.
Generally little things my kids do (Boy 3, Girl 9 months). Particularly when they do it together.
Also when my wife takes the kids to her parents for a couple of days leaving me in the condo by myself for the weekend (maybe about once every other month). It’s nice having one night to just hang out with friends without having to worry about coming home late. The rest of the time, I generally spend clean the condo from top to bottom, fixing stuff and finding all the various toys and other stuff Boy has hidden.
Of course the first thing Boy does when he gets home is yell “DADDY!! NEED MORE SNOW!!” and dumps a box of packing peanuts on the floor. The second thing is he runs off with a fancy William Sonoma bottle stopper or something and hides it. Girl just laughs and does nothing, making her an accomplice.
-Coming in on a freezing cold day and feeling the warm air in the house. Such a cozy feeling.
-Getting into my bed that has clean sheets that were dried outside on the clothesline.
-Coming home to a clean house.
-Opening a new bag of potato chips.
-Having the house to myself on a rainy day, watching Netflix with my favorite snacks.
-Having one (or both) of my large “lap dogs” (110 lbs and 90 lbs!) cuddle up with me on the couch.
-Walking out the door on the first warm spring-like day.
-Driving a clean (inside and out) car.
Maybe it’s the vitamin D supplements, but lately everything about my life has made me happy.
Evening, when we’re all in the library. The cat gets in my lap, the kid dances to music, my husband reads funny stuff off Twitter.
Walking around with my kid. We say hello to neighbors’ horses, chickens, cows, dogs, and turkeys, and to our own special trees.
I am nailing the autumn dinners. Sharp mac ‘n cheese, mashed squash, roasted brussels sprouts, bangers with grainy mustard, apple crisp…
Teatime. I take a long moodling walk in the afternoons before I sit down for a couple more hours’ work, and I make a pot of tea afterward. I like to go up to my study and sip it while I watch the cedars outside and think about what I’m about to do.
Weekends. Excursion season is ending, around here, so every Saturday trip to a beach or a trail or a tourist town feels special because it’ll be too wet to enjoy any of that soon.
Friday Evenings - I put fresh sheets on the bed and grab a shower and read myself to sleep knowing that in the morning mrAru will have joined me [we are currently living apart til all the estate crap is settled and we have Mom’s house sold and I can move back home. Til then we alternate weekends visiting each other - we are 400 miles apart.] There is something sybaritic about freshly laundered bedding and crawling into bed after a great shower and being able to relax
Saturday Mornings - the smell of a fresh batch of bread in the oven, and a pot of something on simmering [this weekend it was ‘prime rib roast stew’ - everything, baby potatoes, onions and carrots, celery, a a huge chunk of dead cow chopped into 2 inch cubes, red wine, herbs, freshly cracked pepper and simmered til tender.] I think next weekend it is going to be a chicken cacciatore and olive oil/garlic/herb focaccia sort of weekend.
I love being awake in the early hours - I do the segmented sleep thing and frequently end up wide awake at about 3 am with no ability to really fall back asleep for 4 or 5 hours, so I like to log in to teamspeak to see if any of my european buddies are chatting, having a cup of coffee and watching the sunrise waiting for everybody else to wake up. That half an hour alone at dawn can be the best part of a day.
Fresh crisp cold air while snuggled into a warm bed. Grew up with the window of the bedroom opened a few inches even in the winter. So I am more comfortable with a cold room and warm bed [drives mrAru nuts] but I love the contrast.
Killing THAT fly.
Friday night when I am getting into bed and realize I don’t need to set the alarm. AAAHHH!
Getting into a clean bed.
Waking up early on Saturday and realizing I get to go back to sleep.
Yes, there is a theme here.
A freshly cleaned and waxed bicycle drivetrain.
Cold and wet autumn days.
Snow storms.
The way the house smells when my wife bakes bread.
Getting dressed to go out to dinner.
My son comes over to visit driving the car that I gave him and the fact that he loves it as much as I did.
Sliding between clean sheets every weekend and pulling the bedding up around my face to inhale/snuggle in.
The tiny, happy, wiggly kisses my older dog gives my hand as I open the baby gate to let them outside after work.
The fact that the same dog waits for kisses on his head before he’ll eat his breakfast and dinner. (I love my other dog too, I swear)
Inhaling brisk, crisp air in the fall and winter.
Taking off my bra as soon as I walk in the door every day.
Snow.
Coffee.
Sock it to Me knee socks.
A new episode of a favorite show (currently, The Good Place is providing this feeling).
Brushing the teeth, finishing a shower, tidying up the house, finishing a load of laundry…
Also, I am goalkeeper in an amateur soccer league. When the game is over and I’ve maintained a clean sheet, I am excessively proud of myself.
Not “daily” exactly, but…I always book a window seat when I fly out of Los Angeles. The planes take off out over the ocean and it makes me happy to look out the window as we travel past the coast, and bank out over the ocean to head back inland. I imagine myself in one of the tiny sailboats tacking out beyond the breaks.
And dogs. All of them. They are all my friends I haven’t met yet.
Beer.
And I have a clear shot.
Alcohol always counts!
Oh Yeah!
Meeting friendly cats on our neighborhood walks. A lot of them really want some attention, as their owners are away for the day. A scritch to a friendly kitty makes me happy.
What can go wrong there, right?
I agree so much with this! It starts with the dog being so happy to see me and my heart melts when I see him and it’s wonderful to be home and done for the day.