Abby's Gratitude Journal
I would like to start making my Gratitude Journal right here on 7 Cups. 
This will be an "open journal", so if anyone wants to read and reply, you can do so.
A dear listener friend of mine here made the suggestion to start a gratitude journal, and I really think it will be a great idea as well. 
It is important, especially when times get difficult, to count our blessings and be thankful for what we already have. For example ... I've had to deal with the hurt of having some who I thought would be close friends not only stop talking to me, but lie to me about it and lead me on to believe that they would begin taling to me again. So ... what do I do? I think about the true and genuine friends that I already have and I am thankful for them ... including the one who suggested that I start a gratitude journal. 
So, what am I thankful & grateful for today? Well ... it might not sound like much to be actually thankful for, but it was this morning at work when I had poured off some of the specimen from a primary tube into the wrong short sample cup for a shared specimen setup because I was rushing myself and didn't see that the short sample cup was not positioned next to the correct primary tube. I noticed my mistake relatively soon after, but not before some of the results autofiled ... meaning that I had to find the correct primary tube and then program the accession number it was to be shared with to run the tests for the correct sample, and then call the patient's floor and tell the doctor or nurse that I need to change the result in the cimputer. So ... WHY am I grateful for this when I had made a mistake that I'm not really proud of having made? Because I showed that I was not afraid to own up to it, make myself accountable for it, and do what I needed to do to rectify the mistake.
November 21, 2019
Well, the aforementioned MeetUp with my friend didn
@AbbyHarris1976
That's so nice to hear, you had a good time with your dad 😃, spending time with family is the best one💞.
Am sorry about JC, sometimes in life, things don't work out as we see it to be, people have diverse emotions and ideas, and we don't know what a person thinks about us in their mind and thus grow their emotions accordingly. And their minor and major steps just emotionally drain us and hurts us gradually.
But am so glad to hear that you are making proper boundaries with him and thus this will surely make him realise about his action. And will keep the friendship too as in times of crisis only, we get to know about our friends and it's this time that proves who will stay with us. Wishing you the best and hope JC will realise his action and will rejuvenate the friendship again 😃.
That's awesome about thanksgiving, you all gonna enjoy loads 🥳🥳, hugs, take care.
@Daisy7cups
This is what Reese the cat kind of looked like with the shorter hair around his midsection and legs. Reese had blondish-like hair rather than gray, though.
@AbbyHarris1976
Wow 💞🐱, thanks so much for posting this. Am sure rese with his blonde fur looked amazing. Hugs to him 💞. But hopper and gus my fav 🐱🐱
November 23, 2019
I prepared and enjoyed a delicious penne with sausage and peppers meal with zesty marinara sauce. 😋
November 26, 2019
I signed up for a dinner at a Venezuelan restaurant with my dining out MeetUp crew this Saturday and Im looking forward to that. 😋😃
Ive never had Venezuelan food before but I bet Ill be eating like a Klingon General 🤣
Today, I went to an early dinner with Marcia, who retired from my workplace last year 😋😊. While I went to the workplace to meet her, I also met Hadi, a former coworker who left in 2014 and who I haven
@AbbyHarris1976
That's awesome about the reconnection with your friends, it's always amazing to hear from our good friends. Hugs and have a good day ahead 😃
Im having a 3-day weekend! 😀😀😀 Much needed after a grueling and exhausting workweek 🥴.
Last Sunday, I was on one of my dining out trips with the Chicago Dining Out Group and we were in the Little India neighborhood and went to a Bengali bakery. 😋 I tried cham cham and anjeer halwa (which had a cardamom flavor) and brought home badam (almond) pista (pistachio) rolls and motichoor ladoo (ground coconut, almond, and cardamom balls with cashews). 😋
January 14, 2029
First entry of the New Year 👍😊
Earlier this year, I joined a new MeetUp group that, in addition to meal meetups, has other Chicago neighborhood trips such as museum and theatre visits and walking tours too 🙂.
Unfortunately, I
2020 thus far has brought its successes and challenges. The main challenges faced thus far for me has been the onslaught of fatigue due to my stressful work schedule and it also appears that many of my friends that I had made here on 7 Cups appear to be drifting apart, for whatever reason, or maybe no reason other than long-distance friendships can be challenging to maintain.
The exception is my soul sister here. 👍🙂 Weve been posting and chatting here since 2018 and were never going to ghost one another 👍🙂
Also ... one success that Im grateful for this year so far is that I have slowly but surely begun to form a network of friends here in Chicago, those who live in my condo and those who I attend MeetUp events with. 👍🙂
I am hoping this year that if things ever slow down and smooth out at work, I can find more time to post more again on 7 Cups, establish new friendships, and, within reason, hopefully gain back some of the friendships that seem to have drifted away. 👍 I hope you all havent forgotten about me! 🙂 Qapla ‘! 😊👍
@AbbyHarris1976
Hi sis 😃, am so glad to see you in the forum again and it feels awesome reading ur posts. It's amazing to hear that you are getting to know new people and forming friendships as well 👍.
The workload can be really tiring, hope you get the proper rest to recharge yourself.
Tagging @Lavendersubmarine
@Daisy7cups
Thank you so much 🙂 Its good to have some folks to get together with for meals on weekends 😀. I think they were out there all this time but I just had to know where to look 🙂
@AbbyHarris1976
That sounds awesome, you all gonna enjoy loads, yay 😃👍.
@AbbyHarris1976
hi Abby, your forum is always inspiring and Im glad about your news! You weren't forgotten for sure. Its nice to hear from you again. Hugs 😊💜
@Daisy7cups
thank you for the tag 😊💜
@Lavendersubmarine
Youre so welcome and Im glad to have time to post 🙂. Ive got some fun events coming up next weekend after a few weeks with no plans 😊
@AbbyHarris1976
I wish you a great time and lots of fun Abby😊💜
Last night after work, I went to a restaurant after work and had a delicious meal and talked & laughed with one of the servers who I
I would like to post here about how appreciative I am about the #SolidarityAt8 initiative to show appreciation for all of the first responders and healthcare workers out there! 👍😊🥳
As a medical technologist who works in a clinical lab in a major city, the appreciation being shown there means a lot to me! 😊 To be able to do my part to put my skills to good use at this critical time means a lot to me, also ... and that makes me feel proud to be a medical technologist! 🎉🥳
@AbbyHarris1976
you are so generous Abby💜