Two weeks ago, I was at my Dayjob user conference in Boston. In the days before that, I was madly making lists of things I needed to take with me, consulting presentations and lists provided by People Who Know about these things. We were getting staff shirts, which certainly make us recognizable to folks attending the conference. This year they were REALLLY green, to match our new corporate branding. But we didn’t know that before we got there.

So the guidance list said to bring black, gray, or white bottoms. And I have none of those. I had intended to wear some crisp tailored navy blue ankle pants. But if the shirts were black, that would have looked ridiculous. Because I’m still in that fashion camp that says you don’t wear black and navy together. Feels like a goofy “rule” as I type it, but here we are. So I went to the mall with “black, gray, or white bottom” in mind. It wasn’t fun shopping. It was obligatory shopping, which sucks the fun out of it.

I also wanted to find some not-sneakers to bring, since my favourite comfy sneaks are… guess what? … navy. Which again, great if I could wear the ankle pants. Notsomuch if I couldn’t. So my trip to the mall also included a joyless trip to buy a pair of flat, comfortable shoes to wear. And I did buy things that were solidly good enough, if I wasn’t grumpy about the reason behind the purchases. But I got a black skort that I like way more (now that it’s not the Obligatory Black Bottom) and a pair of lovely neutral coloured leather-upper loafers. Good choices trump my bad attitude. Ha.

So yeah, the first big props on today’s Grati-Tuesday entry goes to the sales reps who were gracious in dealing with my pouty self that forced-march shopping day.

What else we got this week, you ask?

• On the list of things that I pine for, my Beaver Canoe sweatshirt circa 1984 features prominently. I had one, as did many of my friends. One girl in my theatre circle had a periwinkle blue one that I coveted. COVETED! But this year, in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty two, oh happy day, Roots has decided to do a Beaver Canoe do-over. Same beautiful logo – not in periwinkle blue, mind. But that’s OK. I got white with a green logo – I’m pretty happy with that. I paid a *lot* for this hoodie, but that’s one less thing to pine for, right? And many years of bliss in the wearing of the thing. So thanks, Roots!
• Seat sale for the Stratford Festival! I bought three pairs of tickets for supercheap, and now I get to see Chicago (Fosse!), Hamlet, and Richard III in the fall. There’s the amazing trifecta of Colm Feore (playing Richard), Donna Feore (choreographing and directing Chicago) and Antoni Cimolino (directing Richard) that I’m grateful to be able to soak up the fruits of their creative processes. I’ll take that deal all day long. So thanks, Stratford, for the seat sale that makes it possible for me to see all three.
• Now that we’re in the sweltering days of summer, I’m freshly sad about the giant maple tree in my yard that came down (in spectacular fashion) in a storm last summer. The shade from that tree made my front porch comfortable in the hot, hot, heat, and now, it just feels altogether too bright and too hot. No Bueno. So I came up with a plan to attach a sleeve piece of tubing to a 4×4 of the porch railing, and use that as the anchor for the patio umbrella we don’t use with the patio table (Because we have a bigger one for that specific purpose)/. So shout out to my gentleman associate who takes all my plans that start with “So I was thinkin’…” and makes them work out as well (and sometimes better) than I had hoped. Yay shade! And Yay co-conspirator for my genius plans.

And that’s the highlight reel for this week. If you can choose to be anything this week, friends, choose to be grateful.