Some of you may have heard of or subscribe to the RSS feed for the website 1000awesomethings.com.  I actually don’t follow the RSS feed, but every once in a while, a post from there pops up in my Google Reader shared items, usually shared by Isha.  I don’t remember how I found out, but I realized that the author of this site recently published a book containing some of his “awesome things”, called The Book of Awesome.  I love this concept, both of the book and the site… basically just taking note of some of the great things that make you happy in this world.  Simple things that can take a bad mood and completely turn it around or at least improve it a little.  The book and website both list very specific things, a lot of times things that happen, such as “when the thing you were going to buy is already on sale” or “finding your keys after looking forever”.  While I do think these things are pretty awesome, I have my own list of things that make me happy, and a lot of them are very simple everyday things, things that when I think about them or do them or partake in them, it makes me feel better or improves my day.  So I decided to list a few of these things for my faithful readers.

Coffee and Coffee Shops

While I like the taste of coffee, I think that a big thing that I really like it for is the ritual.  Drinking coffee is a daily morning ritual for a lot of people.  It’s something you can look forward to when you get up, or something you can look forward to in the middle of a busy day.  It’s something that can get you going or something you can relax with.  It’s a simple daily pleasure.  I stop almost every day at Starbucks on my way to work to get a cup.  Part of the reason is to get coffee, of course, but part of it is also just to stop in to the coffee shop.  I like seeing friendly barista faces and having the break in my day.  It just adds something to it.  I also love the ambiance in coffee shops.  There’s no better place to meet a friend just to chat, or to take some time to read a book, or to work on writing or doing homework.  And Starbucks has made this even better lately with their free Wi-Fi.

Bookstores

I own way too many books.  Well, maybe not.  I’m not sure you can ever own too many.  But honestly, I probably own more than I will ever read.  And I still love to visit bookstores and 99% of the time will not be able to leave without purchasing something.  One of my favorite things to do on my lunch break at work is to go visit Borders.  I love going in, grabbing a cup of coffee from the cafe there, and then browsing to see what there is to see, from the newest bestseller to what is on the bargain rack, it all fascinates me.  There is something calming about being able to go there and browse the racks of books and absorb yourself in knowledge.

Traveling

Traveling has to be one of my most favorite things in the world.  I didn’t travel too much as a kid.  Our family vacations were usually short trips to Kings Island or to visit family in Kentucky or Oklahoma.  Now, as an adult, since I have started flying places and trying to visit more distant lands, I am totally in love with traveling.  I like every part of it, from flying, to road trips (although for long distances, I prefer flying over a bunch of hours in the car), to hotels, to trying new places to visit and eat.  When I know I am planning a trip, I will go crazy just researching where I am going.  I look things up on Google Maps.  I find out what there is to do in a place via Wikitravel.  It’s actually pretty obsessive, but I love it all.  I’m lucky I’m with someone who loves travelling as much as I do, otherwise they would get left at home a lot!

Apple

I know the first thought that probably pops into your head when I say that.  It’s that I’m a fanboy (or fangirl, in my case) just like so many others.  And I will admit, in some ways, that probably is true.  Do I want an iPad? Sure.  Do I want an iPhone 4?  Duh.  But, I also have my reasons for not getting them (which is another blog post entirely).  But I love Apple’s aethetics.  I love the way things work on my iPhone 3GS.  I love visiting the Apple website just to see what the latest fun product they have is.  And I like visiting the Apple store just to play with everything.  I have been the owner of multiple iPods, and am now considering buying my first Mac (whoa!).  Even though I have heard the language absolutely sucks, the thought of attempting to write an iPhone app brings back my programmer roots.  Apple is just a lot of fun to me.

Superman

I think this fascination may have started when I was a teenager.  One of my favorite shows was Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.  And while I haven’t kept up that well with it, I also have several seasons of Smallville on DVD.  I don’t know if it’s the mythology of this famous superhero, what with his secret identity and goal of rescuing people from the perils of this world, or if it’s the muscles and the red and blue cape and costume.  Honestly, maybe it’s just the tall, dark, and handsomeness of Dean Cain that first won me over.  But the whole story of this seemingly nerdy journalist that secretly saves the world while falling in love with his cute co-worker is one of my favorite stories ever.

These are really just a few of the things that I get excited about.  When I first started thinking about it, I immediately came up with a list of twenty just off the top of my head.  So now it’s your turn… tell me, what are a few of your favorite things?