A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

The Sound of Music is one of my favorite movies. I love the scene where Maria distracts the von Trapp children during the thunderstorm with the song These Are a Few of My Favorite Things.

Today I'm working on my final presentation for my Research Practicum class, and it is slow-going. I'm ready to be finished with this class and am sick of dealing with and analyzing data about suicides. In an effort to cheer myself up (and kill time while I'm waiting for a profession to respond to a couple of questions), I put together a short list of some of my current favors. In no particular order...

1. www.nbcolympics.com. I was a little disappointed when I heard that the swimming Olympic Trials were going to be broadcast on TV. Not having a TV, I felt left-out. However, the internet is AMAZING. Both prelims and finals of the Trials are available for viewing online. I haven't missed a minute of the action. And the quality of the video online has been stellar. I couldn't ask for more.

2. Smucker's Natural Reduced Fat Peanut Butter. I love this stuff. Peanut butter may be my pregnancy craving. I cannot get enough of it. But I am picky about the taste and consistency of my PB. Smucker's definitely makes the best.

3. Maternity jeans. They are the best; nothing is more comfortable.

4. Cool evenings. The weather in DC has been perfect the past couple of days. During the day, temperatures have been in the mid- to upper-80s, but there has been NO HUMIDITY. And the evenings have been cool and breezy. It has been perfect weather for taking evening walks and sleeping. Hopefully the whole summer will be like this...

5. A healthy, low-maintenance cat. Chai, David's cat (of 14 years), was really sick earlier this week. Things got so bad on Monday night that we put him, his litter, and some water in our bathroom and left him there for more than 24 hours (cleaning kitty puke from the tile floor is a breeze). Thankfully the cat appears to be healthy again. Sometimes I don't even realize he's in the house with me.

6. Fireworks! Although I'm not the most patriotic person, I do enjoy the fireworks. We probably won't venture down to the Mall this year for an up-close view of the National Fireworks, but there are plenty of places (namely a rooftop in Georgetown) to get a good view of the festivities without the crowds.

Now I just have to figure out how to take these few favorite things and make compose a song about them. Then I'll be just like Maria...