You can't control life, you can only control your reaction to it.

I feel like there's some sort of famous quote that says something similar to that.  There must be, 'cause I'm pretty sure I'm not deep enough to come up with that on my own.

So for the past couple weeks, I've felt that there has been a lot of negativity in my life.  Mostly due to me and the way I've been reacting to the stuff going on.  Don't worry, I'm not going to get all complainy.  That's the whole point of this post--to stop complaining about the things I can't fix right now, and fix the ones I can.  You don't always have the perfect life--sometimes work will suck, or you get in a fight, or some random person on the street cusses you out for no reason--but that's not always stuff you can control.  You can only control how you let it make you feel.  Lately, I've been letting that stuff make me feel bad.  But today I decided that was enough.  I don't want to be always annoyed or frustrated.  I want to learn to be more optimistic, realize the value of the important stuff, and let all the other junk roll off my back.  So, to that end, I've created another photo project.  There are less rules to this one.  I'm still going to try to take a photo every day, but not for a year, and it doesn't always have to be a "great" photo, or an "artsy" one, or one that teaches me a new photography skill.  These can just be snapshots.  Snapshots of things that make me really happy right now.  Because even when it seems the majority of stuff is difficult, there is always, always a million things to be grateful for.

Today I was grateful for my dad and sister who came to visit this weekend and with whom I had a terrific time.  I was also grateful for The Guy who took a few moments from his busy busy law school schedule to plan exactly the kind of Valentine's Day I wanted (more about that later this week!).  I was grateful that it is still light out when I get out of work, and I don't have to commute in the dark anymore, and that I have a better view of Manhattan from my apartment in Brooklyn than I did from my apartment in Manhattan.  I appreciated my grandmother, who sends me a Valentine every single year, but this year she took into account the cost of living in NYC when she sent me my "lunch on her" money (Thanks, Grandma!) 

But here's what I took my photo of:

When Dad and Emily were in town, we went to see Jersey Boys on Broadway.  It was pretty last minute, but we decided we had to go, because Jersey Boys has never been on TKTS for as long as I've been going to Broadway and Dad and I had wanted to see it for years.  It was fabulous.  Even Emily liked it, and she doesn't even like Broadway that much (sometimes I don't know how we're related).  It's about Frankie Valli and the The Four Seasons, so obviously the music is top-notch, and all I have listened to since Friday.  I'm sure Emily and Dad were so sick of walking around town with me singing "Shar-ar-ree, Sherry baby, Shar-ar-AR-ar-ar-ar-ar-ree bay-yay-bee" but I couldn't help it.  That shit gets stuck in your head and you can't get it out, much like your toe always finds the hole in your sock and you can't wriggle it free.  Emily knows what I'm talking about.

So thanks Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Nicki Massi and Tommy DeVito for making awesome music that cheers me up.

Also, just in case you need evidence of the awesomeness that was the show, here are a few of my favorite lines that I quoted all weekend, anytime I wasn't butchering "Sherry." Please note they all need to be said in a thick Jersey accent.  Use your imaginations.

"That guy's not properly socialized."
"There are two kinds of women.  Type A is easy.  They hop right into bed with you, but later they bust your balls.  Type B plays hard to get, and then later they bust your balls."
Tommy: There are millions of guys like him
Nicki: Where?  Where are these millions of guys?

You probably don't understand why these are so funny if you haven't seen the show, but you should take that as incentive to see it--so you understand the humor here.