This is a weekly series I’m writing in 2016 to focus on one of my three words for the year: beauty. Each Monday a post will explore some aspect of beauty that I’ve been considering. Read more about my focus words of the year.

A few years ago near Thanksgiving I was going through a rough patch, thinking there wasn’t much to be thankful for that year. To bring myself out of the funk, I forced myself to write a post on all the good things I did have and all the people and things I had to be thankful for. It ended up being one of those a-ha moments of life. A moment in which I realized in a very personal and profound way that even when life seems pretty dark and terrible, there are so many things that are awesome. (Because you know everything is awesome.)

In keeping with that idea and this year’s theme of Beauty, I challenged myself this past week to look for beauty and document it. Here’s a long, but in no-way exhaustive, list of where I found beauty this week…

1. Blue skies dotted with white clouds.
2. Vibrant orange sunrise in the rear view mirror of my car on the way to work.
3. Mom randomly touching base after a rough day.
4. The compliment of a stranger.
5. Successfully reviving the plants in my classroom after forgetting to water them for almost 2 weeks. Oops.
6. Sunglasses weather.
7. A pair of camo skinny jeans.
8. Endless photo inspiration and beauty on Instagram.
9. A smile from the person walking down the sidewalk in the opposite direction.
10. Stepping outside without being bundled from head to toe.
11. Reconnecting over drinks with a high school classmate.
12. The coconut-flavored CaveMan bars, which have become my go-to mid-day snack.
13. A text message from a far-away friend that let me know she was thinking about me.
14. The Snapchat pic of my nephew working hard to color pictures race cars according to their actual colors.
15. That Little Black Dress that makes me feel like a million bucks just by slipping it on.
16. A friend making me paleo blueberry muffins because I can’t have the real thing.
17. The sprouting of a few little greens from the still nearly frozen ground.
18. Being part of a 25+ year tradition.
19. The student who was kind enough to ask about me before talking about herself.
20. Waking up to a new day.
21. Finally getting back into my fitness routine - watch out marathon, here I come.
22. My readers who are so great about emailing me and adding their comments to the posts.
23. Getting lost in a good book.
24. Great discussions around the dinner table.
25. Trying new cocktail creations with mom.
26. Losing Bananagrams but making some awesome words in the process.
27. Watching Anne of Green Gables with a 90+ year-old woman who still loves the story of Anne and Gilbert.
28. Having an hour to finally work on my next Young Adult book.
29. Getting 9 hours of sleep one night this weekend.
30. Rocking a great pair of heels.
31. Giving my clothes to a friend and watching her get complimented for pulling the look off so well.
32. The cartoons I let my students draw as extra credit, which had me literally laughing out loud as I ‘graded’ them.
33. Going to the dentist and having everyone call me by my name, as if I wasn’t just one more patient but an actual person.
34. The fashion magazines a co-worker left, before she even read them, because she knows I love that kind of stuff.
35. Seeing my car shine after the car wash, even if it got rained on less than 24 hours after the fact.

And on and on. Where did you find beauty this past week?