Pride

Happy Saturday!

I'm sitting blissfully in a quiet house right now. It is lovely.

My only plan for today was to stay in my sweats as long as possible...yet still be productive.

So far I'm doing pretty well! I started with breakfast: scrambled eggs with feta and black pepper stuffed into a whole wheat pita.

I ate this while listening to my favorite radio show, This American Life. I can't say enough good things about that show. It just makes me so incredibly happy.

Next, I spent some time in the garage touching up my freshly painted, soon-to-be patio furniture. (I promise to give a recap when it's finished.) I love them! I picked an earthy lime color that I like to call "Kermit".

(source)

Then I took the pups for a walk. They had been gazing longingly out of the windows...and their incessant barking at squirrels and cats was driving me bonkers!

They are now napping soundly.

I did a little sewing - finishing up some things for the patio.

I am loving these pillows. Eat your heart out, Pier One!

And I was ridiculously excited to make place mats with the scraps.

Look at these cute lights that match perfectly! I got them for my birthday from my friend, Kelli.

I am going have the cutest darn porch on the block!

So, I was thinking about how much joy this little project has been giving me. I love being able to do something creative. I have been looking forward to working on it every night after work. And I absolutely love how it's turning out.

Truth be told, I'm really proud of it! But that is hard to say. Pride is a strange thing. Doesn't it have a sort of negative connotation? (I mean, it's one of the Seven Deadly Sins, right?) I suppose it has both positive and negative meanings. I can't think of it only as conceit and boastfulness. I think it's good to feel pride in what you do - it encourages you to do your best and work hard. It makes you want to keep at it and become better. And it makes you feel good about yourself!

Consider this: "Pride is sometimes viewed as excessive or as a vice, sometimes as proper or as a virtue. While some philosophers such as Aristotle and George Bernard Shaw consider pride a profound virtue, most world religions consider it a sin."

(source)

It's considered both a vice and a virtue...No wonder I had a hard time saying I was proud!

What do you think? Does the word "pride" stir up negative emotions for you? Although it could go either way, is it hard to separate the negative connotations from the positive? Do you find pride in what you do?