Category Archives: A Time For Thanks.

And all shall give thanks.

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Saying Happy Thanksgiving always felt a little awkward to me. Like, maybe it should be “Merry Thanksgiving” or something with a little more grandeur to bid such happy greetings. But no. Slap a Happy on it and you’ve got yourself an American holiday. A joyous, food centered holiday.

I find myself feeling thankful so very often these days — is that something that normally happens as your get older? You recognize all the things around you that you have to be thankful for? Because, man, are there ever more things each day. This year I’m thankful for a handsome and ever perfect for me, husband. For a Mom and dad that love and support me. For a sister and brother-in-law that I count among my best friends. For a whole string of “I married into this family” but they make me feel like I really belong every time I see them. For friends that live nearby, not so nearby and really far away – and how the distance between us never matters. For a community at church that makes this season of life even that much better. For my health and the health of those around me. For a job, not just any job, but a job I like that doesn’t involve a 3 hour commute.

And also for so, so, so many little things:

Chocolate. Big bear hugs. Peanut butter and jelly muffins. Q-tips. Chapstick. Long Chats. Noodles. Wine. Cinnamon Spice Tea. Showers. Cozy comforters. Getting mail. Great weather. And on and on. Life.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry, er, Joyful, er, Grand, er Happy Thanksgiving filled with mashed potatoes and pie!

20 things to be thankful for.

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I’m not very good at, you know, getting posts out on the actual holiday… but I figure being thankful is being thankful and whether it happened last Thursday or happens this Thursday doesn’t really matter. Right? So here it goes, 20 things that I’m thankful for at the start of this holiday season:

1.) A husband that loves me, shares a love of cheese and pineapple, will let me watch hours of Diners, Drive In’s and Dives and who happens to be one of the greatest people I know. I heart him.

2.) Days where you just have to eat your feelings — and friends/family that are more than happy to join in.

3.) The most ridiculous, ill-mannered, sweet dog ever.

4.) Cheese. What else is there to say?

5.) A glass, or 5, of good wine.

6.) The best friends in the world. Ones who repeatedly remind you of all those times you laughed until you peed your pants.

7.) Knowing that rum cake is less than a month away. Oh, yes. Holiday desserts.

8.) The ability to spend a night snuggled in blankets watching movies from the 90′s (Ahem, Father of the Bride 2).

9.) A house, while needing immeasurable amounts of duct tape & love, to hang Christmas lights on.

10.) The best family a girl could ask for.

11.) My health and the health of those around me.

12.) Christmas – I just love it. Christmas trees, twinkle lights, joy.

13.) Pinterest. The amount of things I’ve learned and the amount of time I’ve wasted are both astounding.

14.) Red shoes because they can inevitably make any outfit glamorous.

15.) *Fingers Crossed* That we’re done car shopping for several years. Two new cars in less than 1 year is a bit much.

16.) Chapstick. My chapped lips live for you, and my addiction to you means I couldn’t go more than a day without you.

17.) All the amazing things that happened in 2011 – engagement, wedding, travel, new house, and the list goes on.

18.) A safe, warm (though Christian and I differ greatly on the definition) and nice place to call home.

19.) Truffle oil – on french fries, on burgers, in mac n’ cheese, in anything really…

20.) Snowflakes. But only when they’re falling. Once they’ve hit the ground they might as well be the scourge of the planet.

I truly am thankful for everything I have, all the friends and family in my life and so much more. Hope you had a fabulous Thanksigving (only a week late)!

*Image by: jessicaNdesigns

2010.

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It’s 2010, technically January 4, 2010, in case you missed the memo. I’ve been working on 2010 literature and planning (workwise) for 2010 since last spring — I should be prepared for this, but oddly I still feel a bit shocked that 2009 has ended. Where did the last decade go. It couldn’t have been 10 years ago that we were all convinced the world was ending and I sported a “Tommy Hilfiger Y2K” shirt. People storing canned goods and water believing that the end was near. I believe my mom used to fill old milk jugs with water. Milky, stale water. Gag. Now we have 2012 to look forward to… maybe that’s the scare of this decade?

So much happened in these past ten years it’s hard to wrap my head around it. 10 years. I feel like I should make some profound New Years resolution, but sadly haven’t found anything that really sets my sail. Here are few mediocre “thoughts” as I’m not quite ready to commit them to goals, but here we go:

  1. Climb 3 fourteeners this season. And try not to succumb to death in the last hour before the summit.
  2. Let go… I hold on to things a little too tight. Airline miles, drawings from when I was 6, and things from my past.
  3. Become more graceful. I’m going to take a stab at reducing my tripping, falling, spilling, and overall klutziness as well as try to live gracefully. Wouldn’t you agree I could use a little grace? Shut up.
  4. Work on my sensor. Some things that come out of my mouth (I believe there was something about Vaseline on my pants) don’t need to. I need to do a better job keeping those bad boys on lock down.
  5. Run the Bolder Boulder this spring… and try not to run like a duck because after the first, oh, four miles any sense of semblance will be lost.
  6. Make a conscious effort to be happy. Half the time it’s a choice. I’m choosing to smile and let it cause irreversible wrinkles.
  7. Botox savings plan for said wrinkles.

Ok… one can aspire to accomplish more, correct? Correct. Well, here’s to 2010, I hope yours (and mine) is better than 2009!

Thankful.

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Seeing as it’s Thanksgiving, I find it more than appropriate to express my gratitude for so many things in life. My friends and family… honestly I couldn’t live without them or their inappropriate senses of humor. You know who you are. These “saying thanks” things can get a little overwhelming if you think about it. We’re so blessed and there are so many things you should mention. Sort of like an Oscar speech, if you forget one person… they’ll never let you live it down. So… here are a few things I’m thankful for:

1. My mom always losing her keys, her credit card, her mind… and allowing me to mock her.

2. My sisters varying degrees of laughter. You never know what you’re going to get.

3. My Dad’s random and off the wall comments sometimes referring to turkey s**t.

4. All of my friends, their floor dancing, chats over wine, unwavering support, and all the hysterics that go with it.

5. Charles. I’m just thankful for my dog. He’s a jerk and he can be a pain in the butt, but I heart him and his trash eating ways.

6. Chapstick… you never once have let me down.

7. My iPhone. I am truly naked without it, as in can’t function.

8. Spandex, and it’s insertion into many styles of pants. Thanksgiving pants can now be fashionable.

9. My electric bug killing raquet.

10. Everything that I’ve forgotten and will remember tomorrow. Yeah, I’m thankful for that too.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Hope you ate yourself into a coma and took a nap. Then watched some football… essentially living the American dream.

Whoa Tiger.

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Hey, did you know that tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Only the second most wondrous holiday of the entire year. A whole day devoted to thanks… oh and turkey, mashed potatoes, pie, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, gravy, among a multitude of other artery clogging foods. (Yum). It’s one of those days I look forward to all year. ALL YEAR PEOPLE. Sometimes I think that I need to buy a deep freezer so I can stock up on turkeys and make Thanksgiving a monthly ritual. If by chance this happens, keep your tabs on me because I may need an entry form to the Biggest Loser after a few years. It’s pure love.

On the other hand I am not a fan of the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade. I don’t really “get” parades. Especially the ones that show case ambulances and have convertibles reserved for the “Pork Princess”.  Maybe I sat through one too many Corn Carnival parades in Iowa over the past 23 years. Tractor, after tractor, after tractor followed by fire trucks and baton twirlers sort of wore me out. Once you reach the age where you can’t shove small children out of the way for Tootsie Rolls and Dum-Dums, parades sort of lose their sparkle. So, I’ll be skipping the parade, wearing sweats and gearing up for a tryptophan coma starting somewhere around 3:00. Not sure it gets much better than that!

Hope your Thanksgiving is equally as fulfilling!

 

Gummin’ it.

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My little trip to Iowa left me thankful for one thing. My teeth. Thank you scraggly, toothless wonder with your pants half way down your butt… You truly reminded me to be thankful for the little things in life. Like the ability to chew instead of gummin’ down my food.