still (re)counting.

40. (again) cousins who read my blog and keep me accountable for my thankful count.
41. sunshine.
42. weekends.
43. that i figured out after only one coat that i picked the wrong color paint for the hallway. (the hubs wishes i would have just picked the right color in the first place)
44. i have never been followed/chased by paparazzi.
45. birthdays.
46. crockpots.
47. band-aids.
48. the Seattle Seahawks.
49. coffee.
50. the opportunity (and means) to go to Europe in the spring! eeeekkk!!!

going on 40: surprisingly thankful.

i did not want to wake up today. my bed was warm, my pillow deep, and i could have just stayed snuggled in my bed all day. so when i finally forced myself to get out of bed i was running late, hated my outfit, was scared by a spider, i fought with my hair, was upset with the hubs for no real reason, decided i hated every single wall color i picked for the house, and i was pretty well convinced that my whole day was going to be terrible, horrible, no-good, and very bad.

but instead of having to move to Australia, my day turned around. and i ended up finding plenty of things to be thankful for:

31. pillows.
32. hugs.
33. hot chocolate.
34. pumpkin muffins.
35. getting to work on time.
36. bohemian rhapsody.
37. veterans.
38. pumpkin muffins.
39. mini blueberry muffins.
40. spoons.

thirty percent.

i am thankful...

26. that we remembered to take out the trash this morning.
27. for friends that pray for me.
28. for oatmeal in the morning.
29. for jazzercise.
30. for my mom, who taught me everything i know, and who also makes me laugh.

the pictoral edition.

this weekend, i had a lot of reasons to be thankful.
and i took pictures of pretty much all of them.


18. friends.

19. paint.

20. leaf blowers.

21. shoeboxes.

22. weed whackers.

23. machetes.

24. ice cream with sprinkles for Sunday Night Football.

now if only my Steelers would have been able to finish the game... sigh.

but at least i have

25. a hubs who masked his estatic joy enough to console me in my loss.

tgif.

on this friday, i am thankful for...

12. breathtaking sunrises.

13. getting to work the right way the first time.
14. bagels with cream cheese in the morning.
15. my BFITW, who knows how to make me laugh.

(here is where i thought about putting the picture she sent me this morning of her crazy hair, complete with crazy eyes, but i want her to still be my friend tomorrow and the day after that, so i'm sorry but her ongoing friendship is more important to me than your brief entertainment)

16. Chick-Fil-A.

17. the abundant blessings in my life, in spite of the fact that i am woefully undeserving.

all the thanks i can manage.

over the past two Novembers, i have noticed a little bit of a pattern, and it goes something like this: i make a concerted effort to have an attitude of gratitude, and then the Universe dishes up a bunch of annoying things to thwart said attitude. last year it was the grocery store, this year it was my commute this morning.

allow me to explain. (and look! i even brought visual aids! bonus points for me!)

for the past few weeks, i have been taking the most straight-forward route to work at the new office. the one with the least amount of turns or backroads or chances for me to get lost, which is also the one with the most traffic. and stop lights. and did i mention all the traffic? so let's call this route the-one-that-takes-longer-than-it-should.

so yesterday, i took a new way to work, thanks to a combination of Google Maps, Gordon, and following the truck in front of me. there was hardly any traffic, and i got to work in under 30 mins. let's call this route the-brand-new-favorite-cause-its-awesome.

so then this morning, i decided to attempt the-brand-new-favorite-cause-its-awesome route without the aid of Google Maps, Gordon, OR the truck in front of me. i was feeling really proud of myself, until i got a little bit lost. i made a wrong turn at some point, and then when i tried to resort to getting help from Gordon i missed a turn when he told me to continue straight when what he really meant to say is 'hey, the road turns here so make sure you turn here to stay on the same road don't just go straight onto that other road' and all of a sudden i was right back around the mid-point of the-route-that-takes-longer-than-it-should. you know, the route i was working really hard to avoid. so instead i just made the-route-that-takes-longer-than-it-should even longer. because i'm just that awesome.

AND THEN! as if that wasn't bad enough... as soon as i got back onto the-route-that-takes-longer-than-it-should, (which i didn't want to be on in the first place) a gray taurus pulled out in front of me. but this wasn't just any gray taurus. no, this one was being driven by one of the most incompetent people i have ever met on the road.

and that, my friends, is the story of how i wound up driving the rest of the way going 15mph UNDER the speed limit, tapping my brakes for EVERY car passing in the other direction and EVERY turn, and ended up being late to work, even though i left plenty early and planned to take the-brand-new-favorite-cause-its-awesome route and miss all the traffic.


11. i am thankful that i have a car to take me to work. because walking those 12 miles would take a heckuva lot longer than even the-route-that-takes-longer-than-it-should does.

thankful in 2011.

Happy November! you know what that means? yup, its the return of the come-up-with-a-list-of-100-things-you're-thankful-for-in-November challenge! my mom started doing this way back in 2006, and my two sisters and i have each been making our own lists for the past two years. it's a pretty simple concept: you just make a list (in no particular order) of things that you are thankful for, to help you prepare for Thanksgiving and also to just keep yourself looking for things to be thankful for in all sorts of situations.

so here goes:

1. free evenings. for Halloween, we just set out a bowl of candy, and i used the free time it provided me to prime the credenza. we had some tinted primer left over from when i painted the tv stand, which is why it is brown. 

2. clean(ish) painting projects. i was pretty impressed with how un-painted i stayed during the priming-the-not-a-credenza process. usually i wind up absolutely covered in paint, but this time i made it until the second to last leg before i dipped my hair directly into the paint can and then immediately painted the majority of my left hand. oh well, we can't all be perfect all the time i guess.

3. the hubs. even though he came home from work yesterday feeling sick, he carried some heavy things for me and helped with the laundry. he also laughed with me and told me i was special when i painted my hair.

4. strobe lights. i used the two strobe lights that my friend bought for me for the rave party as last minute decorations for our Halloweenie front porch. they pretty much made it look like i actually tried a little bit.

5. corn mazes. not to mention having good friends to navigate them with.

6. IT guys. they're probably sick of dealing with me, as we're still trying to get me and my computer completely transferred to the MD office. but i'm glad i'm not trying to figure it out by myself!

7. sweater-weather. although they turned the heat on in the office today, making sweaters almost unbearable.

8. meeting new people at lunchtime. because its nice to get away from my computer for a little bit each day.

9. jobs. yeah, i'll whine sometimes about having to spend all my best hours of the day at work instead of doing more-fun things, but the truth is that i am so thankful that the hubs and i both have good jobs that we enjoy.

10. anticipation. i am so so so so looking forward to our Thanksgiving trip in 21 days!!!!

what are you thankful for this year?