November 2009

I’m thankful for a full house, good wine, and cool weather. For best friends who I get to see tonight, for a family that I love more than ever, and the best Thanksgiving morning wake up yet. For a job where I gt to help make a difference, for enough money to get by and save a little in the process, and for the opportunities that have been given to me.

I’m thankful for a wonderful guy who makes me smile and always opens the car door for me. For a mom who takes care of me. For a great past, a wonderful present, and an even better future. For the wedding weekend that is coming up, for Christmas being around the corner, and for spending New Year’s in Seattle.

I’m thankful for Longhorn football, comfortable jeans, and hot showers. For the little things and the big things in life. For a soft, sweet old dog who always brings a grin to my face. For a good night’s sleep or a reason to stay up late. For a roof over my head, food on the table, and pumpkin candles.

I’m thankful for love. For soft blankets. For good conversations. For life-changing decisions. For my health. For going to Vegas in two weekends. 

I’m thankful for laughter, for faith, and for all the blessings in my life.

Happy Thanksgiving and Hook’em Horns.

I saw this in the Chronicle this morning and liked its simplicity and call to serve others:

We thank you for food and remember the hungry.
We thank you for health and remember the sick.
We thank you for freedom and remember the enslaved.

May these remembers stir us to service
That our gifts may be used for others.

And a couple Thanksgiving cartoons for good measure:

Happy day before Thanksgiving!

I am sure that in two days time the obvious Thanksgiving post will be here and I’ll be happily talking about all of the blessings in my life. Because there are so many blessings. Seriously. But in order to ramp up for that I think it best to think about all the things I’m NOT thankful for. Like:

• Traffic, especially those caused by minor car accidents. Move your car to the shoulder people.
• You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift. I don’t mind her music but enough already with this song. It is on every single station all day long. 
• Mosquitoes. Enough said.
• Drinks that are too strong. I am not in college anymore. My objective is to be able to drink without gagging not to be dancing on the bar with my underwear on my head. 
• Car insurance that is as much per month as my car payment. I might as well just have two Kias so if I wreck one I can just trash it and drive the other. 
• Hurt feelings. And jealousy. And broken hearts. And misunderstandings. And losing friends.
• People that think you have to wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate for Christmas. Lame. (PB this is directed at you. I’m thankful for you. Just not your scrooginess so there)
• Slow internet connections. 
• When things, events, people don’t live up to your expectations. This is obviously unavoidable. 
• Broken finger nails. 
• When I have to stop hitting the snooze button because it really is time to get up. One more time. No really it is time to get up. 
• Republicans. Just kidding – I’m thankful for them. They keep me entertained. 
• Humidity.

Ok that’s enough unthankfulness. Glad I got that out of my system so that now I can focus on just being thankful for the rest of the week. Mostly. I mean I’m only human right?

Etsy has some competition now. I found a new website today called Supermarket from which I will decorate in my imagination my future home. This of course is how I waste hours on the internet.

I’ve decided that when I have a real house one day I want to have in it a piece of artwork representing the places I’ve lived in my adult life. I’ve always really loved a mismatch of frames and art all settled in close to one another on a wall. I love when people have frame after frame lining the way up their staircases or squeezed in on the family room walls.

Currently I have a small etching of a cable car going down California Street in San Francisco with the Bay Bridge in the background. I love looking at it because it reminds me of so many moments of my life in San Francisco. The March before I moved to SF I visited and did an interview at Goodby, Silverstein, & Partners right on California Street where the hill gets so steep its unbearable. When I started work at Blood Centers of the Pacific some of my biggest buildings were on California St. I had the Merrill Lynch account in 600 California. I had drives at 1 California, 50 California, 100 California, When I look at the picture I think of the last weekend I was in San Francisco, when my dad and Kathy and Lauren were visiting and Kathy and I both picked up the same piece of art and both bought the same one for our houses. That weekend I got to relive all the touristy things about SF I love, like the sea lions, the curvy streets, the great food, the cold ocean air. Looking at this picture reminds me of everything those two years were to me.

I also have a photo of the big Longhorn flag that reminds me so much of my time in Austin. It was one of the ones they ran across the field during the games. What’s more is there’s a huge crowd of people at the bottom and it makes me remember the times we got to go down on the field with Lassos and shove in with others to form the spot where the players would run out after halftime. Many times I wish I would have the chance to live in Austin now, post-college, but part of me is glad that everything about that city is overlapping with all my memories of college and the people I met and person I became.

I guess next on the list is to start looking for a Houston piece to join the crowd. Here’s a few I’ve found thus far. I like them but … still on the search. 

…can I not go to Target without spending at least $50?

…are Christmas decorations/songs/smells/memories so irresistible?

…do I need constant reassurance?

…has my taste changed so much as the years have past?

…can I cry at a Hallmark commercial but not life-changing events?

…do I love http://www.cuteoverload.com and http://www.textsfromlastnight.com both equally?

…am I someone who gets bored so easily and yet gets nervous about change?

…won’t Glory get her lazy butt up from sleeping in the morning unless I tempt her with a biscuit?

…do I love potato chips so much?

…can’t the weekends be three days long every week?

…do I not tell the amazing people around me how much I love and appreciate them more?

This was on The Frisky on CNN today and I think it’s a pretty great description of marriage:

Or of course as my mom says “It’s all a crap shoot”.

With the soon-to-be Wilsons and soon-to-be Mitchells weddings coming up next week I thought it was good timing to share.