Thankful XXX

Friends.

I've been blessed by having some of the best friends a girl could ever wish for. There's the Deltas, my old high school friends, new-ish Austin friends and the occasional plus one from different spots along the way. Between us there's babies, spouses, new chapters in life, a slew of career choices and different adventures every day. I love not only having the support and goodwill of my friends, but being a part of whatever chapter they are experiencing.

I couldn't be happier to call them all my friends. So thank you friends, for being you.

Smattering of fun friend photos


 

Thankful XXIX

Fav book as a kid

Books.

Books are definitely something I have taken for granted all my life. First I was one of those kids lucky enough to grow up going to library storytime. In fact one of the best little kid pics of me is me grinning and clutching a reading certificate from the library. Can you say awesome?

Since my teen years I've been on a mission to have my own library. Public libraries are great and all but I like to write in my books and I really don't like to give them back. ...And I was really jealous of the way Belle from Beauty and the Beast got to swing around the library on a ladder. Thus I clearly need my own personal library and ladder.

Recently though my love for and constantly great access to books has been contrasted by an increasing awareness of kids who do not have books. This summer I heard about the United Way of Lake County which did a book drive for their community in response to the fact that 76% of incoming kindergarteners did not have books in their homes. I immediately started buying books as baby shower presents - my friends' kids will not be a statistic!

A local author and my most recent read

I thought about all the kids without books tonight as I went through my THREE overflowing bookshelves to donate to the book giveaway portion of the upcoming Coats for Kids Junior League event. (Short version: kids whose families could not otherwise afford it go home with both a coat and a book.)

I'm glad I can give these kids new books to read. Hopefully they'll discover a book that they just love and one day will tell their friends about how they too are thankful for books.

Thankful XXVIII

I'm thankful for video plus Internet magic.

Specifically video calling via the Internet (ie FaceTime) and posting web videos (ie YouTube).

Being able to call Ross via FaceTime when he's at the station makes his crazy schedule a hundred times more bearable. And when I'm on business trips, it's even better. I'm thankful for it now and I know when we have kiddos I'll be even more thankful. I mean just think about it, when one of us is gone we'll be able to call in for bedtime stories! That's awesome!

And then there's YouTube. Perfect for sharing cat videos and walking babies...like this one!


I'm so glad that even when my friends and their adorable babies are far away, I can still witness the milestones and fun little moments in their lives.

God, technology is great.

Deck the Halls!

Posing for his "action" shot

This weekend, and mostly this morning, we got our little home all decked out for Christmas! While we usually don't wait too long, we're also not those people who start hanging lights while the Thanksgiving leftovers are still warm. But this year we had to be on our game - next weekend is the big Christmas party! No time to dilly-dally.

We tried something different with the outside lights this year: monochromatic. Red lights all around. However, not different from past years, the near heart attack I have when Ross climbs on the roof. People always ask if I worry about him at work. No but I do worry myself sick when it comes to hanging the Christmas lights.

Inside I took the lead on decorating the tree. For the first time ever, we really didn't need plain glass ball ornaments (I did hang four just to fill some space in the back but we didn't need them). I love that every ornament has a story.


This one, for example, is from our very first vacation together. We spent three nights in West Texas at the Fort Davis State Park.

 

And our latest addition, a gift from Mom and Dad's recent trip to San Diego to visit Kevin.

 

Then there's our real classy ornaments: beer and bikinis.

Thankful XXVII

I'm thankful for my little brother.

You might expect me to wax poetic about his service to his country or his recent promotion to petty officer. I am, after all, very proud of him for his Navy service and the strong start in his career.

However, I was happy to have Kevin as a brother before he joined the Navy and I'll be happy to have him as a brother when his Navy career is done. Navy or no Navy, he's a great kid. He's fun to be around, sincere when the time's right, a smart-ass when the time's right (and sometimes when it's not right but I think that's part of the definition of "smart-ass"), helpful all the time and to his very core, a good person.

Like most siblings we have stupid inside jokes, stories only we think are funny and plenty of dirt on each other. It's great.

I'm thankful to have a brother who I not only love, but who I really like.

Thankful XXVI

I'm thankful for our little slice of heaven.

This post started out as "thankful for holiday shopping" which is very true but then I started thinking, holiday shopping has started out a little more fun this year. Why? Well, for the first time we didn't write out a penny by penny budget. And that got me thinking, yes I'm thankful for holiday shopping, and a flexible holiday budget but what I'm really thankful for is our happy life together.

We're lucky to have everything we really need, both in the tangible sense of shelter, food, warm clothes (or cool clothes as July and August necessitate) and in the intangible sense of health, happiness and love.

Travel: My #1 choice for occasional splurging

We're also lucky enough to have many things we simply want, from table-runners for every season to vacations to fulfilling careers to flexible holiday budgets.

But if you know us (and since you are reading this you probably do), I think you'd agree that we aren't super fancy. We're more Chili's than Ruth Chris', more Target than Tiffany's.

And I love it.

I'm so thankful to be living this husband-loving, bargain-shopping, puppy-kissing, full-time-working, occasionally-splurging, wonderfully ordinary suburban life.