Shopping

A few days ago my mom asked if I wanted to do any clothes shopping. I've been seriously struggling with my wardrobe this fall/winter. I feel like I never have anything to wear! So I said yes, I would like to do some clothes shopping. Today, that's what we did. I'm not usually one to buy a whole bunch on one day. I'm not usually lucky enough to find a whole bunch I like (at a decent price). But today was a great shopping day for me. I'm thankful for the things we found. And I'm thankful for my mom and Chris for putting up with waiting for me. 

Crab legs

I was reminded tonight of all the foods I missed out on for many years when I was a "picky eater."  I'm so thankful I grew out of that! There are still a few things I don't love eating, but I'm thankful I can enjoy tasty things like the crab legs I had for dinner tonight! Yum! 

Thanksgiving

I actually don't love thanksgiving, but today I am thankful for it. I'm thankful for the time I got to spend with my mom and Chris. I'm thankful for a tasty GF meal. I'm thankful for an outside run in sunny St. George. I'm thankful for all the happy, thankful posts on Facebook. And I'm thankful I was able to get some new TVs at a killer price for my rec center. Not bad for a holiday I don't love! 

Activation

Today was activation day for my BAHA (Bone Anchored Hearing Aid). It has been such a long time coming! I'm thankful my rockstar audiologist who helped make it happen. I'm thankful for the device itself and the sound it allows me to hear. It's still a little weird. It will take some getting used to, and there are still some programming adjustments to be made. But I'm still super excited about it. And I'm thankful for my mom. I wouldn't have been able to do this without her! 

Live music

I'm thankful for music in general. It has always been a part of my life. But I'm especially thankful for live music. There's something different about music that is created in the same room. 

Ward Thanksgiving

I'm thankful my Monday night class was canceled for tonight. It allowed to attend our ward FHE. Every year, our bishopric (and their wives) cook a great thanksgiving meal the Monday before thanksgiving. Tonight was great. I'm thankful for the extra effort that was put into the meal to make most of it gluten free. I'm thankful for our great friends and all the fun that was had! 

Church

Church was just great today. Sometimes I have a really hard time wanting to go to all three hours of church. Sometimes I find myself paying more attention to the clock than the lessons. But today was not one of those days. I'm thankful for the lessons and the Spirit. I'm thankful for the comments (most of them...gotta love singles wards). I'm thankful for the message that kept sounding my head - my Heavenly Father loves me. He's looking out for me. He is constantly blessing me. And He lots more blessing in store! 

Blind dates

Because sometimes, they're really fun! 

Get screened Utah

I'm thankful I received an invitation from Get Screened Utah - cancer screening coalition...or something like that. They had an event today. I was invited and I took Krista with me. We listened to a 45 minute presentation about the importance of mammograms and then we got to see the new Hunger Games movie for free! We even got free drinks and popcorn! It was fabulous. 

A room on the west side

I'm so thankful my bedroom is on the west side of my house. We're having a pretty wicked East wind tonight. It is SO loud!! I'm hopeful that I will still be able to get at least a little bit of sleep tonight. 

Staff photos

I was reminded today that the people I get to work with everyday are seriously great. We had our staff photos taken (it only took us a year). It was pretty entertaining. They all just make me laugh. I'm thankful for Ethan (one of our front desk employees), who came to take our photo. And I'm thankful for some great candid shots like this one: 

The carpool lane

I don't carpool. So I don't actually get to drive in the carpool lane. But today, I'm so thankful that lane was there and I'm thankful it was empty! Traffic came to a pretty quick stop (like it usually does during rush hour). I had plenty of room to stop, but the person behind was following too close! They slammed on their brakes. I even heard their tires screech. And luckily, when they knew they couldn't stop before rear-ending me, they swerved over into the carpool lane to give themselves enough room to stop. It was scary. I thought for sure I was going to have to go get a FIFTH rear bumper replacement! But I didn't. And I'm so thankful! 

A movie

I'm thankful my class was canceled tonight. It made it possible for me to go with my sister to visit my niece (which I'm also thankful for). And it also allowed me to go see The Saratov Approach - a movie about 2 LDS missionaries who were kidnapped in Russia. I have been wanting to see it for quite a while and I'm thankful that I was able to see it tonight. It is a great, intense movie!

Earlier church

I found out today that with the new year, we get to switch our church time to 11:00am!! I'm stoked! We've been at 1:00pm church for a few years. I hate it! I feel like I waste the whole day! (I know I could get up early and be productive, but I just don't).  I'm so thankful that we finally get to switch it up a little bit! 

Lazy days

It's Saturday. I should have been productive. I should have done my laundry and cleaned my room and gone grocery shopping. I should have worked on some school projects or done some reading. Heck, I should have gotten ready for the day. But I didn't. I went to the gym...that's probably the only productive thing I did today! After the gym I showered, got dressed (in yoga pants and a hoodie), chatted with some friends, took a nap, ate my "cheat meal" for the week and watched a movie. It was awesome! I may have an overflowing laundry basket and an extraordinarily messy bathroom, but I'm okay with that. I'm thankful for a break. I'm thankful for a super laid back Saturday! 

Returns

I returned more than $100 worth of stuff today. I went in a little online shopping spree and most if it needed to go back. I'm thankful to be rid of the "return" pile in my room. I'm thankful I could return everything at the same mall. That was way more convenient than having to ship it all back!

Evening fun with Schmem

I came home tonight to find my old roommate Emily visiting. I'm thankful she was there. She is just fun to be around. She makes me laugh...and ruins our plans to go to the gym! But, I'm not sad about it. I would rather hang with Em for a little while than go to the gym any day! We definitely need to hang out with her more! 

Tuesdays

I'm really growing rather fond if Tuesdays. I'm thankful for the lack of meetings on Tuesdays. All the other days if the week I have at least one meeting away from my office. Some days I have full days worth of meeting away from my office. But on Tuesdays, I just have one meeting and it's with my own staff. I'm thankful that I don't have class on Tuesdays. I get to go straight home at 5:00pm. It's really glorious. And lastly, I'm thankful for the fitness group I signed up for at the gym. It meets Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I enjoy it more on Tuesdays because I don't have to rush straight there after class! I'm thankful for Tuesdays!! 

The disaster in my house

My house is a disaster right now. It really looks like my house threw up all over itself. But I'm thankful for it. I'm thankful for the cleaning and organizing going on right now. I'm thankful to have a new roommate in our home. I'm thankful that Krista and I had to downsize a bit to make room for Bealynn. I'm thankful for Christmas decoration, which may or may not be up now. I'll be really thankful when everything is put away, but for now I'm just thankful for the progress. 

My ability to observe

There is a girl in my ward. I think she is just great! She makes great comments. She's down to earth and real. She was having a tough time in Relief Society today so I texted her and asked if she was okay. She wasn't. I told her I would give her a big hug and help her find some tissue if she wanted to leave class for a minute. She agreed. We left and I gave her a big hug and we chatted for a bit until she was ready to go back in. I'm thankful for the ability we have to be observant. I'm thankful for the intuition we have to know when someone is not okay. It's our job to help those around us. I'm thankful this girl in my ward allowed me to help her. I hope that I can continue to do so. 

My spin neighbor

I went to a spin class this morning. I want to say it was my very first spin class, but technically I went to one other spin class like 4 years ago. Regardless, I'm definitely a beginner. I'm thankful I picked a bike next to a super nice lady! She helped me get the bike all adjusted. She was very encouraging and told me I did a really good job. I'm thankful for her help and her kindness! 

Benadryl

I'm having some kind of weird reaction. My torso intches SO bad! I have never felt anything like this! It feels like hives, but I don't have hives. I don't have a rash or bites, or anything! It just doesn't itches! If I scratch it (which is really hard bit to do), it just hurts. I'm thankful for Benadryl, which at least makes the itch a little better. I would really love to know what is causing it so I can make it stop! 

Something I'm not a part of

Today I'm thankful for my lack of involvement in a project. I'm part of a committee for work. A few people on this committee put together a program they plan to implement in January. Personally, I think this project is a bit of a stretch, and I don't think it's developed enough to launch so soon. But, I'm not in charge. I'm happy to support it and do what I can, but I'm thankful it's not my baby! 

Perfect progress

I saw my ENT today. He wanted to see me three weeks after surgery to see how things were healing. That happened to be today. He said, "whatever you're doing, keep doing it! It looks perfect!" I'm thankful my body is healing and adjusting to the extra metal in my skull! 

New tires

I'm NOT thankful I had to buy new tires. It's no fun! But I am thankful to know that those new tires will jet one much safer on the road. I decided if it's going to be snowy during rush hour traffic, bald tires were just not going to hack it! 

A theory

I'm taking a class about human behavior in recreation. It's basically a class where we learn all about theories, the different elements of a theory, what makes a good theory, etc. for the last two weeks, we (the students in the class) have been scouring over a set of data from a survey trying to come with some but of information that we can develop into a theory. I've been thinking about this quite a bit and today I finally found my little bit of information from the data that I will turn into my theory. I just hope I can figure out how to organize all the thoughts in my head into a solid theory! For now I'm just thankful for the beginning of my theory. 

Temple prep

I have some good friends who are preparing to go to the temple. The bishop wants them to attend the temple prep class before they go. I considered going to the class with my friends, but when I heard that the bishop's wife was the one teaching, I knew I had to go. I just love her and will forever be thankful to know her. And I'm thankful for the class she taught today...even if I'm passed the point of needing temple prep myself! 

Downsizing

I'm thankful for the feeling that comes when we get rid if things you know you do not need anymore. I have a hard time letting some things go. But sometimes you have to get over it and move on!!

Epiphanies

I had lots of epiphanies today. I spent all day at work working on a solution to a problem I didn't know we had. Finding the problem was a great epiphany. It's going to take a lot if hard work to fix it, but it will really benefit us in the long run. I also had a few great epiphanies while I was at dinner with a good friend. We chatted about striving for excellence and the idea that as we strive for excellence, we need a worthy opponent. I loved every minute of our conversation. I wish I had recorded it all so I could listen to it again later!