Happy Monday! Here’s to a wonderful Thanksgiving and wishing everyone safe travels whatever your plans may be. If you are traveling, drive, fly, or ride safely. Enjoy those who you are sharing your holiday with and be thankful for all that you have – not only on Thursday, but all year long. A few years ago, I was at an event and a speaker gave some poignant thoughts on being grateful every day. I often think of the things he said and try to remind myself to be thankful…for my circumstances, my surroundings, my experiences, the lessons I have learned, and the opportunities I am given. In light of the holiday, here are just a few things I’m thankful for (in no particular order):
- Waking up every morning.
- My parents: I would be lost without the skills, guidance, love, support, and now that I’m older, friendship, that they have provided these 32.9 years I have existed (because of them).
- My brother, Silla, and my adorable (which is an understatement) 6 month old niece, sweet Viv. Cutest darn family, I tell you.
- AH-MAYZ-HING friends. My Framily. Amazing, amazing, amazing. I am thankful every day for the wonderful people in my life. Makes me misty. You know who you are.
- The smell of salt air.
- The smell of winter.
- The way the sun setting casts an orange glow on everything. My blood runneth orange.
- Diet Dr. Pepper
- Smart phones.
- The ability to turn off smart phones.
- That you can see the Blue Ridge on a clear day driving down Clemson Blvd. in Anderson, SC.
- Clemson Sunsets
- Murrells inlet sunsets.
- A cold beer on a hot day.
- Mary Engelbreit calendars (since 1990)
- That I have a good job that (most of the time) I’m happy to go to, pays my bills, and challenges me.
- The invention of the camera.
- The invention of the light bulb.
- Ever evolving technology.
- Wine.
- Cheese. Cheddar, Brie, Gouda, Gorgonzola, ‘Merican, Edam, Pepper Jack… I love cheese.
- That wine and cheese (and olives) go together so stinkin’ nicely.
- My bed.
- Down pillows.
- Waking up before your alarm goes off.
- Waking up and knowing exactly by the way the sun is shining on the curtains in my bedroom what time it is.
- A hot shower.
- The fact that I can afford my water and power bills to be able to take said hot shower – and rent, internet, and phone bills too…
- Pandora – oh how I love thee
- Mumford and Sons – those amazing gentlemen helped me survive some really tough times. Really tough.
- The Avett Brothers
- The Beatles
- Dave Matthews
- Counting Crows
- Katy Perry
- CAKE
- Ray LaMontagne
- The Lumineers
- Lake Street Dive
- Sister Hazel
- Music in general, it calms me, motivates me, sooths me, lulls me to sleep, wakes me up, keeps me company, comforts me in sad times, celebrates with me in good ones.
- How I Met Your Mother
- Friends
- Dawson’s Creek
- Felicity
- Sex and the City
- Love Actually
- Shag: The Movie
- The Goonies
- Willow
- Grease
- Labyrinth
- Almost Famous
- Die Hard – All of them.
- and for that matter, Bruce Willis. Thanks for being born!
- The feeling of sand between my toes.
- Murrells Inlet, the Point, the memories, the relaxation, the wonder
- Old friends, new friends, forever friends
- Life.
- Flip flops.
- Ballet flats.
- Wedges.
- The smell of fresh cut grass.
- The smell of fresh laundry.
- Laughing so hard that it hurts.
- Cinnamon
- A good cup of coffee
- The way a Christmas tree looks when you lie underneath it and look up
- Scrooge, the Musical
- The way the sun feels on a warm day when you walk out of an air conditioned building.
- Air conditioning
- The smell of snow
- The silhouette of the Blue Ridge mountains against the skyline on a clear day
- The Internet
- My iPhone
- The smell of pumpkin chocolate chip bread baking.
- Christmas music on the radio in early November…
- The ability to change the radio station
- Santa Claus cookies
- Baby Ruth Bars
- Strawberry Fluff
- My life in ornaments on my Christmas tree. It’s a reminder every year as I decorate of how daggon lucky I am
- Ice cubes
- Crystal light lemonade
- The opportunity to have dinner with a good friend to just catch up
- The color orange
- The color purple
- The fact that neither color rhyme with anything; it highlights their uniqueness.
- Mom’s Chicken-Pot-Pie
- Clemson: the town, the lessons I learned as a student there, the road my experiences paved for me as an adult and human being
- The richness of friendship.
- The value of childhood friends that know who you are at the core
- The value of choosing friends later in life that know you as you grew up
- Santa Claus
- For that matter, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy too.
- The stress relief I get from painting
- My ability to see things in an artistic light
- My ability to see, period.
- Along with being able to see, my ability to touch, taste, smell, and hear.
- My love of texture.
- The most exciting 27 seconds in college football.
- Pixar animation
- Skiing
- Believing in the impossible.
- My love for cooking.
- Grocery stores
- Sloppy Joe Casserole
- Wednesday Friendsdays
- Shopping
- Wine stoppers
- Friends that you can call any time of day
- Being able to spend hours on end talking about nothing, laughing about everything, and having the time of your life with people that just “get” you
- Mastering potato salad.
- Rosemary
- The smell of onions and mushrooms cooking on the stove
- Friendsgiving
- Occasions to dress up
- Knowing what real, hard, work means
- The ability to work hard
- Wi-Fi
- Grapefruit
- Orange juice
- My craft room
- A love of painting
- My Nikon camera – a gift from Drew, Lauren, Mom and Dad
- Blue jeans
- Comfy sweaters
- My ability to recognize value in the little things, cherish every-day moments, and distinguish worth in common regularities of life
- The Eiffel Tower
- Clemson Football
- My collection of Christmas children’s books
- Lake Days
- Tailgating days
- I said lake days, but did I mention lake nights?
- A good run.
- Walk-n-talks
- A good kitchen
- My sense of humor
- Interesting trees
- The inexplicable beauty of leaves changing in the fall
- The moment you notice that winter has ending and spring is invading the earth
- Christmas lights lighting up homes in small neighborhoods
- A place to call home
- Lilies
- Daisies
- Daffodils
- The smell of mint
- Faith
- Hope
- Love.
- The hope of real, true, forever love.
Lauren is a Sr. Designer of Product Graphics for an international manufacturing company by day and a creativity crusader, designer, planner extraordinaire, artist and blogger in her “free” time. Follow her and The Olive Shoe on Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram! Please subscribe to receive emails, of course, come back and visit again soon!
And I am so very thankful to call you my daughter! Love you!
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