Thanksday #40

The sun can't decide what it wants to do today. For a minute it's hidden behind the drizzly clouds, making you want to curl up and nap. Then it tries to fight its way through, making you LITERALLY feel like you should get up from the old Rachel Zoe episodes from 2008 to clean the house or something.


Cloudy again. 


Sorry about the messy floors, honey.


I had a momentary panic about 15 minutes ago, realizing it's Thursday night and we have no plans. (Although we're homebodies, so not having plans is the good news). The panicky feeling came from realizing that I have to figure out what we're eating dinner. 


Darn sun.


I was going to type "it's been a whirlwind of a week," but as soon as I thought it, my immediate mental retort was "when isn't it a whirlwind week?" When I was a teenager, my mom always told me that when I got older time will zip by faster than I could imagine. And my immediate mental retort was always "whatever." And yet, I've found, she wasn't so off base after all. (It's okay to admit these things when you're fully grown out of teen-dom.)


At any rate, it's LITERALLY been a whirlwind of a week.


Thankful this week for:


1) Crackers. My current snack obsession is Cracked Pepper & Olive Oil Triscuits with cheese. This tasty little treat fills the gap when I'm too lazy to make myself lunch. (In other words, I have it a lot.) (In fact, this might solve the issue of tonight's dinner.)


2) Light Week. It's been a really light week work-wise, which has been so wonderful. I've been able to be a bit lazier (eating my cheese and crackers), and catch up on some other things (and by other things, I might mean going BANANAS over old episodes of Rachel Zoe). My work has always ebbed and flowed from super-busy to really light…so I've learned over the years to take advantage of the down time (and the DVR).


3) Paxton's Sleep. He's officially over his Maui-induced sleep issues and back on track. The gratitude for this runs deep, my friends. DEEP.


4) Fall Festivals. Last weekend was chock full o' fall festivities. Our town's Leaf Festival was all weekend, so Friday night we went to hear the live band while hanging around outside watching the kids play. Saturday was Jaana's school's festival, filled to the brim with bouncies, games and face painting. On Sunday, Jaana and I went back to the Leaf Festival to hear a youth band perform and check out the booths. It was a perfect weekend for fall activities, and filled my All-Things-Fall Love Tank. I DIE.


5) Star's Hollow. Did you ever watch Gilmore Girls? It was one of my most favorite shows ever, and I always ended every episode wishing I lived in Stars Hollow. I loved the small town feel, how everyone congregates to the town square, and everyone pretty much knows each other. Most importantly, it's gorgeous there in the fall. As I experienced the Leaf Festival last weekend, I was reminded again that dreams do come true. I live in my own personal Stars Hollow. It's a small town, everyone congregates at the Village Green, and we all pretty much know each other. Most importantly, it's gorgeous here in the fall. I heart it.


6) Short Nails. I got a manicure today. Before you get all "is she a diva now?" on me, let me assure you that the one I wrote about last week (Thursday) was actually done the Friday before…so it's really been just at two weeks. And I have to say, I still love the Gelish. As I thought it would, the bright red grew out and was noticeable on my nails. So I painted over them with a deep wine color which was AWESOME and made me feel like a blonde Kardashian (as if one exists). Then before my appointment today, I took off the deep wine color and the red Gelish was still as beautiful and perfect as ever. My nails were just longer. (It totally bugs when my nails are any sort of long. TOTALLY.) So today's manicure shortened up my nails a lot, and now there's a lovely medium pinkish color which makes me feel very girly and feminine. Greg preferred the red. (RAWR!) I doubt I'll do this all the time (finances would dictate it's not possible), but it's been a really fun change for now.


7) Fires. Fall has hit a bit early here in Stars Hollow, and we've had no less than five fires already this season. 


8) My Handy Man. (Get your mind outta the gutter, people.) Greg made this firewood holder from tree branches he found and twine. It's uber-rustic and mountainy, and looks FAB and MAJ and GORG on our screened in porch. He's gotten all Paul Bunyan on me. (Maybe I should go back to red polish.) (RAWR.)


9) Dollars That Stretch. Since we've been back from Maui, we're on DEFCON-5000, according to my husband. You'd be surprised (or maybe you wouldn't be) at how far grocery money can go when all you've got to spend is all you've got to spend. It's not gone unnoticed, and I'm uber-grateful we have dollars at all, let alone ones that stretch. (And yes, I'm aware that maybe if I didn't get Diva Gelish Manicures we could have the brand name cereal and not store brand, but it's not that dire a situation until we hit DEFCON-12,000.) (At which point, I have to sacrifice on the shoes.) (Sorry to make you shudder.)


10) Babies, Babies and More Babies. If you follow my Monday posts, you've probably noticed there are a lot of prayer requests for babies. It seems almost everyone I know has either just had a baby, is just about to have a baby, or just announced a pregnancy. JUST. It gives me unending joy to be able to experience this with everyone up close and personal-like. (And unending joy that others are experiencing it and not me.) (I'm just bein' real, people.)


Your turn! Let me know what you're thankful for this week and share the love. Leave a comment below or link up with Candra. It'll literally bring you more joy literally than literally old episodes of Rachel Zoe. It might even bring out your inner Valley Girl. You won't EVEN be able to deal.