First I'll start with what I'm thankful for:  the ice cream ball, making all kinds of new acquaintances, having someone to go on ten mile runs with, the fact that I'm able to run at all, my dog who makes me smile, crisp mornings, having to have the heater on in my car in the morning, being able to talk through things, and all the good memories that in the end are going to completely outweigh the bad.

I just found out my grandpa fell down and he is bleeding in his head.  I guess he has short term memory loss.   I know life is just a series of hurdles but some of them seem a lot harder to deal with.  

Ahhh life

Elephant rides

Spa adventures

Crashing bachelor parties

Riding Go-Carts

6 mile Walks

A little motivation

My ticket to New Orleans cost a startling $10.00 thanks to my frequent flyer status

Planning ahead

Good kisses

My puppy

How do you say it

There is something odd about hotel rooms. As I sit here, missing my dog, tired because I worked way too many hours today, and yesterday..and I'm sure tomorrow also. I can't help but think how lucky I am to have a place I call home - several places I call home actually.

When I was young I was always so happy to come home and take a shower at my own place and sleep in my own bed. I haven't had a bed that is really my own in almost three years - I spent some time renting my friend Tracy's bed, then some time sleeping on a futon I inherited, then sleeping on a borrowed futon from my friend Amy, and now sleeping in a rented bed in my friend's house. What I've realized is, it isn't the shower or the bed that makes you feel "at home." It's the welcome when you walk in the door.

It's the smell that is familiar, it's the blanket that you know is yours. It's the fact that someone or something is waiting for you. It's your favorite restaurant that is around the corner from "home."

I've been missing New York a lot lately - yet I know if I went back, it wouldn't feel right anymore. I've got another new home now.

Oh the frusteration

It's hard to understand everything so lately I've been trying to enjoy all the little lessons that life has brought me instead of trying to figure out the bigger picture.

I'm thankful that my friend Jenny is a huge part of my life again.  We've been through almost everything, including not talking for 2 years.  She's my roommate now and it amazes me how we have both grown up so much but we are still the same 18 year olds that moved into the dorms all those years ago.

Those "what if" moments.

The movie Saved - the old one with Mandy Moore, I actually really enjoyed it.  Under the Same Moon which was amazing.  And when Out of Africa ended because that's probably the least

 favorite movie that Netflix has ever told me that I would like.  Most of the time Netflix knows me really well - - and I'm thankful for that also. 

Fall into the Gap

Life never ceases to amaze me.  I'm thankful for:

1. How small this world is.

2. My new little niece -- Ava Karin, the cutest thing in the world.

3.  Learning how to stand up for myself

4.  Fall, my absolute favorite season in the whole world.

Next

"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new.  But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful."