Lisa Lisa Bo Bisa

I did it, people!  I blogged every day this month.  And I'm exhausted. In reality, it wasn't that hard.  There were a few busy days where I wondered how I'd find the energy to blog, and a couple times where my daily post wasn't finished until the next morning, but all in all it wasn't difficult. And it was surprisingly easy to think of something each day I was thankful for.  That's a sign of a blessed life I suppose, even if some of them were things like my iPhone or homemade soup.  Today, on this final day of November, I am thankful for finishing this challenge and making an effort to recognize the gratitude I feel. 

Today I am thankful for the holiday spirit. The day after Thanksgiving always kick starts the Christmas holiday spirit for me.  On our drive home from Thanksgiving, we turn the radio to 107.9 to listen to Christmas music.  Jon is a good sport as I belt along at the top of my lungs.  I just love Christmas music.  It makes me feel all warm and happy. Today, like we have in years past, we hit up a few stores in the hopes of crossing off a few gifts from our list.  We no longer go at crazy late night hours, and vetoed shopping on actual Thanksgiving.  So today we slept in, did some online shopping, and then headed out around 11am.  We found a few great gifts, made a stranger's day by giving her our $10 coupon we weren't planning to use, and avoided most of the craziness. Next, we always get out the Christmas decorations.  We have a fake tree, which I love, but I do long for the smell...

Today I'm thankful for the Thanksgiving holiday. This is the only picture I took all day.  No food pictures or anything. It's rather shocking.  It's a day that allows us each year to get together as a family, with nothing else on the agenda.  The meal is a rather significant effort (which my mother, grandmothers, mother-in-law, aunts, etc have always pulled off beautifully), but otherwise it's just a great day spent with the ones we love.  The Macy's Day parade, football, retail ads, and lots of lounging around. It's also a day to reflect on what we're thankful for, which is always a good thing.  I've learned through this month of blogging every day that I have a lot to be thankful for, and I do believe that I am better off consciously recognizing it.  Today was spent at Jon's grandma's house, and this weekend we'll spend a day with my parents.  It's difficult trying to fit in multiple celebrations in one day, and I'm grate...

Today I'm thankful for the Red Cross. After a few missed calls from them last week, I was reminded that they are always in need of blood, especially after the recent tragic events in the Philippines.  I didn't need to be that once-a-year donator when they come to my office.  So I searched for a blood mobile in my area and signed up for an appointment today. This time I was better prepared and had hydrated myself really well before hand, since my last donation was a bit challenging as I was dehydrated a bit.  And low and behold, I was in and out within 15 minutes.  Didn't hurt one bit. In hindsight I shouldn't have chosen to go grocery shopping immediately afterwards, but I did manage to grab the essentials for tomorrow before getting home and crashing on the couch a bit light-headed. I am proud that I gave back today, and hopefully helped a few people.  I hope this becomes more of a routine for me, as it is the least I can do. 

Today I am thankful for my chiropractor. I had never been to one until 4 years ago when I was in a minor car accident and had whiplash.   I soon discovered that chiropractic care is pretty awesome.   Scary at first (those popping noises are frightening!), but it didn’t take long to start feeling the positive impact it had on me.   My headaches were fewer and farer in between, and my back and neck weren’t so tense.   Plus, I got the curvature back in my neck that I lost in the accident, which seems like a pretty successful feat.   :) Chiropractic care is now part of my world. I went in today on my lunch hour and had a quick adjustment, just in time for a long, holiday weekend of eating and maybe some shopping.  :)

Today I am thankful for my experience living abroad. I moved to Costa Rica after college, not knowing what exactly laid ahead for me.  I've already blogged about my time there, so I won't go into recapping much of it again today.  If you haven't already and care to check out my stories, you can do so here (I warn you, I was not short-winded): Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 While I've already expressed how great of an experience it was, I don't know that I've captured my gratitude for it.  And my dear friend Bero texted me this morning, which brought back a flood of memories. Hence, today's thankful post. Here is what I am most grateful for: 1. Improving my Spanish: The only way to really learn and grow with a language is to surround yourself with it.  A few of my friends there knew some English, but they never spoke it with me.  It wasn't long before I was talking to myself in Spanish and even dreaming in it....

I can't believe I have blogged 24 days in a row.  New record for sure.  I admit that I look forward to less pressure to blog so often, but it has been a great reminder of gratitude and appreciating what I have. Today I am thankful for family helping out.  Jon's uncle has graciously helped us a couple times now with picking up large furniture, as he is the one with the truck.  His parents loaned us their SUV to pick up patio furniture.  My cousin lent me their SUV for a chair purchase years ago.  And my parents trekked up and down stairs when moving me from my apartment into Jon's place.  Ahem, now our place.  Friends have also helped me move, a couple of times.  I hope we can repay the favor someday for all of this help we've received. Today we picked up our new couch.  It arrived two weeks earlier than expected, which we were thrilled about.  The air mattress we used in the interim was fine, better than the floor, but lou...

Today I am thankful for my parents. They are truly fabulous and I'm proud to call them mine.  We spent the day with them, as we had plans on that side of the town at night.  It was nice.  We had a delicious lunch (or dinner as Grandma would say), we played Mexican Train dominoes (Jon beat us all, no surprise), watched a little football (boys), watched a Hallmark holiday movie (girls), talked and laughed, and went through several rounds of Words with Friends games on our electronic devices (while sitting next to each other). It was a low-key day, and yet such a great one.  My parents are so darn cute and sweet.  And funny.  I am reminded all the time of how blessed I am to have the family I do.

Today I am thankful for wool socks. It has gotten cold here and is only going to get worse.  While I am reluctant to accept that winter is here, I was happy to pull these puppies out.   My feet have been freezing for months now, due to my poor circulation, but I just couldn't bring myself to bring out the wool socks until it got really cold.  I didn't want to give in to winter.  But now that I did, I'm happy.  My feet are ever so toasty, which is such a nice change.

Today I am thankful for the company I work for. Our line of business, and mission, lends itself to company activities, parties, and recognition, and that means that each year we all sit down for a delicious Thanksgiving meal!   This year was particularly awesome because my co-worker’s husband who is a professional chef catered our meal.   And let me tell you, it was so very good.   So good that we all wondered where we could go lay down for a nap because we were so stuffed. And then we each received a free 20lb turkey!   Best yet, we had the opportunity to purchase high-end brand items at a very discounted rate from some of our vendors.   So I got some Christmas shopping done, had a tasty meal, and going home to my parents’ house with a giant frozen turkey.   Oh, and worked.   :)

Today I am thankful for Hump Day. It means I've made it half way through the week (usually the toughest part) and only have a couple of days to go to the beloved weekend. I probably shouldn't wish for the week to go so quickly.  Time goes so quickly anyways.  But I tell you, though I often don't mind my job, I would gladly fast forward 7:30am to 4:30pm Monday through Friday without hesitation.  Oh and maybe also my hours in traffic. This camel reminds me of my father-in-law.  We were out to dinner, just walking out actually, past a group of 10 high school girls.  One of the girls had just said to her friends, "Hey!  Guess what day it is..." and my FIL replies with a grin "It's Huuuuuump Day!"  The girls burst into laughter, and it totally made his day.  

This blogging every day is difficult!  All I want to do is curl up on our one chair in the living room and watch TV, but here I am. Today I'm thankful for my iPhone 5.  Jon Some might say that I am obsessed with it and too attached.  Jon They may be right.  I do enjoy a number of games and websites that I visit in the evenings as I wind down from the day.  What's wrong with that? And sure, I always have it on hand in case there is a Kodak moment needing to be captured.  The camera on my iPhone 5 is ah-mazing.  It has fueled my interest in photography, as I can take photos pretty much wherever I go. Plus it's so handy.  I can ask Siri what the weather will be like, or the score of a particular game.  I can look at the radar, add up some big numbers, pay my Amex bill, check my email(s), and see what people are doing on Facebook.  It really is a portable little computer, and I love it. I survived just fine without it, but I'...

Today I am thankful for my mother's homemade soup. There's nothing better than homemade soup, especially my mother's.  It was the perfect meal on a cold day, and especially after a hard workout at zumba.  Someday I'll have to learn how she does it.

Today I am thankful I have never personally experienced a natural disaster. I've read a few articles about the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines and have seen too many photos and could not begin to imagine what they are going through.  Their lives destroyed, literally and figuratively.  Lost family, destroyed houses and possessions, no water or electricity or adequate care...    The thing is, these disasters happen everywhere, not just in developing countries or far away places.  We've seen a number of them in our own country.   I feel fortunate that my own life, here in MN, has escaped such tragedy so far.  Something like this certainly puts the important things in life into perspective. 

Today I'm thankful for Craigslist. Because of it, our living room is eerily empty right now. You see, a week ago, we were bored and decided to stop in at Becker Furniture World to browse.  We've done this before, many a time, and we seem to enjoy looking around at stuff we would love to have someday.  Never any intentions to buy. We came across a couch that I immediately liked.  Jon realized he liked it too, and we decided that it was a style and shape that would work great in our living room someday.  Someday.   We also acknowledged it was a shame we weren't in a position of needing a new couch as they were having a big VIP sale that evening (that of course my husband had gotten himself an invite to even though we were never considering buying anything).  We left, went to Costco, and decided to stop in at Ashley and Slumberland since they were right there.  We are furniture browsers, after all.  We were curious if there were others wit...

Today I am thankful for mild, fall weather! I wasn't expecting to feel the 50s again until spring, but I am not complaining.  The sunshine, the fresh air, the "warmth"... it's a beautiful Minnesota day.  It was a shame that I had to work all day, but I did get out at lunch and then after work to try to catch a photo of the stunning sunset.  I do love MN fall.

Today I am thankful for half-priced appetizers. You see, it is no secret that I do not enjoy cooking.  I never have, but sure hope I learn to someday (or it's going to be a long life of feeding my family).  I love baking though, so it's a bit odd.  It very well could be because it involves sweets that I like doing it. Most evenings I muster through making something for dinner.  It feels like punishment, but I do it. Sometimes it's well-rounded, like baked chicken, broccoli, and potatoes.  Other times it's as simple as grilled cheese and tomato soup.  But I make dinner , which is a feat in itself. However, there are evenings like tonight where I get home after a long day's work and want nothing to do with the kitchen.  If I had it my way, I'd eat cereal and sandwiches all the time, but I know that's not very well-balanced and my husband would protest after not too long. We don't like to spend a lot of money on eating out, so I am thankful for a...

Today I'm thankful for my golf buddies. Excuse the poor picture quality...we didn't have digital back then, so this is a picture of the picture in my scrapbook. :) I met these 4 ladies a week before my freshman year at Luther.  We were fortunate to get to move in early each year, before the masses arrived to the dorms, as our golf season often started before classes did. We had an instant bond, and they became my dear friends for life. We spent every afternoon together at practice, or at the gym in the winters, dinners in the caf, and weekend at tournaments.  We were quite inseparable, though we did still each have our own other circles we mixed with.  We all lived together our senior year in a campus townhouse, which by far brings my most favorite memories.  These ladies know me better than most.  We have laughed until we cried, cried until we laughed, cheered each other on (on and off the golf course), and I think they'd agree we made our college ...

Today I'm thankful for being a godmother. For no specific reason on this day, except that I was thinking about them.  I have two godsons who I love dearly.  And I am thrilled to have this little lady as my goddaughter next month! I feel truly blessed to be their godmother, or as my eldest godson calls me, their fairy godmother.  Honestly, this kid, when he was little, introduced my sister and me to his preschool teacher as his fairy godmothers.  It makes me smile every time I think of it.  I remember the day I came home from Costa Rica for a visit and met this little guy at 2 months old at baggage claim.  It's been a fun ride ever since with him - what a character he is.   Then there is the other little guy.  He can bring a smile to my face in the blink of an eye.  I remember cuddling him at one day old like it was yesterday - not sure how he is almost 2 years old.  I am loving that he recogni...

Today I am thankful for the people that serve or have served our country.  They defend our country and protect us and our rights.  They give up time with their families, and unfortunately in too many cases give up their lives.  While I find it hard to believe war is ever a solution for anything, I appreciate the people that choose to serve, and fight for us and/or the better good.  The only people I know that are currently active in the armed forces is a friend that serves in the JAG unit of the National Guard and a former classmate in the Army.  No one, fortunately, that is facing extreme danger.  On a day like today, I do think about my grandpa.  He served as a cryptographer in the Army for 2.5 years in Africa during World War II.  He deciphered top secret messages, which I think is quite cool.  I wish I had spent more time talking with him about his experience in Casablanca when he was still able, but alas things that in...

Today I'm thankful for a day with no plans. That means I wake up whenever I want  and do whatever I want.  It's pretty awesome. Today I woke up at 7:30am and couldn't sleep anymore, so I crashed on the couch for some TV.  I cut coupons, cleaned the kitchen, more TV, cleaned the living room, rearranged our wine rack, and didn't pay attention to football that was on.  I watched a Lifetime Christmas movie (first of the season), did laundry, made banana bread muffins, ran for 30 minutes on the treadmill, finally showered, and am about to make dinner. All without a schedule, which is surprisingly productive for me.  Typically I need deadlines or time limits to get this much done.  I guess it also works when I have nothing planned and no "must do's" and I can still get a lot done. With the holidays coming up I know we won't have more of these slow weekends until likely January, so I took full advantage of our day with no plans.  I'm just sad ...

Today I'm thankful for Skype. Mostly because it has allowed us to keep in touch with my sister and brother-in-law, who live in another country.  It makes the distance feel a little less far.  We get to see their adorable faces, and lately also my sister's growing baby bump.  Today we got a tour of their new apartment.  And then we just sat and talked, face to face, and made more plans for our visit there in the winter.  It was like we were in the same room. Technology is awesome. 

Today I am thankful for Fridays. Truth be told, I enjoy Saturdays and Sundays more, but I am most thankful when Friday arrives.  Especially after a week like I've had with a lot of stress at work. My Fridays generally start out calmer than the rest of the week, with a free bagel and fruit, followed by a weekly conference call with my European clients (where I look forward to hearing what new British phrases I'll learn), and then the day is generally quiet.  My clients never seem to be as needy on Fridays.  Fires are scarce, problems find resolution, and I can catch up on what has been pushed by the wayside all week.  By noon, all of my European clients are off to start their weekend already so it gets really nice and quiet. And then, the best part of the day, is when I clock out (figuratively) and head home or wherever our plans take us.  The only thing that would make me more thankful for Fridays is if I had them off regularly.  But th...

Today I am thankful for happy hour with friends. Especially after a day like today, where at work nothing seemed to go right and my stress level was high.  Meeting friends for a cold, tasty beer, half-priced appetizers, and some girl talk was just the ticket.  We have a standing monthly date, 6 of us.  It was a great idea, as we had been known to try to get together last minute and all have different schedules.  We have yet had all 6 of us there together as was originally intended, but I'm sure some day we will.  And until then, at least some fraction of us is usually available to meet up.  

Today I am thankful for the opportunity to work from home.   My commute is about 8 seconds from upstairs to the dining room, where I usually set myself up for the day.  Today I didn't have to deal with the first icy roads of the season, or rush hour traffic, and I slept in a whole 45 minutes longer.  It is 4:45pm and I am still in my slippers and sweatpants, with no makeup.  I did brush my teeth - that's as far as I got.  It sometimes feels lonely and isolating, but usually I enjoy the quiet and calmness.  And on days like today, I have several conference calls to get some interaction with people.  There have been days though that I've realized I haven't uttered a single word since saying goodbye to Jon in the morning, which is just weird. I only work from home one day a week, when I have lighter days of meetings or don't need to be physically present, and at this point that is a perfect schedule.  While I wouldn't mind getting up to t...

Today I'm thankful for Delta miles.  Because of the miles we have accumulated over the years, and signing up for a few awesome bonus offers, we had enough to buy two tickets to Brazil!  Woot woot.  This is huge, because flights are at least $1100 each right now, which would have put a strain on the old checkbook for sure.    And so, our tickets are booked for February 2014, and I couldn't be more excited.  12 days with all 6 of us (plus one new member!)...and in a beautiful new country...it doesn't get much better than that!  Now onto planning our itinerary while we are there. So very thankful for this opportunity.

Today I'm thankful for Alicia .  The reasons for my gratitude for her and her friendship are plentiful, but today it is specifically because months ago she recognized the rut I was in and suggested we start attending a Zumba class.  It was the boost I needed.  Not only to get motivated to work out, but to try something new.  I now look forward to it all week, which is shocking in itself.  What, excited to exercise?  Yes.  Jill.ian Mich.aels, you're threats about jean shopping no longer do it for me.  Part of the appeal is doing this with a friend.  Last week I went to class by myself, as Alicia's family was getting over some flu bug.  I was glad I didn't back out, but wasn't as much fun.  In fact, I was the only person there at first, so I ended up standing next to the instructor at the front of the room instead of in my comfort zone at the back.  It felt like she and I were preparing for a dance recita...

Today I'm thankful for the end of Daylight Savings Time. Last night we were at the casino for Jon's birthday.  His mom, aunt, uncle, cousin, and friend were all there.  None of us won bingo, but a few did well on slot machines afterwards (including yours truly, who doubled her $20!).  Us ladies hit the road around 11:45pm, knowing the guys would likely be there several more hours.  So I didn't get to bed until around 1am, and I may have been too hyped up on Diet Mt Dew to fall asleep.  Not to mention the wakeups from the multiple garage door openings and closings at 3:30/4am as the guys came and went giving rides home. You could say I needed the extra hour to sleep this weekend.  And I appreciated that my entire morning today wasn't lost to sleeping in. 

Today I'm thankful for my camera. It was a big purchase for me, but one that I've felt no regret for.  It has been such a blessing to me, as it's allowed me to pursue an interest that I've always had.  And while I don't claim to be an expert, I am rather proud of the photos I have taken (and moments I have captured) over the last two years.  I also appreciate my friend Mandy for being my photography pal, going to classes with me, venturing off to catch awesome sunrise sunset photos, and inviting me to shoot our first wedding this next spring.  And of course my family and friends that put up with my camera in their faces at every "Kodak moment."  I wouldn't have beautiful subjects and memorable moments without them. Today Mandy and I took engagement photos for her cousin.  It was so much fun wandering around St Paul looking for perfect photo spots, and they were great sports about it as well. Photography has been a great new hobby,...

I've seen Thankful Projects circulating around Facebook and blogs for the month of November, and I knew it was something I wanted to try this year.  First, I think it's so important to be thankful for the blessings in your life and to show your gratitude.  So often, we focus on wanting more or what we are lacking that we may not realize the good that is right in front of us.  I'll admit this happens to me more than I'd like.  As we are approaching a season intended to give thanks and appreciate family and friends and blessings, it seems like the right project to steer my focus in the right direction.  Secondly, I think this will be so interesting to look back at some day and read about what was important to me at this point in my life.  And it gives me something to blog about, which has felt like a challenge lately. Some days my post may have a deeper sense of gratitude while others a bit more superficial.  I don't know what they'll a...