Thoughts

And the Gratitude Continues

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Another round of what I am grateful for. This could never get old for me. Hopefully it won’t get too old for you. I have come up with 5 new things to be thankful for this November.

How is your gratitude list coming? Please share something you are grateful for. 🙂

  1. Music: This morning I was driving to the office and a song came on the radio that I haven’t heard for a while but it brought a smile to my face and some bobbing to my head. I really enjoy music in its many forms and if I could do something that I love; it would be with music in some way. Here is my song if you are wondering what made me happy. 😛
  2. Blogs: I really learn a lot about other people and what I learn the most is that we are all the same. We all have the things that we are passionate about and the things that we like to share with others. It is really wonderful to be apart of that community. Here are 5 of my favorites blogs to follow:
    1. The Kitchn
    2. Love Taza
    3. Peanut Butter Fingers
    4. Can You Stay for Dinner?
    5. Oh Happy Day
  3. Modern Medicine and Holistic Approaches: This might sound like an oxymoron but I am very grateful for the ability to care for myself without having to worry about insurance and drugs however; I also recognize when I need something to get over Bronchitis and I am grateful for the medical profession.
  4. Food: I know that I said I was grateful for the harvest last week but I was really talking about the source of our food. This is gratitude for the wonderful things I have eaten over the years. Here are 5 things that I REALLY want to make in the next couple of weeks.
    1. Simple Lemony Spring Chicken & Spring Veggie Soup
    2. Ground Chicken Lettuce Wraps
    3. Cranberry Avocado Salad
    4. Caramel Churro Chex Mix
    5. Pumpkin Heavenly Oreo Dessert
  5. Animals: Everyone should know by now how much I miss my dog Coco but having her in my life gave me gratitude and love for all animals that cross my path. It is such a wonderful thing to have the connection we do with them.

Have a WONDERFUL and GRATITUDE-FILLED week!!

Gratitude is Contagious

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We made it to November . . . how–I am not exactly sure. In some ways I think this year took forever. Maybe because I had a year of struggles. In other ways I think it flew by. Probably because I was once again too busy to really live it. Either way, this year has been full of change and the kind that is painful because it forces you to grow and learn.

At this point I am sure you are thinking, “Gee Jenn, way to be depressing”.

Actually not. What I have learned the most in this entire process is what really is important to me. I have learned that people really love me and most importantly, I have learned that I am not alone in this thing we call life.

I have learned a little more every day this year what gratitude really is and why celebrating one day a year is so important. I am hoping that each of you will catch my gratitude bug and give it away as well.

So every week I will share some of the things that I am grateful for. I have a list that is much to long to write on paper and too long to share each time I pray but somehow all of it is written on my heart. It is safe there and will stay with me forever.

I hope each one of you know that you are in my heart.

  1. I am grateful for the natural beauty I am surrounded in. I have lived in many places, been to many places and seen many things but no where on this planet can I find a place that the beauty of the earth does not stir my soul in gratitude and love.
  2. I am grateful for my friends. I am talking about those friends that know when you might be close to a breakdown. The friends that know when to tease you about the guy that just walked by. The friends that would do anything in their power to save you.
  3. I am grateful for the harvest. I love this land of plenty. I experience nostalgia from the smell of cinnamon. I love the art behind a well prepared dish. I love how food brings people together because it sustains life. Food teaches us to bond at a basic human need and we all flourish from it.
  4. I am grateful for trials because they teach us to try harder. They move us forward down the paths that make us grow and change. In that change we become the people we are truly meant to be and that is a beautiful thing.
  5. I am grateful for family. I love and respect the people who have to put up with me and I hope they will always know that my life would be incomplete with any of them missing. I would gladly and readily trade every part of my existence for my family.

Since I knew this post would be full of written thoughts. I have decided to share a small slide show of recent pictures (one of these days I will  upload to Flickr). Enjoy!!

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Playing Dress Up

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Who didn’t love playing dress-up when they were a kid? Seriously . . . ask yourself that question out loud and I am sure at least one memory will come to mind. You might have wanted to be a princess or a superhero. You could have wanted to be just like your Dad or the rock-star on your older siblings poster. No matter what, we always want to pretend we are someone else even if it is short-lived and mostly in our dreams.

This actually is the fuel on my eternal Halloween fire. I love dress-up. I love reinventing myself for one night. It is the easiest, quickest and funnest (is that a word?) way for me to escape my hum-drum life. No longer am I defined by the practical side but I can let all of my little girl to adult fantasies come to life.

Everyone knows by now that Halloween never visited my new home this year. I am hoping that next year will make up for it. In the meantime, I have a party to attend tomorrow night and I get to play dress-up. To make it easier on  myself I will be wearing last year’s costume but at least this year I will be getting my makeup done professionally at this wonderful place in Portland: Blush Beauty Bar. For those of you asking what will I be–I was a crow until someone pointed out that I looked more like the mocking jay. Either way, I will be a black bird. (If I can get my act together I will post pictures next week) 🙂

This got me thinking about today’s top five and I have decided to list the top 5 costumes I would like to wear according to category.

What is a costume you would like to wear?

My categories and costumes are . . .

  1. Classic: I have actually done my favorite but I think I am going to have to do it again–Bride of Frankenstein. 
  2. Princess: My whole life I have loved Sleeping Beauty but not when she is the princess. I have always loved her as Aurora. 
  3. Scary: I don’t do gross but I do like to do unsettling so I would like to be an eerie ghost. 
  4. Funny: I think it is best when you do something related to your job. Mine is accounting so one year I will drape a sheet over my body and hold in my hand some sort of sandwich spread. That way I am a spread-sheet; get it? 🙂 Ha! Ha! 
  5. Historical: Okay this one might be stretching it a bit but . . . I love the movie Gone With the Wind. Here’s to you Scarlett! 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!

The Music Tells the Story

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Did you know that Halloween is a week away? I can’t believe it! I am more mad that the whole season escaped me then about anything else going on right now and that includes the exorbitant amount of money I have had to pay out during this transition of my life. I am determined to make the most of it for the last week. In fact, I made a trip to one of my favorite fall spots this week: Sauvie Island.  It was a lot of fun just hanging out with my Mom while she is here helping me unpack. Thank heavens for Mom’s and Dad’s!! I don’t know about your families but I do know that I got stuck with some of the most wonderful people in the world! 🙂

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Since this is the music post; I decided to do something a little different. I am going to share my top 5 classical music songs that remind me of fall or Halloween. Got to get in the mood right? 🙂

What songs remind of fall and/or Halloween? Please share!!

 

  1. Funeral March of a Marionette by Charles Gounod 
  2. Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 
  3. Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig Van Beethoven (Side note: I actually play this on the piano) 
  4. Simple Gifts from Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copeland 
  5. The Four Seasons (Autumn) by Antonio Vivaldi