Thankful Thursday

Last weekend was packed. We put an offer on a house (but the counters were crazy so we stopped that pursuit), had dinner with my Dad, had some friends over for a waffle breakfast, went to a super-fun wedding of one of Nolan's colleagues and danced the night away, did some work, and then I went to a Thai "massage" Sunday afternoon. Really, it was more of "pulling on all my limbs and chanting buddhist exhortations while inhaling incense for an hour and a half" instead of a massage...but it was relaxing. I think I'm cancelling my second session (even though it's free), as I was hoping for more of an actual massage, but I will say that just laying there and letting my mind relax and even meditating on some of the general thoughts being chanted about happiness and bringing joy to others and learning to let things roll off of you was a good exercise for me. No matter what religion you are, there are some truly beautiful common threads like those that I think we can all learn and benefit from. This is partly why I like travelling, and really soaking in some of those nuggets of wisdom that we can glean from others with different belief systems and cultures.

This weekend is going to be super different than planned. We were going to head up to the ranch, look at homes, maybe go up to Tahoe for a day...and now we're sticking around our house, having waffles with more friends (who doesn't like healthy waffles with friends on a Saturday morning?), grilling with friends on Memorial Day, maybe mountain biking, maybe making a day trip to Sacramento to view homes if needed, maybe just lounging around...we'll see. I had a fun work dinner on Monday, then we hosted a big party at our house on Tuesday, and are going to another one tonight at someone else's...so it may be a chill weekend. I also have big plans to take Milo to my friend's house for a playdate with his little girlfriend, Harley. He's been acting out a bit recently and I think he just needs some friend time. But now I'm blogging about my cat. So...let's move on.

1. I'm thankful for the slightly cooler weather, even though it means I've actually been cold at times this week. The heatwave last week was too.hot. Oh yeah, and I'm thankful for our little A/C that helps make life more bearable during those hot times!
2. I'm thankful for the beautiful area we live in now for running! Every direction is interesting and pretty, and if we want trail runs, all we have to do is hop in the car for 5 minutes for our choice of preserves to run in.
3. I'm thankful for Milo, that turd.
4. I'm thankful for Nolan, and our times of growth and learning together - buying a home and transitioning out of residency are both big, stressful things, and I'm so glad that we can learn from them and grow through them together.
5. I'm thankful for a long weekend, in which I plan to maybe not open my work laptop at all! I love my work, but it's good to practice that balance and let yourself do nothing sometimes.

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

This house hunting thing is a real trip. We're going on random trips to look at places, locations, changing all sorts of parameters, and learning about ourselves in the process. Whew. I'm excited to find our home but I won't be sad when this part is over :)

Last weekend was one of those random trips up on Saturday morning, supposedly just for a quick few hours and then back home again, but we ended making a lot of changes and even staying the night to look at more homes the next day. It was fun to get together with friends for dinner, see new neighbourhoods, and see my family a little bit on top of that.

Sunday morning, I decided to go for a nice run on the ranch while Nolan got some work done...but I hadn't brought anything for working out. So I threw together a sportsbra from high school, a shirt from my college freshman dorm, my mom's socks, the shoes I leave up there, and a pair of my brother's tiny running shorts...which ended up being just my size (almost). Win!

I took Captain with me for the run, and he kept up the whole way, but by the last few laps the poor guy was flagging. He stayed right here (below) until we left. Haha.

That's a little bit how I feel lately, what with the hot weather and all these upcoming changes. Just kind of pooped. Still: I shouldn't complain! Look how many great things I have going on!

1. I'm thankful for Nolan's residency coming to a close. It's been great being down here and meeting new people, but residency is just as tough as the stereotype says it is.
2. I'm thankful for free massages! I was going to use a groupon massage today that I bought awhile ago, and the masseuse had to cancel last minute - so he offered me an EXTRA free massage, and we booked both for within the next 3 weeks. w00t!
3. I'm thankful for the A/C unit in our little apartment. Yes, it is tiny. Yes, it is loud. Yes, it is huge and inconvenient. But YES it does make life more bearable when it gets super hot like it's been this week.
4. I'm thankful for our neighbour. She watches Milo and FDR when we're gone, she is super kind and thoughtful, and today she killed and disposed of a really nasty spider for me when I just couldn't.
5. I'm thankful for my food processor. Every.Single.Day.

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

I realized recently that I've been too casual about thankfulness in my life. I say I'm thankful for a lot of things (and I am, really!), but I don't let that thankfulness manifest in my everyday life. For example: I say I'm thankful for our home and where we live, but I complain about the traffic or the single-paned windows that never seem to keep the heat in or out  (depending on what we need at the moment). Instead, if I'm truly grateful, I can look outside my window as I am now, and appreciate the lush green of the trees right outside, and the quiet of the breeze blowing and the birds singing. I can go for a walk through our beautiful neighbourhood and think, "this, this is a great place for us right now, and I'm thankful for it", even if it means I'll be stuck in Bay Area traffic this weekend at some point.

Is thankfulness really thankfulness, if you don't stop to consider what it means, and just say that you're thankful for it? If I said I was grateful for a roof over my head and a full belly, but just superficially consider it to be true and don't actually absorb what that means or feel how truly grateful I am for those things...am I really appreciating those blessings? I don't think so.

So this week, I'm keeping it simple, and saying and meaning these 5 things that I truly, sincerely, am profoundly thankful for each day. My goal is to really feel how grateful I am for these things, so that I don't let complacency rob me of the true joy I should and can feel at all of these blessings.

1. I'm thankful for my relationship with the God of the universe, and His relentless pursuit of my heart.
2. I'm thankful for my true media naranja, my husband. He is my world.
3. I'm thankful for our time in the Bay Area, even as it comes to a close. I have learned so much while living here, and have truly enjoyed so much of it.
4. I'm thankful for my job. I hope I don't take for granted just how lucky I am to have a job that I love.
5. I'm thankful for my families, and truly appreciate how blessed we are to have godly, loving families on both sides of our little sub-family :)

What are you thankful for?

Things white people like.

A fitting title, when you see my two displays of glorious pictures for today.

A couple of days ago, my dad sent me this picture, that he said he took when he had to drive by Jack in the Box a second time just to make sure he wasn't seeing things:

Who knew that any 4-wheeled vehicle could go through a drive-through? Classy.

 Today Nolan had to get some dental work done, so when I got a text with this picture, I decided that I need to make sure and look this awesome next time I go to the dentist. Seriously, why didn't I think of wearing sunglasses to guard against the hellish lights? Why didn't I think of bringing my own music so I don't have to listen to Celine Dion one.more.time. while I'm sweating in that chair?

Seriously though.

This week is chock-full of work, both professional and personal. Each day, once I'm done with work-work, I start on other chores and things on my to-do list. Pretty normal for me, except that this week that involves more house-shopping, which I semi-really love and semi-loathe because I just find it exhausting to get excited that much. Hah.

Wish us luck!

Thankful Thursday

It's Thursday again, and I sit here with a belly full of avocado and sore feet from a lovely run early this morning. This week has been crazy busy, as a lot of new things come down the pike and a lot of old things come to a close. I've gotten to spend time with out of town colleagues, good friends, and try a new lunch haunt with our developer that I'm adding to my short list of good places to eat. However, this week has also been crazy productive and you know how I thrive on that feeling. Woo!

I've already written down my massive "to-do" list for the weekend, and I still have another workday between now and then.

Anyway - let's get on to the good stuff.

1. I'm thankful for a bit cooler weather. For awhile there, I thought it was time to haul up the huge A/C for our bedroom again. Phew.
2. I'm thankful for a wonderful Easter with family again, and that our families love each other and love God.
3. I'm thankful for chocolate avocado mousse! Hah! For real, though.
4. I'm thankful for my little lacrosse ball that Natey got me, because it saved my quads from some real bad soreness this week.
5. I'm thankful for the many homes we are able to search in order to find just the right one for us. I know many people don't have that luxury, and I am so looking forward to finding something perfect for our family.

What are you thankful for?

mint condition

Ah, Easter. The season of bunnies and peeps and green grass and family. We kicked ours off with a trip to our favourite sushi spot with my dad and our friends John and Julie. Please note that Julie and I controlled ourselves this time and didn't get the all you can eat. It was a tough decision. Possibly also the first meal where we haven't eaten more than our husbands, as is our habit.

We also spent a little time house-shopping, and got so close to finding what we're looking for. It's exhausting, but exciting. We've narrowed it down pretty far at this point, so I think one of these next forays will lead us to "the one". Phew.

Saturday morning we celebrated my father-in-law's birthday (Happy Birthday, John!) with our traditional breakfast out at Sweetie Pie's. Nolan and I also spent part of Saturday learning how to recycle his "baseball cards" (business cards a la Stanford), since he won't need them anymore. Hopefully my dad's rental car company won't mind finding an extra picture or two laying around of some random dude from Stanford. It's nothing in comparison to the plethora of these babies that lurk in odd places in my parents' house, waiting for discovery.

The rest of Saturday was spent with family, celebrating Easter up on Easter Hill, and enjoying the gorgeous weather and good people around us. This is a terribly nondescript picture of some of us, but I was eager to get back to the festivities, so I didn't bother trying to get a decent one.

Sunday while we were driving back, I came down with something. I think it was mild food poisoning from the symptoms, but not really sure. Anyway - after making it home and deciding to suck it up, we drove over to our friends' for a game night and dinner. We drove separately because Nolan had to stay until about midnight to work on a residency task, and I had grand plans of nursing myself to health again with an early bedtime. That plan didn't work, because I barely slept at all that night. Blah.

Anyway. As I was driving, I get a text with this in it:

And I got another one tonight as Nolan was headed to work. These make me laugh out loud and smile to myself at how full my heart feels when I think of him :)

Thankful Thursday

You know, it's past 10, I have to get up before 5, and I'm still here. That's commitment to trying to get back to my blogosphere right there.

This weekend we're celebrating Easter with our families, visiting with some good friends over sushi, and house-shopping (yay!). So I am totally hyped up with anticipation, and I'm thinking that's why I'm okay not being in bed yet.

I took a picture last week of my fancy pearls that Nolan bought me for my birthday (in July...hah), and was going to post them last week but totally forgot to blog so...here it is. Aren't they gorgeous and glow-y?!

I finally was able to connect with a breeder today about a potential puppy litter that would allow us to adopt our dream dog in the Fall. I didn't want to wait that long, but Nolan's right - we've waited this long for a dog, so we might as well get exactly the one we want and wait until that's possible. 

This house thing is exciting but tiring too. I almost have a hard time looking at homes these days because I just want to find the right one and stop weeding through duds! Nolan seems okay with it - he's spent hours looking at homes, and doing a lot of work on that front. Ah well, maybe this weekend will be fruitful! Speaking of which:

1. I'm thankful for the opportunity to own a home soon.

2. I'm thankful for a job that will allow me to move to that home and still keep working and doing what I love for a company and a team that I love.

3. I'm thankful for hopefully finding a good breeder to help us get our puppy! EEE!

4. I'm thankful for a tiny bit extra time to cook recently...almost every night! It's been awesome, and has yielded some stupidly delicious food that happens to be healthy, too!

5. I'm thankful for productivity and opportunity. Even though it's been a super busy time at work and at home, it feels good.

What are you thankful for?