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Reasons to be thankful…

Nov26

Thanksgiving has come and gone once again.  I can’t believe the end of the year is already upon us – honestly, where does the time go?

This is my most favorite time of the year and Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the entire year, though the last seven years it’s always been bittersweet.

Seven years ago, on Thanksgiving day, I was notified that a former boyfriend had died as the result of a car accident.  It was a slap in the face and I didn’t know what else to do other than collapse into a puddle of tears, heartbreak, and sadness.  With the exception of my grandparents’ deaths it was the saddest I had ever been in my life, so every Thanksgiving I pause and reflect on the things that I am most thankful for, since I failed to take the opportunity at previous times in my life.

This Thanksgiving, I have been flooding my friends’ Facebook timelines with ’30 days of thankfulness’ so I wanted to take a moment to list 30 things I’m thankful for:

Day One: At a time when many are out of work, I am thankful for a job that I enjoy.

Day Two: I’m thankful to have a home of my own during a time when many people have lost theirs.

Day Three: I am thankful for the unfaltering generosity of the people in my life

Day Four: I am thankful for friendliness and laughter.

Day Five: I am thankful for the great company of awesome women who genuinely like being together.

Day Six: I am thankful for suffragettes. I am thankful for civil rights fighters. And I am thankful for our military.

Day Seven: I am thankful for comfortable beds, warm houses, and the arms of a loved one.

Day Eight: I am thankful for my sisters and brother. The biological ones and the ones that married them. They all drive me crazy sometimes, but I love them.

Day Nine:  I am thankful beautiful fall days filled with sunshine and the rustling of leaves.

Day Ten: I am thankful for kind neighbors who know what being neighborly is.

Day 11: I am thankful that today I can light candles in honor of my brother instead of in memory of him. I am thankful for all of our veterans, but specifically Poland Ron, Desira Poland, and Ron Poland. Thank you for your sacrifices in honor our nation.

Day 12: I am thankful for seasons and living in a state where I get to enjoy all four of them.

Day 13: I am thankful for unlimited text message, data usage and Pintrest’s humor board. I’m also thankful for family and friends who don’t yell at me for clogging up their inbox with hilariousness.

Day 14: I am thankful for kind coworkers who host delicious food competitions. Especially when said competition’s theme is pumpkin!

Day 15: I am thankful to work for a company that appreciates its employees so much that they throw us a pizza party for doing our jobs well.

Day 16: I am thankful for good food, fantastic fellowship, and funny nieces.

Day 17:  I am thankful to have not one family but two families who love me. I am also thankful that those two families blend well and can enjoy each other’s company.

Day 18: I am thankful for my dad. Everyone thinks their dad is the best, but mine really is. We don’t see each other as often as I’d like, and we don’t talk on the phone as often as we used to, but I am truly the luckiest girl to have a dad that loves me so much. He supports me in all of my decisions even if he disagrees with my decisions. He is strong enough to let me fail but gentle enough to pick me up when I do. He doesn’t say ‘I told you so,’ instead he asks ‘what did you learn?’ He makes me laugh and makes me think. He is always my dad first, but I am proud to say he is also my friend. Thanks Dad, for putting up with tiny little baby clothes, toddler tantrums, teenaged moodiness, and twenty-something know-it-all-ness. Looking forward to taking a walk down the aisle with you by my side!

Day 19: I am thankful laughter and humor.

Day 20: I am thankful for great coworkers.

Day 21: I am thankful for my brother. I am thankful that he serves his country with honor and that he treats his wife and daughters with respect. I am thankful that he and his family drove to Kansas to celebrate my favorite holiday with me.

Day 22:  I am thankful for family. I am thankful for the ability to host our first holiday dinner in our new home. And I am thankful that we were all together.

Day 23: I am thankful for a successful dinner hosting and that everyone who came to dinner arrived safely and returned to their homes safely.

Day 24: I am thankful for the years spent in past relationships.  They helped me figure out what I do and do not want in a partner.  Every past relationship was a blessing and I have held them all close my heart.  On this day seven years ago my perception of my previous relationships changed and I took a hard look at myself and what I brought to a relationship.  It wasn’t all awesome.  I did some soul searching and found what I was looking for in a partner.  More importantly, I found the partner I wanted to be and hope that I do a good job on a daily basis.

Day 25: I am thankful for sunshine and laughter

Day 26: I am thankful for my sisters.   I am thankful that I have three, when some people don’t have any.  I am thankful that even though we fight, and argue, and make each other cry, it doesn’t divide us.  At the end of the day it brings us together.  My sisters drive me nuts sometimes, but my world would be a sad place without them.

Day 27: I am thankful for the world’s greatest (future) in-laws.  They have been such a part of my life for so many years.  They welcomed me into their lives during times of extreme turmoil for them all.  I remember thinking to myself ‘how brave these people are to wear their grief so outwardly but be so welcoming at the same time.’  I very much look forward to officially joining the family in August 2013.

Day 28: I am thankful for great friends.

Day 29: I am thankful for my Mom.  I am thankful for her craziness, her humor, her smiles.  She drives me crazy sometimes, and we definitely don’t always see eye to eye, but she’s my Mom and I love her.  I don’t have to agree with her, but I will always love her.

Day 30: I am thankful for an amazing partner.  For six years I called him my boyfriend.  As of August 17th (our six year ‘anniversary’) I get to call him my fiancee.  And on August 17th, 2013 I will get to call him my husband.  I am truly one lucky lady.  He makes me laugh.  He makes me smile.  He makes me think and pushes me to do better at everything.  He encourages me to live my best life.  He lifts me up when I am down and celebrates my successes.  Spending the rest of my life with this amazing man will be nothing short of incredible; and that is truly something to be thankful for!

I notice a theme in the things I am thankful for.  Namely that they aren’t “things.”  I am thankful for people.  For feelings.  For opportunities.  And I truly am.  I have an incredible family.  Wonderful future in-laws.  Amazing friends.  A rewarding career at a great company.  I have been through tough times and survived them.  I am stronger than I ever thought possible.

These are things I am thankful for every single day, but Thanksgiving definitely gives me a reason to really stop and reflect on how fortunate and blessed I really am.  I try not to take that for granted and hope that I am doing a good job.

So, what are you thankful for?  How did you spend your Thanksgiving?  With family?  Friends?  Alone?  Feel free to leave comments and be sure to check back throughout the next few days for the updates on days 26-30.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Chim Chim Che-ree! Happy Halloween, Lovelies!

Oct28

Last night was our friends’ annual halloween party, something we look forward to every year because they do such an amazing job!  There is always a good food spread, incredible decorations, libations abundant, costume voting and awards, and a backdrop for photo ops.  So. Much. Fun!

The last several years there have been a theme, but this year the hosts decided not to have a theme.  I think it actually made coming up with a costume idea more difficult, but Brett and I NAILED it!!!

After discussing a couple of different ideas (I suggested cowboys and indians) we were having a tough time deciding on a really great costume idea.  The last two years Brett and I have won awards for our costumes, so we wanted to keep the trend going, of course!  So a couple weeks ago, Brett sent me a link that said ‘I think this might be the winner.’

I clicked on the link and knew he was right.  We gathered all of the pieces we would need for our costumes and set out to the party.  We had a great time as always, and after all the votes were tallied the results were announced… (drum roll please) And we won first place for Best Couple and second place for Best Overall!  How exciting!!

I know you’re all dying to know what our Award Winning costumes were so, without further ado……………………………………

So, if any of you are curious about the process of transforming ourselves into Mary Poppins and Bert, here are the details:

Mary Poppins

I bought a mid-length pin stripe jacket for $4.

I bought an XS men’s tuxedo shirt for $4

I bought a long navy blue skirt for $4

I bought the hat for $2 – the hat was white when I bought it, and the flowers and ribbon were falling off.  I bought some fabric paint for $3 at Hobby Lobby and removed the flowers and ribbon and painted the hat black.  Once the paint was dry I used a hot glue gun to reattach the flowers and ribbon.

I bought the red bowtie at Hobby Lobby as well.

I bought the bag and umbrella at Target.

The boots were my own.

Bert

We bought a wool suit coat at Salvation Army for $3

We bought the red scarf at Salvation Army for $1

We bought the newboy cap at Target

The black shirt, black pants and black shoes were Brett’s.

We used left over ash and charcoal from our fireplace for the ash on his face

For the chimney sweep broom, I repurposed an old broom that was in the basement.  We bought a styrofoam disc at Hobby Lobby and used left over paint from the Mary Poppins hat to paint the disc black.  Brett cut all the bristles off of the broom and I poked them into the disc until all the bristles were used and the broom looked full.  Once the paint was dry, I attached the disc to the broom handle and used hot glue to make sure it stayed in place.

I have to say, of all of the Halloween costumes I’ve ever put together, I think this is by far my most favorite!  And I was Rainbow Brite one year!  It was so fun to put everything together and see myself transform from everyday Arianna into Mary Poppins.  I found a YouTube tutorial to help with the makeup application and am really pleased with how everything came together.

Brett looked absolutely AWESOME as Bert and the fact that we were able to use real ash for his face and hands was just perfect.  We got lots of positive feedback about our costume and just had a really fun time with awesome friends.

Thanks to the Hendersons for hosting such a great time!

Operation: Graduate (Mission Complete!)

May14

Ten years.  Ten, long, hard, tear filled years, and I have finally graduated.  I am now forever a Broncho!  And while I realize that I have said in previous posts that I am a Jayhawk, my heart filled with so much love and pride for my alma mater, the University of Central Oklahoma.  They were the first school to ask me to call them home.  The first ones to open their doors to me and say “you belong here, with us.  Be a Broncho.”  And I am so grateful for that!  Because now I can say I have an alma mater.  I have a home, a mascot and a school identity that is uniquely my own.  For the last six years, I have shared Brett’s alma mater (KU) and have loved it like it was mine, but now, I have one. And it is so incredible!

Will I continue to cheer for the Jayhawks, absolutely; but now, I’m a Broncho, too.  And while we may not be high profile, division I athletics, we are pretty incredible, too.  As a matter of fact, our softball team is headed to the College World Series!

So, thank you.  Thank you to UCO for letting me call you home.  For being one of the most diverse places I’ve ever been and by helping me make my dream of graduating come true.  Go Bronchos!

March Madness

Apr4

I promise I talk about things other than sports.  Really.  It’s just, I like sports!  Since the NCAA tournament is officially concluded, I thought I’d post some pictures of how my friends and I spent the final weekend.

Since KU made it to the Final Four, my boyfriend and I decided that we should go to Lawrence to watch the game.  A bunch of our friends had the same idea so we all met up at Granada Theatre to cheer for the Jayhawks.

Pre-partying before the game against Ohio State.

The game was as stressful as every other game throughout the tournament, but the Jayhawks managed to pull out the win.  I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

The crowd on Mass. Street after the win

Even Lawrence's finest got in on the high fives!

Thumbs up for the Jayhawks as they advance to the National Championship game!

Being the superstitious people that sports fans are, we all trekked out to Lawrence on Monday to cheer the Jayhawks on as they battled the Wildcats from Kentucky in the national title game.

GO JAYHAWKS!

Excited for the game to start!

After two very stressful and emotional hours, a winner emerged, and, unfortunately, it was not the Jayhawks.  But, the Wildcats played an outstanding game, and the Jayhawks had an incredible season.  Even though KU lost, I am still so proud of the team and all that they accomplished.  I can’t wait for next season!!!

A calm, cool and collect crowd after the Jayhawks loss to the Kentucky Wildcats in the National Championship game

Funny tidbits about pre and post game antics.  One of the bars refused to sell Kentucky Bourbon the night of the game.  And after the game, one fan took it upon himself to erase Kentucky Street from Lawrence.

One student scales a street pole to pull down the Kentucky Street sign in Lawrence, following the Jayhawks loss to the Wildcats. Photo courtesy of yahoo!.

 

Rock Chalk!