Thankful

Ahhh, Thanksgiving.  My favorite holiday of the year.  I love this day for so many reasons, and not all of them involve stuffing my face with unnecessary carbs and sugar.  I mean, most, but not all ;-)  I love Thanksgiving for the football, the food, the family... the memories of great times with people who may no longer be with us, and the memories we have yet to make with the good friends and family that we are lucky enough to still have.  In the spirit of my favorite holiday, I decided to list a few things I am thankful for this year :)

First of all, I am thankful for  Mark Wahlberg.  This man is HOT and I am grateful to any director who casts him in a movie so I can continue to see his hotness on a big screen.  I am thankful for Spencer and Heidi Pratt- they make me feel better about being single.  I am thankful for Ben and Jerry's ice cream, and especially for Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road.  It is pure heaven... chocolate ice cream with peanut butter cookie dough and butter brickle.... hmmmmmm so amazing.  Now if they could just make it a permanent flavor...  I am thankful for my hair straightener, because anyone who has ever seen me wake up in the morning knows that without it I am like a scarier version of Amy Winehouse.  I am thankful for Nashville.  The bars there are open until 3 a.m. and all the boys there wear very tight jeans.  I am thankful for the delicious oranges that garnish my Blue Moon beer.  I am thankful for my Victoria's Secret boyfriend pants.  They are amazing and wonderful and worthy of a post all their own.  Pretty sure I care about them more than any boyfriend I've ever had (sorry guys).   I am thankful for tomorrow... and not in the philosophical sense.  I am literally thankful for tomorrow, Black Friday, because it means it's finally acceptable for me to watch my favorite Christmas movies (even though I clearly watch them year round).  By tomorrow afternoon I will be knee deep in Thanksgiving leftovers watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story and The Santa Clause.  Don't judge me.

On a more serious note, I am thankful for my friends and family.  For my mom, who puts up with me and tolerates my irritability and impatience when I have just edited 500 pictures and am the definition of cranky.  She is my role model and I love her.  For my dad, who I would be totally lost without.  I love making my Dad laugh, and I love that no matter how ridiculous I get or how grumpy he gets, I can still make him laugh.  It is an amazing feeling.  His generosity continues to surprise me and I wouldn't be where I am without him.  I am thankful my family's health, especially the health of my stepmom, who completes my dad and our family in a way I never thought possible.  For my friends... not the "Facebook" friends who may just be acquaintances... but for my real friends, who I trust implicitly and who I can laugh and cry and vent and be crazy with.  I am thankful for their ability to make me smile and make me feel welcome and at home, no matter where we are.  I am thankful that I found what I want to do, I am thankful to have made some great decisions, I am thankful that I am secure in who I am and who I want to be and don't want to be.  I know there are lots of people out there who haven't figured that out yet.  I am thankful for the hope of love, because without it I would probably be sad and mopey and wandering the streets in a daze.  But because of it I know there is someone amazing out there for me, and that's something worth being thankful for.

I know people probably won't do this, and that's okay, but if anyone is reading this blog post today and wants to comment on something you're thankful for, please go ahead!  We should remember these things year round, and I think we'll all have a little more positive outlook when the day to day anxieties of life get us down.  And yes, I'm fully aware that I sound like Dr. Phil right now, but I've accepted it :) Happy Thanksgiving everyone!