What I'm Thankful for this Thursday

1) Gray, dreary fall days. Kim took this picture of me after the Trucktoberfest we went to in September. It was obviously not cool enough for Fall yet, but it was starting to get dreary. Any other time of the year, gray/dreary days make me emo and tired. They still make me tired in the Fall, but I love the color mix of bright leaves and gray skies in the Fall, especially when wet leaves are matted to the ground like the aftermath of a party. It feels like someone laid out a confetti path for you to run or walk on.

Town Mouse.

2) Sharing meals.  Over a week ago, I was randomly invited over to Mike's house for Brie burgers with caramelized onions (cooked outside on the grill) and cheesy scalloped potatoes. When I went home this past weekend, I cooked Shauna's recipe from her book and it turned out amazing! Although, I think it could have been better if it wasn't my first time cooking meat. Rick (my stepdad) stepped in to help me at the last-minute and also sent me back to DC with a care package of soup and brownie mix! The Monday after I got back into the city, Mike and I went to a Columbus Day dinner party at his friend Margaret's where she served sweet potato casserole and  cheese fondue (I cut the apples!). There is something about preparing and sharing food with others that I think brings people together and I've recently become very thankful for those moments because they are something very special.

3) Les Mills classes. When I went home, I had the opportunity to go to BodyPump and BodyFlow after not having been able to do fitness classes for a while. I think sometimes you don't realize how much you've missed something until you get to experience the rush of it again. The BodyFlow class I took (Les Mills version of tai chi/yoga/pilates combo class) featured "Somebody that I Used to Know", "Paradise", "Shake It Out", and "Your Song". I could not have picked a more perfect playlist if I had choreographed the class myself and I am certain that was a sign to find time and money to fit these classes back into my own life.

4) Boyfriends who know what they're doing. The closet story: You know when Mr. Big gives Carrie her own huge closet or buys the house with it or something? Well, my boyfriend built me a closet. When my plastic costume rack posing as a closet broke, I was just like "Wah, we can't fix it" and Mike the Builder was like "Yes, I can". Then we went to Home Depot where he picked out all of the things that we needed like:  raw materials! Like screws and wood and stuff. And then I went upstairs to cook a frozen pizza because that's the only thing I felt like I had control over in the moment. Even when I came downstairs and did my best to distract his building project, I found out I had a brand new walk-in closet with space enough for all of my things!:) The tire pressure story: Believe it or not, this same man also found it in his heart to assist me with a chore I'd been complaining for the past 2 weeks I did not know how to complete: filling up my tires with air. It involved two things I didn't have: a tire pressure gauge and quarters. We went to Auto Zone for the gauge and to a gas station where he swiftly fixed all of my tires and did his best to give me a tutorial at the same time. He even let me take the caps off the tire thingies where you put the air in so that I felt useful!

Yay!

5) Nice parking attendants/drivers. The plan was to go to another Les Mills class on Columbus day and keep my workout streak alive, but I got a little too confident in my city navigation skills and could not find street parking downtown anywhere. I guess I should have known considering the Gold's Gym was right near the Capitol Building. I opted for a parking garage thinking either they wouldn't charge because it was a holiday or they couldn't charge that much considering I was only going to be there for one class. Right? Wrong. It was $16.00 for an hour and 15 min when I left the garage. The parking attendant was actually super nice and, upon seeing I was distraught to pay that much, explained how that is the way that the business makes its money and so on. Even if it still pained me to pay that much just to park somewhere, having someone just empathize takes a little bit of the sting out of it. Also, DC drivers never ever let you in when you are driving and need to merge in front of them, but today a man saw me and let me go in front of him and I really appreciated that.

6) Yard sales. I spent $10.00 in cash at a yard sale when I was home and got 2 gorgeous pillows, a side table, a toothbrush holder, a trash can, a mirror, and a shirt. Also the other day when I was running with Mike, I also found a table! Yay for yard sales.


7) Music. I have not had a lot of time to listen to a ton of new music lately, but I plan on changing that. Other than working out, I think listening to music is the thing which has the strongest positive effect on my mood. It is even harder to separate the two when you consider that I'm often listening to music while working out. Lately I've been into Mumford and Sons' 'Babel', rediscovering Coldplay's 'Mylo Xyloto' that I didn't care for when it came out, and putting Bon Iver on repeat while I'm at work. I have also weirdly been into watching The Voice on television, though I can' remember the last time I watched a singing competition show.

8) This Weekend. This weekend hasn't even happened yet. However, Mike, Kelly, Alex, and I are running a 10k in beautiful Harper's Ferry and I already know I will be incredibly thankful for surviving those 6.2 miles:)