Ten Reasons That I'm Grateful This Thanksgiving....

OK, I'll no longer pretend that lots of people are reading this blog and it's any kind of serious writing project, so let me subside into senseless navel-gazing like I've maybe always wanted to (if haven't done so, already, in the estimation of some).

I'll just do this list like it's a FaceBook post or my own online journal...on the eve of Thanksgiving 2010. The following Ten Reasons That I'm Grateful This Thanksgiving....

1) Not traveling during this holiday season - HELLO full body scanners and the ongoing cluster at airports! (see links below, some of them tragic video)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/23/fear_pays_chertoff_n_787711.html
http://homelandsecurityus.com/archives/4249
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFoa0LsqVbQ&feature=player_embedded#!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b_glTGOhaA&feature=fvsr

2) Whole Foods turkey - pre-cooked so all we gotta do is put it in the oven tomorrow for a bit - and all the trimmings...it was expensive, but will (hopefully) be worth it. Just the two of us, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

3) Now old (not so new) job at UNI/CARE Systems and how well it's treating me; new job for David at Nelson Publishing and how well he's doing there already -
http://www.nelsonpub.com/

4) Four days off! From both jobs...and we are so grateful for the chance to relax, to sleep in, to dream, talk, and reflect. Remember those days of mine (last year - this time) when not-working. But I was no-wheres near this happy, so god bless the good life-changes since then - and working! (never thought I would say that, but there it is...)

5) Family (mine and David's) is safe, warm, well-fed, and mostly OK, in Seattle and Milwaukee, respectively. And we'll have requisite phone calls with them tomorrow, at some point. Thankful we're all still alive to see another Holiday season, and enjoy each others' company, no matter how far away.

6) Friends: I've actually re-connected (in October, during visit to Milwaukee), with a very close friend with whom I flamed out in a spectacular way during life transitions, already well-documented here. I'm just so glad to have her back, in whatever kind of new post-break-up shape our friendship takes. As clearly told in a recent email exchange, I'd been missing a friend like her, who always has challenged me to see things in new and different ways:
Oh Christie, I just knew you would have some things to tell me about the post [my most recent blog post] that I needed to hear, that would be powerful and insightful, and this is probably why I spontaneously sent it to you. I so crave that kind of interaction, with someone thoughtful and intelligent like you! It just makes me miss your friendship all the more :)

7) Starting to plan a trip to Key West via ferry for NY's eve -
http://ferryservicestokeywest.com/?gclid=CK-4osP7uqUCFU1m7Aodn0bEbQ
If all the hotels aren't already booked. We'll find out this weekend!

8) STILL not wearing pantyhose! And no dry cleaning bills either, despite corporate jobs resumed. And jeans day every Friday...things are just way more relaxed here, dress-code wise. We love it!

9) Tomorrow's weather - 82 degrees high with 0% chance of Precipitation in Sarasota, FL
http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/wxdetail/34231?dayNum=1
35 degrees high with Rain/Snow Showers in Milwaukee -
http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/wxdetail/53211?dayNum=1
40 degrees high with Rain/Snow Showers in Seattle -
http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/wxdetail/98112?dayNum=1

10) Jonathan Franzen - he is my favorite author EVER! (or maybe just at the moment)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129799680