Gratefuls Nov. 23–30

Nov. 23: My nephews still know who I am!

Nov. 24: Long Sunday naps.

Nov. 25: No school this week. Yay! I had planned to get a little bit of writing done today and tomorrow to help make next week less horrendous, but I've decided I would rather have fun instead.

Nov. 26: So, I saw Catching Fire on Saturday and I can't get it out of my head. I was planning on avoiding books and rotting my brain via TV all week, but Harry Potter has taught me that sometimes staying away from books is more distracting than escaping into them. So today I'm grateful that I have the wonderful luxury of time to dive into a trilogy that demands your full attention.

Nov. 27: Leaving work early to start a long weekend. In traditional Thanksgiving Break fashion, we kicked off our vacation with a TV show marathon and a game of Risk. Sometimes I think the evening before Thanksgiving Break officially begins is the best part of the entire break.

Nov. 28: Mom's surgery went well and she doesn't have to hobble around anymore.

Nov. 29: When you have a lovely day off and realize with a jolt of happiness that tomorrow is Saturday.

Nov. 30: Good books, leftovers, and Christmas lights.

Gratefuls Nov. 16–22

Nov. 16: My Saturday homework marathons never take as long as I think they will.

Nov. 17: I love it when general authorities come to stake conference and you get to see a side of their personality that you don't get to see during General Conference.

Nov. 18: Five years of working at a pizza place has given me super-human tolerance for pizza, when it easily could have gone the other way. I am basically going to be living off of pizza this week. 

Nov. 19: My TV shows. I only watch two, but they provide a nice excuse to take a break a few times a week. And Once Upon a Time is much better than it was last season.

Nov. 20: Christmas music. I might have put Christmas music back on my iPod before Halloween this year, not sure, but I only allowed myself to listen to the occasional song that made it through my shuffle stream, and during that week it was 60 degrees I skipped all the Christmas tunes. Today, I put an end to such foolishness. It's time to be reunited with old friends, and to acquaint myself with the new albums I bought with my Amazon gift card last week. 

Nov. 21: Winter fruit, like pomegranates and oranges. The only downside is that neither can just be popped into your mouth. You have to work for it first.

Nov. 22: Reliable co-workers.

Gratefuls: Nov. 9–15

Nov. 9: I was productive enough during the week to allow myself to declare a homework strike today.

Nov. 10: That wonderful barbecuing meat smell. If I ever come across the Amortentia potion ("The most powerful love potion in the world!" according to Hermione), I'm sure the first thing I will smell is meat on the grill. Best. Smell. Ever. And, just for fun, I think that seductive smell would be accompanied by the smell of rain on concrete, new books, and homemade bread.

Nov. 11: As ready as I am for sweaters and Christmas music, I am loving the 60-degree weather we've had the past few days. Especially since it means I can delay moving my workouts inside for a little bit longer.

Nov. 12 (11/12/13): Utah Technology Magazine, a digital magazine I've been editing pieces for, released its first issue today! (iPad version only for now, sorry. But it looks awesome on the iPad, so if you have one, you should check it out.) It's been really exciting to watch UTM morph from an idea to an actual publication. You can get a preview of the content on our website.

Nov. 13: Today I was stuck in Orem for a for a few hours between meetings. So I decided to go on a walk, and I discovered a lovely park hiding behind some mansions. It had walking trails, a duck pond, and lots of fall leaves. These types of discoveries make me miss Utah County.

Nov. 14: Last week, I wrote a review for our marketing automation software company, and today they sent me a $100 Amazon gift card! Naturally, I've already spent half of it.

Nov. 15: I made a "Rainy Days and Mondays" playlist a week ago, and I finally got to use it today. You won't hear me complaining about Utah's gloomy weather forecast.

Gratefuls: Nov. 1–8

I wasn't going to do the November Daily Grateful Thing this year, but I have to be honest here. Nothing good is going to happen this month if I'm not watching out for it.

Besides, I'm tired of looking at that Barbie.

Nov. 1: (Repeat from last year) Halloween is over! I really tried to be a good sport about Halloween this year (it helped immensely that no one made it their month's mission to get me to dress up). And I even enjoyed our office's costume contest/office decorating contest, and then I skipped my homework for the day to watch Clue. But it was still kind of exhausting. It's such a relief to have the hoopla of Halloween out of the way. Now for Christmas! Just kidding. Sort of.

Nov. 2: I did everything I needed/wanted to do today. And I had a long to-do list (which included sleeping in and watching TV for a couple of hours). I'm still kind of in shock that my day actually went as planned.

Nov. 3: People who like snow and don't complain about winter all the time. I like my family.

Nov. 4: Nerds (the candy. Although nerds in human form are good, too). I was having a seriously hard time staying awake after lunch today. A leftover box of grape Nerds saved me.

Nov. 5: My car. It hasn't been in the shop (for anything other than routine checkup type things) for over a year. It's a good little car. I don't miss the drama of a constantly breaking down car one bit.

Nov. 6: It's Wednesday, and I don't hate life. Woo-hoo!

Nov. 7: I woke up to "Time of My Life" by David Cook this morning, which is my fifth-favorite song. Seriously, I should start every day like this.

Nov. 8: BYU basketball starts tonight.