thankful (twenty two)

on this twenty second day of the month, i am thankful for:

+++ being here for another thanksgiving
+++ my awesome family (melhoffs, sheehans, nelsons, hansons)
+++ my great friends, who are my adopted family
+++ all of the million things that i am thankful for and appreciate on a daily basis
+++ my doctors
+++ seattle cancer care alliance
+++ hope
+++ sleeping in
+++ a lazy morning watching movies and playing games
+++ my legs carrying me for a 3.2 mile run, the blue sky and sunshine, and time to focus on all of the things that i am thankful for today
+++ my mom-in-law making a totally gluten free thanksgiving dinner so that i could eat anything (and everything) i wanted
+++ reisling (you knew that would be on the list)
+++ catching up with my nephew on the latest girls issues, oh -  to be a teenager again:)
+++ lots of love from family and friends throughout the day with thanksgiving day messages

another holiday. more laughs. more love. more time. can't ask for more than that. i am a lucky girl, i know that, and i am very thankful for all that i have - including all of the people that i am lucky enough to love. xo.

thankful (twenty one)

(graphic from ali edwards)

on this twenty first day of the month, i am thankful for:

+++ my friend michael, my life literally got better the day that i met him
+++ starting the day by getting to catch up with one of my most favorite people for an hour
+++ gluten free pecan pie
+++ fun mail that made me feel appreciated (thanks marcie-roo), made me laugh (thanks mom and dad), and reminded me that my friends love malena (thanks ann)
+++ getting to be one of malena's "customers" that she waiting on all night whipping up good meals from her new kitchen. i love to watch her play.
+++ music
+++ charlie brown's thanksgiving being on tv

happy thanksgiving peeps, enjoy your day and all you have to be thankful for.

sidenotes:
+++ curly girl is having free shipping all weekend from friday through monday - woohoo!! you know that i will be using my gift certificate and doing some shopping:)
+++ if you need a great camera for a woman in your life, i have bought ones from this site and they are awesome.
+++ the thanks you give in your heart
+++ how awesome is this kids thanksgiving table? pretty awesome i would say.
+++ i am going to remember some of these great ideas for thankgiving next year

thankful (twenty)

"it will be gone before you know it.

the fingerprints on the wall appear higher and higher.

then suddenly they disappear."

(dorothy evslin)

malena turned 4 today. i have a four year old daughter. wow. i can remember vividly the second my water broke, and we knew she was on her way. i can remember the moment she entered the world, and i became a mom. i can remember how much my world shifted in that minute when i first laid my eyes on her. what a wonderful ride it has been for the last four years, i have loved every single second. i have watched her grow and i have grown right along with her. i am not the same person i was four years and one day ago. so today, i am thankful for my daughter and all of the joy she has brought to my life. she is my best accomplishment, my strongest inspiration, and my proudest legacy.

on this twentieth day of the month, in addition to malena's four years of life, i am thankful for:

+++ getting to celebrate our dear friend kadeena's birthday as she starts another awesome decade. her and malena share their special day. getting to celebrate with two birthday girls in one day. awesome. wouldn't have had it any other way.

+++ mickey mouse pancakes for breakfast

+++ gluten free swedish pancakes with lingonberry butter. so, so good.
+++ fun at the aquarium, how excited malena gets to see animals of all shapes and sizes

+++ playing tourist and going for a ride on the great wheel, and the weather breaking for us so that we had a little blue sky and sunshine on our trips around the wheel

+++ the happiness a new big girl kitchen can bring. barrett and i ate about a million different dinner and desserts today.

+++ the birthday notes that malena gets each year on her birthday. at my baby shower, each person wrote a letter for her to open on her birthday from her first through her seventeenth birthday. this year's letter was from our good friend kimberly. starting her birthday each year with the opening of those letters is such a special tradition for me. i love getting to read the wishes that were made for her before she even arrived, and how much she is loved by so many great women.
+++ red mango frozen yogurt with m&ms
+++ a day full of fun and love. perfect.

sidenotes:
+++ i am totally drooling over and inspired to make one of these 2013 calendars
+++ love these gift ideas, already have two and am making one for christmas - woohoo!

thankful (nineteen)

on the nineteenth day of this month, i am thankful for:

+++ my decision to drive in today to avoid being soaked while waiting for the bus in the sideways pouring (and i mean pouring) rain. that decision paid off when i got soaked later in the day walking to one of our construction sites. at least i was only totally miserable for part of the day. that is what i kept telling myself anyways.
+++ paper towels. i needed them when i spilled my full water bottle and soaked all of the papers that were on my desk. yep, that was a really good part of my day. a total highlight. i am so, so in love with mondays.
+++ tough work issues being resolved without complete crises occurring. but, it's only monday.
+++ the work day finally being over. please refer to the above three things i was thankful for.
+++ a gift with special meaning being appreciated for all of the love behind it
+++ broccoli blast at black bottle (hooch, i was there without you today. feel like i was cheating on you. will make it up to you on a date night soon;))
+++ seeing a ton of smiles from malena during her swim lessons
+++ fun mail waiting for us on the porch when we got home (thank you aunt megan and chris)
+++ knowing that i am not going into the office tomorrow, i am spending the day celebrating milestones instead

sidenotes:
+++ i kind of love this idea
+++ handmade holiday gift ideas
+++ yum
+++ chocolate sale
+++ i have felt the same way she does many times this month as i have been thankful for the routines and the daily occurrences that make up the sum of my life
+++ i feel this way about malena's 4th, but i think that i feel pretty weepy every year on her birthday;)
+++ identified with the lines "...i have a will to live...that will comes from loving people" in this post
+++ ummmm.....the food on this site looks really, really, really, really good
+++ ooooooohhhh, these  look like a project i would love

thankful (seventeen + eighteen)

on the seventeenth and eighteenth days of this month, i am thankful for

+++ barrett celebrating a happy and healthy 34th birthday (he has started (barely) to come to terms with the fact that he can no longer say he is in his early thirties)
+++ friends and family coming to celebrate malena's 4th birthday (how is it possible that my girl is turning 4 on tuesday? i don't know either, tell me if you figure it out).
+++ all of the people who love malena, she is a very lucky girl to have so many who care so much. in those little moments i talked about last week when the voices creep in, one of the things that makes those voices go away is knowing that no matter what happens with my health, she will always be surrounded by love.
+++ all of our family making it home safe and sound
+++ going to our favorite christmas store and checking out the train

+++ the kindness of strangers
+++ shopping with my sister and my neice, and finding a new coat that i definitely could not live without (the coat felt the same way about me, we are really happy together)
+++ one on one time with my neice to get caught on the latest and greatest in her life
+++ chocolate/heath/peanut butter cookies, you can't eat just one
+++ cracking up at how quiet it gets when our family is hungry and the server brings our dinner out to the table. food = stop talking.
+++ surprising barrett with a night out with his best friends
+++ old friends
+++ a musician, with only his voice and his guitar, filling the bar with great music
+++ lazy sunday morning at the coffee shop with my sister and malena

+++ gluten free banana bread and marionberry delight. yum.

+++ completing a project for thanksgiving, taking time to reflect on how much i have to be thankful for
+++ my mom's gluten free macaroni salad with dill pickles for lunch. so good. thanks mom!
+++ malena reading the entire cinderella book and watching her storytelling skills growing day by day. i love to watch her read.
+++ a lot of time with family and friends to look forward to this week

happy monday peeps, the holiday will be here before we know it.

thankful (sixteen)

on this sixteenth day of the month, i am thankful for:

+++ seeing malena in the morning, watching cartoons, and hanging out for a little bit before pre-school
+++ finishing a 3 mile run just before the sky opened and the rain started to dump
+++ not being in the office - and nothing critical happening so that i could spend more of my day taking care of things in my home life than my work life
+++ knocking out a ton of errands in a short amount of time
+++ my sister and niece making it over safely from pullman
+++ splitting a bottle of wine (ok, maybe a little more than one) with my sister
+++ laughter filling our house all evening long
+++ our house being filled with people i love
+++ malena being so excited about her birthday party tomorrow - imagine what it would be like if we were always as excited about our birthdays as we are when we are kids
+++ our house smelling like cookies
+++ eating a heath toffee/peanut butter/chocolate chip cookie that has just come out of the oven
+++ finding the perfect napkins to send to my mom to continue my yearly tradition of sending her funny ones that she can use at christmas when she hosts our entire (large) family
+++ friends that i love very, very much

happy saturday everybody. i will be celebrating barrett's birthday and malena turning 4. a day full of fun and celebration in the hanson house. love that.

thankful (fifteen)

"we are all cups, constantly and quietly being filled.

the trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful out"

(ray bradbury)

on this fifteenth day of the month, i am thankful for:

+++ awesome fun mail from the pattersons in wisconsin, you rock! xo

+++ my assistant being kind of enough to do me a favor and pick something up for me so that i could actually eat some lunch today

+++ a staff person that has been a tremendous asset to my team, and knowing that he will do great in his new position with a different part of our agency (boo hoo)

+++ being able to be there when a friend got the call that she needed to leave immediately in order to be able to go to the hospital to say her goodbye to her dad

+++ catching up over a late dinner and drinks with a good friend

+++ laughter

+++ my sister coming tomorrow to stay with me for two days. awesome.

+++ not going in to the office tomorrow, i didn't say not working tomorrow, just not going into the office. small victories.

+++ knowing that i get to hang out with malena in the morning, especially since i didn't get to see her at all today

+++ chocolate chex mix

+++ getting our next kiwi crate project in the mail which equals a fun new project to work on

+++ genuine kindness

for the "grateful" giveaway, marcie-roo is the winner;) i will send out the cards to you in the mail tomorrow so that you have them in plenty of time for thanksgiving. enjoy!

happy friday everyone, the weekend is here. ours will be full of lots of celebrations and fun. i hope that yours is equally as good. xo.