List of Gratitude: 2015

With the speed that life seems to move at lately, it’s sometimes hard to take the time out to reflect on blessings. Especially when those blessings cause stress along with bringing joy a.k.a. the holiday season.

I want to start a yearly tradition where I take some time to reflect back on my blessings, whether big or small, and what I’m thankful for currently. Thanksgiving seems to be the logical time of year to begin this tradition. Without further ado, and in no particular order…

1. A new home, although I love our current house and will miss it dearly, I can’t believe how beautiful our future new home is. I can’t wait to put our finishing touches on it and really make it “ours”.
2. Health, because everyone around me is relatively healthy. As in, no one is critically or life threateningly ill. Sadly I take this one for granted too often.
3. Bean, I always dreamed of being the mom to a little girl. Although she wasn’t the easiest baby/toddler, the older she gets the more it feels like I really am living that dream.
4. My husband’s laid back personality, sometimes I get pretty wound up over things (ahem, buying and selling a house?) and he helps keep me in perspective.
5. All around, being married to my husband, he is the best life partner, co-parent, best friend I could have ever dreamed of spending my life with. I’m not the mushy-gushy type, so when I say that you know I mean it.
6. Job stability, my husband and I spent so much of our dating/newlywed life with uncertainty over jobs , unpredictable paychecks, and lay-offs. I feel incredibly lucky that we now both have jobs where we feel comfortable about the future.
7. My Mom, I can’t begin to list the amount of times she has put me or my extended family’s needs before hers. I’m pretty sure if you Googled “selfless” her photo would be the first search result. I literally do not know what I would do without her.
8. My Dad, in that same vein of thought, my Dad is the handiest person I know. Whenever I’ve had a car issue, house issue, any sort of issue that needed fixing, I knew I could count on him.
9. Bean’s goofy personality, even as a baby she was so expressive and to this day she constantly has us in stitches. I can’t wait to see what type of kid she grows into.
10. KitchenAid mixers, french silk pies are exhausting to make unless you’ve got a KitchenAid. I might have just spent the last hour making three from scratch.
11. Working with my sister, I love how close my sister and I have become since working with each other running the dance studio. Time spent doing the thing we both love together is priceless!
12. My brother, being just 2 years apart we were always close growing up. As adults, it’s funny how similar our personalities are. He lives in Texas now so we don’t see much of each other, but fingers crossed that changes soon!
13. A sister-in-law (who wants to move to MN), my brother moved to Texas because of his job (air traffic control). It’s tough to find positions exactly where you want when you are relatively new to the job, but now my brother will have some experience under his belt. Luckily, his new wife (they married this past summer) who is from the south wants to get up to Minnesota as soon as possible! Fingers crossed that happens in the next few years…
14. Blogging, I am so happy that I got into this whole thing back in 2010. I have documented so many events that would probably have been forgotten if it weren’t for Bre Pea.
15. Showcase Dance, I still can’t believe that I can list one of my professions as “Dance Teacher/Studio Co-Director”. Despite my lifelong love of dance, I never thought I would end up here. Dream Job.
16. Family by marriage, my “family by marriage” (as we coined it) is awesome. They welcomed me into their family with open arms, and I couldn’t be more happy to have such a down to earth mother, father, and sister-by-marriage.
17. Bean’s preschool, I credit Bean’s preschool teachers and the loving, warm atmosphere that they created at her school to Bean’s incredible improvements in social skills. 
18. Friends since junior high, my closest girlfriends are the friends that I had since we were itty bitty junior high schoolers. It’s a lot of fun growing and having babies together!
19. The Office reruns on Netflix, it’s probably my favorite show of all time. Watching it reminds me to chill out and have a laugh. I need those reminders often.
20. My DSLR, I LOVE photography and I love having the technology to take quality photos. I always dreamed as a high school kid in photography class of having a DSLR.
21. Our new mattress from Brooklyn Bedding, I have slept on worn-out mattresses pretty much since I was a kid. After waking up sore every single day and multiple chiropractor visits, my husband and I decided it was time to invest. I have yet to wake up with aches and pains since we got our new bed.
22. Thrift stores, I’ve always been a thrift store aficionado, so when the popularity of them began to rise I wasn’t sure how to feel about it (I thought there would be more people out there taking all of the “treasures”). I’ve found out, though, that there are more thrift stores and more treasures to be found now because of the increase in popularity. Also, I think it’s much more socially acceptable to admit your clothes came from Goodwill, which is a plus 😉
23. Florida family vacations, Florida is my favorite family vacation destination by far. We went to New Smyrna last December with my whole family (Mom/Dad/Sister/Brother-In-Law/Brother/Sister-In-Law/Myself/Husband/Bean) and it was SO MUCH FUN. We’re going back this December with just myself, husband, and Bean and I can’t wait!
24. Coffee, always there for me when I need it most.
25. Reese’s, because they are by far the most delicious chocolate candy ever invented. Not to mention their even more delicious tree/heart/egg/pumpkin holiday shapes. And they really come in handy when I’m PMSing.
26. Naps, having a thyroid condition such as I do, there are times when I am just completely zonked and nothing will cure me like a nap will. I never used to be that way until I was pregnant with Bean, and it’s tough for me to give in to a nap. I’m grateful that I mostly have the time to do so when I need it the worst.
27. Faith, there are many times when I wonder how people without faith get through the toughest times of life. I am thankful that I have a belief to fall back on and keep me pushing through life’s ups and downs.
28. Minnesota weather, I love the change of seasons. Fall is gorgeous (and probably my favorite season), winter is long but I do love snow activities and having a white Christmas is a must, spring is exciting and unpredictable (it could still snow in May here), and summer is just plain awesome with all of the lakes around. Minnesota rocks.