good days.

We are wrapping up our time at this sweet cabin in Blue Ridge. it has been nice to spend osme time with family and friends, just being together, eating, talking, laughing, watching movies. We are headed back to the Noog today to be at home for a couple of hours - it seems - before we have to go back to work. I have big dreams of getting some Christmas decorations put up before Monday but we will see how it goes. I have deeply enjoyed spending time with some of those that I love most but still miss those that I did not get to see.

thankful.

Facebook has had a rash of people posting things that they are thankful for every day this month and while I did not jump on board with an entire month of daily thanks, maybe I can fit in a month's worth of thanks into this sort little post.

I am so thankful today - sitting now at a cleared feast table only littered with half filled wine bottles and melted candles - looking out the window at sunset drenched hills. I am thankful for a family that has always welcomed me and made me feel like blood, the one I married into that has become my own. I am thankful for a family that is a few hundred miles away celebrating without me and missing them all the same. I am thankful for the guy at the other end of the table reading a good book and winking at me over the edge. I am thankful for new friends at our table of thanks. I am thankful for a sweet prayer at the meals start that asked God to send His angels to find our family members in heaven and remind them that we miss them today but that we are thankful that we know we will get to see them again one day. I am thankful for every blessing - every little moment of peace and love - that I am experiencing today. I am just thankful.

holidays. crafting. and more.

I can not believe that Thanksgiving is this week. That means we are a month away from Christmas and I am just flat out not ready! I have been crafting with my friend K from work, putting together things for all the ladies in our office and a few things for family members as well. I am about half-way done with my Christmas shopping and crafts but I still have a lot to do! And of course, over the weekend my sewing machine had to go to the sewing machine hospital. I love my machine - it is my mom's and I am proud to be sewing on the machine that made so much cute, amazing stuff over the years. It is an awesome, good quality, all-metal machine and I am even more thankful for it after seeing all the plastic ones in the store over the weekend.

We are getting together with Chad's side of the family for Thanksgiving at a cabin in Blue Ridge, GA. It should be fun - I think Uncle J picked out a good spot for us to gather. Hopefully we will make it back in time to gather our thoughts before another few weeks of work. I am really looking forward to Christmas and all that will bring - family, togetherness, etc..

gearing up.

After having nasty colds this past weekend and finally feeling like we are recovering, Chad and I have big plans for the weekend. A short trip to Atlanta is in store for us to celebrate my parent's 30th anniversatry (wow!) and to see some other family that will be in town. Sunday will bring lots of laundry to wash and put away and next week will bring busy insanity. I have a TON of work to finish before Wednesday and then I will be leaving at the rising of the sun to fly to Texas. I am super de duper excited about participating in the Girl Scouts National Convention and I am chaperoning 9 of our council's girls that will be attending a leadership conference as part of the convention. Since Girl Scouts is heading into our 100th Anniversary -woohoo! - this convention will be a serious party! There are lots of great speakers and entertainers coming too - think Katie Couric, Soledad O'Brien, Sara Bareilles, and the Harlem Globetrotters, just to name a few. It is going to be a few super busy, lack-of-sleep days but totally worth the experience.

I am looking forward to a quiet night with my favorite dude tonight though!