Sunday Social: All About Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE HOLIDAY!!

It was not always my favorite holiday. I was a Christmas girl all the way up until I moved to Baltimore. Now, I completely understand and appreciate the beauty of Thanksgiving and all it has to offer. I mean...food, football, family, shopping the next day...what's not to love?

So here goes!

Favorite Thanksgiving Memory: I have two.

I'll start with the funny one. A few years ago I was in the kitchen helping my mom get the turkey ready for the oven. We had it unwrapped and removed all the inner disgustingness. For some reason her and I started goofing around with the turkey and she ended up picking it up to make it dance. It slipped out of her hands and landed *THUNK* on the floor. We picked that bad boy up real quick, gave it a quick bath, and shoved it in the oven, laughing so hard the whole time.

The second story may seem sad, but stick with me. Two weeks after I moved to Baltimore from Pittsburgh, I received the most awful phone call of my life. My brother had passed away. This was early September. As I said, I had only been in Baltimore a few weeks. I did NOT want to return to Baltimore after the funeral was over. I think I cried harder on the drive BACK to Baltimore than I did on the drive up to Pittsburgh for the funeral. I was a mess and was convinced that moving here was the worst mistake ever (I eventually got over it and have grown to love BMore). Anyway, the next time that I went home after that was Thanksgiving. I counted down for that holiday for months and could not have been more happy to be home. It really made me appreciate everything that family represents. I know that seems like an odd choice for best memory, but it was like an awakening about the true importance of family and thankfulness. That is what Thanksgiving is all about.

Favorite Thanksgiving Food: You know, people ask me all the time what I eat for Thanksgiving dinner. I am vegetarian and for some reason people can't seem to see anything but the turkey. I think they are all crazy. It's all delicious. But, I am sorry, I will NOT be confined to just one favorite choice! I love, love, love mashed potatoes. I don't make them for myself, so mashed potatoes are a holiday luxury. But, my mom makes great cornbread stuffing and there is always an awesome vegetable casserole too! Plus, cranberry sauce and warm bread! Yum! And pumpkin pie with whipped cream! Oh, Lord. I love everything but the turkey.

What is a Thanksgiving Tradition you and your family have? We usually watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and whatever awful teams are playing football. Good football never seems to happen on Thanksgiving. We always pray before eating and some Thanksgivings I can get people to play board games with me. :)

Show us a favorite Thanksgiving picture(or 5) from years past: We don't take a lot of pictures for Thanksgiving. :( I have Christmas pictures and random pictures from when I am home for Thanksgiving. But, they are not Thanksgiving-ish to most.

Here is my mom and her cat.

Here is me during some early morning shopping on Friday

What are you most looking forward to about this Thanksgiving? Being home. :) Seeing my family and friends. Seeing my baby Goddaughter for the first time since she was a newborn. And mashed potatoes.

Sensations

I'm in the library, which is one of my favorite places of all time. I just sat down in a big, comfy chair, which is my favorite chair in the whole place. And I am in the study room, which is the best space in the whole library. So I am feeling pretty content.

As I was walking in this morning I was overcome with sensations. I love this time of the year. When I can wear comfy sweaters and jeans. When I can walk outside and feel sunshine but not heat. When I feel the cold, crisp air rushing past my face. When I can when my hair down and not sweat.

My roommate and I were talking this morning about how nothing tastes as good as food your mom cooked when you were little. Mostly because of the memories. As I sit in my big, comfy chair I think about my favorite sensations. These are sensations that evoke happy feelings, memories, or thoughts.

sight:
autumn leaves
the house that built me
the ocean
purple

touch:
soft fabrics
my cat's ears
cool sheets in the winter
my hair
my Mom's hands

smell:
old tupperware containers
old library books
campfires
fall air
spring air
Snuggle Blue Sparkle fabric softener

taste:
iced tea
mashed potatoes
cheese fries with ranch dressing
macaroni and cheese

sound:
the crinkle of newspaper
silence
campfires
crunching of leaves
crunching of snow
the squeak of hard-wood floors

What I'm Lovin'

I'm lovin' the feeling I got from voting yesterday!

But, I'm lovin' that the election is over.

This is going to sound awful...I'm lovin' that some students have transferred which makes my class a more reasonable size.

I'm lovin' these lyrics to a song by the Eli Young Band.

I'm lovin' that I have had time to read 3 books over the last week!

I'm lovin' my fuzzy, purple blanket (and so is my cat)!

And I'm lovin' reading about Cory Booker on Twitter.

Sunday Social: Catch Up!

I love Sunday Social!

What is currently on your wish list? Would I sound completely hokey if I said I don't really desire material possessions right now? :) I'm in a deeper state of want right now. I want time with my family and complete satisfaction with my job. I always have a desire for a house, but I'm just not in the right place for that right now. If I did buy a house, it would need this.

And this...

And this...

I am toying with the beginnings of a desire for a new TV, only because mine has started to show signs that a volume monster is living inside it. The volume monster likes to turn the volume waaaaay up and then waaaaay down. But, I'm not sure if I want to get a new one yet.
Here is a smaller item on my wish list.

RAAAAWWWWRRR!

What is a new fall TV show you have added to your DVR? Nashville! And I've even started listening to more country music because of it too!

Share your social media links for us to follow you on. Tell us which is your favorite and why?

Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Pinterest

My favorite is probably Facebook, although I feel that my love for each of these is deep its on way.

What is a TV show or Movie or Song you could listen to or watch over and over and over and never get tired of…feel free to name one of each:

TV show: Gilmore Girls
Movie: Mean Girls
Song: various John Mayer songs. He's a douche, but I love his music.

It's OK...

It's OK...

...that I never have enough energy to write this blog on an actual Thursday.

...that my favorite month of the year is over because it means my favorite holiday is coming!

...that I am learning to praise myself at my job since no one else will.

...to email a long-lost friend to reconnect.

...to start loving country music.

...to only work 2 days this week and feel more tired than a 5-day week!

...to want to be home.

...that I feel like its THEIR turn to contact me.

...to be suspicious...my gut is usually right.

...that I ate a Kit-Kat every day this week.

...that I turned out the lights and hid from the trick-or-treaters. That's OK, isn't it? :/

Hurricane Sagas

I'm going to be a spoiled brat for a few minutes. I am currently sitting in a crowded Panera restaurant with an instrumental version of Play that Funky Music playing merrily overhead and the remnants of a yummy lunch beside me. Normally I would be nothing but happy with food and my computer, but this visit was forced upon me by the lack of electricity at my house.

Now, I know that there are tons of people in the world who are much worse off than I am right now but at the moment I feel alone in my electricity-less life. We've been out since Monday afternoon and I've been freezing and bored ever since.

Tuesday there was a ray of hope. The outage update from the electric company said they expected us to be restored by 3:00 that day. Hooray! But, 3:00 came and went and I was now sad, cold, and still bored. When I went to bed that night the houses across the street were lit up like Christmas trees as I tripped over air with my flashlight.

The outage update was changed to "as soon as possible", by the way.

Today, another flicker of hope! There were dozens of utility workers and trucks on the block behind our house. I adored them. I texted pictures of them to all my loved ones. I proposed marriage.

Then they left.

Without. Fixing. My. Electric.

And here I sit.

Sunday Social!

1. What do you value most in life?
My family and friends. Everything I have and achieve is because someone believed in me, loved me, inspired me, or listened to me.

2. What do you think is the greatest achievement in your lifetime and why?
The iPhone. I'm obsessed with it.

3. What do you think is the secret to a good life?
I think you have to be who you are. Pretending to be someone you are not is exhausting and how can you be happy if you are constantly having to remember the personality you created?

4. What would you most like to be remembered for when you are gone?
I want people to remember how I made them feel. Hopefully, that will be a positive memory.

5. What accomplishment in your life are you most proud of?
I wish I could say I was proud of earning my Master's degree, but that is still a work in progress. So, I will say that I am proud of making a major life change and moving/starting over in a new state.

6. If a movie was made about your life, who would you want to play you?
We have no resemblances but I guess I would pick Amanda Seyfried because she's just beautiful and so talented.