and for that, i am thankful (pt. 2!)

+ my sweet, sweet jeff. he is seriously the most funniest and easy-going-est person in the whole universe. i was dreaming up some major plans for his birthday and a crazy surprise of sort but, alas, they all fell through. walmart lost my order (hurricane sandy...understandable), i burnt the breakfast sausage + pancakes, and we both had to study like mad people all day long. at the end of the day, i realized it didn't really matter-- jeff was so, so happy and grateful for the crunchy/crispy pancakes and birthday present that he had hand-picked himself the night before after my call from walmart. twenty three looks good on you already, jeff!

+ my dad coming into town. his visit was quick (we only saw him friday + saturday) but he left us with a fully stocked pantry, a new movie to add to the best-movie-we've-seen-in-november list (skyfall! see it.), a vow to stop eating out so much (...but i mean, my cubby's salad!), and little pieces of wisdom about life, love, and how to keep your butt warm at a football game.

+ at-home hair remedies. i tried an olive oil + honey hair treatment yesterday and my hair is singing this morning! i keep running my hands through it and flipping it around like some sort of crazy. at first, i must admit, that my hair just felt like i had put olive oil + honey in it, you know? it was sticky and oily and...olive-y (...my writing...what is happening?). and then! then! then it started to transform itself into this shiny mane of goodness.

+ that my nervous-laugh can sometimes, sort of pass as cute? we had to teach sunday school this last week and...oh heavens...i was quite unprepared. jeff loves that sort of stuff and was getting all biblical and metaphorical and such. i think he even paced the room a few times? meanwhile i stood nervously at the stand, gripping the pulpit so i wouldn't shake of nerves, and haphazardly taught about the spreading/gathering of israel. yeah, what? ha. luckily my mom had sent us a box brimming with cookies and brownies earlier that week so i passed them out to the class and reminded them that, if anything, i contributed the cookies. and what is israel again?

+ this snow! (besides when i'm walking to school, driving to work, or sloshing through parking lots...then, not so much) ...and warm socks, thick sweaters, and a space heater.

+ dance central, baby. jeff's parents/brother gifted us an xbox kinect and the game dance central for jeff's birthday. holy mama! my man can boogie! last night morgan, hanna, + avery came over for dinner and we wound up just watching jeff dance most of the time. as morgan said, "it's funny because he's actually kind of good?"
our kids will be blessed with the ability to pop, lock, + drop it. or at least i hope.

+ my job. i have kind of, really developed such a crush on it these past few weeks. i love the people i work with and the opportunity to write (even if it's just about vacuums or business-taxes!) every single day. and the fact that my co-workers are passively having a full-fledged bake-off doesn't hurt either ;).

+ ...and being able to stream friends, up all night, and real housewives during my long work days. this past week, i watched all the episodes of real housewives of miami and my editor-type-lady told me that she noticed some latin flair in my writing. ha. perfectly trashy!
 
+ my membership in the church of jesus christ of latter day saints. i had one of those this feels so right moments the other week. it wasn't during sacrament meeting or even on a sunday. it came slowly and quietly and overwhelmed me as i ran through the provo streets on a particularly cold night.

+ oh! and i'm also thankful for runs, no matter how slow i may go.

+ and! and for my body. weird, no? i often speak poorly and beat up on my body (holy bruise on my shins! appropriate-sized shin guards are just so lame!) and fill it with too much diet coke + peanut butter, but i am thankful for all that it can do. like run!

+ my staple lunch of an english muffin + laughing cow cheese wedge + shredded romaine and loooooots of sriacha, please. (i'm a creature of habit when it comes to lunches -- in high school, i ate beets almost every day an entire semester. my pee was constantly pinky-purple.)

+ novembers. and sundays, too.

p.s. i know my layout is...lacking at present. but last night i deleted all the formatting on a whim and was left with all this...white. and now i'm hopelessly and gloriously confused on how to make it pretty. any takers?