gratitude ~ thanksgiving edition

as is customary at thanksgiving time, i thought about all the things i'm thankful for, only this time i thought about gratitude in life, as opposed to just my week. so here it is...

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family & friends!

the people in my life are just the absolute best! and what's better than having amazing people in my life? getting to actually see them all this year! i'm so very grateful i got to see my parents, my grandma, and bunches of best friends at my wedding in september. that was extra special because i hadn't seen most of them in years and years, including my big brother whom i hadn't seen in 6 years! i'm also excited that, for the first time in forever, i live near some family and best friends. living in san francisco i often spent thanksgiving and christmas all by myself. now that we're in los angeles, we get to spend holidays with cousins and D's brother and some of our closest friends ever {but we miss you terribly larry!}. i'm also thankful for all the new friends i just started making and all the friends i will be making over the coming years, both in our new city and here in blogland.

ch-ch-changes!

i love change, mostly when i'm the one in control of making the change, but change is good nonetheless. it's refreshing, keeps things interesting, and prevents life boredom that i'm so prone to get. this year was a year full of change - i graduated grad school, became a therapist, pledged to love my best friend forever, moved in with said best friend {after 10 years of living alone}, moved to a new city, traveled through thailand, and started driving after 5 years of walking. so. much. CHANGE! it hasn't all been easy, but it's definitely been a great experience and i'm so thankful for it all.

inspiration!

i am a person who needs a lot of creative stimulation to be happy. i feel so grateful that i got to live in san francisco, the coolest city in america, for so long, and stretch my artistic wings so to speak. we now get to live in such a fun, artsy neighborhood of los angeles where there is plenty of art and music to be had. i'm so excited to soak up the inspiration here and find beautiful ways to give back to the world around me. i'm also forever inspired by the many talented people of blogland and elsewhere on the internet. you all are so creative and wise and strong and amazing!

life!

i'm not sure how else to categorize this, but i'm just thankful for where my life has taken me in general. i'm healthy, i'm happy, i'm having adventures, surrounded by love, challenged in ways i need to be challenged, and learning all sorts of life lessons. of course, sometimes life is ridiculously hard and frustrating and i just want to scream at the top of my lungs. i sure do get moody and grumpy, and i can make life a lot harder than it needs to be {just acknowledging that my life isn't perfect, since that's sometimes hard to see through a blog}. but despite all the hardships, i have been really really blessed with amazing things and i am grateful for all the stuff, good or bad, that this crazy life has brought my way.

what are you grateful for?

ps - thanksgiving dinner was so much fun yesterday, and today we are off to thanksgiving number two with D's family. we will also be avoiding shopping at all costs, but will hopefully be decorating our home for christmas this weekend. i hope you all have the best weekends ever!