gratitude ~ special birthday edition!

today i'm very grateful for my mom!  and i'm wishing for her a very special day, because
today is her birthday!!!

 my mom still lives in tennessee, in the little town where i spent many of my growing up years, so we sadly don't get to see each other very often.  and being that she lives far away, i only have access to a few photos of the two of us from my childhood, this awesome olan mills winner, circa 1993, being one of them:

{just call me punky brewster}

and here's my absolute favorite of the two of us, from christmas 2009.

{much more respectable, and a huge shout out to braces!}

my mom was always so comforting when i needed it and raised me to be an independent woman, even teaching
me how to do all of my own home repairs!  she was also the one who gave me the valuable advice that women like
me {read: type A, dramatic, high energy} need a really laid-back, calm life partner to balance them out.  so true mom!  she also gave me super young-looking genes that i will supposedly love someday, but which so far have caused me to be treated like a high schooler {did you know high schoolers aren't treated very well? you should be nice to a high schooler next time you see one}.  anyway, thanks for everything you taught me mom.

i hope you're having the best birthday!!


a few other things i'm grateful for this week:
* hearing iron & wine's song, naked as we came, which immediately took me back to those old college days. sweet memories!
* an awesome interview at a fun coffee shop {fingers crossed!}.
* discovering said coffee shop will serve ritual coffee when they open at the beginning of february {dear LA: if you have never had ritual coffee, please go have a cup next month. it's one of san francisco's best!}
* coffee dates with tatiana.
* checking some major things off my to-do list.
* clean sheets day.
* "the little things" thursdays over on a serenade for solitude. you can never get too much gratitude in life. you can link up your thankful list {on the sidebar} next thursday!
* eating lamingtons and tim tams for dessert last night... [insert blissed out drooling noises here]


what are you thankful for this week?