Gratitude List

I have an alert set on my phone that goes off nightly as a reminder to make a mental list of things I’m grateful for that day. Thanksgiving Day was yesterday and I’ve just gotten done eating a second plate of leftovers today. I’m grateful for that today.

I took the train out to my parent’s house yesterday for an early dinner with most of my mom’s side of the family. A cousin’s fiance commented on my plate above, “Wow, you’re going to eat all of that?!” I’m thankful to have the self control not to punch you in the face. There was lots of talk about the election. I’m thankful that it’s over. I was thankful to see my family, who I hadn’t seen since before I went to Poland. I was also thankful to have the chance to play with their 12-week-old kitten. She’s weighs a whole four pounds now. And she’s cray-cray. 

I stayed the night and left early this morning to return to my apartment for a day of relaxing with Playbill, watching Confirmation on HBO Go and another episode of The Crowns, and tonight I’m going to see Guster at the Beacon Theatre. 

There are still two days left to the holiday weekend. I hope the rest of the weekend has yoga and coffee in it. 

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Better Than Black Friday: Don’t Miss Cat Friday at the ASPCA Adoption Center!

felinesofnewyork:

Friday would be a great day to take home a friend!

How cute is this cat? I would highly advise everyone to go adopt a cat tomorrow from the ASPCA. There’s no adoption fee… what could be better?! It’s just another thing to be thankful for if you save a cat, right? Right! It’s probably the best way to spend Black Friday, other than being curled up at home and ignoring the insanity at your local Walmart. 

Better Than Black Friday: Don’t Miss Cat Friday at the ASPCA Adoption Center!

Things To Be Grateful For…

I had meant to write this earlier this week, but time completely got away for me. I have a bunch of stuff to be grateful for this year (as most people I know on Tumblr do).

1. That I Never Have To Say ‘President Romney’: Seriously? So thankful.
2. My parents: For being so supportive during this trying year with all it’s ups and downs, and for telling me over and over that because of my severance I was definitely not going to go broke doing the internship that I’m finishing up soon. And also to my mother for Googling my anxiety issue and finding out that it could be related to the TBI that I experienced when I was 11, and helping me find a doctor who can most likely help me with it.
3. My internship: My internship has been such a great experience this semester. It was the perfect re-submersion into the industry that I love so much. I do spreadsheets and Quickbooks and contracts, and I love it. I’ve met so many great people and I’ve learned so much. I hope I can take what I’ve learned and apply it to a fantastic job. I’m also thankful that I was financially able to do this internship without also having to work 3 extra jobs. (Again, thank you, severance.)
4. My Friends: They know who they are. They listened to me bitch and complain about a guy that I was seeing this year and helped me celebrate when I finally cut him loose. They put up with a lot of crap from me. They deserve a medal.
5. My Health: I went to the dentist yesterday and had no cavities. That’s pretty awesome. I need to schedule my physical but I’m assuming that I’m fine. I’m also thankful that I was able to lose somewhere around thirty pounds in the last year through calorie counting (on My Fitness Pal), yoga, and running. 
6. Yoga: I’m super grateful that I can still afford this membership and that I can go 3-4x/week. Yoga is the best thing ever.
7. Being Laid Off: In April, I was laid off. It was sudden and a shock. I had no idea what I was going to do, but I was given a generous severance package and it turned out to be the best thing. I was so comfortable there that I probably never would have left if I wasn’t pushed. Did I ever mention that my job bored me to death? 
8. The Handful of Guys I Dated This Year: Thank you for teaching me about myself and what I want. Without your sometimes questionable behavior, I wouldn’t have the standards I do right now. 
9. The Rest of the 2012-2013 Broadway Season: Thank goodness we have you left because the fall has left me uninspired. 
10. Seeing Green Day at Irving Plaza in September: There are no words (okay, maybe there were a few). That night was magical. 

I think that’s good for now.  What were you guys thankful for?

Giving thanks, and letting go.

This Thanksgiving was one of the best and most relaxing I’ve had in a while. I took a train to my parents house on Long Island on Wednesday afternoon – it was a really, really long train ride. I almost fell asleep. I digress. My family from Maine drove down and we all cooked ardently on Wednesday night. I was in charge of my favorite thing: the cranberry sauce. I also helped my cousin Eliza with the pumpkin pie, which was great, aside from the crust which could’ve been sweeter. My cranberry sauce, still boiling:

The cranberry sauce is super easy. Boil a package of cranberries in a cup of water and a cup of sugar for 10 minutes, then add a cup of crushed pineapple and half a cup of walnuts, and you’re done! I still have some in my fridge. I’m obsessed.  Eliza and I also made mulled wine with way too much brandy in it. It was delicious nevertheless.

I didn’t get much sleep during the holiday because I was sleeping in a room on the first floor of my house, and my dad, aunt, and uncle are early birds so sleeping past 8 was never really an option. Oh well! We ate lots, drank lots, and it was a good time. We avoided politics around the dinner table too, which was probably why there was no yelling. Our (free range) turkey was good too (this was something that half the family had to argue for).  

On Friday, we drove to Huntington Village where we walked around, ate, shopped through the Book Revue (the largest independent bookstore on Long Island), and when I saw that we parked on Wall Street, I piggy-backed on this guy’s idea, and Eliza and I took this picture:

A little bit lame? Yes. But I still like it. My family left later that afternoon and I spent the rest of Friday relaxing, and on Saturday I went to Se-port Deli (the deli that everyone went to at my high school) with my mom before we went shopping for boots. I took the train home later that afternoon. I was almost sad to be leaving but I wasn’t so sad to be able to sleep until 10 the next day!

In yoga tonight, as we started my teacher brought up the idea that Thanksgiving could also be about letting go of certain ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc that we no longer need. I needed this because I’ve been holding onto feelings about a certain person that I need to let go. So as we chanted three oms, I tried my hardest to let go of them and I hope it lasts finally.  

So here’s to giving thanks and letting go.

https://www.tumblr.com/audio_file/thatgirlallison/1702249355/tumblr_lcjs76x6451qzs9hr?plead=please-dont-download-this-or-our-lawyers-wont-let-us-host-audio

Green Day Song of the Week: I took a break from this last week.  I wasn’t feeling inspired.  From Green Day’s 2000 album, Warning comes the song this week, Macy’s Day Parade.  Now, I’m not sure whether or not it’s referring to the Thanksgiving Day parade, but I can’t think of any other parade it might be referring to, so as a late Happy Thanksgiving, here you go!