June 12th - Heather

1.  Some solid time in my office to wrap my head around my to-do list.

2.  Life experiences that have literally exposed me to a wide variety of people, places and cultures!

3.  Reflecting on dreams and goals.

4.  Putting something out there into the world when you're not sure any one else can relate to it and somebody does.  On a discussion board for class I mentioned that I'm a little bit of a different person in each of the different places I've lived.  And one of my classmates knew exactly how I felt!

5.  The functionality and portability of my iPad...especially since I think my laptop just took a step closer to its final death!

June 11th - Heather

1. A long unexpected chat with an old friend. It's so good to feel connected to the people with whom you have great memories!

2. Sundresses. Not something that really figured into my wardrobe before moving to the Midwest. What is it about this place that just makes you want to wear a dress/skirt when the sun is shining?

3. Keep up with discussion boards for two different classes....I wasn't sure how this was going to go...but so far, so good!

4. Making progress on my abstract...well ahead of the June 15th deadline!...sending it off to two reviewers tonight...

5. Those two reviewers! I'm so thankful to have two strong writers and academics willing to review my writing before I submit my first paper proposal.

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June 11th, 2013 - JJ

1. Funny autocorrect moments. Especially "poop" to "boobs" (in case you're wondering why poop is even a topic for my phone to autocorrect: I talk a lot about Ripley's poop lately since she's been sick). These moments are especially hilarious when discussing the possible reasons for "soft boobs."  I mean poops. Haha! I guess girls never grow up either....

2. For my camera. It's pretty awesome and I love the photos of Ripley and her friends that I've been able to take with it. :) I need to get better and think I'll take a photography class at some point, but for now just holding down the shoot button to take continuous shots is turning up a few good photos out of every couple hundred. :) Not an efficient process, but it works...

3. For dry shampoo and flat irons, getting me out the door looking presentable this morning after I overslept!

 

4. That I finally have double sided printing down to a science with my printer. It takes a lot longer, but I feel pretty good about saving the trees and saving some $$. 

5. Just a few more days in this apartment until we move into the house!! Can't wait!!! :) (yes, I will be thankful for this every day until we move, and probably several days after that, too!)

June 10th, 2013 - JJ

1. We are moving in less than a week! Horray! I can't wait for floors that aren't slanted, central AC, a garage, a yard, and our own washer and dryer. Next week cannot get here soon enough!!

2. For Derick, who has made packing not so awful. We have both had a temper tantrum or two in the process, but overall I am so glad to have him here packing with me. It's been so much better than all the times I've packed to move by myself.

3. Game of Thrones. The season didn't end where I wanted it to, but I guess they had to start spacing things out or else they'd run out of material before our friend George got around to publishing the next book. 

4. That Ripley finally seems to be getting better. She's tolerating kibble now, not just rice and chicken. yay!

5. For our Cuisinart food processor. I swear we use it almost daily at this point. It makes cooking so much simpler. :) 

June 8th - Heather

1.  My first day collecting data at the museum went really, really well!  

2.  An early evening walk just before the sun set.  

3.  Coffee...there's nothing like two shots of espresso first thing in the morning to get you going!

4.  Watching the cats stalk around the house chasing flies...and other flying bugs too small to be seen by the human eye...I'm not excluding the idea that the cats may be chasing dust.

5.  My mom's willingness to fund some of the gift cards for the participants of my research study!  Especially important since today went well enough that I'm going to come close to reaching my target number of people in one weekend and am considering adding to the number of people that I speak with.

June 7th - Heather

1.  These Cinnasnacks from Sonic:

It's like a sopapilla and a cinnamon roll had an evil little yummy baby.  Fluffy little pillows of fried dough filled with warm gooey cinnamon served with cream chees frosting to dip them in.  It really should be illegal!  So tasty!

2.  I'm SUPER thankful at the moment that Sonic is not closer to campus!

3.  My meeting with the museum went really well!  I start collecting data tomorrow!  Cross your fingers that loads of people want to talk to me and answer all of my questions!!!!

4.  That my eyes are open right now....I was up until 2 am working on classwork and work stuff...and the sun is so bright today, I just want to close my eyes and nap.  I may not be long for this day.

5.  Super thankful for the Directv app that lets me set the dvr to record something when I'm not even at home in front of it.  And equally super thankful for my mom for reminding me of that feature while we were having dinner last night.  I set it up to record the game one minute before tip off!  Now I just have to make time to go back and watch it.

What are you thankful for today?

June 6th - Heather

1.  This quote: "We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about." ~Charles Kingsley

2.  Travel possibilities....I'm still scared to admit that this trip could be a reality.  If it all works out, it will be a life-long dream come true.

3.  Getting closer to submitting my first proposal to present academic work at a conference.  I'm still very early in the research process for my thesis, but I stumbled upon a call for papers that closes next week.  It's a short window...but I think I'm about to plunge through it!!!

4.  The opportunity to be helpful and neighborly.  We have a new downstairs neighbor and when he ordered tv and internet from Time Warner they sent him a box full of cables and a modem.  I was a little surprised, but we got everything hooked up and fully operable pretty quickly.

5.  NBA Finals start tonight!  I don't catch many games during the season, but I always try to make time for the Finals....so it's my annual dose of basketball!  It used to be so much more.  Last weekend I was cleaning out my closet and I found my two Gary Payton Sonics jerseys and smiled.  Reminded me of the days when I scheduled things around Sonics gametime.

June 5th - Heather

1. Deciding to outline the 100 chapters I have to read in the next couple of weeks instead of committing to reading ever single word. It's still going to take me some serious time, but I'll have something to look back over versus trying to remember every detail. {ok, not really 100, but 6 textbook chapters still equals torture}

2. The space to do double duty during the retreat. I'm here to be useful where I can, but have the time to spread out my iPad and textbook and work on outliing my chapters.

3. Double duty number two...being here to be useful when needed, but also being able to soak up knowledge and take notes on the elements of a great syllabus so that I file away this knowledge and use it in the (hopefully) near future.

4. Finding a new app that will help me prep for the math section of the GRE! Which for someone who hasn't had a math class since the summer of 2001, is the most dreaded part of the GRE/application process! It's called Khan Academy. You can watch the videos from the app and them open the web page in Safari and do the practice assignments! So brilliant!

5. Using the cherry blossom cup that I bought in DC! Makes me smile!

 

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June 5th, 2013 - JJ

1. That the guys who came to look at our apartment last night really like it and are sending in a rental application. This means we won't have to deal with people continually coming in to look at the place for much longer. Horray!!

2. Ripley's new medication seems to be helping so far. YAY!

3. That parents are up early and you can call them at 7am their time. I love that.

4. Yoga pants. Best thing ever. I wish I could wear them all the time.

5. For all of the people who are donating boxes to our moving cause. We need sooooo many boxes and it would cost us a fortune if we had to buy them all.

June 4th, 2013 - JJ

1. Nika's spring roll and peanut sauce recipe. We've made spring rolls several times over the past few weeks and they are so delicious!!

2. My job. I love having the flexibility to run personal errands and get my work done on my own time. I'm thankful for this regularly, but I think it's worthy of repeating.

3. For my clients. They are so fun to be around, and they make it so that I spend most of my time at work either smiling or laughing.

4. For all of you who send me things lists. They make me so happy! :)

5. That we only have 12 more days until we move. YAY!

June 3rd - Heather

1. I'm not this obsessed with pink!

2. A great afternoon barbecue with a few coworkers and their families! Thank you MB for inviting and hosting!

3. Adding to my yarn stash with some great yarn at a great price!

4. Making some great progress cleaning out my closet over the weekend...donated two big boxes and two stuffed suitcases of clothes to the Goodwill...designated another crate and a half for old tees shirts and sweatshirts that will become quilts (hopefully) before they make another move!

5. The frozen apple pancake we brought home from Walker's Pancake House! I just ate the last piece for breakfast! So tasty!

 

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June 3rd, 2013 - JJ

1. For our rice cooker, making it easy to feed Ripley a bland diet of rice and chicken these last 3 weeks that she's been sick. Hopefully soon I can be thankful that she's healthy and back to normal. But for now, I'm very very thankful for our rice cooker.

2. For all the packing Derick and I got done over the weekend. We still have a lot to go, but we made a good dent in it.

3. For Amy, who chats with me about Game of Thrones on Monday mornings while I watch, even though she's at work and has already watched the episode the night before.  

4. That it looks like we're going to be blessed with decent weather for the rest of our time at this apartment. I'll be ok with it getting really hot once we're living with central air. 

5. That when this season of Game of Thrones is over I'll get to transition right into True Blood.