November 15th - Heather

1. Advance tickets!

2. Vampire socks and lipstick!

3. Vampire kitties (Edward and Alice)

4. Vampire charm....ok, that's a bit of a stretch, but its a red apple like the one on the cover of the first book.

5. Vampire make up!

 

Seeing Breaking Dawn on the Ultrascreen, priceless!

 

 

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November 15th, 2012 - JJ

1. Getting to babysit the Utigard kids and their new puppy yesterday. I know I shouldn't compare Ripley to other puppies, but Cody and Ripley are SO different. Cody is the most chilled out puppy I've ever seen, and at first I was incredibly jealous since Ripley is so energetic and crazy. But then it turned out that Cody is a biter ("I was unaware that the Wachutus were biters!" Raymi, that's for you!), and I realized after he drew blood that I would rather have an energetic crazy puppy than a biter. So I am very thankful for getting to hang out with the kids and a chill puppy, and also for getting to go home to a crazy energetic puppy who doesn't bite hard enough to draw blood, ever.

2. I haven't had any obsessive Anna love in my 5 things in a while, so today I have to be thankful for her! I got to spend yesterday and this morning with her and I just love how much fun she is and how good she is at her job. I wake up excited to go to work on days that I get to see her.

3. Bandaids and neosporin, for puppy bites and cat scratches.

4. Marty! We get to babysit him until Monday night and he and Ripley were so cute this morning I could barely handle it. I can't wait till my afternoon apointment is over so I can go home and play with them. I hope he does his job and keeps Ripley happily occupied all weekend, and I hope Ripley keeps him distracted from chasing the cats.

5. Elaina, our dog watching lady, who sends me pictures and videos of Ripley during the day because she seems to sense that I am an overprotective helicopter mom who has a little separation anxiety. I love the pictures and videos. :) My puppy is so damn cute!

6. Derick, for bringing home fried chicken for dinner last night so I didn't have to cook.

7. That I'm old enough now that not a single person has asked me to go to the midnight showing of Breaking Dawn with them tonight. Also thankful that Breaking Dawn is out this weekend and that I get to see it soon!

8. That I found earrings in my wallet today. I forgot to put any on before I left the house and I feel naked without my jewelry, so I am thankful to have a pair to wear for the rest of the day.

9. Sleep. I'm not getting enough of it lately, but I'm thankful that I get more than I did when we first got Ripley.

10. Coffee. Helping me make up for the lack of sleep.

November 13th - Heather

1.  I'm thankful for the mental space to distinguish between feeling overwhelmed and being overwhelmed.  I'm quite behind on my writing currently and while it feels overwhelming, I recognize that I'm currently in a position to take the time to catch up without it putting me farther behind.  Normally people say, take a step back and look at the whole picture (or something along those lines).  But that makes me more anxious...so I'm going to take a step closer so that I can only focus on one thing at a time.

2. Our class project went really well last night.  As a whole class we were tasked with organizing and facilitatng a panel discussion on leadership.  And at the end of the night, when all was said and done, we stood around chatting, getting to know each other in a way we don't generally during our class discussions.  It was really nice.

3.  My classmates noticing how quickly I'm moving through crochet projects.  Granted they only see me once a week, but I'm finishing things fast enough that they almost always see me working on a different project before class.  I'm still just doing the basics....but I'm getting the single crochet down pat!

4.  That the first snow flurries of the season didn't stick around yesterday.  I'm not prepared to have to think about driving home from class late at night in snowy nasty conditions.

5.  Coffee....the only thing that is going to keep me awake through class and until I finish my paper tonight!!!

November 12th, 2012 - JJ

1. Elaina, our dog sitter, who is starting today. I'm kind of sad to miss my middle of the day puppy break, but my work should improve quite a bit. And Elaina is in love with Ripley, so I'm not worried about her at all (kinda...).

2. The delicious rice pudding I made yesterday from a recipe that Nika sent me. I'm eating left overs right now and it's DELICIOUS. :)

3. That the office is pretty quiet today, aside from the banter in my office (which I quite enjoy for the most part).

4. The peacock feather earrings that Heather bought me when she was in Portland. I'm wearing them today and I love them!!!

5. All the fancy cooking stuff we have in our kitchen now. Cooking is so much more fun with awesome tools!

6. Salted caramel sauce for my coffee, and Jenna for making it with me. Soooooo delicious and becoming a necessity in my life.

7. Derick's belly laugh. Nothing is better than when Derick finds something really truly funny and he can't contain himself. I looooove that sound! It makes my day every time I hear it.

8. The new James Bond movie. Saw it Sunday with Derick, and it was great!

9. The crazy warm weather we had in Chicago this weekend. It got up to 70! Insane!! Then this morning it was down to 32. Winter is coming. :(

10. Morning snuggles with Ripley. I just love that puppy way too much!

November 12th - Heather

1.  I'm thankful for social crafty time.  This past Friday, mom and I went to a knitting night (but there were about half of us doing crochet projects) at the Beading Hearts studio in downtown Waukesha.  One of the nice things about yarn crafting is that it is easy to pack it up and take it along for a social hour...or two...or three.  :)

2.  Crazy kitten nuzzles is the middle of the night.  I can't believe I've had Alice for over two months now, and for as big as she's gotten in that time, she's still so tiny.  It still cracks me up when she starts purring and nuzzling kisses into my nose when she sees my eye lids flutter open - or half open, really - in the middle of the night.

3.  My big oversized pashmina from DC.  I love being wrapped up in it when the temperature outside is so cold.  It's perfect to have on hand when it goes from 67 degrees at nightfall to the mid 20's in the middle of the night!

4.  That the stress-induced pimple factory that is my face is calming down, finally!  I am open to any stress management tips you want to send my way!  Feel free to add comments below!  I tend to be horrible and hold my anxiety and stress in, until it comes bubbling out of my face in a manner only marginally better than boils.  How do you deal with your daily stresses?

5.  Make-up that does a decent job of covering up aforementioned pimple factory without making them worse!  I do try to not wear makeup everyday.  But some meetings necessitate the mask of the warrior...I mean, war paint...er, looking professional. ;-)

November 9th, 2012 - JJ

1. Laughing until I cried this morning while telling Matt the story of Shannon getting the doors of the tube car in London closed on her head. That story always makes me laugh until I cry, which is usually embarassing since no one else thinks it's that funny since they weren't there. But I really really love it! :)

2. Friday!!! Can't wait till quittin time!

3. Tammy, whose birthday was yesterday. She's the best mother in law I could've asked for and I am so thankful to have her in my life! Love you!

4. Ripley, who is adorable and such a good little puppy. We had two days straight of no accidents! Horray!!!

5. I've already earned my next free Starbucks drink. Can't wait to cash that in soon for another gingerbread latte. Best drink they make!

November 8th, 2012 - JJ

1. Lauren Hopkins, who is hilarious and probably has no idea how awesome I think she is. She had the only post-election facebook status that I could really get behind, which was, in summary, that people should stop being asshats to each other and find some common humanity regardless of who they voted for. She also posted hilarious things about gorillas all day on election day, which was my favorite part of election day this year because it was just that funny.

2. My mom. I could really use some mom time lately and I wish she didn't live so far away from me.

3. Forgiveness, both given and received, even if it's unspoken. It feels good.

4. The food at Revolution. Looking forward to eating the other half of my corned beef reuben for lunch today. Also thankful for the company we always have at Revolution: Emily and Jake.

5. For a girl time/puppy play date to look forward to on Saturday. Jenna and I are both out of salted caramel sauce now, so getting together to make some more seemed like a perfect excuse for giving our men a break and getting the puppies together. I can't wait!

6. Alias! What the what happened at the end of Season 2, OMG?!?! If I didn't have so much house work and paper work to catch up on today I'd probably still be sitting on my couch, well into season 3. Oh man.

7. Nika, for always giving me great recipes and cooking tips! Wish we lived closer so we could cook together regularly!

8. Derick, for being able to laugh at himself and not only tolerating, but encouraging stories of hilariously embarassing things he's said and done in the past to be retold regularly.

9. The ability to hide people's facebook posts from your newsfeed. I cannot look at another rescue animal right now. I have a small zoo in my house as it is. These are things I do not need to see every day right now.

10. That Derick has Amazon prime, so anything I order through his account shows up within 2 days. Love it!