Thankful Thursday

*Audio Books - I was losing my motivation to go walking in the mornings. I would listen to Pandora but it annoyed me more than motivated me. Skipping every song and then running out of skips. Yeah, I could have paid for it, but I didn't see the point. I do, however, see the point in paying for Audible. For $14.95 a month you can get one free audio book a month and all of the other audio books are discounted. I love listening to books when I walk and when it's a really juicy one it makes me actually WANT to go walk. Now that I've started running I'm almost sad that I finish faster because I don't get to listen to the books as much! Also, there's an app called Overdrive that you can connect to your local library to download audio books from there. The selection of our library is decent but not fantastic so that's why I pay for Audible.

*Weight Watchers - I tried everything from Adkins, diet pills, Slim Fast, starving myself, just trying to eat well and exercise, and nothing worked for me. Weight Watchers has made it possible for me to lose weight at a healthy pace, figure out what portion sizes are good for me, and it lets me eat exactly what I want as long as I stay within my range of points. If I want to eat a Cinnabon I can, but I won't be able to eat anything else all day! I joined April 2 and since then I've lost 24 pounds and I've gone down two pant sizes. I absolutely love the program and I'm so thankful for it for making me feel so great and have so much energy!

*Running out of whiskey - I know, I'm silly. Last week I was saying that I was thankful for whiskey. This week I'm thankful I ran out of whiskey. I felt like I was getting dependent on it to relax and I even started drinking some while making dinner instead of waiting for Gibbie to go to bed. I did the same thing with wine several months ago. It's good to take a break from your vice every now and again.

*Best friend M - As I've mentioned I have four best friends and I keep them all separate (not really but they just don't really cross each others paths ever). Best friend M is who I see almost every Thursday night. We get together, watch Grey's Anatomy, chit chat, have some wine, and relax. I'm so thankful for this friendship. It's my two to three hour break in my 24/7 work schedule. We talk about absolutely everything. She's my place to vent, she's my comforter, she tells me when I'm in the wrong, and offers me time away.

Happy Thursday everyone!

Thankful Thursday

Every week I try to list a few things I'm thankful for. It really helps me realize what is important and what I need to stop worrying about.

*The ability to volunteer at my church. I love the fact that being a stay at home mom has allowed me to spend time with my church. I love the community, I love the people I've met, I love the kids! Last week's Vacation Bible School was so much fun and now I'm about to gear up for a new MOPS year! I'm also a Sunday school teacher and love having my daughter in my class.

*My daughter's ability to enjoy having her nails painted and still say she's a pirate right afterwards. I have never been really girly and sometimes I get surprised by how girly Gibbie is. She loves nail polish, dresses, princess stuff, "cooking" in her play kitchen, and lip gloss (or lip lip as she calls it). On the other hand all of her friends are boys, she loves playing with cars, her favorite color is blue, and she's very loud and rough houses quite a bit. She still hates getting her hands dirty though. She freaked out at the beach last year when the wet sand stuck to her and when we tried do finger paint I thought she was going to have an anxiety attack.

*Whiskey. Though I'm starting to think I need to take a break I am really enjoying whiskey lately. I go through alcohol phases. I've done beer and wine and vodka. Right now it's whiskey. It goes great with lemonade and diet soda. I do not like it straight. Once when we were still dating The Hubs was making himself a whiskey and Sprite and getting me a glass of water. Only he put the whiskey in the wrong glass. Grossest water ever. I still tease him about the whiskey water and it's been almost eight years. Let's face it, I'm potty training a two year old so I need something to get me through it!

*Writing. I've been happier since I started this blog up less than a week ago. It's my therapy. It's my escape. It's my way of just letting go and having a moment to myself. I love sharing, I love knowing someone is reading my stuff, I love reading blogs so it made sense for me to start writing again. I get so incredibly giddy when someone comments on my blog. I used to write short stories too but I just lost interest in some point and stopped. I hope to eventually get back into that again too.

What are you thankful for today?