Thankfuls 2012

Every since I was like 10, I have written a list of 100 things I am thankful for on Thanksgiving. The tradition began one year when I was bored while riding in the car to Grandma and Grandpas. It is one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving now. (Thanks Phumi for joining the fun this year - you rock!)

You would think with 28 hours (24 hours of driving and 4 hours of gas/food/etc breaks) of traveling this past Thanksgiving season, we would have had more than enough time to write out our thankful list.  Alas, we did not.  But better late than never.

A thought I had several times this past Thanksgiving season: Whom are you thankful to?

For me, the answer is easy: Praise God from whom all blessings flow.  

But what if you do not believe in God?  Then whom?  I mean in saying, "Thank you" there is clearly a someone referenced...so who do you reference?  Just my two cents.

As always, this is no particular order.

Here we go: (the ones in blue were stated by Ian - p.s. he was in the middle of something and I started with the "what are you thankful for?")

1. God is good.
2. and He is faithful.
3. My Love (that would be me)
4. Jesus
5. family
6. a big oven
7. Emily P. Freeman
8. Kakao Emoticons
9. Christmas lights
10. a good, patient, funny, husband that eats whatever I cook with only compliments
11. a vacuum
12. spell-check
13. M, B, & C - the kiddos I nanny for
14. G & K - the amazing parents of the kiddos I nanny for
15. books
16. computers
17. Seminary
18. warm blankets
19. big closets
20. gift cards
21. towels from the dryer
22. 908 lovely and fabulous days of marriage - and many more to come!
23. pretty authentic Korean restaurants in America
24. coffee
25. coffee creamer
26. Tsh
27. starting AND finishing cross-stitch projects
28. the ability to run
29. American grocery stores
30. God provided, God is providing, and God will provide
31. cereal + milk
32. warm (or cold) running water
33. being able to own and read the Bible in my language
34. Christmas music
35. Grandpa + Kathryn
36. treasured memories of my grandparents who have already finished the race set before them
37. America
38. cookbooks
39. pizza
40. making potato cakes
41. sex
42. Colorado weather
43. running club
44. friends (there is a lot here I could say, but I will keep it short - friends.are.vital.)
45. hamburgers
46. meatloaf
47. meatballs
48. our car
49. being part of the Church
50. the freedom to vote
51. World Vision
52. treadmills
53. checking the mailbox to find it is not empty
54. ice cream
55. paper snowflakes
56. grace
57. Facebook
58. the view out our window
59. libraries
60. those who have gone before me in high-altitude baking and left a record
61. slippers
62. smartphones
63. GPS
64. electricity
65. ranch salad dressing
66. lazy days
67. our Korean adventure
68. the Holy Spirit - our seal and guarantee
69. being done with the "I am adjusting to the high altitude" phase of running
70. candles
71. Laura
72. going on dates
73. Skype
74. touchscreens in the back of airplane seats
75. the change of seasons
76. the hubs making amazing, delicious food
77. the space heater
78. early birthday presents
79. the Word became flesh and dwelt among us
80. good health
81. places to pass along items that we no longer need (Goodwill/Salvation Army)
82. Google
83. beer
84. airplanes - getting us from point A to point B quickly
85. jokes
86. Therefore now, there is no condemnation for those of you who are in Christ Jesus...
87. discount grocery stores
88. online sermons
89. things that make running more fun, mainly my Garmin and the Zune
90. being able to get-up and go whenever we want, where ever we want (cough, we don't have kids yet, cough)
91. time to reflect
92. cheese
93. board games
94. staplers
95. my memory
96. alarms, timers, and watches
97. music
98. Ian giving me sips of his coffee or bites of his food
99. Advent
100. knowing and being set free by Truth

Menu Plan :: Mid-November

Can you see how long this hill is!?! The bottom of it is way back by the river...wowzas, it was not all that steep, but llooonng

 
Here are some of the meals we have been enjoying/will enjoy in the near future:

• Banana, Blackberry, Spinach, Yogurt Smoothies (sounds gross, tastes awesome).
• French Toast Casserole
• Mexican Goodness (I used less meat and added black beans, onions, green pepper, and my own taco seasoing.)
• Chessy Casserole
• Egg Bake
• Mac, Cheese, and Hotdogs  (Mom, if you are reading this, it was NOT my idea to eat this meal)
• Chicken and Stir-fry Veggies (we may or may not get free chicken and free stir-fry veggies bi-weekly...so we eat it a lot)
• Chocolate-Chip Pancakes (what is better than getting back from a FREEZING run Sunday morning and being greeted with some hot pancakes?  Further proves that I have the best.husband.ever)
•  Homemade Pizza (which I still say "pee-ja" in my brain)
• Two-tone Fudge Brownies (only make these if 5 men are coming to your house for a game night, and make them about 5 minutes before people start arriving - otherwise the pan maybe empty.)
• Leftovers  (I seem to be really good at making enough food to feed 4 or 5 people, not just 2, so we eat a lot of leftovers...I am trying to get better about scaling back recipes.)
• Coffee, creamer, and stevia (It seems "that time" of the semester has hit.  Pray for the amazing hubs.)

And now for more pictures that I have taken recently, but not shared:

These are my running shoes that are DEAD but comfy so I am still wearing them at 550 miles.  And my new running capris...that we are calling a {very} "early" birthday present.  And it snowed {again}.  And I slipped on the snow/ice about 3 seconds after taking this...nice, Alissa, nice.

This is what you get to see after running the long, not-so-steep hill...gorgeous!  {I am secretly trying to convince everyone I know to move to CO, it.is.nearly.heaven}

It seems I only take picture when I run.  Weird. 

What are you eating and/or enjoying about your week? 

Running Tip Tuesday :: Gym Checklist

So the amazing hubs and I joined a gym this weekend.  I did not think it would really be in the budget, BUT we found a suh-weet deal at Costco!  God is SO good.

About 8:47pm last night, I realized that I needed a gym bag checklist.  It is too overwhelming to try to remember everything that I need for the gym, work, and shower.  And there is no way that I am going to "throw in whatever I forgot the night before" at 5:08 in the morning...I would end up taking something out of my bag and not putting it back in. 

Obviously, this is personalized for me.  I am sure some of you would subtract some items and add others.  Luckily for me, my fingerprint is my way into the gym, so I do not need to remember a membership card.  I found the background for the checklist here.  I might as well jump on the chevron background bandwagon while I can.

I am planning on using this checklist for a few days.  If I need to add anything, I will.  If you desperately want a copy of it, let me know and I can e-mail you the publisher file or snail mail you a copy.  I usually like to laminate these types of things, then I can use a dry erase marker on them over and over again.

November Desktop Background

Do you know G. K. Chesterton?  love.him.  Even though he is dead and I have never met him in person, he has some of the best quotes!  (One of my favorite quotes is this one, it was my mantra in Korea.)

So you can imagine my glee when I found this desktop background for my laptop.  Beauty + G. K. Chesterton Quote = Amazingness.

You can find it here...(you have to scroll down a bit)

Happy November!  Bring on the giving thanks!