Happy Thanksgiving! Let's be thankful for the day of the year that we are reminded of all the things we should be thankful for. I plan on sitting at my aunt's table and stuffing myself with fowl until I'm too sluggish to wipe my own mouth.

Here are some other things I am thankful for:

To start off on a typical note, my family, friends, and of course, my loving fiance. What would I do without them? Probably just wither up and die in the corner, all alone. My fiance especially, as he has recently encouraged me to start writing again. And my family and friends, because they give me such great fodder.

Life. I only get one, and I am determined to enjoy it to the best of my ability. Even if I don't feel like it that day. Even if I have a low-grade fever and would rather be sleeping. Even at the expense of others. If I see someone with a bad perm wearing an ugly sweater, I will point it out - I'll just make sure that the person under fire doesn't hear me. I am charitable and believe others should enjoy their lives too. If that means a bad perm and a kitten sweater, so be it. Let's be thankful that we all can live and let live. Isn't life beautiful?

Waxing. Without that, I would have to spend hours in front of the mirror, diligently working my brows with tweezers. Do you know how long it takes to manually achieve the results one rip of the strip will give?

My car - even though it's a piece of crap that rumbles and squeaks in scary ways, it runs (for now), and gets me where I want to go (usually). And anyway, I'm doomed to be thankful for one more year, until I'm done paying on the piece of shit and can get a new (used) one that doesn't cause me to hyperventilate with anxiety every time I drive it. I guess when it comes to my car, I'm actually thankful that it hasn't exploded and killed me yet.

Holidays, because they give me a day off of work to spend with people that I love and that love me back, which helps me hold onto my sanity just a little bit longer. Too bad we don't get bonuses, but I suppose the trade off is okay if I don't have to stare at a computer for 9 hours in the Snake Pit.

Happy holidays!

Now that I am 29 and engaged, I have been battered with a bunch of new realizations that I never thought about before. For instance, I recently realized that at some point in the very very near future, my fiance and I will have to purchase a new washing machine. The one we use now sounds like a garbage disposal, and the towels come out smelling like cooking grease. I've never bought a large appliance before, and feel like I deserve some kind of accolades for being responsible and looking around on Craigslist for a cheap one...as if it's a gigantic feat I've accomplished.

Such a small thing, but I swear, before I became engaged, I never thought twice about how my clothes would be washed in the future, I just trusted that they would. Now we are adults, and will have to supply ourselves with the means to wash our clothing - because really, I think I'm too old to just go out and buy new stuff when I run out of clean underwear...right?

Has anyone else ever felt like this? It's like I'm officially at the door of adulthood, and it's starting to creak open.

I was driving down the street the other day, admiring the pretty fall scenery. A block away from where I work is a historic part of town, with beautiful rolling hills, wooden fence posts that fence in picturesque sheep and horse farms, and centuries-old homes that you can just tell were built by the nation's first settlers.

The leaves are changing color, and as I drove, I noticed the leaves gently blowing across the road and landing in the drifts against the curbs. Movement caught my eye, and I saw an old man walking along a fenced-in corral, watching the horses eat the hay bales in the field next to the road.

He was walking with his grandson, a toddler, and for a moment the quaintness added to the scene - until I noticed that the kid was on a leash, and wearing a bright red helmet.

I wish I had my camera. I laughed out loud. It was so absurd - this kid's helmet was huge, too big for his head, and had earflaps and a chin strap. The leash was heavy duty, and looked like it was made out of reflective material, which made me wonder, does this guy walk his kid at night, too?

Happy fall! Been a while since I've posted anything...I've been trying to figure out the settings on my camera! I've had the thing for a year and still don't know what it can do.