Friday's Letters

6 weeks and counting 

Dear Grad School, 4 weeks...... Holy moly. Dear Apartment, I have to move out of you soon and I am very much going to miss you. You've been my favorite place to live in my adult life so far. Thanks for finally allowing me to have stairs in my home and to host excellent parties and game nights, and to attempt to learn to cook a few things, and get my first big-kid pet (Hello, Ralph!), and see me through heartbreak and healing and finding new love, and letting me decorate for all of the holidays, and for the fireplace. Ay caramba, the fireplace. Apartment, I will definitely miss you. Why do I feel like I've done the most growing up in the shortest time while living in this place? Dear Thanksgiving, I am so excited! Food and family happen to be two of my favorite things in the whole world, and you bring me both!!! Whoopee!! Dear Work Family, You all are being way too sweet about how much you're going to miss me.... and yet also being super pumped for my beachy adventures! Love you all. ♥ Dear Beach, SIX WEEKS!!!!! Dear Em Snapp, Happy Birthday Week!! Dear School Work, In case you haven't noticed, my will and desire to do you is next to nothing. Just make yourself easier and more fun and doable and I'll be all over you. .... I think I just encouraged School Work to be a bit slutty. #oops #sorrynotsorry Dear Christmas, I love hearing "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" playing softly overhead as I stroll through the mall. Haters gonna hate, but I'm VERY glad that the holidays start sooner rather than later. 

Happy Friday!
Linking up here.

xo
Sarah :: Your Plucky Picaroon



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In all of the upcoming holiday/grad school/moving craziness, it makes sense to set aside a particular time each day to be very intentionally thankful for these gifts and blessings and opportunities in our lives. Getting bogged down is easy enough. Griping may just be a guilty pleasure of mine and perhaps rephrasing those "gripes" into a more thankful light is just the thing to bring joy and love and light to this potentially stressful, hairy time. Maybe this will nip it in the bud?

That's a long explanation to say keep your eyes open for at least 22 days of Giving Thanks, right up to Thanksgiving Day. :) 


22. Gripe: I am soooo sleepy! I wish I had more time to nap/sleep.
22. Giving Thanks: I am incredibly lucky to have so many friends and so much life in my days that there is so little time for sleep. I'd rather be sleepy and loved than lonely and wide awake.

21. Gripe: Having to keep living on a college budget 3 years out of college sucks. I wish I had more money!!
21. Giving Thanks: I am more than capable of paying my bills and living comfortably, and that is a luxury not given to everyone. No one in my house goes hungry or is cold at night. My income is a bigger blessing than I recognize most of the time. So thankful!

20. Gripe: Why is it so hard to look like a Victoria Secret model?! My thighs and belly and flabby arms are gross. Waaa.
20. Giving Thanks: I am healthy! All of my body parts work and work well. I am strong and able and young. What a great way to live, right? Such a lucky girl.

19. Gripe: Cleaning out the litter box is disgusting. Cat food and vet visits and other supplies are expensive! Ugh.
19. Giving Thanks: I happen to know the cutest, fiestiest, bestest cat on the planet, Ralph. I cannot believe it's our one year anniversary already!!

18. Gripe: Families are loud and noisy and often embarrassing.
18. Giving Thanks: My family may be a bit nutty but they're mine and I wouldn't have it any other way. I often feel like the most-loved girl on the planet thanks to them. 

17. Gripe: Some people just really rub me the wrong way. In fact, there are a couple of people who make me want to scream/cry/run away/etc just by looking at them. Go away.
17. Giving Thanks: Every experience with a person who tests our mettle is an opportunity for growth, an opportunity to live our principles, and a chance to be the bigger person. These experiences are actually gifts, if you think about it.

16. Gripe: I have zero time to read [for pleasure] these days. It's killing me!!
16. Giving Thanks: Time I could spend reading thrift store finds and dime novels is spent in graduate level classes that will allow me to have that much more free time in my future for reading all of those clever words.

15. Gripe: I worry about making a good impression on certain people at certain times. My candid humor, sarcastic wit, and lack of filter are all primary issues in these circumstances. I'm a hazard to myself!
15. Giving Thanks: Gosh, I'm funny. Sometimes, I'm down right hilarious, if not always appropriate. I have a ton of people around me who know me and like me and care about me and aren't going anywhere if I make a dumb/bad taste/maybe mean joke now and then. These are people I should worry most about impressing and they already are impressed. :)

14. Gripe: Life is so confusing! And I have no real life plan, no idea where I'm going, or really what direction I should even considering heading. My entire future is uncertain and up in the air. #scary
14. Giving Thanks: I have been given talents and blessings and a great network of people. Everything will work out, even miracles like me figuring out what I want to be when I grow up.

13. Gripe: I have to work Saturdays. Uggggh.
13. Giving Thanks: I am blessed to work with wonderful people and to get to do something I really enjoy. :)

12. Gripe: I am so busy all the time. Is there never a moment when I can just have time to myself? To just be by myself??
12. Giving Thanks: I have the biggest, zaniest, loving grown up family that keeps me always on my toes. I love them and I am thankful we are given the chance to grow (and grow up) together. 

11. Gripe: I feel sick. My stomach hurts and my head hurts and it's the holidays. I'm not a fan.
11. Giving Thanks: I am surrounded by awesome people who do what they can to take care of me and help me feel better. Also, I know this cold will pass soon and I'll feel great again before I know it!

10. Gripe: It's so COLD! My car is frozen over in the mornings and it's freezing outside! Brrr.
10. Giving Thanks: How cool is to get to live in a place that celebrates all the seasons? What would winter be like without snow or summer without blazing heat? These are lucky things. :)

9. Gripe: Broken hearts suck and I wish we never had to have them. For any reason.
9. Giving Thanks: "There is a time for every purpose under the heavens." Everything happens for a reason and I would NEVER know how great it could be if I never knew how awful it was.

8. Gripe: Some people are so incredibly selfish and rude, no matter how patient and (unnecessarily) kind you are to them.
8. Giving Thanks: First of all, kindness is never unnecessarily given so get off your high horse, missy. Secondly, people who are toughest to be kind TO most likely need it MOST. You may get to be a blessing or an example or they may learn nothing at all. Doesn't matter. Kindness is crucial.

7. Gripe: I am a terrible cook. Why it come naturally to me like it does to other people?! Ugh.
7. Giving Thanks: Cooking awful things that come out burnt or oddly shaped or way to soupy really makes for a great story, you know? And when people actually try to eat it?? Then you know those are your true friends. ;)


Sarah :: Plucky in Love

Sarah, aka "Plucky", blogs on the reg, unless she's on vacation or there's a Pretty Little Liars marathon or she's mulling over the implications of the phrase "on fleek." She can't live without iced coffee, a portable phone charger, or equal pay. Say hello!

5 comments:

  1. Sounds like youve had some awesome times in that apartment. But you know you'll make a whole lot of new memories in your next place :)

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  2. Ohhh your going to miss your apartment so much aren't you?! Beach?! How fun & exciting!! Yay for Christmas & Thanksgiving!! Have an amazing weekend hun <3

    xo,
    yesi

    http://formiamiandlove.blogspot.com

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  3. I love the place I an currently living so I can understand! Beach? Jealous!

    honeyandnutmeg.blogspot.com

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  4. Hahaha slutty hw. Awesome. I am going to myrtle beach the wkd of dec 15 for the marine ball!! I wish you were gonna be there already :(

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  5. I LOOOVE christmas music! soo happy it is here :):)
    hope you have a great weekend!

    ;)

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