gratitude

Always thankful for this little baby.

I take pride in the fact that I always take a few minutes out of each day to remind myself of all the things and people I am grateful for, but it's nice to have a day specifically dedicated to expressing gratitude and spending time with family, especially since I get an entire week off of school to relax, too.

This year's Thanksgiving was a lot simpler and, to be honest, even a little lonelier than I wanted it to be. Life's a little weird right now in terms of family life, but it didn't stop me from making the best of today. My mom and one of my aunts went up to Reno with a family friend for a concert, so they weren't here with us. My other aunt is staying here with us to help take care of my grandma, leaving me and my two other brothers the only other people at home. My brothers were gone the entire morning and honestly it was so quiet at home I felt a little physically sick. I thought I could get some work done since it was so still, but I ended up just window shopping online the entire time. (So much for finishing my two research papers and starting on a study guide of 200+ terms before the weekend.) My brothers came home in the afternoon, so I ate lunch and re-watched Leverage with them for about an hour. I finally decided I wanted to bake something, just for the sake of filling the house with a delicious aroma that would at least take up a little more space in our big, empty house. My brother and I decided on pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, so we stopped by Safeway to grab ingredients and came back to whip up some of these little munchkins. They're so fluffy and yummy and smell so, so good. I might even make more tomorrow.

Last Friday our little group of Commuters and Their Friends (yes, that's what we call ourselves) had a little outing that I forgot to write about. After class MN and I ran into ML and VY, so we decided to grab ML's ukulele from her car and have a jam session on the outdoor stage behind O'Connor. Afterwards Kumar and VD joined us, but after a bit MN, ML and V had to leave so Kumar, VD and I went downtown to Philz for coffee and Iggy's for burritos. Then we picked up ADo from school and went to Recycle Books! (Hehe, I wonder who suggested we go there...) I picked up a copy of Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman and finished it on Tuesday. It was pretty good, though it didn't quite meet my expectations after the cashier's raving recommendation. It's okay, because I feel pretty good about finishing a book outside of school. Anyways, we finally met up with the rest of the group around seven and we headed to Cafe Lattea. I ordered a matcha latté! It was nice. Afterwards we went back to the Flip to play Smash, then ended the evening with football (although I spectated with ADo and VD and didn't play). It was a good day. Good friends and good company are things I am just infinitely grateful for each and every day :' )

Now, getting on to the obligatory blurb of all the things I'm grateful for...

little things

• almond milk
• the smell of freshly baked muffins and cookies in the kitchen
• dishwashing soap
• socks of all shapes, colors, and levels of fluffiness
• holiday music (here's my personal playlist)
• electric blankets
• bookmarks
• Christmas lights and decorations
• sweet little Thanksgiving texts from friends :' )

big things

• the ability to always keep the right, positive mindset even when things are tough
• the support I get from all my friends and family
• the chance to have found family and a place to call home at SCU, despite being a commuter

bigger things

• people (my mother, my brothers, my aunts, my grandmother, my friends near and far, my ate and kuya, Charlie, and all those who influence me in ways I could never have imagined)
• school
• home
• life
• the universe