10 Days of Thankfulness - Day 10

For my final day of the 10 Days of Thankfulness series, I am thankful for plenty!  Plenty of family, friends, food, happiness, and more.  As Thanksgiving winds down and we've had plenty of food and enjoyed our desserts, I am incredibly thankful that my family was able to make the trip here this year.  As hectic and busy as this day was prepping, it was totally worth it when we all sat down together and enjoyed a good meal.  I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and had plenty of food, family, and love today!  The picture above is from last winter - here's to hoping we get plenty of snow again this year!

10 Days of Thankfulness - Day 9

We all have that something that relaxes you instantly.  For me, it's a bath at night.  Whether it's after a long day at work or a busy day out and about in town, the bath is ultimately what I look forward to each day.  Light a candle, pull my laptop in on a dining room chair, add a glass of red wine and I'm set!  Above is a picture of all the products I've grown to love over the past couple of months.  Once a week I do a detox bath with Epsom salts and lavender essential oil.  The other nights I use either Cashmere Glow bubble bath or Lavender Vanilla Sleep luxury bath, both from Bath and Body Works.  I highly recommend any of these to anyone who enjoys relaxing in an occasional or daily bath!  I am extremely thankful to have the time to myself each day to relax and just not think about anything for 30 minutes.

10 Days of Thankfulness - Day 8

One of the biggest treasures in life is friends.  Whether it's childhood friends, spouses, family members that have become friends as you grow older, or new found friends, they're one of the most important aspects of life in my opinion.  Without friends, we wouldn't have anyone to celebrate the happy moments with or bond over the heartbreaking moments.  Even though I'm 8 or more hours away from some of my best friends, I still consider them to be some of my closest friends.  They've known me for years, through good and bad, and have always been there for me.  I've also found that as each year goes by, I grow closer to my aunts and uncles and confide in them as I would a friend.  I hope everyone takes a moment to be thankful for all the friends they share life with and cherish the bonds they've created together!

10 Days of Thankfulness - Day 7

I've always had the privilege of having good health.  I think it's something we all take for granted a lot.  Too many people don't even have the ability to do something as simple as taking a walk.  I know we all experience those ailments and illnesses that have us under the weather for a week or so, but I think being thankful for our health is something all of us could do a little more of.  Due to Chris and his newfound wealth of medical knowledge, my measly knowledge of how our bodies work has grown as well.  It's so fascinating how one small thing we do can impact so many systems in our body.  I've definitely stepped it up and have been taking vitamins more often and drinking more water.  Small changes like this can have a large impact on our health when applied on a daily basis.

10 Days Of Thankfulness - Days 5 and 6

I think too often we "live for the weekends" when we should be appreciating every moment of life that passes by.  I admit I am guilty of this as well, but I'm going to start appreciating each day of the work week as much as I do Saturdays and Sundays.  Too few people get to enjoy another day that I think each of us should wake up on Monday mornings and be thankful to start another week with a clean slate.

Chris and I spent Saturday night in Roanoke enjoying a bit of shopping, dinner, a VT hockey game, and catching up with friends.  After trying dinner in a new area we've never ventured to before, we noticed this little store next door called Piety.  Since it had "pie" in the name and looked cute through the window, I decided to look it up online as we ate dinner.  Come to find out, it's the place I've heard about for weeks and seen reviews of on Facebook.  They make these adorable mini pies that are absolutely delicious!  We decided to grab a key lime pie for ourselves and a lemon cranberry pie for our friends and enjoyed them together as we caught up with them at the end of the night.  Desserts have always been my favorite meal of the day - ask anyone who knows me!  They are the perfect ending to a delicious meal and also the perfect excuse to catch up with a friend.

10 Days Of Thankfulness - Day 4

As this crazy busy week is winding down, I've been incredibly thankful for having a best friend and significant other that I could depend upon.  Not only am I thankful for him, but I'm thankful to be with him.  I feel honored every day to say that my best friend and boyfriend is going to be a doctor soon.  To know that he will help people in a way that only the highly educated and well trained can melts my heart that he is willing to dedicate his life to that cause.  Over the past two and half years, I've been there for Chris through everything, but he has also been there for me through everything.  That's what true love is to me - dedicating your time to each other.  He may have been inundated with class and now swamped with rotations, but he's always been there at the end of every day to make sure I'm doing okay through it all.  I am so thankful that I have found someone who I love so much and has truly become my best friend in life.  Everyone deserves to find that person who they can talk about anything with and trust that they'll be there when they need them.  Here's to the past two and half years and many more to come!

10 Days of Thankfulness - Day 3

Thanksgiving is officially one week away and all I can think about is how I'm extremely excited to decorate for Christmas.  I'm one of those people who has been itching to pull out the Christmas decorations for weeks now, while also listening to Christmas music for yes, a couple months already. If it wasn't for Chris holding me back, our apartment would already be decked out in red and green.  There's just something about this time of the year when your apartment or house feels that much more like a home.  Something about hanging stocking and twinkling lights that lifts your spirits.  I am so thankful to have the privilege of having an apartment to call a home and having the freedom to express any religion or belief that I so choose.  I hope everyone enjoys the time they have with family next week over the Thanksgiving holiday and is thankful for the time we have with each other.

10 Days of Thankfulness - Day 2

Vacations are a necessity in my book.  Without them, I think we'd all be running on fumes 24/7.  I am extremely thankful to have the opportunity and the privilege of taking time off for vacations.  Being with Chris through the past two years of medical school has taught me that you truly do have to work hard for what you want.  The past two years have also taught me that time off away from the hustle and bustle is essential for everyone.  We have taken a trip to Charlotte each year while he's been in medical school and it's been a couple of the best weekends yet.  Being only 2 hours away, it's the perfect distance from Blacksburg to feel like a nice getaway but yet not too far that you're stuck in the car for hours on end.  I hope everyone is grateful for the privilege of having time off and the opportunity to take vacations to recoup.

10 Days of Thankfulness - Day 1

What does Thanksgiving mean to you?  To me, it's about being thankful for what we have, big and small.  It's that time of the year when we sit down and think about what we're thankful for.  With just over a week before Thanksgiving is here, I'm kicking off a 10-day series of what I'm thankful for.  Here's Day 1.

Family has been and will always be there for you through thick and thin.  They're the people you turn to when you need a helping hand, when you want to celebrate an occasion, or when you need an unbiased opinion.  Growing up as an only child meant I was pretty much destined to be close to my parents.  They have both been there for me through everything!  My mom is without a doubt one of my best friends.  Anytime I need to talk or just want to say hey, she's there no matter what.  I've always been a daddy's girl and always will be.  Living hours away from my parents has been an adjustment, but I truly believe it's made us that much closer.  I call and text them more often that I did when I lived just an hour away in Tennessee.  The best part of Thanksgiving to me is gathering around a table with those you love.  I cannot wait for my family to come visit for Thanksgiving next week and cannot wait to spend a few days of quality time with them.