The Thankful Project Day 25: Something You Know

Welcome to the last week of The Thankful Project! If you've missed any of my other Thankful Project posts just click here. 

Day 25: Something You Know

On the eve of my 3rd anniversary, I want to say that I know without a doubt that Matt loves me. I have never doubted that Matt loves me. Everyday it is clear that he loves me. When he sweeps the floor or cooks dinner, I know he loves me. When he watches The Mindy Project with me, I know he loves me. This is such a great knowledge to have. I have no doubts when it comes to Matt and the decision I made three years ago. 

{This was right before Matt and I really started dating.} 

The Thankful Project Day 24: A Physical Trait I Have

Day 24: A Physical Trait I Have 

My eyes would be the physical trait that I am thankful for. I kinda feel weird saying that, but I like the color. 

The Thankful Project Day 23: Something I've Seen

Day 23: Something I've Seen 

I am thankful that I have been able to see so many musical plays in famous theaters. I love musicals so much (yes- I'm a bit of a nerd). I'm so happy that I've been able to go to New York and see Rent, Wicked, Lion King, and Mama Mia. I'm thankful that while in London I saw Phantom of the Opera, Les Mis, We Will Rock You, and Chicago. 

I've seen Rent in Jacksonville and Atlanta. I've seen Wicked in New York, London, Atlanta, and Hawaii. {Wicked is actually here in Korea right now and we are thinking about going.} 

And I am thankful for these experiences. I know for some people this is not a big deal, but for me it's magic. To see live performances like these is just amazing. 

{Playbill from Honolulu}

{After seeing Rent in Jacksonville} 

The Thankful Project Day 22: An Expectation

Day 22: An Expectation 

When I was young, I used to think about what my future husband would be like. Would he be tall, dark, and handsome? Would he be a doctor? A teacher? Would he love to read? I had a lot of questions, but one that never crossed my mind was: Would he treat me nice? 

To me that was just a given. My expectation was that my husband would treat me with respect and kindness. I'm truly thankful for this mindset that I grew up with. This expectation allowed me to really look at the guys I dated and hold them to this standard. When Matt and I started dating, I knew he would treat me exactly how I should be treated, and sometimes even better than I probably should be. :) 

To me, Matt is the perfect husband because of this expectation. 

The Thankful Project Day 21: Something That's Easy to Take for Granted

Day 21: Something That's Easy to Take for Granted 

Last Friday, I witnessed a fatal car/ motorcycle accident. At first there was a lot of commotion as my students and I watched what was going on from the window in my class. We knew there had been an accident, but didn't know the outcome. By my next class, I learned that one person on the motorcycle had died. 

I think something that is easy to take for granted is our lives. It is so easy to go through day by day and never really think of all the blessings we have. Being alive is a blessing that we should take advantage of. I've never really thought of being thankful for being alive, but after seeing that accident it put everything in perspective. I am thankful for my good health and the health of the loved ones around me. 

The Thankful Project Day 20: Something About Matt

Day 20: Something About Matt

There are so many things to be thankful for when it comes to Matt, so I'll just make a list. 

I'm thankful for Matt's: 

1.Work Ethic

2. Sense of Humor

3. Love of Travel 

4. Love of Family 

5. Willingness to Help out Around the House

6. Sense of Community and Service 

7. Patience 

8. Ability to Cook 

9. The Back Rubs He Gives Me

10. Support 

The Thankful Project Day 19: A Book

Day 19: A Book 

It's so hard to pick just one book I am thankful for. I love books, so I don't think I can just pick one. 

Here are a few of my favorite: 

1. The 5 Love Languages // Gary Chapman- For making my marriage stronger. 

2. The Harry Potter series // J.K. Rowling- For reminding me to believe. 

3. The Count of Monte Cristo // Alexander Dumas- For giving me a love for the classics. 

4. Pride and Prejudice // Jane Austin- For introducing me to Mr. Darcy 

5. The Hobbit // J.R.R. Tolkien- For opening my eyes to middle Earth, and bringing me closer to Matt 

I love love love books. My list could go on and on. 

The Thankful Project Day 18: A Choice

Day 18: A Choice 

I've said it before, but the choice I am thankful for is choosing to study abroad during college. It would have been easy for me to put off this experience in order to graduate on time, but I'm glad I stuck it out and went. Living in England, even for the brief time I was there, changed me. It made me look at life differently. It turned me from a tourist to a traveler. My study abroad opened my mind and the way I looked at life. It encouraged my wanderlust. I am so thankful my parents supported my dream of going to London. I am thankful that I had this opportunity. I loved my study abroad. 

The Thankful Project Day 17: A Room

Day 17: A Room 

I'll be honest and say that I've never really thought of rooms that I am thankful for. That being said, I know the perfect room for this post. 

The room I am thankful for is my room back home in my parent's house. I am thankful I have a room to call my own when I visit home. I know my mom likes to call it the guest room now that I have moved out, but I know it will always be my room. I like knowing I have a place to go to and a place to store some of my things while I am traveling around. :) 

Regardless, of where I call home right now, I know I've always got something back in Georgia. 

The Thankful Project Day 16: Something I Own

Happy Saturday and welcome to Day 16 of The Thankful Project. If you missed days 1-15, just click here. 

Day 16: Something I Own 

You just are going to call me crazy, but the thing I own that I am most thankful for, and that I cherish the most, would have to be my blanket Babushka. 

Yup, my childhood blanket. When I was 8, my mom and I went to the Bahamans for a vacation, and as we were leaving I got this beach sarong as a souvenir from the trip. On our drive from Florida back to Georgia, the beach sarong quickly turned into a pillow for me to nap on. From that point on, the sarong was a blanket for me. Since that day, I can count on one hand the number of nights I've slept without it. I call her Babushka. I don't know why. But that's how it goes. 

I take her everywhere. She is the first thing I pack and is always in my carry on when I fly. If I am at my house watching t.v. or reading, I'll wrap the blanket under my neck and cuddle a bit. I have a hard time sleeping without this blanket. My sleep is completely dependent on this blanket. 

I seriously can't live without this blanket. I'll be honest with you, Babushka is in rough condition right now. I mean, who could blame her after 17 years of hard service. I am currently looking for a Babushka II, so I can retire her, but I haven't found anything yet. 

Although it might sound silly to y'all, I am thankful to have something like this in my life. And I'm thankful it's been with me for 17 years. I love the feeling of comfort the blanket gives me, and if that's crazy- I don't care. Yes, I am married and 25, and I still have my childhood blanket. But Matt doesn't care and that's all that matters. 

 [Me and Babushka- this is how I usually watch movies in my house} 

{Me and Babushka on a road trip in California} 

{Babushka was even with me on the night of my engagement to Matt} 

{This is how we sleep. If you see, my cousin and I sleep the same exact way, even down to the blanket over our face.} 

So... do you think I'm crazy? What item are you thankful for? 

Happy Saturday! 

The Thankful Project Day 15: An Annoyance

Day 15: An Annoyance 

Sometimes I just love these prompts. When have you ever thought of annoyance and been thankful for it? A lot of things annoy me, but I can't say I'm thankful for many of them.

And then I thought of the perfect annoyance- my siblings. :) Now, before you have a fit and think "That's rude" let me explain. If any of you have siblings you will understand when I say siblings are a bit annoying. You love, but they can drive you a bit crazy.

My siblings are forever driving me a bit insane, but I would not change that for anything. Yeah, my siblings can be annoying, and I know I annoy them, but they are completely awesome. I'm so thankful that I have such amazing siblings.

The Thankful Project Day 14: A Blessing

Day 14: A Blessing 

Guys this is going to be short and sweet- The biggest blessing in my life that I am thankful for is my family. They might drive me crazy at times, but I love them. I'm so lucky and blessed to have such an amazing family. 

One thing I have learned from teaching is that supportive families don't always happen. I saw my fair share of students with parents that seemed to not really care what was going on in their child's life. I'm so thankful that I always had such a supportive group of people around me. 

The Thankful Project Day 13: An Ability

Day 13: An Ability 

One ability I am thankful for is the ability to read, and the ability to LOVE reading. I love it. I really do. I think this ability is what helped me do so well in school. Reading increased my vocabulary. Reading taught me how to write better. Reading opened my imagination. Reading got me through a lot of boring and intense theoretically undergrad essays. 

As a teacher, there is nothing more annoying than students that don't like to read. And there is nothing more heart breaking than a student that struggles with reading and doesn't know how to improve. While I was a Social Studies teacher, I would always provide time in my class for personal reading. This was something that was set up to support the Language Arts teachers. Often my kids would fuss and complain about the silent reading time, but there were always a few students in each class that would quickly grab their book and immediately get pulled back into their stories. This is what I loved seeing. 

Reading is a skill you really can't escape. Being a good reader is pretty much essential in today's world. I would always try to emphasize that with my students. I am thankful my mom set such a good example with reading. I am a reader because my mom is a reader. I am thankful I have this ability and that I love it so much. Reading is one of life's greatest pleasures, at least in my opinion. 

{via}

If you missed Days 1-12 of The Thankful Project- just click here. 

Gratitude 101: Part 11 &12

I know I missed last week, so I thought I would double up on Gratitude 101 today. As always, I am linking up with Erika over at Chimerikal.

 Part 11 

Prompt- What's the biggest gesture you've ever done to say Thank You to someone

I love thank you gifts. I love letting people know I appreciate what they have done for me. Whether that's picking up a small thank you candy bar, or a larger gesture, it's so important to say thank you. While I don't know what my biggest gesture I've ever done, I do have a couple of my favorite that I want to share.

After Matt and I were married, we wanted a way to say thank you to our parents for all their help with the wedding. We didn't have a lot of money at the time, but that didn't stop us. We decided to offer babysitting for my parents. For a long weekend, we took care of my younger siblings while my parents went on a weekend getaway. We had such a great time with Jud and Olivia for those few days. I love spending time with them, and this was a perfect solution. While I would have loved being able to actually treat my parents to a nice vacation, that was not possible at the time. But we could help with babysitting. I'm glad we got this time with my siblings before we left for Hawaii, and I'm grateful there was a way we could say thanks.

My second favorite gesture was a photo book I put together for my Abuela. For her birthday a couple of years ago, I wanted to give her a present that showed how much I loved her and appreciated her. I had a bunch of old photos from her childhood, and a ton of photos of the family throughout the years, so I put them in a shutterfly book. I then had everyone in the family share a favored memory or a reason they loved her to be put in the book. I was so happy with the way the book turned out, and I think it was such a perfect way to say thanks.

Part 12

Prompt: Write three notes of thanks to people you know and reflect on how that action felt.

It is no secret that I love thank you notes. I love getting them. I love writing them. There is nothing better than thank you notes, except for maybe thank you notes and chocolate. :) This week I wrote three thank you postcards to a few different people back home. Like always, I felt great when I was writing them. I'm so happy that even though I am far away from my family I can still say thanks. I can't wait for my loved ones to get their postcard in the mail.

I encourage all of you to grab something to write with and send out some of your thank yous this week.

Happy Wednesday!

{If you've missed any of the last Gratitude 101s just click here} 

The Thankful Project Day 12: An Opportunity

Day 12: An Opportunity 

I would have to say teaching in Korea is an opportunity I am grateful for. I am so happy that Matt and I have this opportunity. We've had such a great time these last couple of months. I don't know what will happen after our year contracts are up, but I am happy we are here. 

We've had the best time exploring our area of Korea, and are looking forward to continue our explorations. We've learned so much about being an expat and living outside of our comfort zones. I'm so grateful to our friends back in Hawaii who made this experience possible. I'm thankful for going to an international school where chances like this popped up. Korea is not perfect, but I am loving this experience. 

{I mean how cute are these kids} 

Catch up with Days 1-11 by clicking here, and like always I am linking up with Chasing Happy. 

The Thankful Project Day 11: Something I've Learned

Happy Monday Y'all! I hope your weekend was nice and relaxing. Welcome to the second week of November, and a second week of The Thankful Project. 

If you haven't started the project yet, don't worry about missing the first few days- just start now! 

Day 11: Something I've Learned 

Today's topic is bit hard for me. How can I just pick one thing that I've learned to share for today? 

The answer to that is I'm not going to. Here's my list of things I'm thankful I learned: 

1. Teaching- I'm so grateful that I received my teaching license. Not only has it provided a steady income for Matt and I, it's something that I love to do. 

2. Patience- This is a work in progress, but I think being married and being an older sister has really helped me with my patience. 

3. Actions Speak Louder than Words- One thing that I have learned is that doing is more than saying. 

4. Writing- While it's not perfect, I'm thankful I have the ability to express my thoughts. 

5. Baking my Abuela's Sweet Potato Recipe- This is something really simple, but I'm so thankful I learned how to make this. This dish is my favorite part of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. The last couple of years, I have been away during the holidays and I have been able to make this dish on my own. Just making this brings me closer to my family even with me being so far away. 

6. To Live on a Budget- This again, is a work in progress, but I'm so grateful of all the advice I've read and had in my life. Life is so much easier when you stick to a budget. :) 

7. That Family Comes First- I'm grateful that my family has always been there for me, and that they have taught me this lesson. Without family- what do you have? 

The Thankful Project Day 10: A Memory

I can't believe it's already November 10th. I am having so much fun with The Thankful Project and linking up with Chasing Happy. 

Day 10: A Memory

I've been going through old photos on my computer and trying to make them a bit more organized and I found this one. I thought this would be the perfect memory to share. 

{I know the picture quality is horrible, but I had to share it with you guys.}

Here is the story behind the picture: 

Sixteen is a pretty important age in American culture. Your Sweet 16 is one of the birthdays you look forward to and dream about when you are a kid. You can drive when you're 16. You have freedom! And if you're Mormon, like me, you can start dating at 16. This is a pretty big deal... at least to Mormons. :) 

When I turned 16, my Papa took me on my first 'date'. This is one of my most cherished memories and I want to share it with you. On this particular day, my mom dropped me off at my grandparent's house. I said hello to Papa and told him I was ready to go. My mom, Abuela, and I started chatting and I didn't notice my Papa disappear. 

The doorbell rang and my Abuela told me to go answer it. I opened the door to see my Papa holding some freshly cut Magnolia flowers for me. {By freshly cut, I mean he cut them off the tree growing in their yard.}I was so surprised and touched that my Papa would really go all out on this 'Father Daughter Date'. 

For the date, my Papa took me to a .... shooting range. Not the most conventional date, but I had a blast.    To this day, I still have the shooting target from that day. My Papa wrote the date on it and I've kept it in my treasure box all this time. I must say I was not expecting to go to a shooting range, and I don't particularly like guns, but I had a fun time. Surprisingly, I'm not that bad of a shot. {Maybe Papa was just trying to scare all my future dates away by showing me how to shoot a gun.} 

After the shooting range, we went to the restaurant Killer Creek and ended the night with ice cream from Coldstone Creamery. It was a great date, and I had such fun sharing the day with my Papa. 

To this day, my date with my Papa was one of the best dates I've ever been on. I'm so thankful to have such an amazing grandfather in my life. I'm thankful to have this experience and this tradition to pass down to my children. What I great Papa I have! 

What memory are you thankful for? 

The Thankful Project Day 9: A Photo

Day 9: A Photo 

This is not a particularly good photo, but it means a lot to me. In May of 2010, Matt and I were able to travel out to Idaho to see my Grandma and Grandpa Henson. In April, my Grandma was diagnosed with cancer and it had already progressed pretty quick. It was really important that Matt meet my Grandma, and for me to be able to see her one last time. 

So we flew out for a visit. I am so thankful we were able to do this. The weekend we were there, my grandma was having some fairly good days. We got to talk about my wedding plans, I showed her a picture of my dress, she met Matt, and we spent quality time together. We went to one of my cousin's dance recitals, we had a mini family reunion so my Idaho family could meet Matt. I talked to my grandma as she laid in her bed and we laughed at the funky p.j.s my Aunt Nickie sent her. We sat on the couch together and she tickled my back like she did when I was younger. Her and my grandpa debated on whether my hair looked better short or long. {Grandma said short; Grandpa said long.} These memories I will cherish forever. 

 This picture was taken right before Matt and I left for the airport, and it was the last time I saw my grandma. As I said goodbye, we hugged and she told me she would see me again. 

My grandma died about a month after that visit. I can not tell you how happy I am we decided to fly out to see her. I am thankful I have this last memory of her and this last picture. 

The Thankful Project Day 8: Words

For today's Thankful Project, I'm going to keep it nice and short. 

Day 8: Words 

{via}

This year let's try to open up and express everything we are grateful for. 

Happy Friday Y'all! 

The Thankful Project Day 7: A Job

Hello Hello my dear readers. Today is Day 7 of The Thankful Project. 

Day 7: A Job

I've had many jobs in my lifetime. From working the concession stand at my brother's baseball park, being a hostess, a nanny, a tutor, a TA, a summer employee of a bank, to teaching. 

While I didn't love every job I've ever had, I am thankful that I've been able to work and find jobs when I needed. The job I want to share with you today is one that I absolutely hated. 

A Subway Sandwich Artist

{Yes, they use the term artist} 

When I got home from my study abroad, I was taking time off from school to be with family. During this time, I got a job at Subway. And I can tell you, it was the worst job ever. I hated seeing how all the 'fresh' food just came in plastic packages. I hated that there was a limit on how many black olives you could put on a sandwich (3 for a 6 inch, 6 for a 12 inch). I hated smelling like Subway every night when I got home. I hated that the manager was just a little bit cheap. I literally hated everything about that job. At one point, my boss was so paranoid about the Little Caesars that opened across the street that he started sending me out to 'work' the street to get business into the store. 

And that's how this picture ended up in existence: 

{photo credit to my brother Joe and my mom who came by immediately after I told them what I was doing} 

There I am as Subway Sandwich Alex. Just working my corner. Me and the Little Caesars man would have dance offs on our respective corners. 

It was all so embarrassing. The only saving grace to having to wear this costume was that it covered my face so you couldn't tell it was me. 

Now I really did hate this job, but it was a job! I had been looking for something and this was something. No, it was not my dream job. No, the pay was not great. But it helped me get on my feet while I could find something else. It taught me that I needed to continue to work hard at school because the sandwich life was not for me. 

I only worked at Subway for about 6 weeks, and then I found a really sweet nanny job for the remainder of my stay in Georgia. Those 6 weeks taught me a lot, and for that I am grateful. 

So for those kids out there- stay in school or you'll be dressed as a sandwich... or the Statue of Liberty for the Liberty Savings people :) 

{Linking up with Chasing Happy}