50 Things I'm Thankful For

1. My friends and family, and being able to see them for this Thanksgiving holiday. Specifically, the fact that I was able to come home for Thanksgiving, and that my Aunt and Uncle were able to come up to spend a good part of the day with us.

2. My dog, who is behaving like a perfect gentleman today amidst turkeys and relatives and excitement.

3. My house, which is keeping me warm today—now that it's FINALLY cold outside.

4. The fact that it's finally cold outside!

5. Having a week-long vacation from school.

6. Being able to afford to go to college, and doing pretty well in my classes—even when I do desperately want a break from them.

7. My phone, which I am hopelessly addicted to. And, again, my parents—who bought my phone for me.

8. Words. Because without them, how in the world would I write?

9. My ability to write. I have no idea what I would do without it.

10. Chocolate Pie. Specifically, the chocolate pie that my Mom made for us to devour today. Enough said.

11. Memories. Because I can't be with all of my family today—some of them are gone. But I will always have such wonderful memories of them.

12. Music. One of my favorite things in the world.

13. Pumpkin pie. Which is also on the dessert menu for today!

14. Exercise. Because otherwise I wouldn't be able to eat so much pie!

15. Yoga, because it's one of my favorite kinds of exercise.

16. Glasses. Without them, I wouldn't be able to see the screen to type this list. Seriously.

17. The fact that even though I'm probably legally blind, there's something I can do about that.*

   *see above

18. Sweet potato fries. Delicious!

19. Bud light. Admittedly, I love it.

20. Starbucks. My all-time favorite place to get coffee. Particularly Frappuccinos. Also, my favorite place to go, sit, and chat with friends and family.

21. Christmas! And the fact that it's coming up super soon!

22. The fact that I'll be able to see so many friends this Christmas.

23. My laptop, on which I am typing this list.

24. Block quotes. I've written several research papers lately, and I love block quotes.

25. Sigma Tau Delta. The English Honors Society I just joined. And the fact that I'm making friends there!

26. Oreo balls. Um, if you've never had these...you're missing out. I can't even explain.

27. Cameras and photographs. Memory capturer-ers. Invaluable!

28. Art. And being inspired by it.

29. Alexander Skarsgård. Because that man is visually inspiring as well. ;-)

30. True Blood, because that's where I watch Alexander Skarsgård all the time...

31. Silverware. Come on, isn't it handy? Really helps keep the food in my mouth instead of on the table. Or my clothes.

32. Shoes. I love shoes.

33. Purses. For the same reason.

34. The roof over my head. Both at home and off at school. I'm so used to having a place to live, it's hard to imagine what it would be like to be without that. And it's hard to believe how many people are without that.

35. The fact that I have never known true hunger. I'm not starving. I have never wondered where my next meal will come from.

36. My biological parents, and the fact that they cared enough about me to not get an abortion—instead, to put me up for adoption and allow me the wonderful life that I have with my parents. Without them and their decision, I would not be here. Period.

37. God, who obviously doesn't belong at #37 on any list. For everything he has done, especially providing me with such amazing, loving, caring, selfless parents.

38. Medicine. And all of the advances it's made. It's amazing the things we can fix, heal, repair, prevent these days!

39. Cool days spent sitting on the patio, sipping a drink, listening to the wind in the trees.

40. The smell of chocolate.

41. Chocolate.

42. Pizza. My absolute favorite food ever.

43. The Simpsons. Best cartoon show ever.

44. Film. So many wonderful movies.

45. Books, without which I'd never be able to afford such extravagant 'vacations'. Nothing lets you be anything you want to be, go anywhere you want to go, do anything you want to do like books do.

46. Airplanes. Making travel so much faster, even with the ridiculous amount of hassle one must go through just to board a plane.

47. Elastic-waisted pants. Which I will need after Thanksgiving dinner.

48. Heaters. Because without ours, my teeth would no doubt be chattering right now!

49. Hot chocolate with little marshmallows on top.

50. My bed. Which I am about to curl up in and nap. My belly full of food demands it. 

Christmas at Starbucks

Christmas is my favorite holiday. Hands down. And Starbucks is my favorite coffee shop. Also hands down. So Christmas at Starbucks is like the ultimate Most Best combination of Christmas and coffee for me.

A few days ago, the holiday displays and decor were readied, the new merchandise put out. As an avid and self-proclaimed Starbucks enthusiast, of course I couldn't wait to get my hands on the new merch and check out the displays.

Gifts display. So cute.

The running theme this year is sharing and stories. Along with another adorable edition of the Bearista bear, Starbucks has introduced Huxley—a precious little mouse with a story to share. Not only is Huxley a handsome little fellow, he's also a writer. (You can see why he appeals to me!) And Starbucks has released companion books to go with the Huxley Mouse, as well as tumblers, mugs, and other items to continue on the theme of stories. 

I first learned about Huxley through my favorite Starbucks blog, StarbucksMelody.com. If you love Starbucks as much as I do—heck, even if you just like it a little—Melody will have something for you over at her site. I highly recommend checking it out! Particularly this post if you want to learn more about Huxley and his books.

This is Huxley! Well...Huxleys. Aren't they precious?
They're guarding the awesome cold cup ornaments!

Another of my favorite items has made an exciting return to Starbucks! The Grande and Venti reusable cold cups with festive candy cane straws. I absolutely love these! 

And, pardon the brief interjection, I was browsing the Starbucks online store (which, by the way, sells replacement straws so if you lose yours, don't fret! However, you can't buy replacements of the candy cane straws; they're a seasonal item) and was kind of riduculously excited to find that Starbucks is now selling a Domed Lid for these cold cups! As far as I know, they aren't sold in stores, but at $2.95, I will absolutely be buying one. 

My only prior complaint about the reusable cold cups had been that you definitely couldn't have them make your Frappuccino in one if you wanted whipped cream. It was a mild complaint, since I'm generally a sans whip person anyway. But still. Yay!

I love the reusable cold cups! I have three.
:-)

Of course, I couldn't go browse and ogle the new merch without sucumbing to the urge to shop... Oh, don't act so surprised. Besides, I only bought one—wait, two, I only bought two things. What can I say? I'm a sucker for impulse buying and retail therapy. And Starbucks.

Starbucks goodies! I couldn't resist.

As soon as I laid eyes on the new (STARBUCKS)^(RED) To-Go Tumbler, I knew I had to have it. This holiday edition mug was designed by Jonathon Adler. I love absolutely everything about it. In addition to the tumbler, there's also a new Starbucks card that shares Adler's funky and awesome design. And yes, I had to have the card, too!

It was love at first sight.

Darn right, it's custom!

Companion (RED) card! A match made in heaven.

<3

I didn't manage to get pictures of every single new seasonal item—Sorry!—but there's a delightful abundance of Christmas and winter themed treats at Starbucks this year. They also have new holiday mugs, tumblers, ornaments, gift sets, and a lot more! And, of course, the holiday coffees, teas and hot cocoas. Including a Starbucks VIA Christmas Blend. There are also two new holiday Starbucks cards (not including the (STARBUCKS)^(RED) card that I got!).

So if these pictures have done anything to whet your holiday appetite, take a cue from me and head to Starbucks to check out the new Christmas goodies!

The Payoff

You know how when you actually put a lot into something, you tend to get a lot back out of it? Yeah, that actually happened to me!

I had previously written about all of the things I have to do in the near-to-immediate future, one of which was a ten page research paper for Marriage Institution. This paper had involved two separate Paper-Writing Parties, which took place at Starbucks with two other girls from my class. And they were very successful! Two of us finished our papers, the third very nearly finished, and we all turned aforementioned papers in on Monday so that our professor could read them and give us feedback.

We got our papers back on Wednesday. I was expecting something more or less along the lines of, "You really missed the point, didn't you? This is horrible." Instead, I got this:

Victory!

You can imagine the way in which my head swelled with pride and my heart puttered with relief. It was a great feeling, knowing that I only had a few things to change. And change them I did. The other two girls and I made plans to hold a Paper Writing Party Finale the following day (Thursday; in other words, today) at one in the afternoon. To top it off, from 2-5pm, Starbucks was doing a 'Buy One, Share One' promo for their holiday drinks—Peppermint Mocha, HELLO—so we knew we'd have sufficient...motivation.

Thursday—today—rolled around, and unfortunately one of us couldn't make it. But the remaining two of us met up at one as planned.

We were a little too early for the holiday promo drink thing, so we staked out our spots in two of the comfy chairs in the corner and, since I couldn't resist, I got an Undertow, which is basically espresso, cream, and I get mine with vanilla. It's delish, and it comes in one of those adorable Short cups.

The view from my chair!

We started working on our papers, with some breaks for chatter, and two came around pretty fast. We got our first round of coffee for the day. Since it was buy one, get one, we each bought one—first she bought one, and I got the free one. Then a few hours later, I bought one and she got the free one.

Interjection—the second time around, I tried a gingerbread latte for the first time. AMAZING.

So we were undoubtedly adequately pumped full of caffeine.

And can I just say, we were at Starbucks working on our papers (the chatter didn't take up too much of our time, honest!) for six hours!? And can I also point out that that's twice as long as we stayed on the previous two days we'd had our Paper Writing Parties? In other words, we basically spent as much time editing our papers as we did initially writing them. That doesn't make sense, does it?

Still, it was worth it. My friend left a little before me, but I was only there maybe fifteen minutes longer. I was determined to leave and be completely finished.

I was successful!

The finished product.

Grand total I have spent...about fifteen hours on this paper. Not including the two hours I spent watching one of the movies I used as an example so that I could get the specific quotes. But including the time I spent pulling quotes from the books and articles I used.

All in all, not too shabby. And now, I am officially done with my paper. Which means I don't have to worry about it at all this weekend. Oh, it's going to be blissful.

Oh wait. That's right, I still have to finish my Campaigns & Elections paper...

Tucker would like me to wrap this post up and declare it officially, "bedtime."

I'd also like to mention that I wrote this whole post while listening to one particular song on repeat—It came on while I was in Starbucks, and I loved it. Which prompted me to download it and subsequently listen to it over and over again. 

"It Was a Very Good Year"—a song that Sinatra made famous; performed by Willie Nelson and Ray Charles. It's excellent. Just...thought I'd throw that out there. As a fervent lover of music.