Roxanne Online

Attitude of Gratitude: Day 19

Today I'm thankful for great future in-laws. My parents and I have flown to Phoenix so they could meet Des's family. My mom and I came down early to attend a bridal shower that was thrown by a Barker family friend, Lolly. She was a fab hostess and the shower was great. I got to meet a lot of family friends. They were kind enough to help Des & I furnish our new house with lots of kitchen supplies. I'm so excited to get everything set up in the new place.
After the shower, we spent time with the Barker women (Patty, Pat, Courteney & Melissa). It was really nice to chat and get to know them better. I'm looking forward to becoming a Barker (aaah!!) Thank you future in-laws!

Attitude of Gratitude: Day 18

Today, after the power went out on our whole block, I was thankful for electricity. It happened just after sunset so I had to scramble to find flashlights. After that, I found candles and lit them throughout the house. I was in the middle of writing a to-pack list and had to finish by candlelight. Which would have been quaint and romantic a hundred years ago, but today just made me grumpy and hurt my eyes. It made me appreciate the lights so much more when the power came back. Thanks electricity!

Attitude of Gratitude- Day 17

Today I'm thankful for burritos. Specifically, Chipotle burritos. I still remember when these came to my old college town. My roommate Lydia came home and announced that she'd been there, the burritos were $5 and they're gigantic. They are the size of a human newborn.  Prices have gone up a little since then, but the deliciousness has not subsided.  I would dream about these things when I was overseas. I had a friend in Scotland who lived in Virginia for a summer and learned of the power and majesty of these gentle giants. He then had to go back to the UK where there are no Chipotles to be found. Years later, he still gets cravings. I had a similar experience, being without them for nearly 2 years. As soon as I set foot on American soil, I vowed I'd eat there every single day*. I have been somewhat lax with that particular vow, but I eat there frequently and love every chicken-black bean-rice-corn salsa-guacamole-sour cream-cheese-filled bite. Thank you Chipotle burritos for existing (and being walking distance from my house)!

(*ed note: Actually the very first thing I did after setting foot upon American soil was sob hysterically because I didn't want to be there. Second thing was the burrito vow.)

Attitude of Gratitude: Day 16

Today I'm thankful for having indoor plumbing.  Not only so I don't have to leave my warm toasty house in the winter time to go to the bathroom but also so I can have hot showers on freezing days. What a great invention. My friend Reema lived in the honors dorms at UVA. The school said it was an honor to live there, even though the rooms didn't have heat (they did have fireplaces with wood provided) and no toilets. You had to go to a separate bathroom outside. This doesn't sound like an honor to me at all.  You can keep your honors dorms, UVA. I will take my bathroom and showers inside where the heat is. Athankyouverymuch. Thanks indoor plumbing!

Attitude of Gratitude: Day 15

Today I'm thankful for the internet/skype/computers. I'm one of the last generations who grew up without the internet and saw the change-over. The amount of information we have at our fingertips now is incredible (As well as the amount of kitten videos, celebrity gossip, and clips of babies playing instruments). People never have to say 'i don't know' anymore. Just take out your phone and google it. Bam. Question answered.
I'm also thankful that the internet can be used to talk to people clear across the world. Back when phones were the only option, long distance phone calls were mega expensive. Now I can talk to Scotland on G-Chat or Skype for free and it's like me and my buds are in the same room. Take that, time zones and oceans!
I'm looking forward to teleportation and space travel, but this will tide me over until then. Thanks internet!

Attitude of Gratitude: Day 14

Today I am thankful for dinners from church friends. I love how frequently Mormons will invite anyone over for a Sunday dinner. There doesnt need to be a reason for gathering. The association doesn't need to be super close. But there's a willingness for people to feed  Sunday meals to others.   It's nice because not only do you get good chat and meet people, but you don't have to worry about whether you will be eating Costco Chicken Bakes or scrambled eggs for the third night in a row because you didn't have the energy to come up with a real meal.   Tonight, the Harrises (Harrisians) were kind enough to invite a bunch of people over for dinner, myself included. Conversation ranged from sports teams to transvestites. It was quite an enjoyable evening. Thank you dinner from church friends! 

(This picture is not from the Harris home, but rather another church member dinner offering, thanks to Alan Adam and his tortilla skillz).

Attitude of Gratitude: Day 13

Saturday found me greatful that I live in a city. It's really nice to be in a place where you don't have to get into a car everytime you want to go anywhere that isn't a neighbor's house.  The new apartment is on Broadway (Yup, Denver has one too.  Less tourists and neon than the one in New York. More Liquor stores) and last night we walked to a restaurant a block away for dinner.  Dessert was 7-11 hot chocolate. I realize this might make us sound like hobos, but 7-11 has an extensive hot chocolate offering. Mostly in the way of syrups, marshmallows and creamers. And all within 2 blocks of the new place. Thank you city living!

 

Attitude of Gratitude: Day 12

On Friday, I was grateful that I have Fridays off. I'm glad that I have a job, but I'm also glad that I have time on weekdays to set up meetings. This has been especially helpful the past few months in getting all the wedding plans finalized. This past Friday, my mom and I met with the Caterer, Florist and Reception Site event planner. And not a single fist fight broke out! I'm grateful I have a day during the week that I can get errands done. Thank you Fridays off!

Attitude of Gratitude- Days 10 & 11

Yesterday I was grateful for fingers. These things are great! They're like 10 little hand hooks. Want to carry a bunch of bags and your keys and a phone all at once? No sweat. Just hang them on all your fingers. Want to text, email or call someone? Use your fingers! Does your significant other need a backscratch? Go crazy. They don't look like much, but if we didn't have fingers our days would be stupid. Thank you fingers!

Today I'm thankful for Veterans. I'm glad that there are people out there who have given their lives for me to have the rights to live in a country that lets me say and think what I want. Even if I think that war is stupid. I live the life that I do thanks to sacrifices made by soldiers and their families. Thank you veterans!

 

 

Additional gratitude today goes to the fact that my rear left car window finally decided to roll up. I rolled it down this morning in a lazy attempt to clear the slush/snow off of it and it froze and wouldn't go back up, leaving about 2 inches of gap. It was a chilly ride to work. Luckily I was able to park in a garage at work and it thawed and rolled back up. So thank you car window for rolling back up and keeping me from being one of those people who drives around with a garbage bag duct-taped to a giant hole in their car door where a window should be!

Attitude of Gratitude Days 8& 9

It seems that my frequency of posting these is one every other day. Which is way more than I was expecting myself to do, even though I did set this up as a daily project. So I'm happy with that.

Yesterday I was thankful that in early November, in Denver, I was able to wear a t-shirt outside and be just fine. It was in the low 70's. I'll be mildly bummed if it makes up for it by snowing 3 feet every day in December, but for now I say: thanks Indian Summers!

Today tested the limits of my gratitude with a very long day at work. I was racking my brain for something to be thankful for when on the way home, the universe seemed to finally get its clunky grinding chain to switch gears and change almost every single red light to green allowing me to breeze through. Sometimes its the little things. Thank you green lights!