Thankfulness (a few days late)

Okay, so this hasn't been the most thrilling second half of the year:

-I lost a job of thirteen years
-I've taken another that causes me more than a little anxiety
-I've packed on 11 pounds this year (gain ten, lose ten, it's my jam)
-I didn't see much of my spouse for the better part of about 4.5 months
-Our renovation that started in July still isn't finished.
-I recently threw in the towel after 12-13 weeks of training (for the ultra) and feel like a quitter
-And...I ruined my first batch of Christmas baking! ;-) (Yes, I have serious problems) ;-)

So clearly First World problems, but still, not fun.Thankfully, things are starting to turn around.

• I think I mentioned that I won a grand prize a month ago, which still feels special a month later.
• But now I feel like I won another one, as I juuuust got into a tiny, inaugural marathon that is in 18 days! (The race was sold out, but I contacted the race director and asked him to let me know if he had any last minute cancellations. And on Sunday, while on a run with friends, I got the call that I'm in!)

And there's even more to celebrate and be thankful for:

• Rich just sold his last motorcycle yesterday (it was the one I'd bought as a surprise for him, so it's bittersweet, but he wants to be safer for the family). The money will help fund our lanai renovation, which helps a lot.
•  My brother Joey was just here, and we had some fun family moments- a  First Annual Sibling Night, a birthday party by the pool for my dad, a great Thanksgiving with some kick a** Bingo prizes. Seriously, super grateful for the efforts my brother made to come here and spoil each family member (I scored boxes of Israeli couscous and wild rice from Trader Joe's!) :-D
• We had a fun Wobble & Gobble run after missing last year, but this year with a new addition! Our niece did it for the first time at age 3 and rocked it. We only stopped three times to 'rest' during that mile!
• We had Gen 3 over (what I call Ry and his cousins) for gingerbread house decorating and it was so cute to see the four of them working together.
• I just went out on a relaxing Ladies Night Out with two friends to a movie and some Thai mango curry, and then had some breakfast galette with a friend visiting for a few days.
• I've started the holiday gift buying, and this year I tried to buy local and support Small Business Saturday with purchases of pure Kona Coffee (from an organic farm), lilikoi butter (homemade) and macadamia nuts (freshly roasted from the Farmers Market). It hurt the pocketbook a little bit, but I'm hoping karma brings me a free, brand new car and unlimited, free donuts for a year. (Wait, is that not how good deeds work?) ;-)
• Rich has started to take Ryan on father-son bonding weekend dates...brunch and tennis!
• This weekend I'm joining friends on a fun moonlight run relay (so each runner will split the 26 miles) from. It'll be our final long run until the marathon.

The Saturday morning run crew!

The four siblings celebrating dad's birthday

Sibling Night at Kona Brew

Ready for the Williams sisters

BINGO time!!!

 

When you let three boys and an innocent little girl decorate gingerbread unsupervised, you end up with inappropriate graphics on the roof that you must demand be covered up. :-| Who is parenting these heathens?! ;-D

My goal for the rest of the month is to focus on the blessing in my life, making the upcoming holiday fun for the family, stepping outside of my comfort zone to try and make the holidays merrier for others, and just being more positive vs. my default Negative Nelly status quo.