weekly gratitude

thank you for boot buddies (Jodi rocking her pink skull & crossbones boots Friday night)

I think it's safe to say I've been in Oregon just long enough when I realize I'm walking around with a 3/4 length sleeve sweater on and it's a balmy 40-some-odd degrees outside. 

I think it's also safe to say I've been to IKEA just enough times when the smell of cinnamon and sugar immediately reminds me of their food court as you go through the check out. Cinnamon rolls? Am I alone here?

These two things don't necessarily have anything to do with each other.

Moving on...

Harvest is drawing to a close and somehow, due to the stars aligning or possibly a clever scheduling move on my boss' behalf, I am looking at four days off here. 

FOUR!

Last time I had more than two days off in a row, I kid you not, I ran out of things to do halfway through the second day. When you're used to rushing around and getting things done in a small window I guess you become somewhat proficient at doing so.

Who knew?

In any case, once I get my laundry folded, Andrea's photos in the mail, and edit the 500-something photos from the Backwoods Alley show the other night, I have no idea what I'm going to do with myself. 

My dad suggested I relax. 

This is a novel idea. 

He's a smart man that dad of mine.

_

1. Thank you for the cold snap - finally! So I'm pretty sure Kristin is going to give me the side eye for this one (I kid! But seriously, please bear with me on this) but I can't help it. I have been incredibly grateful for the beautiful summer we had (and the grapes have been thrilled! Keep your eyes peeled for the 2012 vintage when it get bottled in a couple years!ˆ) but being the autumn child, I have to rejoice in my favorite season. Boots! Big scarves! BOOTS! I busted my trusty Fryes out for the second time this year at the show Friday night and was about giddy with booted joy. Doesn't take much. 

And for the record, since I have you here, it's autumn. 

No matter what anyone says. 

Take that Luke.

2. Thank you for Blake. My brother from another mother. But seriously here folks - this guy is my official ledge-talker-offer ("Talk you off what, Pop Pop?"). I had kind of a rough time the other day and  boom, there he was to help me plow through all the layers of crap in my head that I was having such trouble wading through. Sometimes it's like he's in my head. We think a lot alike and I am so thankful that he's there to understand me in those times when I can't see things clearly for myself. There are only about two other people in the world who know me as well as he does and few others who "get" me even half as much. So thank you, brother. I'm happy you're here.

3. Thank you for spontaneous Autumn Days with Dean and Robin. Wednesday afternoon, Dean and I met Robin downtown after she finished up with school for a little happy hour action. This turned into scouring John's Market for pumpkin beers and then back to their place for Halloween costume-making and American Horror Story. Goodness gracious, it was your basic perfection, let me tell you. I love friends who just let days turn into nights when it comes to having a good time together. And if there's pumpkin involved? Game over, man.

4. Thank you for bosses who will go to the mat for me. My bosses quite often fall more into the friend category than anything else (when we're not at work) and knowing that I have both their support and respect means so much to me I can't even tell you. These ladies would do anything in their power for me, I am confident of that, and I only strive to be able to do the same for them. Not everyone is blessed to be able to say that and I never want to take it for granted. 

5. Thank you for She Reads Truth and He Speaks In The Silence. I am far and above what the word "thankful" can do justice to when it comes to the gratitude I have for these communities. I have always believed in God, and never felt far from Him nor He from me. But in the last year and a half my faith has grown into something I not only could have never imagined, but it has grown in ways I didn't even know needed nurturing. It took the bottom falling out of my world and landing flat on my back, the wind knocked out of me and the light of hope looking miserably far away, to open my eyes to a God that had been chasing me down, waiting patiently for me to realize how much I needed Him. And when I took His outstretched hand and asked for the tools, the people, the community to show me how to walk with Him and be the woman He wants me to be, He gave me just that. In real life and online, I have found families that guide me from the moment I wake up to the instant I finally fall asleep. How did I get so lucky? Oh my, it has nothing to do with luck. I know now that it was grace. Grace all along. 

_

So as I've sat in this coffee shop window typing this, I've gone through a cup of green tea, a cup of coffee, a sandwich and a cinnamon roll. 

I'd say that has "excellent day off" written all over it.

Now it's time to end it right by making dinner with Shamoo and a couple of his friends... And I'm guessing a bottle of wine. 

Happy week all!