for everything // 1

A new series for my very own good- similar to, but different from, love/joy- this is my attempt to [weekly? monthly? semi-regularly?] express gratitude for all the petite and wondrous gifts that fill my life, no matter the circumstances. Here we go...

+ Clothes felt comfortable today. Isn't it nice when you just feel comfortable? A tiny, but persistent thing for which I was grateful.

+ I have a growing rapport with a co-worker. It really breaks up the day. We email about quirky office environment things that make us laugh. I sent her this Onion article at lunch and enjoyed hearing her laugh bubble up from her cubicle.

+ It is the weekend! I don't have to pump breast milk in a windowless storage room again until Tuesday! Boobie vacation!

+ I read this article today and was reminded of this post I wrote last summer and how priorities change and how beautiful it is when they change together with someone. I used to want to move to NYC and live life sprinting. Now, I am so thankful for quiet evenings with Jake and Alice. My favorite moments are those spent in bed, the three of us, undistracted, cuddling and laughing together.

+ Another weekend realization? Now that I don't work (i.e. get my paycheck via) the arts, my weekends are suddenly real weekends. I don't have to work evening gallery openings or weekend matinees. No covering a dance class on Sunday morning because the instructor is sick. Mmhmmm, WEEKENDS!

+ Time with an old-ish/new-ish friend tonight. Dinner with friends tomorrow night. Hiking with my sister's family on Sunday. Hey look, we live in community with really stellar people. That is an awesome gift.

+ A dear friend of mine turns THIRTY today. Thankful for all 30 of her funny, creative, cat-loving years and the ones that I've been able to be part of.

I'll stop there. Have a wonderful, grateful weekend. Feel free to leave a little something for which you're grateful in the comments. 

the merge

jake's parents, us, my parents
now you see where we get it?

A wedding is so much more than a decision between two people. It is a community acknowledgment of that decision- families and friends coming together to support and agree to this commitment, because it affects everyone. Time, relationships, even joined finances effect the lives of the people in our lives. So, why not have Thanksgiving, the first major holiday since our wedding, be a demonstration of this? 

Jake and I hosted Thanksgiving for both our families this year. Important backstory is that our parents get along swimmingly. They didn't meet until we were already engaged, but when they finally did, a dinner date turned into a slumber party at my parent's home. Up to all hours chatting. Breakfast together in the morning. Jake and I amused and thankful. Needless to say, we weren't concerned about the combo-Thanksgiving-meal's social dynamic. We knew it would be different, but good. We're also keenly aware of how blessed we are with the parents we've got. They're warm, kind, quirky people. Our kind of people. 

I loved having our families together- being able to have our pie and eat it too. Not deciding between the two, or splitting the day with travel. All the same, a merge is still a merge and everything hit a little deeper than I expected it to- seating arrangements, conversation topics, explaining traditions. Its in these funny little details that I realize I do feel different now that I'm married.

You know how on a birthday or event, people ask if you feel different? "Wow, so you're 25 now. Feel different?" or "Does that ring on your finger make you feel any different?" I don't think the change sinks into feeling until these little merger moments. Until I realize I should sit at the LaCroix table, not the Kurczy table. Or that it would be weird to sit next to my mom instead of my husband. 

I got really possessive of my pie leftovers. Jake got some of his mom's pie and I got some of my mom's. I was feisty about sharing my apple-berry pie. And don't even think about touching my piece of mom's pumpkin pie, made with Meema's recipe. I did catch my immature, emotionally inept, self and share a few bites. But only a few.

lovelovelovelovelove

I loved Thanksgiving so much.

I didn't want it to end.

I'm certainly not typing this from my office at work.

(ahem, or I am, so this'll be quick).

The last 4 days felt like a second honeymoon.

We hosted, so we didn't do any traveling.

I was sick, so there was lots of laying around the house and watching movies.

We literally hid from the world yesterday and just cozied up all the day long.

Sure, I got work done and Jake watched political documentaries, but we were in our pajamas and in bed. The.Entire.Day.

That's the kind of work I can handle and still say this Thanksgiving break was the BEST EVER.

Now back to emailing parents costume requirements and rehearsal schedules. Bah. Humbug.

But hey- only Tech Week, 2 weekends of performances, finals and end-of-year budget tears between us and CHRISTMAS.

Here's to hoping every married holiday is this restful and connected.

enjoy your turkey

I'm taking this week off from blog world as I embrace a bit of a reprieve in Thanksgiving, and then buckle down on some intense end-of-semester, nearly-tech-week work. I hope your Thanksgiving is full of family and pie, stuffing and homemade bread. Jake and I are hosting our families for the holiday this year and we're looking forward to our apartment smelling like all the delicious cooking and baking. I am also just bubbling with excitement over the start of Christmas music and decorations. Before the Thanksgiving smells are even settled, I hope we'll have those of a rich scented Christmas tree filling our little abode.

Happy Thanksgiving from our little home to yours.