Her contagious, wonderful laugh rang out in the tiny apartment and I chimed in.  We couldn’t help it.

The other evening a friend mentioned she was going to make chocolate chip cookies and I volunteered to keep her company and help out a bit.  My mom selected a recipe from her cooking box for us to ensure success and we were off to get the ingredients.  From there we made our way to her apartment and proceeded to pull out cute vintage mixing bowls and and measuring cups.  Then she held up the hand mixer.  I looked at it dubiously but decided that we might as well get started since that was what we had to work with.  Next thing I knew we were taking turns using the little hand mixer.  Making not one batch of cookie dough but two.  Yes, we decided to double the recipe never mind the fact that the oven was smoking most unusually.  Happy little bakers that we were we just decided that all these tasty morsels needed was a bit of optimism.  All of a sudden my nose detected an odd smell.  Not a good sign.  “I think we’re going to kill the hand mixer.”  It was making a funny screaming noise.  “Let’s try a different outlet.”  Girl talk commenced and so did the mixing of our cookie dough until I noticed smoke puffing from the mixer!  “We killed it!”  And that moment right there…well that’s when we started laughing so hard we couldn’t stand up straight.  Indeed we did kill the mixer, may it rest in peace.  We proceeded to mix the dough by hand and I’m pleased to announce that the cookies turned out beautifully and tasted good too. 🙂  Today’s Thankful30:

Day 27:  Grateful for laughter and hilarious baking times with a friend!  The fact that the cookies turned out well didn’t hurt either. 😉

One of my favorite things to enjoy is a beautiful sunset.  The colors painted all over the sky and blending into one another in perfect harmony make me so happy.  Sometimes the hues are rich and at other times they are soft as cotton candy.  This summer I only saw two really stunning sunsets yet last night as my friend and I walked out of the grocery store the winter sky was water colored so beautifully.  Today’s Thankful30:

Day 26:  Grateful for painted skies that take my breath away and make me stand in awe of the Creator of it all.

There are some people that come into your life and become more than just friends.  They become family.  I’ve known this beautiful woman Cheri for over a decade now.  We ever share the same birthday, June 5th.  Cheri and her husband David are some of the few people that I consider heroes in my life.  They are genuine, loving, fun, caring, generous, godly people and when I think of all they have been through I am amazed at the grace they exude.  I’m incredibly grateful to know them and have them in my life.  I only wish they lived closer.  Cheri and David, thank you for being a sister and a brother to me.  I love you.   Today’s Thankful30:

Day 25:  Thankful for friends that end up being family.

I eat my coconut ice cream with a little spoon.  For some reason I think it makes it taste better. 😉  So last night when we had some of our friends (basically adopted family) over I asked their little girl if she wanted to use the special little spoon.  She got so excited and then when she saw it there was such joy and the cutest look on her face.  Once she had polished off her dish of vanilla creaminess I asked her if she liked her tiny spoon and if it made the ice cream taste better using it.  She said yes. Today’s Thankful30:

Day 24:  Thankful to pass on my pleasure and delight in little things to a little person.  And because it really does make ice cream taste better.  At least don’t try to convince us otherwise!

Grateful that it is true that the mercies of God are new every morning and that they endure forever.  Today’s Thankful30:

Day 23:  Thankful for a beautiful truth inscribed in lovely calligraphy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Day 22:  Grateful for special traditions that help us remember to give thanks on a daily basis and an abundance of tasty food that so many do not have the gift of having.

300.

The cursor floated above the publish button and the thought of letting the little arrow click seemed more to me like a piercing of my soul instead.  Writing for me is often like letting words bleed out of me.  It’s never been easy.  Yet here I am contemplating this 300th post since making this blog public.  Each post has been a piece of myself.  Sometimes it’s just a small piece but then again some have been more.  I’ve typed and I’ve crafted words of mind visions and heart stirrings and it’s all been by grace.  So on this 300th post I’m modeling the little black dress that started this adventure.  Thank you to everyone who has been a part of my story.  I’m so blessed.  Today’s Thankful30:

Day 21:  Grateful for a certain little black 100 day dress that started this amazing blogging journey for me.

(P.S. I couldn’t let a special number post go by without mentioning again my obsession with certain numbers. 😉 )

(P.P.S  So it’s been pouring down rain here and it gets dark really early and no one was around to take pics for me thus the self pics in the mirror…)

Day 20:  Grateful to still be enjoying cute little orange pumpkins. 🙂

What are you thankful for today?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!

UPDATE! 60,926.64  So exciting! If you are very blessed this Thanksgiving season and want to pass along the blessing then giving a donation of even $5 dollars will do just that. 🙂  Wanna push us over the $61K mark before we get to the 300th post!?

Four years ago yesterday a dream of mine came true.  One of the few dreams I have ever had was to have a niece and that happened.  We celebrated Lucy’s life yesterday and I couldn’t be happier or more amazed that the Lord has put this vivacious little princess in our lives.  She is so full of joy and fun and she is certainly a gift to our family.  I can’t believe that she is already four and I’m so very grateful for her life.  How I love you Lucy!  Today’s Thankful30:

Day 19:  Incredibly thankful for a very dear little niece who I love so much and the blessing of celebrating her life and being her auntie.

So, I have this thing about birds.  I like them because of what they represent to me.  Ironically my mom is crazy scared by birds.  Anyways when I was in high school my science class did a 9 week study on birds.  Yes, that is a lot of information about birds.  We went bird watching and did all sorts of fun things but the one thing that I learned that has stuck with me all these years was this, we won’t worry.  Now I know that seems a bit odd to always think of the phrase “we won’t worry” when you look at a bird or any image of a bird.  Yet the reason I do is because of the scripture that we were studying along with the bird study at the time.  (My science teacher was incredible and I’m so grateful for her.  She incorporated scripture into whatever we were learning and it made it that much better.)  The two verses that stood out to me were these from Matthew 6:25-26:

 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.”  (Emphasis mine)

Countless times since high school I have been comforted by the reminder that comes from seeing a bird.  If they are taken care of by God then I don’t need to worry because God loves me a lot more than any bird.  Seems silly when you say it like that but the reality is that I tend to be anxious about the provision of my life.  I don’t need to be.  I can stop worrying and being anxious.  God is holding me and since everything is his and I am his beloved daughter then I can know with certainty that he will take care of me.  Today’s Thankful30:

Day 18:  Thankful for abundant reminders, many times in the form of birds, of God’s faithfulness to me.

(My sweet and thoughtful daddy brought be back this glass bird from a trip he took years ago.)