Day #30

What an interesting day. As much as MANY people were unhappy with the trial today, I understand why the verdict was cast as it was.

(#30) 7/5/2011 - Although far from perfect, I am thankful for our justice system.

Day #29

Happy 4th of July! I went to a wonderful picnic with friends, ran to a bar to avoid the rain, then made it to the top of a parking deck to watch fireworks.

(#29) 7/4/2011 - Even though no country is perfect, I am thankful for my freedom.

Day #28

UM WOW. I'm going to need to keep my act together and get a little more organized with this.

I am at the point (since, you know, I'm a week late now) where I'm struggling to remember what I did each day...

(#28) 7/3/2011 - I'm thankful for kind guests at work who enjoy speaking with you and treat you like their equal.

Day #27

Preeeetty basic. I just am truly appreciative of this right now.


(#27) 7/2/2011 - I am thankful for a hot shower and a bed with clean sheets.

Day #26

After work, I had a wonderful evening with Ciara, Olga and Dana. We had fantastic life chats and I definitely am appreciative of that time we spent together. I've discovered that I'm getting dangerously close to repeating myself on this thing. Looks like I'm going to have to start getting more specific with my "thanks." Also, this one may seem trivial but it was really quite nice!

(#26) 7/1/2011 - I am thankful for super awesome waiter dude who didn't charge us for our drinks!

Day #25

Last day of June and back to work already.

(#25) 6/30/2011 - I am thankful for surprise visits at work and the hugs that come with them.

Day #24

Baaaack to Greensboro. Sigh. I apparently was in denial and simply refused to go to my own home for awhile. As you do.

(#24) 6/29/2011 - I am thankful that I get to teach lessons this summer. It's a wonderful breath of fresh air in the middle of the week.

Day #23

What a day.

(#23) 6/28/2011 - I am thankful for my parents never-ending support, even when it's difficult to hear sometimes.

Day #22

Rewatched the most recent Harry Potter movie, since we have watched all of them together. July 15th is just. so. close!

(#22) 6/27/2011 - I am thankful for Harry Potter (or whatever various large series of movies) Movie Night with my family!

Day #21

Wow. Once you start to get behind, it's hard to catch up! Geeeez.

Visited my mother's church today where she will be ordained in about a year. It's been quite the journey for her, so I'm glad to see that she's finally happy and in the right place.

(#20) 6/26/2011 - I am thankful that my mother is happy and settled in her ministry.

Day #20

I spent this night with friends who I haven't seen in years. In fact, friends I haven't seen since I did the show "Thoroughly Modern Millie" from the summer of 2009. To most of them, I discovered I looked nothing like I did when I was in that show... which is a good thing in my book.

(#20) 6/25/2011 - I am thankful for my health.

Day #19

OOPS. Well, I've been busier than I expected since I returned home! On Friday night, I had a wonderful evening with Nathan, Stacy and their son Colin. I haven't seen him since he was only a few weeks old and now he's around 5 months. It was a wonderful evening filled with fantastic company.

(#19) 6/24/2011 - I am thankful for the gift of children. Clarification: although I am NOT ready to have my own, it is wonderful to see a baby with two wonderful and loving parents.

Day #18

It is just SO glorious to be home.

(#18) 6/23/2011 - I am so thankful for lazy days with my mom.

Day #17

(#17) 6/22/2011 - I am thankful to be home! (first time in 2011!)

Day #16

Well, it's more important that I updated this... not necessarily when... right??

(#16) 6/21/2011 - I am thankful for friends who will wake up at 4 in the morning to take me to the airport.

Day #15

After an extremely productive day, I am wound up and cannot fall asleep. But I am excited for the rest of this summer!

(#15) 6/20/2011 - I am thankful for being able to perform and direct this summer! On a more basic level, I am thankful that I get to have music in my life this summer.

Day #14

It is Father's day after all...

(#14) 6/19/2011 - I am thankful for the most supportive, caring, kind and loving father in the world. He's the best.

Day #13

This morning I had my first Smith Street Diner experience. Holy biscuit batman! Biscuits the size of my face. Not even kidding. Tonight, I went out to Smokey Bones after my evening at work. I really enjoyed it and was happy getting to spend time with coworkers outside of work.

(#13) 6/18/2011 - I am thankful for new friends.

Day #12

Ooops this is super back-dated.

(#12) 6/17/2011 - I'm thankful for all of my Champagne Thursdays. Good, bad, crazy, quiet - they're all wonderful memories with fantastic friends.

Day #11

Long day.

(#11) 6/16/2011 - I am thankful that Anna went out of her way to tell our manager that I was doing a great job.

Day #10

I've officially gotten myself hooked on my summer sleeping habit. What is that you ask? Well, over summer (especially when I wait tables), I end up keeping crazy hours. Meaning that I will stay up till 2ish and wake up around 10 or 11. This is mainly because I'm at work till midnight some nights, and my body just refuses to get back on a normal schedule. So here I am, completely wired and awake, at 1 in the morning.

I went in to work today and made $4. I went in at 11:15 and I was cut at 11:53. I had one table. I would call that a productive day. So instead, prior to the voice lesson I taught, I hung out at the pool with Olga. Didn't think I was getting a tan, but I just looked in the mirror and realize I have a nice heart shape tan right where my necklace was lying on my chest.

After the voice lesson I taught with this new student, I realized my thankful thought for the day.

(#10) I am thankful for my parents who have constantly supported and encouraged me following my dreams, whatever they may be, and allowing me to be me.

Day #9

Work was slow today. But, I guess that's what you get for a Tuesday lunch.

This evening, it started out as a girls's night with Ciara, Olga, Karen and I splitting a couple of bottles of wine at Vintage 301. ($10 off a bottle on Tuesday nights there!) It eventually turned into a mixed company night. We were there for almost 4 hours and it was just a wonderful evening. I saw some friends I hadn't seen in weeks (possibly even months?). It was fantastic. Basically, we combined a girls' and guys' evening.

(#9) 6/14/2011 - I am thankful for the wonderful friends I have made this past school year and for always feeling included with them.

Day #8

This morning I woke up in a wretched mood for no apparent reason. I had lunch plans with Olga, so all morning I laid in bed and started watching random episodes of Community. (I highly recommend this TV show. Hulu it.)

We had some Japanese food for lunch and ice cream afterwards, came back to my place and watched hours of random movies and tv shows. Literally just laid around for hours.

It was perfect. And everything I needed.

(#8) 6/13/2011 - I am thankful for lazy days and having an amazing friend to spend them with.

Day #7

Keeping this one short and sweet.

(#7) 6/12/2011 - I'm thankful that I get to go home to Florida in 10 days.

Day #6

I'm backdating again. I came home too exhausted to update this.

I survived a double today. In between shifts I went to Subway to a) eat food b) get out of the restaurant and c) get the bartender (who was my trainer) a cookie because she was clearly having a bad day.

Anyways, as my shift came to a close, my body finally started yelling at me about being up and lifting heavy things for almost 12 hours straight. Well, that same girl who had been bar tending was off, still waiting around and could see that I was tired and exhausted. She realized that I was still there at the end of a double and says to me "You're STILL here? You need to get out of here." So, she started helping to clean my section.

(#6) 6/11/2011 - I am thankful for Melissa (even though she was off the clock) helping me clean my section and refill my salt and pepper shakers so I could get out of work and go home.

Day #5

Well, my body aches and I am tired, but I feel good about work! I triumphed over yesterday and held my own quite well today.

I think the only event of the day that stuck out in my head was a 7 top I received consisting of a family celebrating their son's graduation. They were super sweet and towards the end started asking me questions about my personal life (school, why I was in NC etc.) Of course, when the news finally pours out that I am a music major and want to sing opera, everyone is delighted and excited. The grandma started talking to me about this 10 year old girl who sings opera that David Foster found etc etc. I had no idea who it was but google has provided me with this girl, Jackie Evancho. Seems like the Charlotte Church of 2011. I smiled and nodded throughout and told her I would hope to be like her one day! (Quite incorrect. But it's what one is supposed to say.)

Anyways, as common as this entire conversation is for me (and as embarrassed as her grand children obviously were) the lady did say something that was so endearing and so sweet that caught me off guard. She said "What is your name? I want to pray for you! I think you're gonna make it."

(#5) 6/10/2011 - I am thankful for the random table tonight who encouraged me and believed in my future.

Day #4

I didn't think I'd be tried this early on in my project, but that was an incorrect assessment. I booked my plane ticket home this morning, which is super exciting! But I don't think I could have done more wrong things this evening at work. It was such an exhausting process. So, it forced me to try to take a new spin on this disastrous night. (I promise I'm not being melodramatic. It was truly disastrous.)

(#4) 6/9/2011 - I am thankful for all of the new coworkers and managers who were extraordinarily supportive, helpful and patient with me and continued to encourage me all night.

Day #3

I'm going to be honest - I am already having to backdate a post. Nicely done, self. Although, in my defense, I worked my (first) lunch shift, took my final server position tests, checked out a potential apartment, listened to children's callbacks and did some organization for the scenes program with Ciara. My final plans for the evening had been to continue reading my book and update this blog. I didn't get past the book (which I highly recommend: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society ). Sleep became too enticing.

(#3) 6/8/2011 - I am thankful for the fact that I made it through my first shift without spilling, dropping or messing up an order! (This is a seemingly minor accomplishment, but I am thankful)

Day #2

My friend was more than wonderful, and reccommended me to take over her position as a voice instructor for an academy a couple of months back. The kids involved with the academy do a musical every summer and they have been holding auditions for it these past few days. Although I've been a part of the casting experience before, it was awhile ago, and I was more of an observer than a participant. The people through the academy are more than wonderful, and the kids and families are all quite sweet and talented. We spent hours tonight discussing the kids auditions tonight and working on a cast list.

(#2) 6/7/2011 - I am thankful that I get to be involved in musical theater again. Also, I am thankful that I have the opportunity to be on the other side of the audition table for a change!

The Beginning

Multiple recent events fueled this fire.

It started when I noticed this one girl I am friends with on Facebook had been posting something she was thankful for every day. It could be something grandiose and poignant or it could be small and seemingly unimportant. Either way, she had been making it a point to post it on her status and would always add the hashtag of #365daysofthankfulness. I would have commented on what an awesome idea that is, but it's probably time that I mention that I was her neighbor in college for about 3 months and haven't seen her for at least 5 years. To be honest, I probably haven't thought about her in around 5 years either (that's awful, I know). But she began popping up on my Facebook Newsfeed daily.

This weekend, I was with some of my best friends in the world at Kristen's wedding. Alli and I were running late for pictures right before the ceremony. Her car's AC broke, so we were sweating profusely as we raced around Florence traffic trying to make it to the church on time. Really, we were all around a jambly, hot, sweaty, gross mess. As we bolted into the church, we discovered that our tardiness didn't matter and we needed to regroup. Alli stopped and very calmly stated "Okay. Let's talk about what's going on right now and what we're thankful for at this moment." So we did. One of our best friends was getting married in an hour, we were able to be with people we love and were about to be a part of one of the most important days in Kristen's life. Amazing how stopping and taking a step back puts things into perspective.

About a week ago, my boyfriend left for a summer program in Italy. His departure caused me to be an unnecessary crybaby surprisingly emotional. He's gone for a month and has virtually no internet access. It's been strange not having him a text or a phone call away. I talked to my mom about it last night, and she told me to use this time to focus on me. This makes it sound like I'm overly wrapped up in him in my normal life - I swear I'm not. I'm openly jealous of his activities since he's frolicking around Italy and I'm in North Carolina waiting tables. So I'll follow her wise advice and focus on me - I will work hard and save money, I will read all the books I've been wanting to read, I will work on being tan, I will find a new apartment, I will organize this opera scenes program, I will teach voice lessons, I will visit home, I will email my friends back (I've been really bad about that one), I will eat healthier, I will exercise in my spare time, I will do more yoga. And most importantly, I will begin to be more thankful.

I had originally considered resurrecting my old blog and just using that, but my posts were from years ago when I was just too depressed. So, here we are at a new time in my life with a fresh start.

(#1) 6/6/2011 - I am thankful that I was able to spend the most amazing weekend with some of my best friends in South Carolina and sing in Kristen's wedding.