grateful: part one.

One week until Thanksgiving- time for the yearly thankful list. It's no secret that Thanksgiving isn't my favorite holiday (too many potatoes) but I love setting aside time to reflect on the things in my life that I'm thankful for. 

So. 

I'm thankful for new favorite ways to drink coffee. The Jumping Bean at Taylor (possibly my favorite coffee shop ever) serves a delicious dirty chai. Vanilla chai + a shot of espresso= amazing. 

I'm thankful for Wednesday nights. I look forward to it all week long, counting down the days. My youth group is brilliant. I'm beyond thankful for Taco Bell afterwards. It fills my weekly laugh quota, and then some. 

I'm thankful for sites like harperteen.com and our online library, providing me with books whenever I have internet. (If you're looking for a Hunger Games like dystopia, Divergent should still be available on harperteen.) 

I'm thankful for my job. It's so nice having a way to make money. Besides that, I've made some amazing friends there, and I love working there. I spent five or ten minutes today talking to my table 5 about Holland- people who take an interest in my life make me thankful. 

No list would be complete without Hannah, Carlotta, Libby, Abbey, and Kendall. I've gotten close to these lovely ladies recently, and their friendship is a huge blessing. 

I'm thankful for books. I just bought Markus Zusak's first three books, and I'm working my way through the first one. It's no Book Thief, but it'll do. (Did you know he's writing a new book? It's not scheduled to be out until September, and I'm so excited. I'll have to figure out a way to get an ARC. ;)) I'm at 139 individual books this year, not counting the ones that I've read two or three or four times. Reading is my favorite. 

I'm thankful for Taylor. Being on campus & making friends (Hi, Anna & Jess!) is so fun. Photoshop class, saying hi to my professor from last semester, recognizing people from classes, coffee from the Jumping Bean...the list of things I love about it goes on and on. 

I'm thankful for Europe, France, and my summer in general. The last two summers have been a little bit mind-blowing. It's weird looking back on them, because so much happened. I know that a lot of you have been reading this since before I was in Jordan, so you've read a little bit about both summers, but it's not the same as being there. It's still a little crazy to me that I was actually able to go. 

Part two will coming soon. 

listening to: shake it out// florence + the machine