The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway

Happy Thanksgiving, blogosphere!

I've been doing the "attitude of gratitude" challenge on Facebook.... every day I post something I'm thankful for. Some days it was profound, other days it was goofy (yes, I AM thankful for the entertainment industry, thankyouverymuch)... and on the days I had to get needles stuck in me, it was a struggle. Not because I wasn't thankful for anything, but because typing it out just felt so fake. But yes, I am incredibly blessed. My favorite day was the one where I said I was thankful that I had a family that I missed instead of one I didn't want to be around. And I've said that many times since they moved away, and it keeps me going when I'm feeling down!

Right now, I'm just sitting here... reading trip reports on the Disney message board and watching it snow. It's a very light, beautiful snow. Most of what we got yesterday is melted, which makes me sad. Because LOOK at this:

How do you not look at that and just see beauty?

Speaking of snow, I just got back from seeing Frozen. I am so completely mesmerized by it! I wanted to stay and watch it again. I've been looking forward to it for some time now and it was well worth the wait. I just feel all warm and fuzzy, which is pretty impressive considering the name of the movie. *grin*

Next Saturday, I'm signed up for a 5K called the "Holly Jolly 5K". We all get to wear Santa hats! Hooray! Of course, I will once again be walking... not running. And who knows what the weather will be like. But I'm excited for it. Should be a good time, mainly because I needed the push from myself to just go out and LIVE.

I've had my moments since the diagnosis where I feel like I'm just spinning in circles, afraid to do anything. I feel like such a fraud when my friends call me strong. I definitely don't feel strong. I feel like I want to close my eyes, sleep really well, and then when I wake up it will all have been a dream nightmare. I mean, seriously. An entire season of Dallas was able to be wiped out that way! Is it really too much to ask? I'm really good at sleeping!

The title of this post is from the song "Let it Go", which is from my new second-favorite Disney movie. Hmm... I wonder what that could be? *giggle* Idina Menzel sang it beautifully in the movie, and I really like Demi Lovato's version as well. I don't necessarily agree with all the lyrics, but I try very hard to just embrace the "let it go" mentality. I can't change what I can't change. And that applies to more than just a chronic illness. It applies to life in general.

And to quote my favorite marketing slogan ever...

{Life is a special occasion}

Five Things I'm Thankful For

Right now, to be totally truthful, what I'm most thankful for is that Thanksgiving is almost over. That's uplifting, huh? It's very hard spending the holiday HERE while my family is THERE. And I spent it by myself. That's a long sob story that I won't get into right now. And I've been avoiding Facebook like the plague today, because I'm just a million shades of cranky. So I thought this would be a good place to post my list. (And I have no intention of making that title grammatically correct, even though looking at it kind of makes me cringe.)

It wasn't a totally wasted day. I went to see Wreck It Ralph, which was adorable. Probably one of the most clever premises for a movie that I've seen in a long time. I really enjoyed it. And after that, Michaels opened at 4:00 so I headed there to kill some time. Bought some fun stuff, including these cool ornaments that you put on your artificial tree to make it smell real:

And yes, that *is* my tree in the background. It's been up for over a week now.

So, here are five things I am thankful for right now. (I never said all five of them would be deep and philosophical):

1. MY FAMILY I have the best family in the world and when I'm really sad and missing them like crazy, I remind myself how lucky I am to have a family worth missing. Not missing them would be so much worse than missing them.

2. SOME PRETTY AMAZING FRIENDS I would have fallen apart a long time ago if it weren't for the love and support of a couple incredible people.

3. CHRISTMAS Yeah, that's a pretty broad topic. But I love everything about it and it makes me incredibly giddy. My entire house apartment is decorated and I just smile looking at everything.

4. BUSINESSES THAT ARE OPEN ON HOLIDAYS I never, ever thought I would feel this way. Spending a holiday on your own sure changes your perspective.

5. PINTEREST When I wasn't killing time at any of the aforementioned businessed, I spent a good deal of time on my favorite website. I truly do love how convenient it is to have all of my favorite stuff organized on a fun website. It was also helpful to be able to pull up a recipe on my cell phone using the Pinterest app when I was in Michaels today!

So it all comes full circle. LOL.

I hope everyone had a happy day with family... or friends... or Pinterest.