For the past three (four?) years I’ve participated in an attitude of gratitude challenge. Although I don’t know that I ever made it all the way through the whole month of November. So, this year…I’m not even going to try. What I am going to do, in honor of my 34th birthday today, is post 34 things for which I am grateful! Here goes (I should probably throw some pics into this post, but it’s not happening tonight)…

1. I am grateful for my fantastic family – seriously, I feel so lucky that I actually like my family and feel like I would have chosen them even if they weren’t my family. 
2. I am grateful for my friends. I have amazing friends who are always there when I need them and love me for who I am.
3. I am grateful for my job. I have an amazing job and I love the people with whom I work. I had no idea that I could love a job as much as I love this one (or a manager), but I really do. 
4. I am grateful for the chance to live in New York City. It is seriously such an amazing opportunity. I was headed home from outside the city tonight after a meeting and was walking through Grand Central Station and just thought…holy crap, this is my life.
5. I am grateful for water in all its forms; ocean, lake, river, tap, bottled. Water is amazing. 
6. I am grateful for my wanderlust. It has helped me have so many amazing experiences and hopefully will continue to do so throughout the rest of my life.
7. I am grateful for a mother that had us play sports as a kid including soccer and swimming specifically. 
8. I am grateful for both of my soccer teams and the great new friends I’m making through playing on those teams. 
9. I am grateful for my love of baking (even if my waistline isn’t). It’s such a fun thing for me and I love sharing with my friends. 
10. I’m grateful for my very (extremely, unfairly) good health. I may not always (ever?) love how my body looks, but I sure am lucky when it comes to how healthy I am. 
11. I’m grateful for video chat that makes it 150 times easier to live so far away from my favorite munchkins. 
12. I’m grateful for books. I love books and love to read and don’t know what I’d do without them.
13. I’m grateful to live in a country founded on freedom. Even when I don’t agree with how people use that freedom, I am glad we all have it.
14. I’m grateful for flowers. I love them so much! They just make life brighter!
15. I’m grateful for the sunshine. I mean, really, do I need to say anything more. 
16. On that note, I’m grateful for sunsets and sunrises. I just don’t think anything looks as pretty as it does in that kind of sunlight.
17. I’m thankful for the relationships I’ve had throughout my life and everything I’ve learned from each one of them.
18. I’m grateful for forgiveness. Both extending it to others, but most especially when others have extended it to me.
19. I’m grateful for a mother who taught me charity…even if I don’t always practice it.
20. I’m grateful for my education. I know I’m so lucky to have had parents who supported me through college, and then the opportunity to go to beauty school (yes, I’m counting that) and then the scholarships that got me through business school. 
21. I’m grateful for my standardized-test-taking abilities. Seriously, anyone who’s taking the GMAT, you know why this is something to be grateful for…and probably the main reason I got said scholarship (because we all know it wasn’t my undergrad GPA).
22. I’m grateful for yellow cake from a box with chocolate frosting from a tub. I mean, I do love me some Amy’s pink cake, but I will forever be a yellow cake/chocolate frosting kind o’ girl.
23. I’m grateful for a teacher (Mrs. Hoffaker) that let me read only Babysitters’ Club books in the sixth grade to fulfill her over-the-top extracurricular reading requirement when she wouldn’t let anyone else read series books because I had such a hard time reading and those were the only books I seemed able to get through. And now I love to read!
24. I am grateful for books. I love books. So. Much. 
25. I am grateful for my Kindle that lets me carry hundreds of books with me at a time. 
26. I am thankful for music. I think my life would be so different if there was no music. I can’t even really imagine it. Both listening to it and singing. 
27. I am grateful for darling nieces and nephews who are absolutely hilarious and make me laugh all the time. 
28. I am grateful for photographs. How sad would life be without the ability to capture memories in still frames and relive those moments every time I look at a picture? Or without being able to look at pictures of my mom when sometimes I struggle to remember just what she looked like. 
29. I am thankful for my ability to sleep. I think about this almost every night as I lie down on my bed knowing I will be asleep relatively quickly. 
30. I’m grateful for the opportunities I have had to travel and see parts of the world. Hopefully, I’ll be expanding those horizons even farther in the very near future, but for now, I’m quite content with the places I’ve been.
31. I’m grateful to live in a time and place where I can choose exactly what I want to do for a living and there are no constraints based on my age or gender…only my abilities. That is amazing.
32. I’m grateful for air transportation. Seriously, is anything quite so amazing as being able to get from JFK to PHX in a matter of hours? (okay, or around the globe, but I haven’t been going around the globe recently)
33. I’m grateful for my faith. It’s what keeps me going and gives me hope through the really tough times. 
34. And finally, I’m grateful to have made it through one more year feeling like my life is still headed in the right direction. Is there anything better than looking back on a year and thinking, “Wow, I really did that?” I don’t think so. 

So, I really should have posted this on my birthday, but that’s okay…I’ll post it today and that will be okay. But first, my gratitude list for today:

1. I’m grateful for long weekends in Arizona where it’s sunny and 85 in November. I realize my family that lives there doesn’t love this, but I do!
2. I’m grateful for nieces and nephews. I have the cutest ever!!! From 16 to 2, they are all darling and I love each of them because they are mine! They are each so special to me!
3. I am grateful for yellow box cakes and chocolate tub frosting. My favorite birthday cake!

1. I am grateful for progression. I love that even though I make mistakes on a daily basis, I can always improve, always get better.
2. I am grateful for this blog. If you don’t know these people and don’t go to school with me, it might not be that funny to you. But let me just say that I absolutely love it!
3. I am grateful for conversations with b-school friends (or anyone) that don’t revolve around b-school. Somehow tonight we managed to avoid the topic for almost the entire evening.

1. I’m grateful that I am healthy. Another year older and not much worse for the wear.
2. I am grateful for cute videos of my niece and nephew sent to me via my sister’s cell phone.
3. I am grateful for the awesome birthday present my brother got me and I love that my family gives random practical gifts–the things you always want but wouldn’t necessarily think to buy for yourself–like a laser thermometer!!! Toffee making will be soooo much easier this Christmas!