this year for thanksgiving, I went to my dear friend julia’s parents house in the woods of connecticut. i went here once before for thanksgiving during my freshman year at cedarville and it was a wonderful experience that i’m blessed to have the chance to repeat. we drove 12 hours thru the night the tuesday before thanksgiving because we heard there was going to be a snowstorm in connecticut wednesday morning. literally as soon as we arrived to julia’s, it started to snow and snow and snow. on thursday, we had thanksgiving dinner at julia’s grandparent’s house, which already felt familiar because of my last thanksgiving spent there. we played pictionary and apples to apples and had races to fill out maps of the US and Canada with some of the Canadians we had visiting. after thanksgiving, we had a pretty chill break, filled with homework in coffee shops, watching the original pride and prejudice, baking and candle lit dinners due to power outages. i had a ridiculously large amount of homework to do due to finals week starting right after thanksgiving break but i ended up having a great time of fun and fellowship regardless of my workload. i ended up missing the first monday back because we were driving but God is good and all my teachers moved back our assignments so i didn’t miss anything.
happy thanksgiving people! i’m currently in connecticut enjoying my six day break with my friend julia and her gracious family in the adorable cottage above. as my last post alluded to, this semester has been a whirlwind of craziness so its nice to rest and have some downtime before the final push to the end of the semester. in honor of thanksgiving, here are a few things, great and small, that i am most thankful for
- my amazing, wonderful, supportive family back home
- getting into the industrial design school of my dreams
- the vast array of friends God has gifted me with, from lifelong friends back home in california to my awesome cedarville girlies to relationships i have made on my travels and new friends at college from daap, my sorority, my church groups and everywhere in between
- my iPhone, for capturing the moments i would otherwise miss and keeping me organized and sane
- having As on every project thus far
- the opportunities i have gotten to travel and the many more to come
- living in a city with a whole foods and a trader joe’s
- the immense love for design, art and aesthetics God has blessed me with
- having a car at school that is my saving grace
- getting in to such a great sorority
- discovering quest bars for my days when food is the last thing on my to do list
- julia and her family, and all the people who have graciously hosted me over the years
- urban outfitters sale rack
- finding hidden gems to do homework at like coffee emporium and sidewinder coffee
- Jesus Christ, for being my Savior and best friend and walking with my every step on this crazy journey we call life
happy thanksgiving everyone! though i didn’t do anything to celebrate today (besides making pumpkin oatmeal for breakfast), saturday i’m having a french/american thanksgiving feast with some people from the church! i’m pretty excited! look forward to lots of pictures coming soon. in the meantime, here are some things i am especially thankful for:
- my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles… family in general
- the experience to live in different countries and places {france, new zealand, ohio}
- my home in california, both literally and figuratively
- my favorite treats here: lemon macarons at lac, socca, emilie’s cookies
- and my favorites back home: veggie grill and native foods, sprinkles vegan red velvet, portola coffee
- my cell phone, laptop, internet, etc…
- wonderful friends: here, home and everywhere
- travel and adventuring
- Christmas being right around the corner
- good books, inspiring movies and beautiful music
- rituals like morning coffee and devos before bed
- my health and the health of those closest to me
- Jesus, the Gospel, the Bible, God’s love
as i mentioned in my last post, i did the flowers and decorations for my schools thanksgiving feast last thursday. since we are on the southern hemisphere, we are going into summer so my choice of flora and fauna was vastly different than typical thanksgiving decor like berries and leaves. i used mostly wild flowers and grasses from the fields surrounding my college and bottles from the many ginger sodas we drink around here. i also made an homage to fall in one of the windows thanks to some decals and a leaf garland my mom sent me so i would still get a taste of fall. my favorite part of the whole project was creating the wonderful smelling jasmine garlands for the curtain rods and mantle. decorating reminded me how much i love working with flowers and of my job last summer interning for a wedding florist. i could definitely do this for the rest of my life.
thanksgiving may be my favorite holiday. not because of the food, though it is delicious, or even the company, whether it be family at home or friends in a distant country, but because it is a day to celebrate everything God has blessed me with and done in my life. this year, i have so much to be thankful for like being able to study in this beautiful country, the new friends i’ve made and the old friends i cherish, my cute puppy back home, my wonderful family, the things i consider necessities like a laptop, phone, camera, car, food and a roof over my head and even things that are seemingly silly in comparison but still make life great like my morning coffee, cute shoes, blogs, beautiful photography, good books, yoga, tea and the like. though i wasn’t home this thanksgiving for the second year in a row, it was still a great time eating yummy food and spending time with my college family. i did all the flowers and decorations for our celebration (post to come) which i had a blast with! it was a thanksgiving i will always remember and be thankful for.