* I’ve had loving encouragement at all stages of my life.
* I have knowledge and curiosity.
* I have a good attitude.
* I have a deep reverence for art and for nature and for stories.
* I have lifelong friends.
* I have crazy luck.
* I have Shaun.

I’m thankful to everyone who played a roll in that. My mom and my grandparents are at the most essential base, but I’ve been nurtured by teachers and family and professors and tutors and bosses and classmates and friends and a partner that just won’t quit. The world’s been good to me, overall.

I’m also so freaking thankful to be out of New York.
And every time the radio announcers say “President Elect Obama,” I do a little happy dance.
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What are you thankful for this year?

I thought nobody had better teeth than my brother Anthony (somehow his gumholes forwent simple human teeth for unprecedented gleaming beacons of hope), but Joe Biden proved me wrong.

I’m not the only one whose noticed the vice-president elect’s pearly whites. Click here for some dental-inspiration.

Amazing, isn’t it? Don’t know about you, but I’m making my dentist appointment today!

I work an odd schedule on Tuesdays to accommodate the needs of the museum’s public evening hours; I have mornings off and I’m writing this on my “lunch” break. I like Tuesdays because Shaun and I take long morning walks together. Today’s morning walk was this:

The lake was thrashing and the sea gulls were crabby and the squirrels were cramming everything into their mouths. Pretty little snow flurries have been sprinkling down the past few days. Sidewalks were spotted with crispy patches of snow. The Chicago wind was everything it’s famed to be.

Yesterday, I went walking along the lakeshore in the bitter cold on my lunch break. I do this a lot. If you’ve ever been to Chicago in the winter, you know this is sort of nuts. That wind! You can hardly stand against it sometimes. When I was a girl, I always chose “Dare” during Truth or Dare. I never grew out of this mentality.

Anyhow, yesterday the cold was screaming into my eyes and nose and mouth and wrapping round my neck when I came upon a little area by Ohio Street beach. The area is landscaped to show visitors what the natural habitat is like: tall beach grasses. I stood in a pocket of sun by the grasses and closed my eyes. For as long as I could stand it, I stopped shivering and stood still and listened to the noise of the grass in the wind. It was louder than cars and busses and cityscape. Louder than waves and wind. It was the only thing around and quite possibly the best thing that’s happened to me in days. Not to say things have been bad lately. But this sound and this light was really something memorable.

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Where did you walk today?

I’ve not been writing anything lately. I’ve got nothing to say.

I’m thinking in pictures.

A collage: Giant Tina Turner thrashes ankle-deep in a crowd of vintage illustrated Chinese villagers.
A sketch: Tangerine. Skin worn thin with rot and hugging each segment individually.
Doodles: Bodies. Trees. Birds. Cats. Umbrellas. Ladies in winter hats.
Photos: The lake. Clouds, gray and brain-like. Flat, gray sky.

I’m cooking.

Soups and curries for the freezer. A weekly batch of quinoa for lunch salads. A stash of cooked lentils. Baked fish. Poached fish. Boiled eggs. Crockpot.
Beans. Beats. Kale.
Mustard greens. Turnip greens. Red cabbage. Spinach.
Steel cut oats. Butternut love.
We eat protein daily now. I struggle to afford hormone-free meat/dairy.  It makes me angry that I have to pay more to not be poisoned.

I go to parties.

New friends, old acquaintances turned new friends, building a permanent life, a feel-good network. Its amazing how easy friends come once commitment to place is made. Is that what’s changed? Is it us? Yes. 

I bring pumpkin things parties.

A pumpkin pie. A pumpkin loaf. Cajun-spiced seeds. Not canned pumpkins. Whole, orange, ‘lil guys. It takes forever to peel and roast and puree, but its satisfying in that crazy Martha Stewart way when you know that a pretty pie was once a gourd.

Truly [whispered to fresh batch of pumpkin spice muffins]: You’ve come a long way, baby.

I’m working.

I like my job. I like my colleagues. I like what I do. But I’ve been working way too many consecutive days in a row lately (weekdays–weekends) in order to accrue days off for Thanksgiving. Like most work-a-holics, I have no one to blame but myself. I have 10 days vacation time, but I’d like to save those up for a spring trip to Colorado and a few long weekend early summer trips (my friend Bryan and I are thinking about an upper Peninsula camping/hiking trip in June). The days I accrued earlier in the month allow me six days off in a row for Thanksgiving.

I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving.

We rented a car to drive back to MI. I’m looking forward to piling in and hitting the road. I’m looking forward to going on long walks with my mom. I’m looking forward to sleeping in. I’m looking forward to going to the pub with my Bryan. I don’t get the Turkey Fever (meat-eating is a chore for me that I do for health not pleasure), but I’m looking forward to seeing family. I like talking to Shaun’s aunt Deb. I like snuggling my nephews and reading to them in funny voices (Shaun does a funny recitation of kids books using an faux-academic “poetry voice.” The nephews and I think this is super weird and funny.) I can’t wait to hang out with my brothers and the noisy Pacellas. I’ve got a game to bring over to my family’s to play. Its gonna be fun. I’m mildly curious to know if I’ll see my dad, but I’m not bent out of shape about it anymore. I’ve stopped caring. And not in the way that I just tell myself that I’m over it. There’s honestly no feelings of attachment there anymore. No feelings to disappointment or abandonment or a desire to be acknowledged. That family loves me to the best of their ability. Which doesn’t say much, but which can’t expect much either. Besides: why should I stress myself out to see someone who calls possibly once a year when there are plenty of people around me who reach out all the time?

I’m reading.
Lots of stuff. Whats new?

I’m running and walking.
The bike is put away for the season. Its FREEZING! And worse: too windy. There is nothing worse than trying to bike against a Chicago wind whipping off the lake. Impossible!

I’m trying not to panic about money.
Shaun has another job interview on Friday. Fingers crossed!

I’m trying to stay healthy.

I still go to the medicine women and acupuncture. It seems to be working. If I didn’t already want to do a billion things in this life, I’d become a medicine woman myself. Who knows–perhaps this can be added to my goals for later in life, like after I retire from teaching (something that I still have to figure out how to afford going back to school for). I’ve got a full plate as it is. But still. I think I’d be a good medicine woman.
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What are you up to? Are you thinking in words? What are you looking forward to?

Q: What is this sassy, sassy woman holding?!
 
A: A vote for change, people. Or a receipt for one, anyhow.

Happy Election Day! Now get out there and rock your ballot.