“In the year 1621, the Pilgrims held their first Thanksgiving feast. They invited the great Indian chief Massasoit, who brought ninety of his brave Indians and a great abundance of food. Governor William Bradford and Captain Miles Standish were honored guests. Elder William Brewster, who was a minister, said a prayer that went something like this: ‘We thank God for our homes and our food and our safety in a new land. We thank God for the opportunity to create a new world for freedom and justice.”

There has been a lot in my small slice of the world to be thankful for this year. With as difficult a year as 2013 was, it wasn’t difficult for 2014 to be infinately better!

The #1 best thing about this year that I’m the MOST thankful for is of course, the newest addition to the family. My little nephew, Prince Nugget.

Its amazing that he’s now been growing OUTSIDE the womb for 7 months …. He’s such a happy kid, and I swear, his giggles might cure any ailment. I’m thankful I get to see him often and that he brings the whole family together. We seriously got lucky to have a cute kid to love on, good job Big Seester and Phillipe!

#2: Little Brother is SO much happier at Penn State this year.

Its awesome to see him coming into his own and really enjoying it. We’re again, a lucky family in that we all talk to each other at least once a day. So we always know whats going on in each other’s lives, and that’s something to be thankful for.  I’m excited to spend some time with him at home this week. We went to see Mockingjay Part 1 already…. we may have to go see it again! But I probably need to read the book for the 4th time first…..

#3: Fitting! I just celebrated my 3 year anniversary at work!

It has been an incredible experience to be a part of a company this well known at the start of my career. I can’t even begin to write down a list of my favroite things about this place. I’ve done too many cool things that people outside this business would only dream about. I have learned so much, but this brings me to….

#4: I HAVE A NEW JOB!  repeat… I HAVE A NEW JOB! I’m so thankful and blessed and another million hashtags to announce that I have accepted a BIG GIRL position in Business Development for another REALLY well known company.

What does this mean? Well, that for the past 2 weeks I have had terrible anxiety and stress on leaving everyone here and moving to…….. pause for effect…………………. NEW ORLEANS. Thats right, I tricked you in the Solo Traveler post. I was interviewing. sneaky sneaky.

Among other things, including driving my family NUTS,  I have had a TON of questions (what the heck is this 401k packet I’m looking at?! my head hurts) and just want to find a place to live… NOW. Unfortunately thats not how apartment complexes work and even if I found one I liked online I still have to wait till mid-December to actually go SEE it in person, IF its still available then. I need an adultier adult in this situation… thankfully, Daddio has agreed to help and I just bought our tickets to NOLA.

Luckily, I have some really great soon-to-be-ex-coworkers who have friends EVERYWHERE who have been excited and helpful by passing along information or hooking me up with their friends so I know where the heck I’m looking. Fun Fact, another of my former coworkers moved down to the Big Easy so at least I know ONE person there…. its a start.

This new position is like nothing I’ve done before, its more of a traveling role (which is awesome) I’ll be on the road a lot, and there’s no actual headquarters/office building in New Orleans so I’ll be working from home when I have office hours. LOVE that. I have two weeks of training in warm climates (think caribbean) then return home and have 2 weeks to celebrate turning 26, try to find a suitible living quarters, celebrate Christmas and then pack up and drive my life on to a new adventure.

Its scary and exciting at the same time. I’ve never “quit” anything before so this is a new emotion for me…. Everything I’ve previously done just….. ended. This was my first experience actually writing a letter of resignation and putting in my 2 weeks notice. Talk about nerve wracking. Again, I’ve had 3 years in this incredible place with phenomenal people who are excited and supportive of my move. My plan is to bug them as much as possible in the future years anyway, so it’ll be like I never left 🙂 And of course, the door (hopefully I have one) to my future apartment will always be open for them to visit.

Let me leave you with this one simple reminder… Be thankful for the joys in your life. Realize that those are really what makes life worth living. Not the ‘stuff’… Sure that new computer may be really nice to have because its state-of-the-art and whathaveyou. But when the next edition comes out you’ll go right back into that place of wanting. Cherish the people and experiences around you. You don’t get to return them or buy duplicates.

Another piece of that, my very best friend brought up to me this weekend…. Think also of all the doctors, vets, police officers and soldiers who have no choice but to work on Thanksgiving. Its not only retail workers, although they have the loudest voice at the moment. These quiet service members are ready and waiting, all day long, for you to give your dog one-too-many pieces of Turkey, the drunken accidents requiring stitches, the keeping the roads safe and literally keeping YOU safe.

Don’t you think those people going into work would give their right arm to be home with the family they support on THANKSGIVING? Don’t be that person who ditches family/friends to buy stuff you don’t need.

All the deals will still be there on Cyber Monday 🙂