My Major Award

That's right. I won something. It is a rare occurrence in my life (although I'd be lying if I said I'd never won anything ever because that's not true), but occasionally I am lucky enough to win some pretty cool things. Well, just recently I won a recipe book!

I won it from my friend Ashley who has an awesome foodie/cooking blog! She has some great stuff on there! I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies from a recipe she posted, and they were delicious! I'm so excited to use my Rachel Ray cookbook that I won! Thanks Ashley!

Thanksgiving Has Officially Secured A Place in My Heart

No, not the actual eating and making of meals, but the idea of dedicating a day in which to be grateful for everything and everyone that is in our life. Too often we forget or take for granted all the good things in our life because we concentrate so much on our problems, troubles, and worries. We get too caught up in the day to day monotony of our existence that we don't stop and think about how we are actually alive today and breathing or how we just witnessed a beautiful sunset and how we can see it.

I realize it's easy to go about our business because if we stopped to reflect on all the wonderful things in our life, we wouldn't get anything accomplished and turn into a hippy without a job or home in which to be thankful for. I get it. It makes sense. But that's my point. If every once in a while we take a moment to appreciate what we have, all of the other crappy moments in our life don't seem quite as crappy: In comes Thanksgiving.

I think we all know how I feel about the overlooking of this great American holiday. You don't? Well check out this post and this one. Since over the years I've become more passionate about the world recognizing this holiday, I decided to do something about it in my small little way. What is it, you ask?

I'm sending Thanksgiving cards.

That's right. There is a tiny section of cards at Target that are just for Thanksgiving, and as I passed them the other day, I decided, "Why not?" and I totally bought them. Yes, yes I did.

So if you are one of the rare few (I only bought 12) that receives one of these Thanksgiving cards it means I care about you and am very grateful to have you in my life. For those that don't receive one, don't worry. I still love you and am grateful you are in my life, I just didn't have enough money to buy a bunch of cards and stamps to mail one to everyone I'm thankful for.

With that said, be thinking about what your blessings are to prepare for the upcoming holiday. I hope your lists are super long by the time the turkey comes out of the oven. And, if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you at least take a day sometime soon to contemplate everything in your life that you are grateful for. I promise, it really changes your attitude and helps, pardon the cliche, turn your frown upside down.

And yes, Kraft counts.