I am thankful for being thankful

I am thankful for still retaining a sense of wonder. Now this is a strange one keep with me. Gus and I were driving home from Cleveland and had no audiobooks to listen to so we were forced to talk to each other for 20 hours roundtrip. Luckily he is kind of interesting so it was not that bad. Gus however works in an industry of sorrow if you will. He deals with the darker side of life, drug abuse, neglect, poverty really sad stories of people really down on their luck and he is essentially their last line of defense. Now that is a lot of pressure and he copes with it by playing fantasy football and watching way too many zombie shows.

I however have a really hard time listening to these stories and it is easy for me to become very deflated and sad as I begin thinking about the tragedy of life on a global scale. Deep huh? What I am thankful for is that I am able to get out of that and twist it into positive things. I am glad that I have retained a reserve of optimism even in the face of what seems like overwhelming gloom. Sometime you just gotta Pollyanna that shit up. I still believe that everyone fundamentally has some good in them. It might not be a lot but it is there and I don’t care if that makes me seem naive or idealistic because I think those traits are positive ones.

I am always going to cry at Folgers and Visa commercials. I am never going to enjoy watching someone lose or have their dreams dashed. I am always going to get excited about the Muppets, and the Disney Princesses and I will continue to sing along to musicals and wish my life was more like one. That is not going to change, in fact having Gus provide some perspective to my life I think has made me a better person. As they say you can’t have light without the shadows, it just makes you appreciate the sparkle more.

I am thankful for bunny life

I am thankful that Gus has not killed our bunny and made her into dinner.

I am thankful for Bruce

I am thankful that Bruce Springsteen is making a new album and embarking on what I am sure will be an incredibly spectacular world tour.

thankful for Mexican ...

I am thankful that I have a fabulous Mexican restaurant nearby and that everyone there treats me like family and the queso flows as abundantly as the margaritas :)

I am thankful for you...

I am thankful for you all, my fearless readers who call me out on month long hiatuses and lack of insights. Your quiet support radiates through my computer monitor and forces me to be more insightful about the everyday occurrences of my life. You have given me the gift of reflection and an outlet for all of my nonsensical ramblings and observations. Thanks loves J

So much to be thankful for!

I just wanted to wish you all the best Thanksgiving ever. I for one have lots to be thankful for and need to do a better job of appreciating how amazing my life truly is instead of just focusing on whats wrong with me and what I don't have.

I got lots of love and that is good enough for me :)
Herms and I will be going to Cleveburg for Thanksgiving to eat lots of pie with my fabulous Cassidy crew. Can't wait to see everyone and I will update you with lots of pics from our Northern adventures!

State of the Erin Address

Hello lovas!

I returned from a fabulous trip home a week ago and while abroad in the old Commonwealth I was widely chastised for my failure to write on my blog more. The accusations are true as evidently my last entry was mid-July. My bad. It was actually really touching how many of you guys told me that you missed reading the old blog, and that you felt like you did not know what was going on in my life because I never updated anymore. All fair and valid points made by you my dear friends/family. I think my favorite request for more updates came from my Grandpa Greene who told me that after reading my last entry he came to the conclusion that "if I was not offending someone, then I was doing something wrong". Love it, so with the full force and backing of my awesome Grandfathers approval I will commence with my 'State of the Erin' address.

I recently returned home from an awesome trip home where I was able to literally accomplish every single one of my goals, and see everyone I needed to see and do everything I needed to do. I went to CNU's homecoming where I celebrated my 5 year class reunion (yeesh), I attended a baby shower for my personal hero, the crazy Stephanie Anderson who is going to pop in December, I toured my alma mater Trinity and saw all the insanely fancy upgrades they made to the place (thanks Hilary for being a fabulous and patient tour guide), I saw my high school best friends, my Williamsburg best friends, my college best friends, my parents best friends, I got to go to Ernies and celebrate my grandparents birthdays with oreo pudding and the chasing of fake turkeys named Templeton, I got to have lunch and dinners with dear friends who I never get to see, I went shopping and attended happy hours and the cherry on top was I got to spend tons of time with my parents doing silly things like making salads and watching inappropriate movies. Really fantastic vacation. Could not have asked for anything better and it was positively affirming in that I am still loved and people think I am cool and will invest time in having conversations with me :)

I have likened the difference in So. Ill Erin and Commonwealth Erin to the differences between Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus. For those who don't know I am obsessed with Hannah, the wigs and the sparkles etc. really speak to me. However, in all actuality in my current life I am much more like Miley, simple hometown girl from Tennessee. Shes the same person with lots of different aspects. I feel like sometimes I fit into both places perfectly, and then other times I feel like I don't fit into either place at all. When I am at home I enjoy my friends, family, great restaurants and activities and being in demand with people who actually want to see me, but at the same time I miss my house, and my boyfriend and being a little calmer. When I am here I just want to be there, but when I am there I just want to be here. It is all very confusing really. I hope that someday I will be able to consolidate both sides and live closer to home and not have it be such an epic adventure everytime I want to see the people that I love. *fingers crossed*

So that's something I have been mulling over for a few weeks. On the less philosophical home front Gus and I have blatantly ripped off a tradition that my parents and their "peeps" started of making big fires and sitting around them gossiping and drinking. While I was gone Gus made a little brick patio and bought an adorable fire pit and I went out and picked out 5 pink plastic Adirondack chairs and we are hoping that this fall/winter sitting around outside a fire outside will catch on and we will entertain with lots of smores and hot dogs and such. We had a few friends over Sunday night and for its inaugural run the fire went super well. Gus is still working out the dynamics of making the 'perfect fire' at one point he lit himself on fire with lighter fluid and he is currently missing much of the arm hair on his right arm :) Its cute though watching boys around a fire they all turn into cub scouts looking for twigs and criticizing the embers or what not . Hopefully there will be much bonding and ghost stories around our new toy. We have been trying to think of a good name for the fire pit experience. Since it has stars and moons on the sides of it my girlfriend Allison decided to name the firepit "Uranus" so that when I text her to come over she can reply "hurray we are going to set Uranus on fire!!!". Tragically I think the name might stick if left unchecked so I have to stop the madness soon.

Also, as you all know since I have not stopped talking about it I am currently addicted to Pinterest. If you are not on Pinterest you need to be RIGHT NOW. Seriously do it, it will change your life for the better. www.pinterest.com. Go. Make it happen. I will wait.....

Great you are signed up for Pinterest. Awesome.

Now let me tell you how it has changed my life. It is a board full of amazing inspiration, ideas, recipes, creativity, joy, beauty, brilliance, craftiness. I cannot emphasis this enough, my girlfriends told me about it and I scoffed and then joined and then became addicted. I will not lie to you, it is an addiction. Also I have found myself saying this alot "found it on Pinterest!" and then Gus rolls his eyes but he loves everything I make from it. I don't know how the world has lived so long without this site but thank the sweet baby Jesus that we no longer have to live without its aspirational perfection. I hope to see all of your boards very soon pleaseandthankyou.


Now if you are one of the naysayers that I have encountered let me just say this, the most common argument against Pinterst is that you just don't have time for it, but I say as a rebuttal you just don't have time not to Pin. There are so many great tips and ideas that you wander around thinking "why didn't I think of that???" It really is a literal lifesaver and has awakened a very long dormant creativity within myself. The glue gun is back out, I am playing with fabric and acrylic paints again. It is like a time warp back to 2005, I feel like a kid again :) Do it, you will thank me later I promise.


There is more stuff going on I am sure. I will write to you more as I remember. My grandpa asked if I needed a voice recorder to take dictation of all of my 'blog thoughts' honestly I probably do but I think that the extreme stream of conscious randomness that goes through my head daily might be too much for a shiny little machine to handle. I will try make notes on post its or some such thing. Maybe I can make a Pinterest board of blog ideas :)

Love you guys <3