Hey everyone! I have quite a few things I am thankful for and then I have a few announcements as well but first… it’s my one year blogaversary!

Well, technically I launched my blog on November 25th and actually wrote my first post on November 26th, so it was this past weekend but I’m very happy that I’ve kept up my blog for a year already.

And that leads perfectly to my list of things I’m thankful for! As most of you will know, it was Thanksgiving last week so I’m a little late for this post but better late than never! Here’s a short (and not all-inclusive) list of things I’m thankful for:

• My blog and YOU! I’m very thankful for the creative outlet my blog provides me and to each and everyone of you who read my posts.
• My family. I am very thankful to my mom, dad, and sister for being awesome and loving human beings who take me shopping and give me tons of cuddles.
• My work family. I have the wonderful fortune to work for a company that is full of kind and caring people and which fosters an amazing work environment. I got to travel to Cleveland for two days just for an orientation of a work implemented mentoring program, we get a thanksgiving lunch (turkey, stuffing, and all!) at work, we have an annual summer picnic and holiday party which we attend, and department outings every once in awhile. Our leadership is amazing and I’m so happy to be where I am right now.
• My department at work. If everyone at the company is my work family then I don’t even know how to label this group. My work squad? I’m just not sure! They are an amazing group of people that is ever growing. My department is pretty new in the company and a lot of them had been working together for quite some time but were pretty welcoming when I came on board. We’ve continued to grow and add more people into the mix, but we continue to focus on trailblazing together and taking good care of each other. We have monthly team lunches where we just hang out and we have so many great conversations with each other.
• My hobbies. I’m so fortunate to be in a place in my life where I can freely and easily indulge in my favorite hobbies. Every week I have horse back riding lessons just because I decided that I wanted to learn to ride a horse for my 25th birthday and kept at it. I already mentioned my blog but I also have that. And I have the ability to go see musical theatre productions, which I really, really enjoy. I even got to see Hamilton this year! In addition to that I have the time I can dedicate to reading books all the time (76 out of a goal of 75 on Goodreads!) and writing a novel for NaNoWriMo (more on that later).
• My friends. I have had an amazing group of friends this year. They’ve supported me and accepted me into their lives in so many ways that I can’t even begin to express here! I’ve also managed to reconnect with a few of my old college friends and even a grade school friend as well.
• My country. Although I didn’t get the result I hoped for this year for our elections I’m confident that we, as a nation, will continue to grow and fight against oppressors of our freedoms and individual rights.

That’s just a short list of what I’m thankful for this year. There is so much more but I’m itching to get back to my NaNo novel and I also don’t want this post to be a million words long.

As for my NaNoWriMo (NaNo) novel, it’s going great! I’ve talked about NaNo in a few other posts but to quickly summarize, NaNo is a month long contest where you attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. I am about half a day ahead right now and on track to win right on November 30th.

It is very, very much a first rough draft as I changed a huge element of the story right as I started writing and threw in new characters and new relationships and settings right in the middle. In fact, I just have yet to introduce my villain at 45,000+ words, so I definitely have to go back and add that. I also have to change the first maybe 15,000-20,000 words completely and add so, so much. All my character profiles are now completely different so I might have to do a complete rewrite on this but now that I have my idea fully formed, I’m excited for it.

And now for my announcement! I have just now at this moment (okay like an hour ago) decided I’m going to be doing Blogmas! That means I’ll be posting every day in December up until Christmas. I haven’t planned anything out so I’m a little nervous but I’m feeling up to the challenge, especially since I won’t have NaNo to focus on and I’m so used to letting my creative side fly loose now. If you have any requests, leave them below and I’ll see what I can do!

And that’s my Thanksgiving post! Let me know what you’re thankful for, how your Nano is coming along, or if you’re doing Blogmas too. I want to know about you!

Thanks for reading!