"Get a little warm in my heart when I think of winter..."

So, for those of you who may not watch the news and think of me, the Great Northwest has been hit with its first winter storm. Definitely some parts got hit worse than others. As for the boyfriend and I: some torrential rain, a little snow and some damn freezing temperatures.

Guess what that means?!

Lots of snuggling with the boyfriend :)

Seriously, yesterday was below freezing. Minus a brief foray into the craziness outside, we spent the day at home doing some cleaning. The fun thing about helping the boyfriend clean and sort through things he has in storage is seeing the little clues to his past. A few treasures we stumbled across yesterday:



A magic 8-ball pen



An Oscar Mayer weiner-mobile whistle



A Lego man



A pinball



And the coolest thing EVER!! A "Where in the U.S.A. is Carmen Sandiego?" board game. Can anyone guess what we did last night? Have I mentioned how much I love being a kid again with the boyfriend? Which reminds me...in honor of Thanksgiving tomorrow, here's your holiday Top 9 list.


Top 9 Things I'm Thankful For This Year

(In no particular order...I'm feeling very random today.)



The great love of my life.



Our Netflix membership.



Finding a few more soul mates.



The ability to pursue my passion.



A wonderfully brilliant, healthy and handsome son.



My library membership.



The truest friends a girl could ask for.



A warm roof over my head and a kitchen to cook in.



My health. (As tenuous as it seems some days.)


And now that we're all warm and fuzzy, I should probably say Adieu and start getting stuff ready for tomorrow. Just curious...am I the only one silly enough to be cooking crazy amounts of food?

Have a fantastic holiday y'all. And for my readers who might be in places where tomorrow is not a holiday: Celebrate anyway!! Bring on the wine and Grey Goose ;)

Toodles, my loves!

"You. Complete. Me."

What is a soulmate?

I imagine it means something different to every person. Whether it's your "one and only" someone, the yin to your yang, your perfect other half; or it's a person who just happens to complement you very well, a friend, spouse or family member.

I don't truly believe in the first definition. It's hard for me to swallow that there's only one person out there who is made to be with me, a twin that I am doomed to spend my life searching for. I do, however, think we all have soulmates.

I know I have them in my life. Friends who match me on different levels, who balance me out, smooth my rough edges and introduce me to new sides of myself. People who seem to know me better than I know myself so that I can always trust their advice because I know they truly know me. And I like to envision that I offer the same to them, that I see them as they really are, see past the masks that we all show the world.

I think it's really important to have people like that in your life, people that look past your masks, that know you so well that you don't have to pretend at anything. I know we'd all like to say that we don't pretend, we don't wear any masks; we're real, we don't hide from the world. I beg to differ. No matter how "real" you are, how original you claim to be, EVERYONE has something that they keep from the rest of us, it's just human nature.

So take a close look at your friends, your partner, your family. And take an even closer look at yourselves. What is it that you keep hidden? And who in your life sees it? If you don't think you have anyone who sees the true you, I suggest finding your soulmate. You'll be pleasantly surprised at the impact they have in your life.

And to my soulmates, I hope you all know what you mean to me and how much you impact me and my life each and every day. Thank you for keeping me "real".