Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 30

I've made it to the finish line! Blogging each day for a month is harder than it sounds, but each year it seems to get a bit easier.  This was my third year participating with NaBloPoMo and my personal challenge of Thirty Days of Thanksgiving.

Fish Eye Fun (taken with my iPhone using the Olloclip Fish Eye Lens)

Today I am thankful for:

• The practice of counting my blessings
• A cozy house on a blustery night
• A glass of vino - Cheers!

It is easy to get bogged down with the challenges of daily life, but blogging daily about the good stuff, big and small, keeps me focused on how good lif is. I hope that, as a reader, this series has inspired you to take stock of the goodness around you and focus your attention there, if even for a short time. We are truly blessed and have much to be grateful for.

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 29

My Fuzzy Buddy

Today I am thankful for:

• Pumpkin - my fuzzy shadow and faithful companion
• A new photography client
• A priority adjustment - with Les' impending deployment we've been forced to focus on what really matters and make the most of the time we have together. While I am unhappy about the looming separation I love that we have pulled together and are making every moment count.

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 28

Blogger FINALLY released an iPhone app! I thought I'd give it a go and see how it works today since my laptop is in the middle of having its hard drive upgraded.

Today I am thankful for:
-My bicycle
-Time with my hubbie at a favorite coffee house & a short bike ride together
-Dinner with my awesome auntie
-A hubbie with technical proficiency - who is right upgrading my computer as I type away on my iPhone

What are you thankful for?

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 27

Shapes + Reflections = Photography Fun!

Today I am thankful for:

• A bike ride with my hubbie and a destination that included a cappuccino
• Christmas lights decorating our front porch
• My NEW food processor and the AMAZING pistachio pesto that it helped me make tonight

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 26

Pure Happiness! (A shop window in the Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego)

Today I am thankful for:

• A yummy breakfast with my parents
• My parents' safe drive home
• Nap time on my comfy sofa
• Christmas decorations
• Dinner with my hubbie on the ship

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 25

After almost five and a half years of blogging I have finally reached my 500th post! Thank you all for following and continuing to follow my journey. I can't wait to see what I find through my explorations and have to share with you in the next 500 posts!

Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego

Today I am thankful for:

• My awesome parents - I am truly blessed to have parents who are also my friends
• My hubbie having the day off from work
• The best Black Friday:
• Yummy breakfast made by my made daddy
• Shopping my favorite camera and art stores
• Cappuccino and gelato in Little Italy
• A drive out to Julian for lunch and apple pie with cinnamon ice cream
• Time to take a few pictures (I haven't had a chance to upload them yet, but expect to see a few in the next couple of days)
• Amazing turkey tacos (prepared by my mom and dad) for dinner

It doesn't get much better than this!!

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 24

Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego

Today I am thankful for:

• Family
• Good food
• A couple of days to spend with my parents

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 23

Urban Garden - Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego

Today I am thankful for:

• A house that smells like Pumpkin Pie
• A fantastic afternoon with my daddy
• A comfy bed to go crawl in to

Good night world!

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 22

Plaza Hotel, Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego

Today I am thankful for:

• Naps
• Homemade Apple-Pear-Cranberry Crisp (I modified the recipe just a bit to include the apples)
• My parents' safe drive to Southern California

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 21

Reflecting - Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego

Today I am thankful for:

• A productive day
• My hubbie making dinner AND cleaning the kitchen
• An evening with two of my favorite kiddos

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 20

Beauty Abandoned - Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego

Today I am thankful for:

• Catching up with a good friend over coffee
• AppleCare protection on my iPhone
• Dinner with my hubbie on his ship
• Rain

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 19

Today Les and I got out to shoot some pictures. We spent a couple of hours wandering around downtown San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter, exploring and capturing a bit of our awesome city.

With my camera in hand I tend to see more than I do when I'm simply running errands or out for a shopping trip. I noticed little things - colors, shapes, historic details...some of my favorite photographic subjects. Over the next few days I will be sharing a few of my favorites from my downtown exploration. I hope you enjoy them!

Today I am thankful for:

• Time to make photographs
• Time with my hubbie, doing something I love and sharing it with him
• The release of Topaz Adjust 5 (a free upgrade if you have Topaz Adjust 4!!) - one of my favorite tools in the digital darkroom
• New pictures to "play" with

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 18

The Owl Pendant on the necklace that Les gave me for our anniversary

Today I am thankful for:

• The time my hubbie and I had to spend together while he was on leave
• Date night - I'm savoring these because there won't be many more before my hubbie deploys
• Crossing a few more items off of the pre-deployment checklist. I strongly dislike the countdown, but I'm thankful to know that we are going to be as prepared as possible.

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 17

Sunset Surfer 2 - Morro Bay Strand

Today I am thankful for:

• The release of the 2011 Beaujolais Nouveau
• A new keychain, the Wisdom Owl Charm by Brighton - I've wanted it for months! When I first saw it I didn't have the money for it and when I went back to buy it as a birthday present for myself it had sold out. I lucked out and found it back in stock today!
• "Jewels" from a Pomegranate - eating a Pomegranate is like a treasure hunt!

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 16

Anniversary Rose

Today I am thankful for:

• Eight years of marriage to a great guy!
• A nice relaxing anniversary
• A massage
• A fabulous dinner at Island Prime
• Two very thoughtful gifts from my hubbie (even though we had agreed no gifts) :-D A cute little necklace with an owl pendant and a "just because" gift that happened to arrive today - an Olloclip len for my iPhone - crazy cool! (The rose photos above were taken with the macro lens attached to my iPhone!)

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 15

Sunset Surfer on the Morro Bay Strand

Today I am thankful for:

• Making it halfway through the month, blogging daily! Its not a easy as it sounds...
• A yummy dinner with a very fun guest - one of my lovely aunties!
• A relaxing end to a very busy day

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 14

Wine & Olive Oil - A year ago in Sicily

Today I am thankful for:

• A good start to Anniversary Week - a flower from my sweet hubbie who noticed I needed a pick-me-up
• An (almost) clean house, at least the laundry is done...for today
• A tasty glass of French wine to sip while I unwind

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 13

Fun Colors in Little Italy, San Diego

Today I am thankful for:

• Dinner with family - great company, great food!
• A new shower head - a HUGE improvement over the one that came with our house!
• A good, productive weekend

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 12

Balboa Theater - Downtown San Diego

Today I am thankful for:

• The opportunity to see one of my favorite musical groups perform - Pink Martini!! The show was AMAZING!
• My awesome parents for buying the tickets for Les & I
• Date night, two nights in a row
• Going to the theater twice in one week!

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 11

Today I am thankful for:

• All of the men and women who have served and are currently serving in our Armed Forces
• My Sailor
• Date night

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 10

Today I am thankful for:

• The opportunity to see an amazing play - Come Fly Away
• Time with my awesome aunties
• Newly discovered space in our living room (we cleaned out a few things)

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 9

On a Front Porch in Little Italy

Today I am thankful for:

• Finding an activity (not sure if I'd call it a hobby yet) that I share with my husband
• My husband's encouragement when we are out on a bicycle ride
• Completing a LONG (for me) bike ride
• Not having to make dinner (because I'm exhausted from said bike ride)
• A glass of wine and curling up on the sofa in my PJ's

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 8

Today I am thankful for:

• My Crock Pot and ease with which it allows me to prepare delicious food - tonight's dinner was Carnitas! (find the recipe here) Seriously AMAZING!
• A clean house
• Getting things checked off of the to-do list

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 7

San Diego City Lights

Today I am thankful for:

• My super-cool star filter (used in the photo above) 
• A new bike rack for my car (I've been wanting one for about a decade!)
• Delicious Posole for dinner (click here for the recipe)
• My hubbie cleaning up the kitchen after dinner
• Relaxing with a glass of vino

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 6

The City by the Bay

Today I am thankful for:

• A laid-back day
• Yummy Pho for lunch
• Starbucks' Egg Nog Lattes

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day 5

Another look at the River Boat on San Diego Bay

Today I am thankful for:

• Quality time with my hubbie
• A fantastic date night with dinner at Blind Lady Ale House and dessert at Demille's
• Limoncello - Gratis from our server who was from Palermo