Thankful Thursday No. 2

The astute among you might've realized that I missed Thankful Thursday last week. Oops! In my defense, I had a 12-hour day at work so my blogging time was slim to none. So here are some things I am thankful for:

1. Fall weather. I've been taking advantage of these cool, crisp, not-a-cloud in the sky days as much as possible. Today, Josh and I took Gracie to the dog park and threw a ball for her over and over again. I know she enjoys getting the chance to run freely. And I just love walking the streets in our neighborhood with crunchy leaves underfoot.

2. Trivia games. Last night I competed with seven colleagues at an annual trivia competition. We came in 2nd in 2007 and 2009 and 1st in 2008. Well, we regained our title last night! It requires lots of knowledge about current events and world leaders. We were so surprised to win -- our main competition is a local defense contracting firm, and they're really, really good. This just adds to my desire to appear on "Jeopardy!". I'm on the e-mail list, but they so rarely announce auditions. Someday ...

3. Colinette Jitterbug. I've never worked with this yarn before but it's so lovely. It's squishy and works up at a nice gauge (only 60 stitches around for a sock is unheard of for me). The only downside? The knots and fuzzy joins. Still, though, it's got a great twist and I've got more than half a sock done in three days.

Thankful Thursday

I found out about the idea of Thankful Thursday on another knitting blog and thought: "I can totally manage blogging at least once a week. The idea behind Thankful Thursday is that you list three things you're thankful for, on each Thursday in November. So without further ado:

1. My brother. He flew in from Ohio a week ago and we did the Wicked 10K together. Most people dress up since it's Halloween weekend. We put together our Star Trek uniforms (patches from roddenberry.com), phasers from Amazon, my ears courtesy of a costume shop in Ohio -- thanks, Mom!) We walked the race (because of his bruised rib and my general feeling of yuckiness) instead of running, and it was a nice time. While he was here, we went down to the Outer Banks and played some pool one night, too. It was lovely!

2. My beau. Maybe it's getting to be that time of the year when I get all gushy and reflective around the holidays, but I just feel so lucky to have him in my life. He's hilarious and smart and cute and generous.

3. Lest you think I'm all about the humans ... I'm thankful for my flat-iron. After years of borrowing them from roommates or just going curly, I plunked down a little cash for a flat-iron of my own. It does not take anywhere near as long as I thought it would. I picked one of the top-rated ones on Amazon, and I'm definitely impressed.