Day 1: Cold and rainy Thanksgiving. Introductions. Riverboat cruise. Mashed potatoes and stuffing. Showing off Riley’s tricks.

Day 2: Half Day Cafe for brunch. Cincinnati History Museum. AMAZING replicas/models. Trains and architecture. Via Vite for dinner. Light Up the Square (by chance). Graeter’s ice cream. Fireworks.

Day 3: Leftovers for brunch. Graeter’s ice cream. Lots of fun with Google Street View. University of Cincinnati architecture. Jammed rear brake caliper. Emergency auto service. The P&G towers. Local 127 for dinner. Festival of Lights at the Cincinnati Zoo.

Day 4: Drive to airport. Drive to hotel. Drive to auto repair shop. Drive to Barleycorn’s to watch the Buffalo Bills game. (Turns out it was on regular TV too.) Crushing loss to the Steelers. Back home to recuperate.

Today: No energy for a real blog. :P

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! And if you don’t celebrate, then Happy Regular Old Thursday!

Here are just a few of things for which I am grateful (in no particular order):

• The beautiful, healthy babies that my friends and cousins have produced
• My writing buddies/crit partners, who offer the perfect combination of cheerleading and editing
• The opportunities I’ve had this year, and the resulting growth
• The unwavering support of my parents, boyfriend, and workplace
• Yogurt with granola, chocolate chip pumpkin muffins, and mango smoothies
• Watching my sister marry the love of her life
• A fabulous weekend in New York City with two amazing girlfriends
• Dog Days at work
• The “It Gets Better” Project

There’s more, of course, but if I listed everything I was grateful for, we’d be here forever. What’s on your list this year? (If you blogged as well, feel free to link in the comments.)

I could wax nostalgic about reaching a quarter of a century, but you know what? 25 feels about the same as 24. I am still in this Middle Place, striving toward my Great Dreams. For years now, I have wanted to be There already, but I’m not. I’m Here. And maybe the only thing I can say about 25 so far is that I’m finally okay with Here.

Because Here has love and family and friends, and puppy kisses, and orange leaves swirling in the wind. Here has slow weekend mornings and socked feet and chocolate-covered almonds. Here has laughs that are too loud and jokes that are so, so awful. Here has more good than bad, and a whole lifetime of things to look forward to. Here may not be what I ordered when I was a kid, but I see now that it’s exactly where I’m supposed to be.

Oh darn, looks like I waxed a bit nostalgic after all.

…

For my birthday, Andy and I went out to a nice dinner, played with Riley, and then Andy’s dad came to visit and we all went to see the Bills take on the Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. We’re Bills fans, so the game turned out great. I like to think of it as my little Birthday Miracle.

At the game

Bunny dog!

Man’s best friend

• Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand is one of the best nonfiction books I’ve ever read, and one of the few I’ve truly enjoyed. (I’m a fiction gal, what can I say?) So when I heard she was coming out with a new book, I wanted to know what it was about. I found my answer, and more, in this USA Today piece, which showcases both Unbroken and its author. Apparently Hillenbrand suffers from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (a weak name for a serious disease). In her own words:

  “I have an illness I cannot defeat, so I’m interested to see how other people have endured great hardship,” she says.

• In Glimmer Train, Kathryne Young reveals her insights “On Writing, Not Writing, and the Writing Life.” And it’s quietly brilliant.

  We don’t “discover” our writing selves. We build ourselves into writers by realizing that our busy, imperfect lives are the writing life.

• Today I saved the best for last: “What I Really Want To Say To New Writers” by Natalie Whipple. Every. single. word. is genius. And applicable to writers at any stage, really. For example:

  Finish the dang first draft. You can’t do anything else until you have an actual book to work with. There’s no sense worrying about publishing or editing until you’re done. Typing “The End” is just the beginning.

Last night I went to a friend’s book club meeting to discuss The Hunger Games, because although I’m not a member of their club, I was the one who introduced her to the series. This friend does amazing themed parties, with food based on the characters, handmade decorations, the works. I mean, these pictures are just the tip of the iceberg:

It was a lovely evening, with delicious food and lots of great discussion. Maybe 1/3 of it was even about the book! (Those of you who have been to hen parties book clubs know how high that proportion is.)

And on the drive home, I had a funny thought: Someday that could be my book.

Someday, people could read my stories and discuss them with their girlfriends, their boyfriends, their book club, their coworkers. They could theme their parties on my characters, my fictional world. They could argue about what I meant when I wrote X, whether I should have ended with Y instead of Z.

Isn’t that mind-boggling and awesome?

Maybe someday…

…

Out of curiosity, what’s your “someday”?