I actually THINK about blogging all the time...

...and if I could THINK or talk my blog entries into being while I drive to and from work (like I use the voice recognition software on my Droid to send e-mail and texts without typing), there would probably be at least one entry a day! I hope someone gets on developing that capability soon... ;-)

Today I weigh exactly 10 pounds more than I did last Thanksgiving. That is not great, but I guess it could be worse considering I can put on 5 pounds in a DAY. As I have said before, I am sure that it's all about exercise. I am eating identically to the way I ate last year, but I am not exercising much. I know this, but I am not doing it. I don't know why.

Tomorrow we are headed to Nearby Town for Thanksgiving and we will be with PD1 and PD2 and their families along with some of DB's siblings and their families. I love cooking for Thanksgiving and it's wonderful to have so many pitching in. We will be there until Saturday.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I enjoy reveling in my thankfulness. This year, the thoughts going through my head go something like this:

For many years, Thanksgiving for me was a friend holiday, not a family one. I lived in NYC and my parents were in Indiana -- I could only afford to go home for one holiday and I chose Christmas. I started to love Thanksgiving during those Friend Thanksgiving years. No family pressure, just fun with friends. Every Thanksgiving was different although if I ended up cooking I usually made the same menu. It was a relaxing and wonderful time of year. I was thankful.

As I got older (and moved to LA where I had more space to entertain), I always invited a bunch of people over to eat the feast with me. The most people I ever had was, I think, 20...and all but one were friends, not family. I was and am blessed with some truly great friends. I was thankful.

I never seemed to have a boyfriend on Thanksgiving and, as I moved through my 30s, I came to terms with the fact that I might be "alone" (i.e., without a mate/partner) for the rest of my life. I came to terms with not having kids (even though I loved them so) because I recognized how difficult it would be to have some (or one) on my own and I didn't want to cheat a kid out of a dad from the get-go (and none of my boyfriends were daddy material). While these may seem to be sad or depressing thoughts, they weren't. They were realistic and I was a very happy woman. My life was happy happy happy and fun and fabulous. I had a home of my own, a great job, great family, great friends. I was thankful.

Then DB showed up in my life. And I got happier than I ever imagined I could be. Having accepted that I might not find a partner (even while still hoping that I might...and working toward that), he was (and is) a huge treat. I started to give thanks for having been lucky enough to find him. And, if that wasn't enough, with this amazing man, the love of my life, I got a huge bonus: I got children and grandchildren to love too! I got EVERYTHING I ever wanted...

"Thankful", at this point, almost doesn't seem a big enough word to say how I feel:

I feel Thankfulfilled!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone...may you all be thankfulfilled.

Our new mural

Thought you all might like to see this...painted during our local monthly art event last night. This is the wall in front of our house. I love it!

I know I'm a slacker blogger...

...but I seem to be doing ok with micro-blogging on Facebook. Need to research how to link the two so when I post on FB it shows up here too so at least SOMETHING appears more often than every two weeks.

Life is still busy. DB is playing with 3 musical projects so we have rehearsals here in the studio many nights and performances many others. As I said on FB last night: "being a groupie is tiring, but rewarding". ;-)

We had a fun night last Wednesday going to a premiere for a film featuring one of our good friends. She had a fantastic role and I had not seen her act before...wow, she was great!! So absolutely cool to see your friends excel! She was actually the LEAD female in the film with a lot of famous/good actors. Too bad the film wasn't very good...lots of good performances though (including our friend).

I still am working toward weight-loss -- yesterday I weighed less than I have in a long time. And today I gained 5 pounds from yesterday morning! (I know why -- CHIPS and beer during a day-long child's/parent's birthday party then DB gig.) Oh well...I am working on it still...need more exercise mostly...the food remains pretty good most every day. But it sure is interesting how FAST the weight comes (and goes) on the scale. My sensitivity to carbs is really astonishing.

This Thursday during a monthly event we have in our neighborhood where there is tons of art exhibited, we are having an artist do a live mural painting on our front wall. I am so excited. We live in a kind of compound and our front wall has been so boring and white. Now it will have a whimsical painting of a gorilla family walking to the beach...by an up-and-coming artist in our community. There are a lot of murals in public places in Venice...I am happy to think of us contributing to that. :-)

In addition to DB gigs all over the place (usually at least once a week), our next three weekends are booked. Friends and pre-Thanksgiving prep next weekend, Thanksgiving in Nearby Town at DB's family's house (may be the last year the house is in the family so we and PD1 and PD2's families are going up for some fun family time), then memorial weekend for my friend Sheila who died in July (we are camping out near the beach and doing ash-scattering/memorial on Saturday afternoon -- people coming from near and far).

I have been doing daily meditations/chanting for a better more-positive future for the world...so much negativity everywhere I see...I blame the media A LOT...I believe we can create a POSITIVE future and we all need to work toward that. Concentrating on this makes me and my world happier...micro to macro. Om.