I’m feeling thankful, y’all. Not just because it’s almost Thanksgiving. I mentioned the other day that my friend Samm delivered a coffee to my classroom. A couple of days prior to that, she brought me chocolate chip cookies. This weekend, my hubby came home with holiday mugs (coffee and it’s related things are the way to my heart.) and bubble bath treats. This weekend, I was finally able to squeeze in some catch-up time with some friends I’ve been missing a whole bunch. I just feel so blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life. In celebration of little treats, an upcoming holiday and amazing people, I’d like to dedicate this blog to some of my favorite gifts (of the human sort),and to the lovely, sometimes amusing and often surprising ways they came into my life.

• Meg, and our 10+ years of best friendship. 75 percent of this best friendship has been kept from thousands of miles away. She is,hands down, the most caring and wonderful person I’ve ever known, and I can’t describe in words how much love I have for this girl.
• Tessa, and our awkwardly innocent 16 year old selves meeting almost seven years ago. We worked at a jewelry store together, giggled about the same silly things and were both obvious virgins. As the years went by, we’d often see each other a handful of times or less a year. Now we can barely go a week without having withdrawals from the other. We have a non-sexual romantic kind of love.
• Bryant, and our six+ years of dude/girl best friendship. I remember painting houses with him on our senior trip in London; I was feeling sad because I didn’t think our friendship would make it after graduation. Going through drawers the other day, I found a note from him that almost made me cry. It ended with: ”U taught me friendship and true love in friendship… yes L-O-V-E lol. I love u christina—and I don’t know y I’m writin haha….I just felt like it…..we use to write to each other in highschool and I would never write you back haha….so here you go!”  Our friendship has easily gotten ten times stronger since that day we painted houses together in London.
• Priscilla, who intimidated me in high school because she was cool. I was not cool in high school. (I’m only slightly more cool now.) When she started dating Bryant, we slowly started hanging out too. I was a little surprised when, last Christmas, she bought me a present. She, at first, feigns nonchalance in relationships and we still weren’t that close yet. Later,she admitted she bought me a gift because she wanted me to be her friend. It tickles me that she tried to purchase my friendship. I won’t say it worked, but for what it’s worth, she is one of my closest friends a year later.
• Emily, Brooke, Patrick, and Jennifer and my two months of working with them at Starbucks. They, one by one, left due to lousy management. It only took two months of working with them for all four to become some of my favorite people more than two years later.
• Kimber and Bonnie, whom I met in Spanish 2 at Austin Community College. They were the first to take me out for drinks on my 21st birthday. This began a tradition of countless happy hours, long conversations and more memories and laughs than I could possibly count.  Bonnie’s pregnant now, so it may be a while until our next group drink. But happy hour or not, I feel so lucky to have these two in my life. It also must be noted that Kimber makes some mean blueberry cupcakes and has a really comfy bed.
• Miss Katie and our high-school memories of playing hooky to chat in the girl’s locker room. After graduation, we became even closer and began traditions of making music videos and taking photo shoots together. This past summer, we went on a week and a half road-trip to New Mexico, in which I paid for almost nothing. With more than five years of friendship under our belt, I can say for sure that she is one of the most giving people I know, and definitely among the best to take fully clothed pictures in the bathtub with.
• Fernanda, a coworker whom I never imagined I would be friends with. She didn’t like me because my family owned the store we worked at. I didn’t like her because she didn’t like me. It was when I got engaged that this all changed. I didn’t want to plan my wedding. She did. She took me to a bridal convention, helped me pick out my dress, was one of my bridesmaids, and probably did five times what I did as far as my wedding planning goes. Thus began a beautiful friendship.
• Chelsea and Jake, who are among the most amusing and sweetest of all the fellow married couples I know and love.
• My husband, and meeting him at a party after I had digested one too many jello shots. I was prancing around the garage in a bikini, while also attempting to avoid a creepy dude who had been hitting on me all night. That’s when I saw Robby. It was a strange moment, like one of those you hear about in cheesy romance novels. We locked eyes, and though I don’t believe in ‘Love at first sight,’ it was definitely some kind of instant connection. I’d never experienced anything like it before. Maybe it was the jello shots. Husband likes to say he knew then that he thought he could marry me, which I think is silly but still flattering. Later that night, we juiced a cantaloupe. A year and a half later, we were married.

• Becca and Crystal, whom have become two of my closest friends from college. Over a year of happy hours, study breaks, coffee dates, school projects and parties these two have both become such wonderful, fun and amazing girl friends to me.
• Deesh and Bing, who I met through my husband and have since proven to be among the coolest and sweetest guys I know.
• Samm and our new friendship, acquired thanks to Government class. She’s already proven to be a great friend and spoils me way more than necessary. (Not that I’m complaining.)
• Jenny, who was a blogging friend and has now become a real-life AND blogging friend.
• All of my other blogging buddies (very possibly YOU!) who have made me laugh, think, feel and understand so much more than I ever would have without their presence in the blogosphere.

I could write a book about all of the people I love, but I’ll stop now. (So don’t be sad if you’re not on here, because I probably love you too!) This blog is just a really long way of saying that I’m lucky and loved and happy and oh so thankful. So…..thanks guys. Thanks for making me a really happy,loved, spoiled girl/brat. Y’all are the best.