Happy Thanksgiving, friends! Hope your holidays are filled with joy and love. (And hopefully, excellent eats.)
In the spirit of giving thanks, and continuing my list of thankful type things from week before last (see here), here are Thursday 13 things I'm grateful for...
 |
| Crispy halibut with lemon basil sauce. Yum. |
10. Good eating. Even when I complain that there's "nothing to eat" in the house, I know how fortunate we are to enjoy good, often healthy food.
11. Dissertation progress. Although slower than I'd like what with conferences, holidays and head colds, the dissertation is humming along. Wait, is that light at the end of the tunnel?
12. Surprise BFF visits. Earlier this month, one of my favorite people dropped by for a quick overnight visit. I felt so blessed to be able to hang out and catch up for a few hours.
 |
| Another day, another Southwest flight. |
13. My home-owning sister. Congrats to my sis, Emily, on moving into her first house!! Can't wait to see the new digs. (Later we can talk about how weird it is that they're letting little kids buy houses these days. Translation: I'm often surprised that my siblings are full-on grown-ups now.)
14. Safe travels. I continue to be thankful for safe travels in the sky and on the ground.
15. The new-to-us dishwasher. While I understand that waxing poetic about a dishwasher may sound too Suzy Homemaker for words, I can't stop myself. The new machine (handily installed by Mr. T) is a shining star of cleanliness. The water? It actually drains out now. Our glasses? They're streak-free. Don't get me started on the shimmery silverware. Magic, I tell you.
16. Visiting Hogwarts. Speaking of magic, I am so thankful to have spent a day in fantasy land with Harry Potter and company last week. Although I technically did not "have time" (by the grad school standard of working nonstop anyway), I felt rejuvenated by the break and ability to play. Want to see all the photos? Click here.
17. Excellent NCA presentations. This year, I had three main commitments at the annual meetings of the National Communication Association. The first was to help co-lead a short course on qualitative data analysis with my advisor, Dr. Sarah Tracy, and a few fabulous grad school colleagues. It went super well! I felt energized to see so many people interested in qualitative methods, especially so early on a Friday morning. The second and third commitments involved presenting my research. Both presentations, including one on the "Top Papers in Health Communication" panel, seemed to go swimmingly (if I do say so myself).
18. Surviving "market year" at NCA. If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me if I was "on the market" at NCA last week, I'd have at least enough cash for a fancy steak dinner. I've mentioned the academic job market briefly in previous posts (see here), but until bebopping around the conference with potential employers and the brilliant competition, I had no idea how anxiety-producing it could be. Suffice to say, I survived, but the awareness that I have no clue what I'll be doing six months from now was/is a wee bit terrifying.
 |
| Do you have a flag? |
19. The limited timeline of the common head cold. (Knock on wood.) Mmk. Now, I fly a lot. A lot, a lot. Consequently, and as the last couple years of good health have shown, I enjoy an immune system of steel. At least where cold and flues are concerned anyway. So when I got off my flight from Orlando the other day, it shocked me to realize that my runny nose might indicate illness and not just allergies. I'm grateful that these head cold things typically run a short course. Let's hope so anyways, I need my taste buds this week!
20. Football firsts. I'm thankful for novelty including seeing my first in-person pro football game earlier this week. I got to watch the 49ers just crush the Bears on Monday. And for the first time, I understand why people follow this rough and tumble sport. The energy of the crowd was crazy! (Indeed, a little too crazy for me. I realized that tailgating is a real thing and after wading through beer cans to get to the stadium, I noticed that the majority of our compatriots were trashed. SO not a place I'd bring kidlets. Had a blast though!)
21. Receiving a fellowship. On the way to the football game, somewhere past Benicia, I looked at my phone and squealed. Then screeched. With an accompanying fist pump. (I may or may not have scared the crap out of Mr. T.) The theatrics? The result of finding out that I received the fellowship that I applied for earlier this semester. The ASU Graduate College "Completion Fellowship" is a stipend that will essentially allow me to sidestep next semester's research/teaching work in order to concentrate on my dissertation full time. How cool is that??
22. Turkey Day! Hooray for an entire day to spend with family and friends, eating all the things. Hope your Thanksgiving is marvelous.
xoxo,
shawna
Recent Thursday 13s:
Confessions, volume VII, the political edition
Early Fall snapshot
Confession, volume VI
Fitness class characters
July 2012 snapshot
Things you must know about EAA AirVenture in OshkoshLabels: academia, advisor, association, ASU, communication, dissertation, fellowship, giving thanks, Gratitude, national, NCA, personal, presentations, public speaking, Thanksgiving, Travel
