2014 has certainly not been off to the best start for me, but I'm so over feeling sad and miserable all the time. It's just the worst. So now that I'm back in DC and sort of back into the swing of things, I'm trying my hardest to "turn that frown upside down."

I remember when Ali was Chrons-ing hardcore, she'd do her Thankful Thursday posts as a way to sort of force herself into a positive mood, and while I know it's not yet Thursday, I've decided do one of those posts anyway, because I need it today. (Also, cute baby pictures below.)

I'm thankful my parents are only a short car ride away. So when something crappy happens, I can hastily throw some stuff in a bag and head straight up 95. There's seriously no better place to be than home when you're going through some tough crap.

I'm thankful my parents don't mind me calling them at 9 a.m. on New Year's Day in tears and telling them I'm coming home. Not asking, telling and then showing up looking like a hot mess about 2.5 hours later. I'm sure that's totally how they imagined spending their New Years.

I'm thankful that I have truly amazing friends. They've offered to cram my calendar full of fun social events, make me dinner so that I don't have to cook for myself and pretty much let me move into their houses so I don't have to be all alone in my apartment.

I'm thankful for acquaintances who have gone above and beyond. It's always interesting when you're going through hard stuff to see who comes out of the woodwork to help in some way. I mean I always expected my very close friends to be there for me, but I've been overwhelmed by the kindness I've experienced from other friends in the last few days that I wasn't necessarily expecting.

I'm thankful for my adorable baby cousins. It's really hard to be sad when you're holding this much cuteness in your lap. (P.S. Twins update -- they are both home from the NICU!)


Patrick sound asleep


Cameron pondering the mysteries of the universe

I'm thankful for a job I'm good at working with people I love. I've always found my job to be a fantastic distraction from all the other crap I'm dealing with. I love my job. I'm good at it, and most days, I can pretty easily get lost in my projects. I will now probably have some inexplicable drive to kick more ass than normal. Watch out world.


Our annual holiday picture

I'm thankful that I start teaching again in a few weeks. See the above about work. My class at Maryland starts soon, and I've been putting the finishing touches on my syllabus and assignments. To any future students who may be reading, get ready for an awesome semester. But also brace yourself to get F's because that will definitely happen.

I'm thankful that I've been through this before so that I know I will get through it again. Yep, bet no one was expecting that one. But it's true. My last breakup was a hell of a lot more traumatic than this one. That's not to say this one isn't still sad and hard, but because I've survived worse, I know I'll survive this.

And that's all I've got for today. Happy Tuesday people. I hope you're staying warm.

I hope to be back to regularly scheduled blogging (and hopefully my more cheery self) soon.