A Bountiful 2011

Thanksgiving's coming.  It's my very favorite holiday.  I start calorie counting on November 1 just to make room for all the goodness I'm going to absorb at Thanksgiving dinner and the week of leftovers. Yum!

This year I'm hosting a very Spinsterlicious holiday that will begin on Wednesday evening and last through the weekend with my sister and a few fabulous girlfriends. I'm looking very forward to it.

2011 was a good year.  Here's a few of the many things I'm thankful for:

• Another good year with Danny, the world's cutest dog.

• Fresh Direct, my Thanksgiving partner, who makes it all possible (well, much of it).  Once I discovered them a few years ago, I've been hosting Thanksgiving dinner ever since.  They deliver a delicious, full Thanksgiving dinner.  All I gotta do is warm it up!  And my house smells amazing...like I've been cooking all day.

• My friends.  They're great.  Good people.  Always there for me.  And they make me laugh.  

• Oprah's Life Class.  At first it seemed corny to me, but I really like it and it always makes me think. 

• Being let go from a job I didn't like.  It's such a relief not to have to go somewhere every single day that I didn't want to be.  This gave me the freedom to remember what I really should be doing, which is to be self employed...doing my own thing.  I had my own consumer research and strategy firm for 13 years, but put it on pause when the economy got weird.  I re-opened Golden Door Consulting and now get to revel in what I love most  (no boss, choosing projects I enjoy,  getting up when I feel like it, going to bed when I feel like it, having clients who respect my voice, the freedom to make my own hours…).  It's good.

• Another year of good health.  I do not take this for granted.

• Kale.  My latest go-to food.  There's rarely a time when I don't have something kale-y in my refrigerator:  braised kale, kale salad, sautéed kale and white beans, kale and chicken soup…  

• Great vacation trips to Charleston, SC; Washington, DC; New Meadows, Idaho; Martha's Vineyard, MA.  For the first time in 15 years, I didn't leave the country for vacation.  I stayed closer to home so I could focus my time (really my $$) on my business. But next year...

• A couple of short-term, harmless, fun relationships with guys I liked enough to spend a little time with, but not a lot.  Worked out just fine.

• My "The Spinsterlicious Life" blog and all 58,000+ readers (and, especially you!)  This blog is way more interesting and fun than I ever thought it would be.  I've learned a lot and "met" some pretty interesting people…people I'd probably never have had the opportunity to come across without it.

• And tied to this, the great response to The Spinsterlicious Life Shop  where I sell Spinsterlicious gear to like-minded women.  The t-shirts, mug, and canvas bag have been popular and remind me of the virtual feeling of sisterhood among women who are single and making it work (or at least trying to).  

Another great year.  And you?  What are you thankful for this year?


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