Friends Becoming Friends

Friday night I wasn't feeling well and didn't feel like going out. I was happily sitting on the couch eating a slice of JIF Mocha Cappuccino Hazelnut Butter toast (yes, it's better than Nutella) and watching the live stream from Austin City Limits on YouTube, and honestly had no intentions of going out. Thankfully (in the end) my friends had a different idea in mind and banded together to make sure I went out. 

Over the past few weeks, some of my random friend circles have been meeting and becoming good friends too. I've never really experienced different friend groups all getting along so well before, but I am so thankful to be experiencing it now. 

Out of my three friends who convinced me to go out Friday, I've only known one of them longer than a year, and the three of them have only all known each other for a tops of six months. None of that seems to matter, however, and we all get along, have each other's backs, and don't let each other stop anywhere short of greatness.

It may sound funny, but I felt so loved last night that my three friends weren't going to let me cop out of having a great night. I pretended to be upset at first, but really felt blessed to have such great people in my life.

Thanks y'all.

October Thankfulness

October is arguably the best month of the year, and this year's has already been full of great moments. Here are some of the highlights I'm thankful for so far:

Everything pumpkin

One of the girls at work has these fabulous pumpkin spice Hershey's kisses in her office & I've certainly been drinking my fair share of Southern Tier's Pumking among other pumpkin beers.

Tailgating & the football game I went to a few weeks ago

The game was painful to watch (I'm a loyal Illinois fan and this year is just too sad for me to watch), but tailgating was fun and I was so happy to be with my family and Kat.

A trip to Curtis

I made my yearly trip to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch on the most perfect fall day. It was full of picking out pumpkins, buying delish honeycrisp apples, and enjoying a cider slushy and donut. So perfect.

My job

I just celebrated my 1 year anniversary at a company where I get to be both silly and smart, have amazing coworkers that make me laugh every day, and do interesting work I genuinely love to do.

I asked my coworker for gum one day and she came back with this spread. Gotta love her :) 

New office decoration. I have to say I fall in the "collaborate and listen" group.

My first Chicago Ideas Week talk

I found out about the event too late last year, but was on my game this year and got tickets to two talks. The talks are TED Talk-esque except each talk is only $15 and in downtown Chicago so they're super accessible to us Chicagoans. The first one I attended about storytelling was so interesting and inspiring, and I'm looking forward to one about food on Sunday. I hope anyone in Chicago either checked out one of the talks this year or plans on attending next year. Check it out! 

My good friend's wedding

It was so crazy watching one of my good friends from high school get married, but I was so thankful to have been able to attend and share in the joyous day. It was also one of the few times all of my high school friends had been together over the past few years, so the reunion was a nice addition to the already beautiful event. I'm so happy for her and her new husband, and it was a nice reminder of how much we've all grown since high school yet can still come back together and have a great time.

It's already been a great month and we're only half way through. I can't wait to see what the rest of the month has in store.

I hope everyone else's October has been as beautiful as mine :)