(giveaway alert–read to the bottom for a chance to win!)
Today I turn 33. I know I shouldn’t say yikes or talk about how old I am because I know plenty of people are older than me but it is my birthday and so I am going to indulge in a little mini freak out.
yikes.
(I hope that wasn’t too offensive for those who are > 33.)
Now, I have plenty of things I have been wanting/needing to write about. I need to send out a long overdue thank you to some awesome bloggers who gave me a very kind shout-out on their blog, talk about the project I just finished that I love love love, discuss my current lack of knitterly inspiration despite a plethora of WIPs and a growing queue, wonder at my lack of stashed dk weight yarn and the abundance of patterns I want to knit that calls for dk yarn… As you can see, I have a lot to write about and I will be writing on all these things soon.
But for today I thought I would do a list of sorts. I first thought of goals or wishes (i take birthday wishes very seriously) but then I thought that could border on depressing or perhaps even ungrateful. So I thought instead I would give a list of 33 things I am grateful for or simply love about my life, just as it is.
Here goes:
1. Vines on my windows.
2. Complete control over my DVR.
3. Smart Start Maple Brown Sugar. I love this stuff.
4. “Original Children” moments. This is when just the original children (brother Brett and sisters Kara and Bri and I) find ourselves alone together in a room. We like to pause and take a moment.
5. Inspiration. Both divine and creative.
6. The sound of Emma, Ellie and Ryan running to the door when they know I have come for a visit.
7. Parents who love each other.
8. Chuck. Yes, from the tv show Chuck. I think it is okay to be grateful for him.
9. Knitting. I really, really love it. (Just in case you were in doubt.)
10. The ability to pick up and travel wherever I want without too much fuss or coordination.
11. My fingers. I am a little vain about them.
12. Eating Baskin and Robbins’ Peanut Butter and Chocolate ice cream with my sisters.
13. Very patient friends who still love me when they haven’t heard from me in ages.
14. Watching Survivor with my Dad.
15. Funny instant message communications driven primarily by emoticons.
16. 6 wooden dolls sitting on my dining room table right this moment. I know this sounds a little strange but trust me–best. gift. ever.
17. Discovering Dr. Who and Battlestar Galactica with my geek tv loving sister Kara.
18. Drinking hot chocolate in my beautiful butterfly tea cups/mugs.
19. The feeling I get when a Chinese take out order is perfectly chosen.
20. Reading comments from my thoughtful blog readers.
21. Banana Republic miracles.
22. Emails from Emma.
23. Making Ellie laugh.
24. Flipping Ryan upside down.
25. My membership in the pro-Bri-getting-pregnant-sooner-rather-than-later committee.
26. Cheap airfare to Salt Lake City.
27. England. Just that it exists and I can go there or stay here and watch their fine television shows.
28. Checking blogs on cold Saturday mornings.
29. Watching Gilmore Girls whenever and for however long I like.
30. Reading a book for 10 hours straight and having no one to judge me.
31. No mystery food containers in my fridge.
32. Faith and hope. Two things I can’t live without.
33. Knowing my life can and will change on any given day.
Wow, that was harder than it should have been. Must be grateful more often.
In the spirit of gratitude I think perhaps it is time for a little giveaway. So here is the deal, leave me a comment by October 28th telling me one thing you are grateful for or simply love about your life. A winner will be chosen randomly and you will receive a fun package filled with treats and goodies from moi. Anyone is welcome to comment, whether I know you or not or are a knitter or not. Sound good? Good. Comment away…
Wow! Never been the first to comment on anyone’s blog. I have to say my girls (ages 4 and 6) even thought they drive me abolutely nuts most days. I can’t imagine life without them! Happy Birthday!
I am grateful for living in a beautiful city and having a wonderful husband.
I’m grateful that my job brings me to Denver occasionally so I can see you! Happy B’day!
Happy birthday! Those are some great things on your list. I’m grateful for students who are excited about learning Latin and using their brains! Those a-ha moments when they understand something just makes my day.
Happy Birthday! I’m grateful when I hear my phone ring a certain ringtone because it means someone special is calling me.
Happy birthday!!! No need to enter me in the giveaway. I have so much and am grateful for that, and for my family, and for my friends, and for being secure, and for lovely blogs, and for Chuck (me too!), and for the beautiful fall weather, and and and… I could go on and on!
Happy Birthday! 33 is a very good number, many different cultures value 3 very highly. Double luck! I am very grateful for good health, mine and that of my family. Being healthy is something we can take for granted until unfortunately someone experiences a serious illness, or has to start the long grind of Doctors appointments until someone can finally figure out what is wrong. And that is no fun for anyone.
Anne in Calgary
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIN!!! I miss your face!
(Um… guess I’m grateful for your face- but, really, I don’t need to play. Just wanted to wish you birthday wishes!!!)
Ah, yes. Life is made of simple things. Enjoy your happy day!
I am grateful for deciding to start knitting again, because it led me to such a great group of wonderful friends!
I’ll speak for my family: we’re grateful for you! Happy Birthday!
I’m grateful for the many wonderful friends who grace my life. Happy Birthday, Erin!!! Make this year your best ever!!
I loved this post! I am turning 36 (gulp!) in a few weeks and I am going to have to do this for myself. I am thankful for so many things, but the one that springs to mind at this moment is my friends. I have been having a hell of a time at work, and a great friend just called me with a pep talk and some promising options. I’m lucky to have that.
Happy, happy birthday!
I am grateful for you. I love you! Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday! I’m feeling grateful for lots of things these days, but I always feel super grateful for my dog, Manhattan.
It is a hard number to swallow for some reason ~and for the first time in my life I have started to lie about my age not for the sake of being younger I just can’t be bothered with the whole thing so I always say I am 30 ~don’t judge me join me.
I am grateful most of all for quiet moments and my family (two things that never go together) and getting to take part in so many of the things you are grateful for~
Happy Birthday! I’m grateful for good TV shows (Pushing Daisies & Gilmore Girls) for knitting!
Happy Birthday!! From one 33 to another!
I am grateful for knowing who I am. And on a less philosophical note, I am grateful that Starbucks invented Salted Carmel Hot Chocolates – so good!!
I love celebrating brithdays! Happy Birthday, stretch the celebration out for a week! I am grateful that I am crafty. I like that I can look at something and not think “I wish I could make that” but instead think, “oh, I am going to make that, and it’s going to be great” (even if it turns out less perfect than planned.
I read your 33 things & wondered this:
What are Banana Republic miracles?
I too love Gilmore Girls & have all 8 seasons on DVD, but boy was I bummed that she didn’t end up with the blond haired cute guy(name escapes me).
Will you ever knit a Dr. Who scarf?
and
Can we get a picture of the window vines on the blog, I’d love to see them?
I’m grateful for my non-arthritic hands, may they always stay that way so I can knit forever.
Happy Birthday – I turn 36 next month! YIKES!
Happy Birthday! Thanks for a wonderful post! I’m grateful for all the inspiration I get from wonderful bloggers like you!
Well first off, Happy Birthday! Secondly, Gilmore Girls rocks! I am grateful for the wonderful fall views I get to enjoy everyday, especially in the morning when they make me perk up. I am also grateful for my family, they are super supportive of my husband and I in our house hunting saga. Hope you get some yummy yarn today!
HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
You have so many things that you are grateful for–and they are all so sweet. I hope your family reads your blog.
I am most grateful for my ginormous family and all their different quirks and personalities. With 12 “original children”, we have plenty of everything!
Happy Birthday! Lately I am extremely grateful for a two-year-old that will actually take a nap occasionally and for DMC Cebelia floss, which is making some beautiful apple leaf lace edging after 3 misses with other yarns!
Happy birthday! I am grateful for my husband and my dog who love me whatever. And for knitting of course!
How cute are you with your fun birthday post and a giveaway! Let me just tell you my favorite numbers from your list first: 21, 25, 27. All made me laugh.
Something I am grateful for today is…being able to keep in touch with friends through blogs. Also, for a job that doesn’t start until noon. And also, living with my parents (even though I might be a teeny bit ungrateful for this as well).
Also, I am grateful that I ever met you, and got to share peanut butter ice cream with you, and watch awesome tv with you, and laugh with you.
Happy birthday, love! I was going to write it on your facebook wall, but that is another story. I hope 33 is a magical year for you. You deserve it.
What a great way to celebrate your birthday – I am going to steal it for my next birthday
)
One thing I am always grateful for – my first cup of tea in the morning
Happy day – and no offense taken (although I’m not much more than 33, oaky, maybe a bit more).
I’m always grateful for my daughter and partner but I’m so very grateful for my wonderful friends who listen to me whine, share unconditionally and are just fabulous to be around. Don’t know how I would survive without them.
Happy birthday! Your list is lovely. It makes me want to make one of my own. I share #29 with you, and that’s something my boyfriend teases me about relentlessly.
I think the one thing I am grateful for most often is having a sister I can depend on (and vice versa). We don’t see eye to eye on a few big things, but we respect each other’s choices, and never judge. We find comfort in each other when there’s a family problem, and share things that noone else in the world knows. I wouldn’t trade her. <3
Hey! Happy Birthday!
What a wonderful way to celebrate your birthday! I’m going to steal one of yours, because it’s so spot on: eating Baskin & Robbins peanut butter and chocolate ice cream with my sister. To this day, love it! 
Happy Birthday! I’ve never commented before, but I’ve been enjoying your blog for awhile. This is a really nice post- I take birthday wishes seriously too! I’m grateful that I recently had the opportunity to give a sweet puppy a home after living in apartments without pets for a few years. She’s made life crazier but much happier.
Happy birthday~ i have been reading your blog for a little over a year…Great knitting projects and travel pictures~
it is very touching to read your list…being single and uncertain for many years and turned a similar age, i know how hard it is to appreciate all the life as it is…i am glad you are finding everything great and celebrate with a grateful heart…wish you a happy year (and many more) ahead~
for me, i am very grateful that i am mostly healthy…that is so nice to have…
I’m grateful for great knitting blogs like yours. They make me feel connected to a world that contains more than three darling small children and a hard-working husband (which translates to mean that most of my adult “conversation” every day comes from reading blogs), for whom I am also very grateful.
Wow you have tons of people reading your blog. I am grateful for and love my students. They are at the cutest and most difficult age, but I hear daily, “I love you miss jen.” Plus I always have hilarious stories from my day.
I like your list! Happy Birthday! You are totally allowed a freak-out:-)
I’m grateful for 80 degree weather in October and the ability to enjoy it. I’m so grateful that I can walk, stand, move, breathe, sleep without pain.
Happy 33rd! I will be -gasp- 42 on Thanksgiving day.
I’m grateful to be able to say that, out loud, with just that little gasp. I’m grateful to be HERE. NOW. And 42.
Because, really, the alternative would suck!
Plus there’s the kids, husband and knitting…probably in that particular order!
Happy Birthday!
I’m thankful that I don’t know whats gonna happen to me and everyday I get to wake up and think about the adventures I could have that day.
Happy Birthday Erin!!!!
Every morning I’m grateful that I can take a hot shower. Clean hot water never fails to make me feel good!
Happy 33rd! What a good idea. As another person noted, I’m going to do this for my birthday–#36!
Grateful today for a couple of things: the way my dog just LOVES to fetch the tennis ball, over and over and over again; and having a vegetable garden, even if it is now dying back from the turning of the seasons.
Best to you–
Welcome to 33. I wish we could go to Good Times Charlies to celebrate.
I want to you know that I have loved Dr Who since I was born (I started with Dr #4). You watch Survivor with your dad, I watch Dr Who with mine – and the last two haven’t been to bad looking.
What am I grateful for? Honestly, and it sucks, for the cramps I’ve had the last two days. As horribly painful as they are, I know that even at 33, I still have a chance to experience that which I’ve wanted most in life. Pathetic eh? But hope can continue…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIN!!! I hope you have an awesome one.
I am grateful for the gospel and all it has given me. Without it I wouldn’t have the Hallstroms in my life or my husband. Or my children or be anywhere close to where I am in life.
I’m greater than 33 and I completely understand. 33 was my hardest birthday [40 was easy peasy]. I’d look at people who died by 33 and yet accomplished so much [e.g., Mozart] and felt like I’d somehow missed my opportunity. However, now I look for people who started creating or are still creating in old age [Grandma Moses] and feel I’m right on track!
So, I’m grateful that personal perspectives can and do change.
That was a wonderful post – I hope you have an equally wonderful birthday.
I have to say that I’ve also been trying to regularly count my blessings lately, and what I’ve come back to most often is how grateful I am to have reacquainted myself with my sister in the last year. We’ve rekindled a wonderful friendship and it’s made my life that much more fulfilling.
Happy Birthday!! I hope it was a great day for you!
I am grateful for the sound of my son’s laugh. His real laugh, not his forced, “Yeah… really funny… hmph” laugh.
I’m grateful that my husband has a good enough job that I can stay at home and knit and design to my hearts contentment.
WOW, the possibility of free stuff…I’m in! Here are just a few that come to mind…autumn leaves, free companion fares, the computer (especially for blogs, emails and video calls), a healthy body and the ability to work hard, really good chocolate and endless gilmore girls reruns! Erin, thank you for introducing me to GG’s and thank you for being related to me…you are truly amazing! Love ya lots birthday girl!
Happy happy birthday, Erin dear! I’m just glad I finally figured out that I need to be happy in the moment. No looking back, no looking forward. Just being.
blog friends
Happy Happy Birthday!!! I hope you had a great day. As for grateful, I am so happy we have the internet so that we can stay connected with everyone near and far.
Happy Birthday. Wow, 33years. I am thankful that I got to share a few of those with you. I am also thankful that you introduced me to Ryan. If you hadn’t, I would not have the four wonderful kiddos that I adore.
Happy Birthday. I’m grateful for my family, my awesome friends in the knitting community and my beloved Red Sox.
don’t pick me…it would just be further proof I’m your fave.
BUT, I am grateful…
just
be
cause.
HAPPY BDAY, dear friend. The world is better with you in it!
happy 3s!!!!
ahh… much to be grateful for here too. mostly i am grateful for the fact that I am alive, healthy and get to spend with people I love and admire. (oh and the Internet is pretty awesome too
)
I am grateful for the fact that no matter what kind of day I have, I know that I will smile at least once, because I have a great husband and four delightfully odd cats.
Soooo much to be grateful for, I barely know where to start! I agree with practically all of your thankies, but I’ll give a special Amen to your #30.
I’ll add to the list that I’m grateful for the internet. Because of the internet I’m able to keep in touch (even in a slightly voyeuristic fashion) with all of the friends I’ve loved over the years. You should definitely count yourself in that circle. I hope you have a great birthday! 33 has been fab for me (much better than 32), and in January I’ll see how 34 goes and give you a report.
I am ungrateful that I left my calendar at home so I forgot your birthday. Sad. But, happy day anyhow. You are wonderful and I am grateful that you have stayed with us for as long as you have. Love you.
I love birthdays, and I’m grateful for yours! It is so nice to have an occasion to celebrate a dear friend.
Thanks too for making me reflect on many things that I have to appreciate, numbers 3, 5, 7, 9, 13, 18, 30, and especially 32. Not 11, though, my fingers are short and terribly inconvenient for a pianist. Perhaps your supposed vanity would compel you to show your fine digits off on the blog some day, so that the stub-fingered might admire?
Oh, and I also want to know about Banana Republic miracles and the wooden dolls. (What? Demanding blog readers didn’t make your list? Maybe next year!)
Happy birthday!
I’m grateful for a lot of things, but one thing I’m really appreciating right now is having a family (including extended family) who all get along reasonably well with each other.
I’m grateful for you a million times over. In fact, I love you so much I can barely stand it.
Happy Birthday!!
Kisses,
Sneeze
P.S. Your birthday post is coming!
And here I was soooo careful NOT to post your years! Happy Birthday darling Erin…this year coming will be the best yet! Love you!
What a fabbity fab post! Take me out of the line up-I need nothing from you except some correspondence
. I’m so grateful for family and friends and my home and knitting and fabulous books and funny movies and wonderful TV and the fantastic world of blogging….oh my, this is fun. Speaking of fun, when are we trippin’ again?
Happy Birthday! I am grateful for the flexibility my job allows me to have. Without it I would have a much harder time accomplishing things!
ahhh! i love your list!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
alright. besides the usual, health, family.
i am SO thankful for quiet mornings. with a hot cup of coffee and my computer. a moment like i am having right now.
(oh! and thankful that you won’t enter me in the contest…….i have won before, and it is someone else’s turn)
Happy Birthday! Hope you had a nice day.
I love your list, especially #33.
I am grateful for my health, happiness, and friendships. What more could you need in life, except knitting, and a job to pay for all the knitting paraphernalia.
I am grateful to have not only the ability to knit, but the passion that comes with it – and all the possibilities that I can day dream about whilst at work.
Hi Erin,
I am thankful for my strength and faith!
happy birthday! and OMG, i love gilmore girls too! as for me? i am grateful for a lot of things, but especially my friends and family, who are always supportive and helped me get through a very, very difficult breakup – one i thought i would never get over (oh, how we can be so melodramatic at times, right?).
Happy, Happy Birthday Erin! I hope your carefully planned out birthday wish will come true.
I am grateful for all the pecans falling from the trees in our yard. They are like these wonderful, little Easter eggs hidden in the grass.
i’m grateful for family. and that includes Y-O-U! i love you erin! happy happy birthday. i wish i were there to give you a birthday squeeze.
AND i’m grateful to know that the “pro-bri-getting-pregnant-sooner-rather-than-later committee” exists. can i pretty please become a member!?
Happy birthday! I loved reading this list, and I especially liked the “original children” comment.
I am so grateful for living in the same city with my two beautiful daughters and their wonderful husbands. Living in the same city with the 7 grands that I am able to enjoy on a daily (if I wish) basis!! Being able to knit and enjoy it!!
I am thankful for those things each and every day!
Many happy returns!
I am so grateful for the internet. It allows me to talk to my husband every afternoon even though he is deployed, and keep in touch with friends all over the world.
Happy birthday, and thanks for a great birthday post! I am greatful for my 6 year old son – every day he teaches me to be a better person.
Happy Birthday!
I am grateful for my wonderful sister who is my best friend and who also taught me to knit.
I’m grateful for so many things! Today I was grateful for getting to go for an awesome run with my really great dog and we enjoyed a light hailstorm. My dog is definitely grateful for these signs of approaching winter, he loves the snow and so do I!
Happy belated Birthday to you! Hope you had a fantastic day. You have so many things to be grateful for! Loved reading your list! I too am grateful for Chuck. There needs to be more Chuck, dontcha think? I’m grateful for my kids, daily they amaze me with their choices, thoughts and make me laugh with their sayings. I’m also grateful for my dishwasher, washing machine and dryer. I tell them that I love them every day and never ever want them to die. (There are 6 people in this house, and the laundry and dirty dishes that we create is astounding.)
I am grateful for my friend Erin. She is amazing. Even when I can’t find anything good about myself – I know she can. She is gracious, kind, funny, articulate, and talented just to name a few of her qualities. She does have one fault — she lives so darn far away
Happy Birthday! I love your blog!
I am grateful for beautiful sweater-weather fall days!
Happy Birthday, Erin! I’m one of those friends who still loves you.
And I know what you mean about turning 33.
I would have commented anyway to say happy birthday, but I so want to win the prize! I am grateful that I have the most amazing son in the world.
I’m grateful for blog giveaways.
I’m grateful you will always be a bit older than I.
But mostly I’m grateful for a the unexpected treat I got from a Wendy’s Kids Meal over 15 years ago.
Happy birthday! Yours is one day after mine, but I’ve just turned another number ending in 3.
I really enjoyed reading your list of things you love. (Have you ever read the blog Three Beautiful Things?) I’m thankful for so many things at the moment – strange how birthdays bring that out in one! I’m especially grateful for the way technology, primarily the internet, can bring people together. It allows for collaboration on wonderfully worthwhile projects, new ways of creating stories, inspiration from across the globe, and instant communication with those you love.
I’m grateful for my husband – I’ve been struggling with transitioning to a major move and trying to find work and he has been my rock and encourager throughout the process.
Happy Happy Birthday!!
I think that Banana Republic comprises 1 through 20 of my grateful list…
But also I am grateful that I can travel.
Happy birthday! Delurking to say I love your list
Today, I’m grateful for the knitting patterns of Nancy Bush – and the wise fashion advice of Tim Gunn, not necessarily in that order.
I’m grateful that I live in an age where it is perfectly acceptable for me to be a single, successful woman. I’m grateful that I have friends who share their babies until/if I have my own. I’ll be 33 in a few short months and I think I’ll be making a similar list. Thanks for the idea and Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday!
I’m grateful for the pretty, pretty mountains.
I’m also happy you blog-it’s a great way to stay connected. You should get yourself back to Salt Lake City for a Tuesday night sometime, though!
I understand freaking out at 33 as I did it myself.
Happy birthday to you!
I am grateful for my husband and son who both tolerate my knitting, weaving, spinning stuff and immerse themselves in cars!!
Wow. I just turned 30 and was (am) definitely having a full-on freak out about it…I wish I’d had the presence of mind to make a similar list.
Now that I think about it, I love that I can drag my giant squishy armchair right in front of the computer and settle in for hours of internet nonsense. And then leave my chair there for days after, even though I have to keep taking the long way around it. And no one can tell me not to. Because I’m 30. And I’m the boss. 
I am uber grateful for my mom and for my dog! They’re the best! Not to mention my friends! What would I do without them??
I think I must also be grateful for having found the most perfect green jacket and crazy electric blue eyeshadow combo that looks fantastic and not like a massively sketchy 80s reject.
I hope you have a brilliant birthday, Erin! Keep up the good work! I love reading your blog and look forward to more knitterly and otherwise inspiration!
I am grateful for friends that you have not seen for awhile, and you get back together and it is as if you have never been apart, the comfort level the jokes and all the good times. It’s just the best ever. p.s happy birthday.
I am grateful for all things that touch my life, both good and bad as some teach me to appreciate even more and others continue to test my faith.
Happy Birthday.
Congrats on outliving Alexander the Great and Jesus!
I know I’m too late for the contest, but Happy (belated) Birthday! I’m glad you’ve discovered Dr. Who (so did I, in the past year)
I totally missed the deadline, due to my own craziness (darn!) but I am grateful for the ability, as a single woman, to set the thermostat to whatever temperature I darn well want it to be set at. I am grateful that I can control the television AND the remote. I am grateful that when I kill a houseplant, I’m the only one who has to feel lousy about it.
I like my houseplants, tho.
I like sci-fi, too. Is it weird to say that I wish we lived near each other because we might be friends? If it’s weird I won’t say it.
I know I’m past the “give away” time but I still wanted to email you and let you know how much I love reading your thoughtful posts. Knitting related or not – it’s always a joy to read a little peek in to your life. I hope you had a fabulous birthday and that all your dreams come true.
Happy be-lated birthday. I know I missed the deadline, but I am extremely grateful for you! Your friendship and growing up together. You are a huge part of my life.
Love yah!
I am grateful for having such a fabulous sister-in-law regardless of the fact that she not only omitted me from her grateful list but went so far as to specifically exclude me by way of the “original children” comment.
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