It's been one week.

And what a week! I've celebrated a few times having several wonderful days in a row, but this weekend, I realized that I'm not having many series of good days in a row; I'm having a good life. Everything is falling into place. When you prioritize correctly, it all works out. Amazing how that happens!

The Good Things:

• Wednesday, coffee with Tracy was great. We had an awesome conversation, but I realized very quickly that this was an informal interview, and I was so nervous! Thank goodness that didn't shine through; Tracy actually commented that I appeared very relaxed and composed. We sat on the patio, enjoyed a beautiful day, saw several of my former regulars, and even a guy that I went to elementary school with!
  
  
• After closing Wednesday night, I got up early to do chores and shower before heading home on Thanksgiving morning. Home was relaxing. My grandparents (all 3) came over, and my brother was home. We watched football, visited, and enjoyed great food. Oh yeah, and I ate olives off my fingers for my sister.
  

• I had to head back to Fresno Thursday because I opened on Friday. Work was quite slow; we did a lot of extra cleaning. Around 9a, Autumn (my district manager) called to say she would be by later that morning. Linda and I immediately did two things: a) cleaned like crazy; and b) started speculating about me leaving. Autumn finally around around noon, and we had the chance to sit down just before I was off. Drum roll, please -- she offered me a store manager position!!! At the time, she couldn't tell me much about the store, but since then, I've learned that, as of Monday, December 3, I will take over the Starbucks at First and Shaw as Store Manager. I don't think I could be more excited (and nervous, but mostly excited). There are challenges in every opportunity, especially starting in the middle of Holiday, but I'm confident that it is going to be good. So come by and visit!
  
  
• Friday night, Jess and I went to dinner at BJ's (fabulous cobb salad for me, delicious-looking burger for her) and then to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert. Let me just say, if you ever have the chance to go to a TO concert, do it! It was amazing, incredible, ridiculous, and wonderful. I had a blast. There was a mild debacle with my camera, but the second time around was fine, and afterward, we had a guy outside take our picture. Two hot mamas!
  

• Saturday morning, I went shopping then met Justin, the elementary school friend from Wednesday, for lunch at Chapala Grill. It's new since I was in Cleveland and is really good. We had a nice time catching up; I'd only seen him once since his high school graduation. Saturday night, I closed at work.
  
  
• Sunday, I drove home to spend the day with my parents and friends, guiltily leaving Giada at home. We went to church, and Pastor Wayne gave a great message about being thankful, and I realized that, I'm not perfect, but I am living a life of gratitude. I love my life right now. Everything is falling into place. If someone had told me three months ago that I would be in the place that I am today, I probably wouldn't have believed it. Three months ago, I knew I would be fine, but I didn't know I would be happy and vibrant and socially active and thankful.
  
  After church, I met Andrea and Jess for a relaxing lunch at Vallarta then went shopping again (still no perfect jeans, have to keep looking) and met my parents at the mall. When they headed on to Target, I went to the Lenzes and enjoyed catching up with Mrs. Lenz and Robin (thanks for having me over!). That evening, Dad and I watched the great Patriots/Eagles game, or rather, Dad watched the game, and I took a nap on the middle through the second and third quarters. Soon after that, it was time for bed.
  
  
• Monday morning, I went to Dad's shop to say goodbye and drove back home for more chores and a lot of cuddling with the kitten to make up for leaving her alone. I think I'm going to get another cat to keep Giada company; it's just a matter of when. She needs a little brother or sister named Duff (if it's a girl, I'll just call her Duffy!). Then I went to work for a fun last close.
  
  
• Which brings us to today, my day off. The planner was full of errands to run, and the day started with promise because I got a lot of chores done. But around noon, my energy waned, and I spent most of the afternoon with Giada on the couch. There will be plenty of time for errands the rest of the week, and after such a full schedule of events, I needed some downtime. Plus, I think it was good for me to stay home and spend some quality time with her after being gone so much.

Well, that was more of a weekly recap than I'd planned for it to be. If you didn't make it through the wordiness, in brief:

I had a great Thanksgiving! I got promoted! I saw Trans-Siberian Orchestra! I wasn't sad at all on my would-be five-year anniversary! I love my life, and I love God for giving it to me! Have a great week, y'all.