Thursday Things

Despite the fact that I skipped my morning workout (for the first time in a whole month!) in favor of a little extra sleep today, my brain is still yawning, stretching, and shuffling its feet a bit. Random, scattered bullet points are as good as it's going to get, boys and girls.
 -- First things first: the magic of fall has officially returned in two of the most amazing, most delicious, most heart-attack inducing bowls you can imagine:

YES, PLEASE.

AND THANK YOU.

I'm telling you, it's the quintessential Thanksgiving dinner, fast-food style. The thing is, though... it's good. I can't say that I've ever had both the turkey bowl and the dessert in the same meal, or even in the same day, but I have a feeling that such close proximity might result in some kind of fireworks. Sadly, I haven't had the opportunity to celebrate the return of either yet, partially because the closest Wawa (where one finds the turkey bowl) is at least an hour away... boo. Unfortunately there is a Dairy Queen not two minutes from our new house, though, so the only thing standing between me and that amazing blizzard is my willpower... ha. What willpower?
 -- Tomorrow night I have to speak to a rather large, rather well-dressed crowd about my dad. Cue the stress headache now, please. I've been trying to write out my thoughts for days now, hunkering down at my desk during lunch to work and then fretting over it for the rest of the afternoon. While I have a lot of ideas, they just weren't meshing well into the short, heartfelt message I wanted to share. So yesterday, I took a hint from my college days: I went straight home from work, made myself some tea, and curled up in bed with a stack of paper and a pen.

The only difference from my college days was the appearance of a snoozing cat at my feet. I didn't mind the addition.

And I wrote... and wrote... and wrote. And cried. And wrote. And once I finally organized my thoughts into a coherent structure and felt comfortable with the flow, I took a celebratory nap.
 -- Speaking of my beloved alma mater, they had a very special visitor yesterday:

Why yes, that is His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. And yes, he certainly is holding a W&M visor that he wore for his entire hour and a half talk. I watched the live streaming video of his remarks and was so impressed -- he had a truly inspiring message about forgiveness, compassion, and the meaning of religion. I also loved getting to see the professor in the background of this picture -- I took his class on Buddhism my sophomore year and it was one of the best of my four years there.
 -- Yes, now you know where I went to school (if you hadn't figured it out already)... and yes, there are a lot of stereotypes out there. Yes, I am a nerd. Yes, I worked my little butt off. Yes, I still had as much fun as your average college student. No, I wasn't sober for four years straight. Yes, I wish I could go back on a daily basis.
 -- Why do some adults act more like the cast of Mean Girls than reasonable, mature, decent human beings? That's all I will allow myself to say about this...
 -- Tonight: Vice Presidential debate or cleaning my kitchen? It's a toss-up... I have a feeling the dishes might be less painful. Is this damn election over already?
And all at once, my morning coffee is gone and my brain has decided it's time for a nap. I should probably stop while I'm ahead. Takeaway for today? Go treat yourself to a blizzard. You deserve it (and so will I, after I run around the neighborhood a few times this afternoon).

   Love,

    Meg