Ryan Gosling

Once upon a time my family lived in Tucson, Arizona. We moved to Sandy, Utah and a couple years later some friends from Arizona came to visit. I was in 6th grade at the time and my friend Christiana was in 7th grade. We went to the Utah Fun Dome and ran into... Ryan Gosling. He was 17 or 18 years old then!! This was before he was even famous my friends. At the time he was on a TV show called Breaker High, and coincidentally, both Christiana and I watched the show. We recognized Ryan and being the giddy little girls we were, we had to meet him. Christiana's mom took pictures and filmed a bit of our chance meeting. Christiana just recently came upon these jewels and has been posting them to her facebook. They are hilarious. I think we are both pleased that now, he is a HUGE celebrity, not to mention, ridiculously attractive. Oh... celebrities. I still have his autograph, which says, "To Carly: Thanks for asking for this - Sean, RG." Enjoy the pic. For now, the video is on my facebook so check it out there. You don't want to miss my awesome/awkward hug from Ryan ;)

Gratitude

This Thanksgiving I have gratitude for many things. I would love to share all the things I'm grateful for, but I'll spare every one the long list and keep it simple. I'm always extremely grateful for my family and friends. They are the most important things in this world. Dave and I are lucky to be able to spend Thanksgiving with both our families each year. Dave's family eats early and my family eats later in the evening, so it makes for a busy day, but it works out. My mom asked me to be crafty this year and come up with some cute place settings for my family. I felt up for the challenge and of course, turned to Martha Stewart. I found some of the cutest projects and ended up making paper turkeys with a Thanksgiving trivia. I also found name cards but didn't want to have assigned seating, so I swapped the name with a quote about gratitude. It was so fun to find great quotes and ponder them during this holiday. At dinner everyone really enjoyed the fun facts for "Thanksgiving trivia" and everyone read their quote aloud. It was a really fun way for my family to interact and remember what Thanksgiving is all about. My favorite quote, that I find fitting for myself, is "Learn to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want." - E. James Rohn. I am really great at wanting wanting wanting. Looking to the future impatiently and waiting for all that it brings. There are some things that I wish were different right now, but I need to remember to try to live more presently and have faith that all the things I want will come eventually. I really am grateful for all that I have now. Dave and I have accomplished quite a lot this year, and we always have a lot of great things to look forward to. We, along with our little family, are nothing but blessed in every way possible. I'm grateful for good quotes that resonate within us and help us take on a new perspective. I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving :)