the corner of Wonderful and Grateful

The other day I encountered a jolly, older-man parking attendant and I commented on his good mood.

"Do you want to know where I live?" He asked, and I could tell he wanted me to play along.

"Sure," I said. "Where do you live?"

"On the corner of Wonderful Street....and Grateful Lane." He smiled big.

"Aw, how nice," I said.

"Isn't it?"

"I want to live there too!" I said.

His face dropped. "Well. There's not a lot of room here."

Alrighty then.

Unlike this dude, I'm all about spreading the joy. If I happen to find myself anywhere in the vicinity of Wonderful/Grateful, I say: come one, come all. Everyone's invited. Especially considering all of the tragic headlines lately. My tender, new-mom heart can barely take it. Instead, I've been trying to lean into the good with all my might, hoping and searching for some inkling of a silver lining. That we might be a little bit kinder to others? Even kinder to ourselves? That we might slow down and soften? That we might add to the Greater Good by looking even harder for things to appreciate? If so, Thanksgiving cannot come soon enough.

Some thankful things peppered in amongst some Joeycake greatest-hits for fall:

1. This Apple Music Friendsgiving playlist is happy and awesome.

2. This apple pie baked in a cast-iron skillet (?!) is my Dad's new signature dish and it is remarkable. I'm stepping up my campaign to convince him to make it for Thanksgiving. (Hint: it has caramelized brown sugar underneath the crust):

3. Pumpkin pie 4 life.

4. I know I mentioned Liz Gilbert's book Big Magic in my last post but it just gets better and better. Lots of great gems here about letting go of perfectionism ("just fear dressed up in fancy haute couture") and about finding your own (creative) way to live a creative life. I highly recommend.

5. Things I Want To Ask My Dog by the amazing Marsh McCall.

6. Blurry moments with a super busy almost-toddler:

7. Thanksgiving with 100 of your closest Vegans (plus a sweet potato dessert that is working undercover as a casserole.)

8. Orange you glad it's time for brightly colored, festive fall food?

9. Rare non-blurry moments with a super busy almost-toddler:

10. You. I'm so grateful for you. I hope you find as much Wonderful and Grateful as possible amongst your blurry and non-blurry moments this Thanksgiving. Thank you for choosing to visit me here and for being patient with my sparse blogging this year as I've been finding my mom-bearings.

Love to you,
Jolie