I'm thankful for...

My friend Holly reminded me the other day that Thanksgiving is not just about schlepping all over the place, complaining about one's family, and stuffing your face. It's also about being thankful, and I have so, so much to be thankful for, so while this isn't an exhaustive list, I am thankful for:

my week-old cousin Adam Jacob, who I got to hold and fall in love with yesterday. He is so small and sweet and squishy and adorable, and I get to carry him into the room at his bris tomorrow. As Carolyn said the other day about Adriana, "Isn't she perfect?" Yes yes yes.

Cute babies in general

Cupcakes for bringing so much fun into my life, and helping us form a community of like-minded cupcake lovers

Having a creative and fulfilling job, and the chance to write for all sorts of different venues that feed my soul, if not always my paycheck. For being so fortunate as to have 2 columns, a reading series, 5 erotica books to edit, and brilliant, talented people I get to interview and gush over, and just the many doors that have been and continue to be opened for me. I've stopped thinking of it as the surreal life, though it still is a little, but I'm so amazingly grateful for all these outlets and opportunities, because they each feed something different for me.

New York City and all the opportunities it affords, from random parties to communities of artists, writers, bloggers and comedians

All my friends, especially everyone Heidi, Nichelle, Allison, Shari, Ellen, Susie, Kambri, Claudia, Elise, Miriam, Jon, Jessica, Morgan, Michael, Elizabeth, Felicia, Cheryl, Martha, and every else who just shows me, in big and small ways, that they care about me. I feel like I'm so, so lucky to have such wonderful, smart, creative, talented awesome people in my life who just make everything more fun and entertaining and interesting.

I'm thankful for having made it to age 30 and not feeling like there's anything hugely missing. There are things I want, things I hope are coming my way in the next year or whenever, but I don't feel deprived necessarily, and I hope that the good things, and good people, are worth waiting for. I feel like I've gained a lot of wisdom in the last few years, and I'm especially grateful for all those awful experiences for helping make me who I am today, for the debt for making me see the value of money, for the crappy relationships and losers I've dated for showing me what I don't want, for the soul-numbing jobs for showing me I can survive in those environments. I just feel very at peace, very grateful - for being able to afford to live alone, for all the opportunities I've been afforded, and for being able to just move forward, to be open to new and exciting things that my city and surroundings have to offer.