Of course I am thankful for my health, loving family and fabulous friends this holiday season.   But I am also thankful for God’s little gifts.  The one that might be considered silly or superficial, but truly make my life better.

1. PADDED SPIN SHORTS
I commend the girls who spin away in booty shorts, but I’m also not entirely sure they aren’t aliens.  Me, I would be bowlegged for a week, sitting on a donut while WebMDing hemorrhoids, but good for them. 
2. UberX
I once proclaimed Uber was the best thing since Jesus and I might stick by this statement. Whether it’s rescuing Emily Welsh and me on the side of the road on our way to Palm Springs or simply crating Patrick and me to Weho, Uber has become as sweet a sound as the name “Maddie.”
3. TORY BURCH FLATS
I love a good pair of heels when all I have to do is make a fabulous entrance and then proceed to sit through an event.  But, unfortunately, my life is not one series of step in repeats.  Actually it’s no step and repeats, but I refuse to just fashionably throw in the towel and strap on some Aerosols, or God forbid, Crocs.  So, instead, Tory designed shoes for us to look polished yet comfortable all night long. I, for one, think that should count towards one of the three miracles required for sainthood.  
4. CAMELBAK WATER BOTTLES
Drinking water didn’t seem like a particularly hard task until I found out I was doing totally wrong and wasting so much energy.  Now when I’m forced to pour water down my throat instead of simply biting, it’s like “God, this is so hard.”  
5. DVR, ON-DEMAND, SLINGBOX ETC
Some people are cutting their cable.  I added a slingbox to my parents DVR in Knoxville.   I didn’t do this to cut back on cable costs. No, I still have a hefty individual cable bill for my two DVRS in my one bedroom apartment.  Instead, this gives me the option to watch the East Coast feed, if I don’t want to wait the excruciating extra three hours.  Clearly, cutting cable seems like "cutting the cord" to me. 
6. CHANEL WALLET ON THE CHAIN (WOC)
Yes, it is ridiculous overly priced.  Since I locked eyes with my caviar leather baby, in the sacred walls of Coco’s original store in Paris, every other bag has been benched. Sure, they still get some playing time, but the WOC is now the franchise player.  And unlike Kobe, this one’s retirement is nowhere near approaching.  Holding my cash, credit cards, iPhone, keys and a lip-gloss, the WOC is the definition of elegant minimalism.  
7. MY ADULT COLORING BOOK
Whenever I say this, people automatically think porn and I say,  "get your mind out of the gutter.'   What makes my coloring book for the mature audience has nothing to do with the subject matter, but simply the intricacy of the artwork.  If you think coloring ended with naptime, I challenge you to bust out the Crayolas and enjoy. 
8. MEME GENERATOR APP
When I make personalized memes for Whitney Neil, she literally thinks I’m the funniest person ever.  I get back lots of capitalized letter responses filled with explanation marks. It’s nice and self-reaffirming.  
9. MY CHAIR
If I’m not sleeping or working, I’m probably in my La-Z-Boy. When I first bought this mecca of comfort, La-Z-Boy was running a sale “Every Man needs a Chair.”   I ignored this clearly sexiest attitude and changed this slogan to “Every man and Molly needs a chair.”  
10. iPhone, iPad, iMac anything with an “i”
There are very few hours when I’m not touching an Apple product.  Most nights I fall asleep clutching my iPad Mini.  That might be one of the sadder sentences of this blog, but true.  Can you really imagine life before Steve Jobs' products stole all of our attention? I guess we’d read more and have full conversations devoid of emoticons.  Ohhh, the good ole days. 

In all seriousness, life without these creature comforts would be possible although bleak.  Yet, life without my friends and family is simply unimaginable, so thank you for the continual love, support and putting up with my ramblings.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Also I added an email subscription to this blog because we all just don't get enough email.  Please subscribe if you'd like to be updated with my ramblings.  Thanks!  

This is all very Dancing with the Stars, but now we are down to the Final Five!!  Whoohoo!!  My Arrow Spec "Second Chances"  has made it to the final five in Final Draft's Big Break contest.  They cut it down to three in the beginning of December and the final announcement is in the middle of December.  There is no mirrorball trophy though, but I might have done the Carlton to celebrate!  Fingers Crossed!

http://store.finaldraft.com/big-break-contest.html#currentwinners 

Also I added an email subscription to this blog because we all just don't get enough email.  Please subscribe if you'd like to be updated with my ramblings.  Thanks!  

For some reason, every kid is desperate to grow up.  Then you do and you realize you were totally duped and wish to go back to nap time and recesses.  Sure, I knew being a grown up wouldn’t be easy, but it’s not the big stuff that bugs me.   I knew bills, taxes and random body pains (is it mandatory for your back to start hurting at 28?) would suck.  But it’s the pesky crap that no one warns you about that makes you yearn for the good ole days when these magical gnomes, or in my case, Bonnie D would take care of most of these hardships. 

FIVE SIMPLE ADULT TASKS THAT AREN’T SIMPLE AT ALL
 
1. Feeding Myself
I feel like this should not be such a hard task, but I often find the gathering of food extremely challenging.  My evenings consist of this continual eternal debate between cooking and picking something up.  Cut to 9PM and me enjoying the fine delicacies of a Lean Cuisine.  Or a bowl of Raisin Brain.  That’s when I’m really lazy and when I have fresh milk.

2. Ironing
It’s the absolute devil’s work and I basically refuse to participate in this satanic ritual.  Thank goodness the tailored look doesn’t go with my curves.

3. Getting gas
 I do not trust the gas tank monitoring system, so I truly believe that a quarter of a tank is empty.  I’ve been told it is not, but I don’t trust it.   Yet, I still hate getting gas.  I know, technically, it only takes five minutes, but time stands still.  And heaven forbid, I make eye contact with any of my neighboring pumpers because once I pull into a gas station, every person automatically looks shady to me.  I could see Betty White filling up and I’d think Golden Girl herself looks “shifty.”  And there’s always a small part of me that thinks the whole place is going to blow up the minute I grab the pump. 

4. Keeping Up to Date with the News
Growing up, I remember desperately wanting to watch Wings reruns while my mom made dinner.  She would insist on checking in with Peter Jennings to “see if the world blew up.”  I always thought she could look out our window for that, but she had this Catholic school level guilt to watch the news.  Now I’m not saying I do that, but I find myself always feeling inadequate on national, global or even local events. I try to stay up to date, but CNN refuses to report in GIF and Meme style ala Buzzfeed.   Instead, I get the basic headlines and hope and pray no one asks for detailed explanations and move on with my life.  Although, I could tell you in detail the interworking’s of the Kardashians’ love lives and I’m exactly what is wrong with America today. 

5. Straightening Up
I know I have too much stuff.  When I see a shirt I love I think, “let’s get that in two colors at least.”  Margarita Mom Linda Davis taught me that.  But I am confused how every evening and every morning, I find myself having to straighten up my apartment.   Heavy cleaning is bad enough, but I put that off till the weekend.  But this annoying, constant reshuffling and hiding of my essentials adds at least 1000 steps to my Fitbit daily count .   I’m sure Oprah will tell me to declutter my life, but she’ll also release her favorite things and fill it right back up.   Instead, I will keep hiding things in my closet and shoving things in my drawers, because I’m a grownup and that’s what we do.

Monday marked the 18th anniversary of Kobe Bryant’s NBA debut.  I posted an instagram photo mentioning that Dawson’s Creek had not even debuted yet when a young Kobe first put on the purple and gold.  It made me realize two things: 
1. I think of time as B.D. (Before Dawson’s) and A.D.  (After Dawson’s). 
 2.The world was a very different place eighteen years ago. 
Love him, hate him or love to hate him, you have to admit eighteen years is an amazing accomplishment.  Here are eighteen ways the world was different on Nov. 3, 1996 when Kobe stepped on the court. 

1. First thing, it was a completely different court that Kobe first swaggered onto on Nov. 3, 1996.  It would be another three years before the Lakers would explode into the Staples Center with a championship season.  In 1996, 18-year-old Kobe debuts in the 1980’s epicenter, The Forum. 
   
2. LeBron James and I are both awkward 6th graders. OK, maybe King James wasn’t as awkward as my poorly chosen bob cut, but still the dude is eleven.  
   
3. Bill Clinton is president and no one has heard of Monica Lewinsky.   America also has clearer understanding of sexual relations and blue dresses aren’t forever stained in all our memories. 
   
4. Princess Diana is still alive and rocks a haircut that sends ladies to salons in droves begging for the “the Lady Di.”   While her son, William, still has hair, making him a teen icon. 
   
5. Ross and Rachel are happily together and the words “We were on a break” have yet to be uttered.  Oh and Monica and Chandler are just friends. 
   
6. The real Titanic might had already sunk, but Kate and Leo have yet to step foot on the ill fated ship and fan girls only see movies once in the theaters.     
   
7. WCW is still a wrestling company and not a Wednesday Twitter trend.  World Wildlife Foundation hasn’t beaten WWF into submission yet, so the WWE name change is still years away.   And in about two weeks a grinning baby face, Rocky Maivia (better known as The Rock), debuts to lack luster reviews.   That guy won’t make any money….
   
8. One thing that remains the same is that Kim Kardashian is not a virgin.  Apparently, she has already traded that card in two years ago.   We still have eleven blissful years until her sex tape drops and she forever enters our lives. 
   
9. Text Messaging actually does exist, but no one uses it, because it will be another year before Nokia launches the first mobile phone with keyboard 9000i Communicator.   You probably don’t even have a cellphone yet because it will be another two years until the Nokia 5100 arrives.  That was the bulky cellphone with Snake and changeable face plates that you would sell your soul to have or at least ask for it for Christmas. 
   
10. Napster is still three years away, so you have to buy the whole Los del Río album if you want to dance the Macarena in the comfort of your own home. 
    
11.  Facebook is an actual book given to college freshman to help identify each other.  Having an attractive Facebook profile picture is still very important. 
    
12.  Peyton Manning is not in the NFL yet.   He is finishing up his junior season at the University of Tennessee, which most people presume will be his last.  He will shock the world by staying for his senior year and forever solifidies himself as Knoxville’s favorite son. 
    
13. The real weapon of mass destruction for middle school girls in the late 90's, AOL Instant Messenger, is still six months away and the world is a bit nicer.
    
14.  Hogwarts, Muggles and Voldemort mean nothing to us because it will be another eight months before Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is released and somehow makes wizards cool. 
    
15.  Lou Pearlman is creepily crafting NSYNC, but unless you were a Mickey Mouse Club diehard fan, you have never heard of Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake.  Although, they are big fans of each other at this time. 
16. Shopping at Sephora, H&M, Tory Burch, Lululemon and 7 for all Mankind in the US is merely a fashionist’s dream in 1996.  I’m not sure what sensible flats girls wore to the bars before Tory Burch Revas, so this is a particularly dark period. 
17. Mariska Hargitay won’t be catching creepers on Law and Order SVU and giving me nightmares for another three years. 
18.  Finally, if I had wanted to Google any of this riveting information in 1996, I couldn’t because Google doesn’t exist yet.   Not as verb or a search engine. I guess I would have gone to the library????    
    

Kobe Bryant, no matter how you feel about him, has been in our lives longer than text messaging, Facebook, “We were on a break," Tory Burch Reva flats, IM’ing, Leo and Kate and Google.   Now, that’s staying power.  Congratulations, Kobe.