Thankful Thursday Week 2

If you didn't get a chance to link up last week, I hope you'll join us today for my Thankful Thursday linky. This party happens each Thursday in November with the intention to remind each other about all the things in our lives for which we should be grateful.

If you don't get a chance to link up today, don't worry because I'll keep this open all week!

Ok... here are 5 things I'm thankful for this week...

1. A glorious 4-day weekend, which allowed me to spend TWO days at my bff's house helping her with her beautiful twins. I don't get to see any of them enough, and I love that I can hang out with them on my days off and give her mom a little break.
2. Joel and I were house and dog-sitting this week for a friend, which felt like a little vacation for us. Her house is also really close to my school, so I was thankful for the short commute! 
3. We went back to the city on Friday night to hang out with some friends from college, some of whom I have not seen in nearly a decade (When did I get so old?!). We had a yummy potluck dinner, reminisced about times past, and played some games. I don't know about you, but I love catching up with old friends!
4. This week, I was reminded about another benefit of my current position: I don't have to attend conferences. I certainly can't complain when I get an extra day off school or when I have the luxury of going home twice while my co-workers are stuck in meetings until 8:30 PM. 
5. On that same note, I love that I have time to read for pleasure during the school year. Now that I'm not grading papers or planning lessons, I can do whatever I want after school. For the first time in a long time, I've been reading books without having to analyze whether or not they'd be appropriate for a novel study. And I've been reading real adult books (I'm constantly harassed for only reading YA novels)... my mom should be so proud! This year, when a student asks me what I'm reading, I have to ask myself, "Is this appropriate for them?" haha!