Today is Gratitude Day!

I am grateful for...

33. 'Friends' - yep, I'm one of those people who watches Friends repeatedly. I can't help myself. Even though I've seen every episode at least fifteen times, and I own the entire series on DVD, if Friends is on TV and I'm at home I'm most likely watching it. You know the great thing about Friends? No matter how much I watch them, the jokes still crack me up. It's like I'm hearing them for the first time. That's brilliant comedic writing, if you ask me!
I can't say I have an all time favourite Friends line; because there are way too many hilarious ones. But here are two that spring to mind right now -
i) Joey: "You don't own a TV? What's all your furniture pointing at?!"
ii) When Chandler and Rachel are eating cheesecake off the the floor and Joey walks up, looks at them curiously, takes a fork out of his pocket and says "All right! What are we havin?"

34. New York City - I've been to NYC four times, always with my sister. I can't imagine being in NY without her; it's almost as though the city was created just for us! And I can't really explain why I love NY so much. But it does something to me, that city. It makes me feel like the world is my oyster and that whatever I dream of in life can be mine. I think it has this affect on me because travelling to NY the first time, in 2004, really was a dream come true for me. I'd watched the city in movies (and on Friends!) for years and then there I was, being bustled by the crowd in Times Square, walking through Central Park, gazing down from the top of the Empire State Building, catching the Staten Island Ferry. I was livin' the dream! :-) NYC has also played an important part in the direction my life has taken, because it was while I was there in 2004 that I realised I wanted to write. I was a bit lost at the time but New York City inspired me to choose a path and here I am, six years later, still following the dream!

35. London - another inspirational and significant city in my life. London is where I met the love of my life. London is where I discovered who I really am and who I want to be. London is where I finally grew up. London is where I opened up to my spirituality. Without London, would any of this have happened? Without London, would I still be me? Just how much does our location in the world influence our very being? From my experience I would answer - immensely. Living in London has changed me for the better.

36. St James' Park - one of my absolute favourite parks in London. I consider it special because of the afternoon I spent there when I'd first moved to London. I was alone, sitting under a tree in the shade, notebook on lap, pen in hand, and surrounded by a city that was proving to be an exciting discovery every single day. And do you know what I felt as I sat there? Do you know what feeling was flooding my body, almost bringing joyful tears to my eyes? It was freedom. I was in a new city, embarking on a new stage in my life. I was twenty-one years old; the world was full of promise. Even now, years later, that same intense feeling comes back to me whenever I'm in St James' Park.