Well, here it is. My 365th entry on Naked Thanks. You, my dear readers, are the recipients of today’s note, and I hope you understand how much I appreciate your reading this blog.
Truth be told, I’ve never done anything every day for a year. Well, except maybe wipe my ass and brush my teeth. And some days, not even that (I mean, brushing my teeth…I always wipe my ass). But in all seriousness, I’ve LOVED doing this gratitude blog. Finding some little (or big) thing every day for which I am appreciative has been something that I’ve throroughly enjoyed. Plus, I think it’s made me grow as a person.
Going forward, I’ll still be posting to Naked Thanks, I’m sure, but definitely not as often. I’m going to try to put up pictures and snippets here and there, and I’m sure I’ll continue my thank-you writing for the rest of my life, but with a new baby, I just don’t think I could manage forming a coherent sentence, let alone writing, scanning, and posting these entries any longer. I mean, geez, I can barely write with any semblance of grammar or readability now, so with a new infant, fat chance! So truly, the timing on this blog couldn’t have worked out better. It ends and just mere hours later I have a baby popped out of my belly. You’d think that was planned, but it wasn’t.
So, I’m me signing off! NAKED THANKS, everyone, for reading my drivel for the last 365 days.
XO
Stacey
This is how I'll remember this year: having a gut and some serious FUN with my wild little boy in tow. BYE!
Isn’t it nuts how time really does fly? How is it mid-November already? It seems like just yesterday, Karin and I were chatting over sushi in the summer of ‘09 about how we wanted to start a daily blog together. I wasn’t pregnant, had no plans to move any time soon, and actually, wasn’t even writing at all at the time. Now, just 14 months later, I’m about to have a baby, an official Delawarean, and a magazine columnist. Plus, our year-long blog is mere DAYS from being completed! How did that happen? Isn’t it crazy how much can change in one year?
I am so happy Karin and I decided to partner together for Naked Thanks. Just knowing I’d let her down if I decided to skip writing my note for the day made me motivated to make it to 365 entries. And even though Karin couldn’t publish her final entries due to a conflict with her new job, just seeing her unpublished notes on the back end of this blog made me want to continue with it. Because honestly, sometimes, at 1AM after a long day, taking an hour to come up with a reason to be grateful was kinda hard. At least harder than I initially thought.
Plus, as much as Karin and I are alike, we’re also so different. Whereas I think sometimes I let my nerves get in the way of living my life (uh, my fear of flying, my worry about leaving Ollie with a sitter, my anxiety about meeting a totally irrational premature death), Karin is honestly the master of living in the now. Whereas I’d be about as likely to climb Mount Everest as I would be to eat a piece of candied cow shit, Karin did it of her own accord, under no duress or offer of large amounts of money.
Then there’s the fact that I always have the intention of doing something, but never actually do it. For example, I think I’ve signed up for ten marathons now but never run in one. Karin, on the other hand, is almost ready to complete her fourth real marathon! She’ll get out and run fourteen miles on a rainy day when I’m too lazy to even get up to brush my teeth. That alone has been a lesson in perseverance for me, but add to that the fact that she’s a carreer-driven go-getter and, well, frankly, I’ve found it very inspiring. I think my tendency would have been to settle down, have kids, and almost let my career dreams fly out the window, but seeing her work her way into a dream job at a national newspaper has been a good example for me. It’s made me realize that motherhood doesn’t mean I have to give up my life — or goals.
Going into the next year, I’m sure Karin and I will still talk all the time and continue this blog, though not in the same write-a-daily-thank-you kind of way, but I must say, I’m sad this project is coming to a close!
Good thing we did the photo shoot for the masthead BEFORE I was pregnant!
As a child, I don’t even think Julie meant to be funny, but in doing things like wearing gigantic Sally Jesse Raphael red glasses that she was constantly getting bubble gum stuck all over and telling the director of our sailing camp to “go f*ck” himself — she’s always been one of the most hilarious people I know.
In fact, since having her as my best friend, I literally can’t stomach being friends with people who are not funny. If a person doesn’t have a sense of humor, then, um, well, it’s almost like I categorize them with social misfits and serial killers. The chances of me pursuing a friendship with an individual who can’t make me laugh is akin to me attempting to wax my bikini line with just a pair of tweezers: never in a million years. (Again, another reason why I’m so grateful to have met such friendly and FUNNY people here in Delaware! Like the girl who recently left Depends on my door!!)
Anywho. I’m pleased to announce Julie is starting a spin-off blog to Naked Thanks, called Naked Fan Mail. Like Karin and I have done for the past year, Julie will be “baring her soul” but she’ll be doing it through good natured celebrity fanaticism rather than thank you notes (so very fitting for her status as a LA-resident). Plus, as a stand-up comedian, I’m sure she’ll keep us all in stitches with her witty observations on Hollywood and pop culture.
Happy to pass the naked baton to you, Jul!!! Readers: stay tuned for the link on Wednesday!
Julie's been my best friend for as long as I can remember. We bonded as young children over the fact that both our mothers cut our hair with butter knives and dressed us like boys. I'm honored she's doing a spin-off to Naked Thanks!
One month to go until Karin and my year-long goal of Naked Thanking comes to an end! Because we began writing these notes on November 14, 2009, our last “official” day of thanking is November 13th. Exactly 31 days from now. I really can’t believe it’s been 11 months that I’ve been writing these notes. I literally have HUNDREDS of pages of gratitude squirreled away in Word and Google docs all over my computer. I’ve never written so much in my life. The sheer volume of my notes and explanations (350+ pages single spaced!) astounds me. It’s like the most detailed diary I’ve ever written in my life!
And even though Karin isn’t hitting the “publish” button on her notes anymore, don’t worry, she’s still writing them. I see them every night when I update my blog posts. It’s a shame her work won’t allow her to partake in any outside writing, but I’m still happy I’m not going at this whole 365-days-of-thanks thing alone.
Quite honestly, I’m excited and sad this blog is coming to a close. I’ll still be updating the blog after November 13th, but with this new baby on the way, there’s no way I could write and publish a daily thank you. I’m planning to make much more use of my camera when posting; maybe instead of notes I’ll simply put up pictures of my daily thanks. Plus, we have a great spin-off blog in the works…but more on that later.
What really amazes me, is that I’ve actually done something I said I was going to do for (almost) an entire year. While Karin can easily stick to goals (uh, the girl’s climbed Mount Everest and run like 5 marathons now…), I struggle more with goal-ADD. I start things and never finish them. Books, projects, jobs, relationships — you name it and I’ve stopped short. So the fact that I’m only a month away from doing something for 365 days is a really big accomplishment for me. Here’s to the next month of thanks!
It's amazing how much has changed for both Karin and I in this year of thanks -- all for the better. She got a new job, climbed the world's highest mountain, is learning to not fear children...while I grew another baby in my belly, moved outta the city and to the beach, and actually did something I said I was going to do. See what good things gratitude can bring!
Speaking of labors and birthdays (ala my last few posts), I can’t believe Karin and I are celebrating our 9 month Naked Thanks Anniversary. AND, what’s even crazier, I can’t believe she’s had to stop publicly writing it. I’m sad, yes, that I will continue on solo with actually publishing these notes (like she said, she’s going to still do it, but privately), but I AM extremely happy for her because she landed a fantastic new gig.
I think it’s ironic that we’ve done the blog for almost nine months now. Naked thanks has come full term and, to be honest, seems to have taken on a life of its own. Writing my daily gratitude notes to everyone from the mailman to my plumber to my husband to the inventor of Q-tips has changed me.
Now in my life I find that I’m constantly thinking of things I am happy about — little bits and pieces of my existence that I find joy in or that bring a smile to my face. Not that I was super negative before; I’ve always appreciated the power of positive thinking, but I truly believe that due to this blog even more good things have happened to me. Even the fact that my second baby’s due date coincides almost perfectly with the year anniversary of the blog. I pretty much know for a fact that one of the best days of my life will serve as the culmination for this whole year-of-thanks goal. That’s uncanny, at least to me.
So, like I said, I am sad Karin can’t continue on this journey with me (at least publicly), but so so so grateful to her for being my partner in Naked Thanks. I am at least happy I can continue to read her posts from the secret back-end realm of the blogosphere…I can tell you that seeing her posts (like the one she uploaded today but didn’t publish) will be incentive for me to keep writing even when I’m sleep deprived or just plain lazy. And, hopefully, the rest of you find me at least mildly entertaining enough to keep reading the site. Fingers crossed…
Ah, pearls and naked note writing...thank, you Karin for founding this site with me!
This week, I’ll admit, while I’ve been up in Erie, I’ve been getting a tad lazy and thinking, “Aw, it’d be nice to skip writing a thank you note today.” I’m on vacation; I’ve been staying up late, sleeping in, and just acting generally careless. Consequently, writing thank yous hasn’t seemed so appealing.
But then I think of Karin, on vacation in Nepal and I imagine her scrawling notes into some mountain climbing manual with the burnt edge of a stick and I feel ashamed to be so lazy. Seriously, Karin is a die-hard thanker. I mean, I’m here in Erie PA and I find it hard to keep the routine of posting and she can do it while climbing the world’s tallest mountain? Uh, that’s kind of pathetic on my part. But really, if you’ve been reading this blog at all, you probably don’t think that’s so crazy. Because while I thank the makers of Cheez Balls Karin thanks her marathon running shoes. While I can be sloth-like and loafing, Karin is determined and persistent. Truly, we are opposite creatures in so many ways (but yet bonded together in friendship by things like a shared love for efficient hair removal and F. Scott Fitzgerald novels…you know, the important stuff).
When we started this blog almost 9 months ago we figured it was good that we were so opposite. I’m a mom, she’s a single gal. I’m blonde, she’s brunette. But we never really took into account that we’d learn so much from one another’s differences. Yet now, with only about three months to go on our year-long thanking goal, I’m realizing just seeing my thank yous so close to hers on a daily basis has definitely enhanced me as a person because it forces me to compare myself (and life) with hers.
So maybe it’s as little a change as not reaching into the chip bag to devour that last handful of salt and vinegars after reading a post about her running 21 miles. Or it could be something as simple as me deciding to shave my legs and dress myself in something other than sweatpants after reading about an extra glamorous gala or fashion shoot she attended. Whatever the small change, this blog has been a great experience even just to look at someone’s life outside my own and compare mine too– something for which I’m very grateful (the main point of this blog!).
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