Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

When I was in junior high and high school, the day before Thanksgiving was my very favorite day of the year. Well, except my birthday, but if you know me at all, you know that goes without saying. Anyway, the day before Thanksgiving was my (almost) favorite day of the year because all the fun and goodness of the holiday season was right in front of me. The day before Thanksgiving is the beginning of the best six weeks on the calendar.

And it doesn't hurt that my birthday is also in December.

Anyway, I was thinking about that today, as I enjoyed a day of lounging, baking a pumpkin pie, buying champagne and exercising. And today also got me thinking about some things in my life for which I'm thankful. I think I wrote about things to be thankful for on this space at this time last year, but every Thanksgiving inspires me to think about how fortunate I am.

Honestly. So here are some things I'm thankful for this year.

1. My health. I know this one is totally overdone, but today I saw a wheelchair-bound woman being helped into a van by a nurse. Not to assume that the wheelchair woman isn't perfectly healthy other than her inability to walk, but I am genuinely thankful that everything in my body functions properly. And it all functions properly in a pretty cute package, if I do say so myself.

2. The bunches and bunches of love in my life. I'll admit that I'm not working a whole lot of the romantic-type love with the perfect guy right now, but I'm still surrounded by affection. And it's affection from a ton of super-smart, super-interesting and super-creative people. Gotta love that.

3. A job that I enjoy. They call it work... as opposed to say, nap... for a reason, and I can't say my job is perfect. But for fifteen years I've had a rather successful career that is still going strong. I try to remember that even when I get frustrated with work.

4. My current work schedule. Wednesday and Thursday are my regular days off, which means that I have Thanksgiving off, as I did last year and the year before. That may not seem like much to you, but in my position, working holidays, even major holidays, is expected. So I'm happy to have one holiday off every year. Until and unless my schedule changes.

5. A super cute apartment in a nice neighborhood in a fabulous city. Yes, I admit I would rather live in Hawaii, and I'm still enamored with Los Feliz in L.A., but San Francisco isn't too shabby. A lot of people would love to live here, and I actually do. Yay!

6. Music. This actually should be number one because I'm a music fanatic, and as I've said before: music never lets you down. But I think I am more thankful for my health. Imagine how sucky it would be if I suddenly lost my hearing and couldn't listen to music anymore. Let's not even talk about that.

7. A comfortable lifestyle. I'm far from rich, and frankly, I've spent large portions of my life happily making ends meet on a much smaller salary than I command right now. However, I really do appreciate having the ability to go to the spa once a month or so; to visit Diva Mommy in Hawaii a couple of times a year; to go to all the live music shows I want; to keep my membership at the Fancy Gym; and to buy shoes when I want them.

8. The open mic circuit, karaoke and my singing lessons. Whoever would have thought that singing would become my primary hobby? And that I could actually do it without shattering glass or causing dogs to whimper? Not me.

9. Naps. I think this one needs no explanation.

10. Lee Pace. He's the star of the new television show "Pushing Daisies," and he's become my new tv boyfriend. Talented, charming and very hot. That's all we really want from our tv boyfriends, and Lee doesn't disappoint. (For the record, I'm not throwing over my other tv boyfriend, Peter Krause, for Lee. They can share my affections.)

Okay, that's all I can think of right now. But I bet I'll be able to come up with about 1000 more. I'm a lucky girl, and it's good to remember that. Frequently. Not just once a year.