Learn it, Live it, Love it: The Gratitude Edition

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I hope your day, and this long weekend, is filled with friends, family, and leftovers. As you read this in between Black Friday shopping breaks I’ll be comfortably drinking coffee and enjoying this pumpkin bread.

Learn it:

You’ve got a long weekend ahead of you, which means some solid reading time is in order. Here are a few books by AF alum you might enjoy (warning! They are guaranteed to spark passionate conversations around the dinner table): The Selfie Vote, by Kristen Soltis Anderson; Leaving Cloud 9, by this year’s Buckley Award Winner Ericka Anderson; and Disinherited, How Washington Is Betraying America’s Young by Jared Meyer.

Live it:

AFF-San Francisco Chapter Leader Katie Modesitt penned a lovely letter earlier this week sharing more about what it’s like to be living in Northern California amid these terrible fires, and she and AF-Sacramento board member, Pagona Stratoudakis, provided a list of ways we can all help. This story about neighbors helping neighbors warmed my heart and served as a great reminder to always look for the helpers.

Love it:

If you’re in the Washington, DC, area this week I encourage you to pay a visit to the Phillips Collection to check out their Nordic Impressions exhibit. It’s lovely and diverse, and an afternoon spent at the Phillips is never a bad move.

Finally, if you’re looking for something a little lighter than the above book recommendations, I submit all the Friends Thanksgiving episodes streaming on Netflix (S1:Ep9, S3:Ep9, S4:Ep8, S5: Ep8, S6:Ep9, S7:Ep8, S8:Ep9, S9:Ep8 and S10:Ep8). I’ll also make the case that the New Girl holiday episodes are a new classic for our generation (S1:Ep6, S2:Ep8, S3:Ep10, S4:Ep9, and S6:Ep7) Enjoy, and you’re welcome!