Thank You for Reading!

The Single Diaries celebrates three months with a little help from our friends

PHOTO: Tara Freese.

Happy Thanksgiving! When we set out on this journey, we were focused on finding a creative outlet for ourselves. We knew we had a great idea to share our experiences as twenty-somethings with others and to call on our girlfriends to share their life lessons with us. The Single Diaries hit its three-month mark last Sunday, and we are overwhelmed with the response we’ve received from our extended circles in this short amount of time. When you’re focused on writing and getting posts up on time, it’s easy to block your view of where the website stands in the public sphere. Because of this, your words of encouragement, support and affirmation mean the world to us. We are grateful that you are reading. We are grateful that you find value in our words. We are grateful that you want to share in our vision. We are grateful to have you wonderful people as friends.

We wanted to celebrate our work, your work, and our friends, so we hosted our first Single Diaries Friendsgiving at Jen’s new place.

Made with Paperless Post.

With our crazy schedules the past few months, Jen and I enjoyed taking a couple hours to catch up one-on-one and prepare her place for our girlfriends. We made tissue paper pom poms and a pendant Friendsgiving sign to hang above the buffet table. Later on, these decorations were the perfect frame for our delicious feast: Ashley’s quinoa salad, Katie’s baked mac & cheese, Jen’s flatbread pizzas and double chocolate cookies, Vilte’s assortment of cheesecake, June’s pumpkin pie and ice cream, and my fresh strawberry cake. No one went thirsty as the wine and bubbly flowed freely; we helped each other out by making sure no one’s glass went empty. Sex and the City the movie played in the background; five years after that movie debuted and fifteen years after the show first aired, we still had plenty to discuss and debate. The night perfectly exemplified how The Single Diaries has brought us all together: with friendship (old and new) and with meaningful discussions about the life experiences we have that, more often than not, other girls relate to.

PHOTO: Jen Hacker.

As is tradition around a Thanksgiving table, we want to share what we are thankful for this year.

Jen

My Inner Crew: For my family, my friends, my boyfriend and my roommates. Their love is what drives me forward, and I will always be grateful for being blessed with these amazing people.

The Dreamers: The dreamers who believe anything is possible and have made our world a better place because of it. The dreamers push us forward and inspire us to chase our own dreams.

Leaps of Faith: F rom staring a blog to quitting my job, this year has been full of leaps. I have no idea how things will turn out, but having taken the leap is a reward in itself.

The Journey: We may dream, aspire, and reach for something but we cannot control when or how we get there. Learning, discovering, growing along the way makes our lives that much richer and the destinations that much sweeter when we reach them.

Being Alive: Taking the time to enjoy good music, good food and good company. Seeing all of the gifts that we are granted every single day and never taking life for granted.

Catherine

Wine: A reminder to sip and savor—not chug—your way through life.

Music Festivals: Good sounds, good people, and weekend long dance parties.

Airplanes: “It’s comforting to know the ones you love are always in your heart. And if you’re very lucky, a plane ride away.” – Carrie Bradshaw

Facebook: A one stop shop to remember all the friends and the memories you’ve curated from day one of college.

California: There’s no place like home.