Food For Thought

I've posted this recipe before but I thought I would remind y'all that you need to make this!  I won the Pumpkin Bake off at work a couple years back and I'm planning to bring this over to my parents on Thanksgiving.  Also, we're smoking a turkey on the grill this year and I'm really looking forward to a laid back day...hoping the weather will suit having a fire!
This recipe makes a large dish so it's great for family gatherings...

What you need:
1 can pumpkin (15 oz)
1 cup evap milk
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
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1 package butter recipe vanilla cake mix
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup melted butter

What you do:
Stir together first 5 ingredients.  Pour into a lightly greased 13x9 baking dish.  Sprinkle cake mix evenly over pumpkin mixture, sprinkle evenly with pecans, drizzle butter evenly on top!
Bake at 350  for 1 hour until golden brown.

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So that's the food portion of my post, now on to the thoughts.
A friend of mine (hey Tara!) and I were discussing internal peace and happiness recently and she made an analogy that I must share with you all...
You know that there are days where no matter how much you wish you were in a good mood, you just can't seem to get there.  Whatever kind of stress you're under, it's hard to tell yourself to snap out of it!  I know that women-focused magazines include a "stress management" feature nearly every month, but reading the same anecdotes over and over doesn't necessarily mean that they sink in.  It's easy to tell yourself to "Smile yourself out of the funk!" but it's hard to make yourself listen.  Does that make sense??
Well, let me just get to my point because I'm even confusing myself here.
Don't you wish that you could choose you mood, your mindset, like you choose what jewelry you wear??
Well, I think you can, as long as you look at it like that. 
Everyday I put on my favorite bracelet from K.  It makes me feel happy to see it on my wrist! 
I am also choosing to "wear" calm and peace each day as well...putting it on as if it were another bracelet!
Thoughts?
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Also, here's a quote from the Thanksgiving meal at the Neighborhood House last year (each table featured different quotes) that I enjoyed:

It's Friday Eve everyone!  Stay dry my Charleston folks :)