Hello 40 | Shake It Up

Hello 40! I kind of dig ya.

So what did I learn over my #39adventures this last year? The biggest thing was to shake it up. There are always adventures just waiting to be had. Never rest on your laurels, peeps. Also, I really like the woman I am becoming in these years of my life. I want to see more of her!

I also have realized I know what I enjoy and what I don't, so in celebration for the big 40 this week, here's a few things I've come to realize, through keeping a gratitude journal last year, make my heart sing. In no particular order, just how it ended up in the journal.

• My faith

• Walking out the front door in early spring to singing birds 

• Coach Man, the hooligans, our families and our fur babies

• Soft peach roses

• Writing, storytelling and my job

• Autumn anything

• Coffee

• A fresh wall calendar 

• The glow of candles on a birthday cake

• Fairy gardens

• Weddings

• Belly laughs

• Going to a local play or musical

• Pachelbel's Canon in D (swoon)

• Being kind

• Cardinals

• My living room picture collage wall

• My rosary 

• Pennies

• Sunday Mass

• Handwritten cards in the mail for no reason

• Deep purple, navy, lime green and hot pink

• Lent and Advent

• Garth Brooks

• Yard sales and Goodwill

• Books, especially a good Debbie Macomber one to get lost in

• Scruffy hospitality

• Cilantro 

• Flip flops

• Meeting up with friends

• Mexican, Thai and fresh seafood 

• Black and white polka dot socks

• Audrey Hepburn sunglasses

• Costco chocolate cake, you know the one I'm talking about

• A good pun

• Summer concerts 

• Picnics 

• Handwritten lists 

• The pool 

• Slow dancing with Coach Man

• Icy water

• Naps

• Wineries 

• Cheeseballs

• A Coach Man grilled cheeseburger

• Bonfires and hayrides

• Caramel apples with nuts 

• Tea parties

• Brie cheese and fig jam

• Travel, near and far, but especially the beach

• My children's smiles

• A clean kitchen

• Watching Dateline with Coach Man

• Soft whimsy snow that doesn't accumulate 

• Vera Bradley cross-body purses

• Lavender soap

• Campbell's Tomato Soup with Fritos

• The Family Stone movie

• Swirling leaves on a path in fall

• Freshly painted toes

• A good simple low cost adventure

• Reading to the kids

• Lace curtains

• Cooking and baking 

• Fireworks with the cousins

• A cozy state park inn

• The library 

• Double fried "naked" chicken wings 

• Dropping off the and picking up the kids from school, and when the Lou hops off the bus and says, "Hi, Mama!" (swoon)

• Christmas Eve 

• The Adoration Chapel 

• Winnie-the-Pooh and The Hundred Acre Wood

Watch for a #40adventures list coming soon! And this year, it's not just a gratitude journal and some amazing food for thought books. I'm going to try for a sentence a day in Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project One-Sentence Journal. Why not actively choose joy and join me?

...there's never a wish better than this. When you only got hundred years to live...

And if you're curious these were my go-to reads (well with a few Debbie Macomber and Nora Roberts mixed in) over my 39th year. All of them taught me a little something new. 

-Jen

Top PC: Elizabeth Pack Photography