Forty Things

I have been working for weeks on a New Year's post about the resolutions I have been making - the same ones for the past 3 - 4 years. It has been a pretty raw and current process and I'm sitting with it for it a bit until it's ready. In the meantime I needed some happy thoughts, so I have been making a list of my forty favourite (some very frivolous) things.

And I counted and realized I turn forty in 210 days. Do you think there is any way to incorporate all of these things into celebrating my birthday? : ) I love milestones and I love celebrations...

My Forty Favourite Things

1. running on pretty trails 
2. hiking in beautiful and breathtaking places
3. running goals (and meeting them!)
4. water - swimming in lakes when it's hot and going to the lake with my kids with picnics and swimming suits
5. reading great books and having a stack of them waiting (that to me is decadence!)
6. having meaningful time alone
7. pretty journals and collaging in them
8. creating art with mixed media
9. shopping in pretty places and finding great deals 
10. researching and making plans for the future; ideas, dreaming of possibilities (in a pretty window-ish seat)
11. beautifying my home spaces (especially with fabrics, art and colour)
12. encouraging and inspiring people
13. writing and crafting with words (and quotes - I love quotes!)
14. gratitude
15. colourful, sparkly and elegant jewelry
16. red shoes. fun dresses. dark jeans.
17. deep, restorative sleep (and cozy blankets)
18. delicious food
19. fabulous dates away with my husband (and getting dressed up fancy for them)
20. reading great books to my kids
21. pretty water bottles
22. great conversations with small groups of friends - dinner parties!
23. getting my hair done
24. free makeovers at the MAC counter and getting new pretty makeup
25. cooking with my husband
26. sushi
27. massages and whole days of quiet
28. active vacations (and roadtrips) with my husband and kids in beautiful places (that to me is rest)
29. not traveling, not talking on the phone, not big parties, not driving - and being home (I love home)
30. sunshine (and icy drinks, cute sunglasses, big floppy sunhats and a new sundress... for the record when I read this list to my kids and read this one, my son said: "That is awesomeness.")
31. writing cards that bless people
32. old movies from the 40's, 50's and 60's and watching them with my Clark
33. big, fun, patterned mugs full of a hot drink in the morning (but not coffee)
34. making lists (and checking them off!)
35. happy music
36. photographs & taking them
37. vintage art posters
38. flowers: gerbers, tulips, hyacinths, hydrangeas, sunflowers, daisies (no greens)
39. dutch licorice 
40. dates with God and hearing from Him

And honourable favourite mentions going into the next ten:

1. my puppy Emma 
2. running past Christmas lights on icy evenings
3. learning to knit more than a scarf with delicious yarns
4. reading more Mary Oliver, Madeleine L'Engle and Kristin Armstrong (she'd have to write more)
5. hiking the Appalachian trail, in all the big national parks and the Milford Sound on the south island (New Zealand) with my kids and husband
6. kayaking a lot with my husband & learning to SUP (stand up paddle board)
7. being debt free and creating good savings
8. writing a book or ten
9. staying a runner all my life
10. and the big dream for this year: finding a way to spend the summer with my kids and husband in a cabin on the water on the San Juan Islands just us four  (I know - it's a dream! But so is the whole list.)

"Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide."  

~ Napoleon Bonaparte