The Gratitude Project - 2010

Happy New Year!  I cannot believe that we are upon 2010.  Sitting her on New Year's Eve, it hit me how much has happened in my life over the past 10 year.  10 years ago, I was celebrating my first New Year's Eve as a married woman.  Who knew that in the 10 years to follow I would buy a great first house, give birth to 2 great children, continue to work at the job that I had just started, travel to Europe, get involved in 3 different businesses, open my very own business, close my business, start another new business with a friend, survive 10 years of marriage, met new friends, said goodbye to some people who I thought were friends, adopted my first pet, lost my mind, celebrated some of the greatest times in my life, found myself, lost myself, gained more weight than I wanted, laughed a lot and cried a lot.  In the midst of it all, I learned a lot about me (some things that I like and some things that I do not like).  

They say that as you get older, time goes by much faster.  Well, it is true. The past 10 years have flown by faster than I could have ever imagined.  I realize now that it is so important to be present in your own life.  No matter how crazy things get, we only have so much time, so we need to laugh and enjoy it.  I can say that I have really become a worry wart and many times forget to stop and smell the roses.

So, this year, I am starting the year feeling a little bit wiser and ready to face this crazy world.  I realize that I am very blessed and very fortunate and need to take more time to appreciate that.

I am going to be participating in something called "Project 365".  I will be taking at least one photo each day of something that inspires me.  I have LOVED photography since I took my first photography class in high school.  It has been something that has been a major part of my life for a long time.  By doing this, I hope to be able to stop and appreciate things more as well as document the year with some really great photos.  Attached is the first photo of the new year.  It is of my Christmas tree.  I LOVE Christmas and totally enjoyed sitting on my couch watching a movie after everyone was asleep.  There is nothing better than the glow of Christmas lights!  I live for this time of year!

I also plan to change this blog of mine into a bit of a "gratitude" project.  I plan to look around a bit more and learn to pick at least one positive in each of my days.  Over the past years, I have found it very easy to wallow in the days of being a working mom, wife, and friend.  I many times have found it easier to be a "glass half empty" kind of person (as I have mentioned in some of my other blogs).  This year, I am going to try to change this!  

I don't know if anyone out there will ever read any of this, but I am inspired to keep writing and to write every day about the good things in life.  I hope to see a gradual change and improvement in myself over time.  Happy New Year and cheers to 2010!