2009 word & blessing number one

Hi everyone. Have any of you heard about Brenda Arnell's ( http://brendaarnall.typepad.com/ ) wonderful idea for a gratitude project? Check out her blog for more info (and to be inspired by a great lady in the process) or you can check out the 52 blessings project site here ( http://gratitude.wetpaint.com/?t=anon ) I'm really excited about this idea & think 1 page a week is so much more do-able for my lifestyle than an everyday type of thing. If a weekly blessings is too much I think a monthly documentation would be fun to do too. But I'm committing to the weekly idea & will try to do 1 layout per week (each weekend) and end up with what I hope will be a great book that documents what I'm grateful for in 2009. Check it out if it sounds like something that is interesting to you and feel free to join in at the wetpaint web site referenced above. The more the merrier!

So my first blessing will be "Lifetime friendships" Meet my dear friend Linda.....I've been friends with her for more than 20 years....that in itself is a true blessing as she is such a total sweetheart. We have had so many great laughs together over the years....and few people can make me laugh the way this girl does. I adore her !! But this photo is a double blessing because we lost touch with each other for a couple of years and when she stopped by for a visit yesterday it was the first time I had seen her in about 5 years (she moved to Maine 6 years ago) We picked up right where we left off which was no surprise to me since she has been one of my dearest friends for so long. Even when we lost touch for a bit I thought of her often and still considered myself blessed to know her.


Since I'm using 1 - 4x6 photo per page on my 52 blessings project I'll be using the one above for blessing number one but thought I'd share a few of the other pictures we took while she was here. Like I said...this girl makes me laugh !!! Love, love, love her !!!

Love this photo of her & Jake together too.

Also...many of you who read Ali Edwards blog ( http://aliedwards.typepad.com/ ) and are inspired by her are aware of her encouragement to choose a word each year that has special meaning to you. I love the idea of this and have chosen to do this again this year. So after thinking long and hard about it I chose "CHANGE" for this year. There is so much I want to accomplish this year...and the one thing that will help me achieve what I want is "Change".....change in my outlook on life, change in self discipline, change in lifestyle etc etc etc. Check out Ali's blog for a list of possible words to inspire you.