Happy to be Alive, Because: You're Mine For Life.

23 years ago today, my favorite human being was born.  Happy birthday to my babe!

1.  I have someone to take these types of pictures with:

And these types of pictures with: 

2.  I get to wake up and see my best friend every morning.  Cliche?  Duh.  Absolutely true?  You bet.  And he brings me coffee every morning.  Boom.

3.  No matter how many times I tried to imagine what this season of life would be like (a lot of times, by the way), I never thought it would look like being married to the hardest worker who is just as passionate about my dreams as his own, living 17 stories in the sky downtown, and spending nights adventuring and then coming home to a little fox.  It's nothing like I thought it would be, in all the best ways.

4.  I get to do life with someone who knows me, pushes me, makes me laugh, brings me flowers, knows just when to bring home pizza and wine, and walks my sissy dog.  That, my friends, makes a good life.

5.  I am about to have the best weekend ever celebrating the love of my life.

Cheers to 23, my love!  It's gonna be a good one.

What made you happy to be alive this week? 

Here's to 22.

Here's to twenty-two.

Here's to celebrating with the same girls who stayed up late with you in college, dreaming about when you would maybe publish a book one day.

Here's to being married to your best friend and loving someone more than you thought was humanly possible.  To salty, windy beach days.  To laying in the sand and counting down the hours until you're a published author.

Here's to waking up at 6:00 on your birthday, both elated and panicked because a certain book is now available for anyone to read.

Here's to celebrating.  To way too much sun.  To family and cake and water way too cold to swim in.  Here's to dreaming and laughing and taking time to remember how good life really is. 

Here's to the twenty-second year of life that's turning out to be quite beautiful.  Here's to laughing and dreaming about the year to come. 

Here's to twenty-two.  To shopping and cocktails and getting caught in the rain.  To staying up way too late and getting up way too early.  To campfires and midnight movies.  Here's to ignoring fear and jumping all in.  Here's to following your dreams no matter what it takes.  Here's to the weeks of fancy dinners and to the weeks of Ramen noodle dinners. Here's to that beautiful place between success and failure.

Cheers to twenty-two.

PS: I'm thinking it's time for a new blog design!  Who are your favorite designers?