Great year so far!

13 days into the new year and so far it has been amazing! I had the best first day with a hike in the woods and date my hubby and since then I've gotten together with friends, attended a couple of ISU basketball games, worked-out daily, eaten healthy, volunteered, read a book, cooked more than usual, played a million games of Monopoly jr. and just generally been happy and well!

Okay, it might not have been a million games, but I wouldn't be surprised if we have played close to 100 games since Christmas!  If you don't have Monopoly jr, I recommend it.  We are loving this game.  Rylee figured it out quickly and wins more than she loses.  We changed one of the rules to the game.  The instructions say that every time you land on an unoccupied property, you MUST buy it. Because we wanted to use this game to teach about smart spending, we didn't think it was right to require the players to spend money.  We play like regular Monopoly where the players decide if they want to buy the property or not.  Rylee kicks our butts!!

Something else new for me this year that I'm enjoying is cooking with an electric skillet.  We have owned one for, I don't know, maybe 9 years or more and have NEVER used it. My flat pan I use to make pancakes with was starting to warp.  I was going to buy a new one, but then remembered about that skillet. I got it out and fell in love instantly!!  I have used it several times the past two weeks and can't believe I neglected it for so long!!

I've changed my taste in music a bit the past few weeks as well.  Through the whole month of December I had my kitchen radio on 104.1 - Christmas music.  Once they stopped playing Christmas songs and returned to their mix of hits, I quickly became a fan!!  In the first hour I listened to it, I heard so many songs I had forgotten about -- they all brought back memories of something fun.  I haven't returned to country music yet, but I will eventually --it's my first love :)  104.1 has also encouraged a lot of kitchen dancing by all of us!!  :)  Music is so good for the soul!

I recently saw this quote.

It made me think about all of the new things I've tried in the past few years and how each of those things really did make me feel more "full of life" if you will.  Each one was a little out of the box for me -- outside my comfort zone for sure. Two years ago was learning photography, last year was getting into writing, and so far this year I have enjoyed painting.  Each of these things allow me to be creative, give me learning opportunities to keep my brain going, and are somewhat therapeutic. But the thing I'm really excited about for this year is volunteering.

I've always wanted to volunteer regularly, but never had enough drive to do it, or couldn't find the right opportunity for myself.  After volunteering twice in the past five weeks, I have the itch to do more.  As a bonus, I'm hoping to find opportunities that I can include Rylee in.  We have a meeting tomorrow with a volunteer coordinator to see what we can come up with.  I also have a couple of ideas for us once it warms up.  Just thinking about all of these opportunities makes me feel happy.  I hope I can continue to find ways to volunteer and raise kids who don't mind helping too.

A friend recently mentioned how happy I seem.  A lot of good things have happened for me in the last 6 months and I do feel like I'm in the right place now, but ultimately I'm happy because I choose to be. Choosing joy makes my days so much brighter.

I hope you all are making the most of your new year too!!  Tell me something good that has happened for you in 2016.....