WGJ Birthday

 Today is Wonder, Grace Joy's 2nd Birthday! 

I cannot believe it! Who knew when I started Wonder Grace Joy back in January of 2020, what I was in for  and how much YOU-Wonder Grace Joy- has helped me through such a wacky time I think, we all have ever lived through. 

Wonder Grace Joy, I have loved spilling all my secrets  and stories to you. Thank you for giving me a space to write, sometimes just for you and sometimes for the world to see. I am so excited for all the wondrous things I will write about this year. 

Happy Birthday girlfriend!

If you want to see last years WGJ's birthday post, click here.

[[The more you praise and celebrate life, the more there is in life to celebrate]]

Word of the Year 2022

This year, I had no idea where to even begin to think about what my word of the year would be. Previous years I had chosen Bloom in 2020 which I thought was super applicable given the circumstances we were in and Focus in 2021 which I am not sure if I focused in the literal sense of the word. The jury is still out on that and you can read more about 2021's word of the year HERE and 2020's word of the year HERE.

ON to 2022, I really had no idea what it was going to be. Going into the year I usually have a good idea, a few words that keep popping up in my everyday life and then I just go with my gut and pick one. AND usually taking a few of those on line quizzes to get a feel for what suits me (thank you DaySpring!) So going into 2022, I did the quizzes, I looked a different lists and I did the "find first 3 words you see" word search and I looked at others word of the years to get inspiration. This year was tough but I ended up landing on a word or should i say WORDS of the year.  Yup, I found three that just seemed right and they kinda fit together in a way. 

My Words of the Year are:

Power, Glow & Purpose

Purpose has been something I have been chasing after for what seems like the last decade. I finally feel like I am coming into my own and maybe this year will be the year I finally find my purpose. I have always wondered what I was put on this earth for, how am I going to make my impact in my community- real and virtual. When I was in my twenties (and even now), I always thought of myself as a role model for young girls. I want to show young girls its cool to be quirky and to do things their own way. Social media doesn't always show you the whole truth. I guess I am hoping I can become someone that I needed to look up to when I was younger. 

Glow seems to fit really well with I want to portray in the world with Wonder, Grace & Joy. I feel like if you are glowing, you are happy with your life and everyone can see it. It doesn't always mean life is perfect but you are making the best out of your situation. I love when you see someone just loving the life they created for themselves and they are doing things they truly love; its almost like you can see the  sunshine shining out of them. Others just want to be around you and be in your goodness/happiness- THAT is what I try to achieve. 

Power caught me off guard; When I google the word 'power', Merriam-Webster tells me there are NINE different definitions. NINE! That is crazy to think one word could be perceived in so many different ways BUT back to the point, I think of control, ruling over something, possession over something when I hear power. That is the exact oppose of what I want. I don't want to control anyone or anything. I take those definitions as not what I want to be.  I think of power to be more as in strength and a physical might. I am powerful in the ways that I can set goals and accomplish those goals; I have gone through a lot of things in life and I have become powerful through those experiences. I am very curious to see how power relates to my life this year. 

--------

There you have it. I am so curious how these three words are going to carry through this whole year. Check back in July for my half year update to see if I am finding my purpose, glowing and power are making their way into my lives. 

Do you choose a word of the year? If so, let me know in the comment below!

[[Be positive, productive, patient and persistent in life.]]

Word of the Year 2021: Did I FOCUS?

Back in January of 2021, I picked my Word of the Year- Focus. You can read all about it here 

My goal with FOCUS was to see what is important and what is in front of me & goodness will come..

I focused in the following ways:

-I took a step back from dating in 2020 and when I reentered the dating world, I knew exactly what I wanted. 

-I spoke my mind softly, and when I did speak it, I didn't waiver in my decision. I was proud to stay true to myself and being open to new possibilities.

-Funny enough, I didn't put pressure on myself (too much) to focus. I had so much trouble focusing at working- every day I've tried everything from bribing myself to setting timers for work times, etc. nothing really helped. 

Being focused was really hard, I think the reality of the pandemic was hitting everyone hard and while the news was not helping; you had to really make a conscious effort to focus on the good. 

I can't wait to see what my Word of the Year this year will be and how it pertains to my life. 

Check out my 2020 Word of the Year and if I actually Bloomed. 

[[Words are powerful.]]

Wordle

Are you playing it?  

I am totally hooked. Its simple design and easy to follow instructions make me so excited each morning to play. I sometimes get confused with the green and gold colors so I am consistently reviewing the rules. I always think gold equals gold star, you did a great job, that's right. HA!

Some days I need to take a break from it to really think, other days I have good luck (see above). This simple yet challenging game is one my favorite things lately. 

The very best part is since its one game per day, I love comparing answers with friends to see how they got to the mystery word.

Try Wordle here.

[[ you're the best & I'm the luckiest]]

Cheers to 34 Years

34.  

How am I in my mid-thirties already?! I swear I just turned 13 like last week and got out of my awkward stage a few days ago. 

It is hard for me to put into words exactly what I am feeling about my birthday. I am feeling an array of feelings- all good- but there are a a lot of them. While I am excited for the adventures this next year hold, I am cautious to see what happens next.

Today I will celebrate with good company and good food (and really cold weather) and I will sit back a revel in the fact that I have spent 34 years here on earth. I will continue to celebrate everything, all the good that life has to offer. I want this year to be filled with joy, wonder, excitement, adventures, and happiness. 

[[She's bright like glitter and bubbly like champagne.]]

Affirmations for 2022

This year, I am trying something new.... affirmations. My therapist has been telling me for a while now to try this. I was skeptical in the beginning when she first mentioned it but it seemed to have stuck in my mind because I kept thinking about the idea. Well here we are in 2022 and I have seven affirmations that I say daily to myself in the morning when I am getting dressed. I stuck a post in note on my mirror to remind me each day. Some days I feel silly saying them but repetition is key with this so as the year wears on, I feel that I will believe these more and more.

 2022 Affirmations:

1 AM..... Strong

               Intelligent

               Beautiful

               Creative

               Open

               Grateful

               Focused

Another fun thing I found this year were what I thought were going to be silly word searches. The first x-amount of words are to describe your year. I didn't have high hopes for the two I did but let me tell you the results blew me away. These two from @odeandiefreude and @powerofpositivity on Instagram were the real deal. I loved all the words I found and I am hoping to incorporate these into my life this year:

Power

Purpose

Gratitute

Breakthrough

Creation

Glow

Success

Friends

Do you have something you say to yourself each day?

[[Be kind when speaking to/about yourself]]

My Goals for 2022

I had this image saved from the Fall of 2019. I was at the point of picking myself back up and realizing what I really wanted. Who knew it would take me to 2022 (better late than never) to fully understand that. 

I also think I was setting the stage for myself, a bit of foreshadowing, because those four things are exactly what I want to do this year. I set 4 goals this year. These goals provide me with a challenge to keep me going throughout the whole year. I cannot wait to see how I can accomplish these goals this year.  

These goals are on the vague/abstract side and I 100% made them that way. I want to have flexibility when it comes to achieving these goals. I know going from start to finish is rarely a straight line. I don't want that pressure to make it perfect, I want this to be as organic and in my way/ on my own terms as it cane be. 

2022 Goals

1. Be the best version of myself
       This is an abstract goal but I truly want to be the strong, happy, grateful, purposeful, confident and joyful woman I know I can be. I want strangers to be able to look at me and say "Gosh, she is living her best life" and it not being about the material possessions I have but my true self.

2. Move at least 3x's a week
        To accomplish this: take walks (at least 30 minutes), gym, bouldering, bike rides, paddleboarding, kayaking, hikes, yoga, etc. I think this goal will also help with goal #4 too. Win win!

3. Be more creative
        Get back to my old imaginative self by painting, doodling, crafting, sewing and just trying. I get frustrated trying to be creative and I am hoping small spurts of creativeness in the beginner will encourage and push me to 

4. Spend 1000 hours outside
       This seems like a lot and a bit of a reach for me but I think this will be attainable (once the weather warms up) with hikes, walks, paddleboarding, kayaking, bike rides, beach, reading, boardwalk and the zoo to name a few. ANYTHING outside. I'm excited to see how creative I will get with this goal.

Woah! I know this year will be exciting and I cannot wait to see it unfold. 

To do a mini recap, here were my goals from 2021:

-Move each day (walking, paddle boarding, virtual classes)

-Have gratitude in each situation

-Continue with my savings plan and keep my debt very low

-Read 25 books

-Be more creative

-Be intentional with my time

With the wackiness of last year, I completed all my goals in one way or another, which is really impressive considering last year wasn't a year that great. I am happy to look back on goals and to see in a messy season of my life, I was still able to complete these. 

Have you set goals for this year?

[[Work on your goals a little bit each day, no matter how small]]

Family Photos 2021

Back in November, we took our annual family photos for our Christmas card. We originally planned to to take the photos during golden hour (1 hour before sunset) the day after Thanksgiving. It looked like a beautiful day in the morning then all of the sudden as we were getting dressed, the wind picked up so much that the photographer called and said he didn't think it would be a great idea because the photos wouldn't turn out great. We agreed and rescheduled for the following Tuesday. 

This short notice rescheduling was actually a blessing in disguise, we got to try on our outfits as a dry run and the original clothes we picked out did not look great together. SO, we went back to the drawing board and figured out what we were going to wear. 

These photos ended up being some pretty awesome photos and the weather cooperated. We were sad there was no amazing sunset like last year but we were so happy with the photos overall. 

I shared what our Christmas card photo was on Christmas (here) and now here are some other favorites from that day

Location: Bamber Lake
Photographer: Noah Schaffer Photography

To see our 2020 family photos, click here.

Does your family take photos each year for Christmas?

[[photographs are moments in time you want to keep forever.]]

2021 Book Reviews

 AH! 2021 was a huge year for me, reading wise. I surpassed my reading goal of 25 books by reading 47 books. I couldn't get enough this year and I found some really amazing books.

Libby was the MVP again this year. I was able to find such fun and engaging books that I would never have found in the library.  Once the library opened back up, I still choose Libby over an actually book. There were a few books I got from the library since they were not available on Libby.

A fun discovery with books I found this year was audiobooks. I've listened to some audiobooks in the past that were on cds but let me tell you, audiobooks were game changers this year. I listened to them on walks, at the gym and where ever else I could. Between Libby and my wireless earbuds, it was perfect. 

I previously posted here  about the first 6 books of the year. They were:

How to be an Artist by Jerry Saltz⭐⭐⭐⭐
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silcon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou*⭐⭐⭐⭐
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey*⭐⭐⭐⭐
Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson*⭐⭐⭐⭐
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert*⭐⭐⭐⭐
Southern Lady Code: Essays by Helen Ellis*⭐⭐⭐⭐

(*audiobooks)

Here are the rest of the books I read in 2021:

You Know I'm No Good by Jessie Ann Foley⭐⭐⭐⭐
Every Single Lie by Rachel Vincent⭐⭐⭐⭐
To Siri With Love: A Mother, Her Autistic Son and the Kindness of a Machine by Judith Newman⭐⭐⭐
The Inheritance Games by: Jennifer Lynn Barnes⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ask Again, Yes by: Mary Beth Keane⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Single On Purpose: Redefine Everything. Find Yourself First by John Kim⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Twenty by James Grippando⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Rationing by Charles Wheelan⭐⭐⭐⭐
Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner⭐⭐⭐⭐
Solitary by Alexander Gordon Smith⭐⭐⭐
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult⭐⭐⭐⭐
Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn⭐⭐⭐⭐
Of One Blood: Or, the Hidden Self by Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins⭐⭐⭐
Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne⭐⭐⭐⭐
Hola Pai: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons by John Paul Brammer⭐⭐⭐⭐
We Can Only Save Ourselves by Alison Wisdom⭐⭐⭐
With You All The Way by: Cynthia Hand⭐⭐⭐
The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim DeFede⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Lost Village by Camilla Sten⭐⭐⭐
Personal Effects: What Recovering the Dead Teaches Me About Caring for the Living by: Robert A. Jensen⭐⭐⭐
Ordinary Heroes: A Memoir of 9/11 by Joseph Pfeifer⭐⭐⭐⭐
Fault Lines by Emily Itami⭐⭐⭐⭐
Friends Like These by Kimberly McCreight⭐⭐⭐⭐

The following books were all the audiobooks I listened to. I highly recommend these books to be listened to- they really bring the story alive and I don't think I would have liked these books if I had read them. 

My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite⭐⭐⭐⭐
No Hero: The Evolution of a Navy Seal by Mark Owen⭐⭐⭐
Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry⭐⭐⭐⭐
Impostor Syndrome by Kathy Wang⭐⭐⭐
Ring Shout by P. Djli Clark⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Loop by Jeremy Robert Johnson⭐⭐⭐⭐
Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter by 50 Cent⭐⭐⭐⭐
Influence by Sara Shepard⭐⭐⭐
Frontier Follies: Adventures in Marriage & Motherhood in the Middle of Nowhere: Ree Drummond⭐⭐⭐
11/22/1963 by Stephen King⭐⭐⭐⭐
The First Husband by Laura Dave⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Husbands by Chandler Baker⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Still Lives by Maria Hummel⭐⭐⭐
Instamom by Chantel Guertin⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cul-de-sac by Joy Fielding⭐⭐⭐

Phew! That is a lot of books read (for me!)-22 audio books and 25 books

I truly read a wide variety of genres- YA, romance, Nonfiction, Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Humor, and Self help. I love finding books that I wouldn't necessarily pick up but end up really loving!

If I had to choose a top 5 for favorite books I read in 2021 they would be:  (in no particular order)

1. Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
2. Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne
3. The Husbands by Chandler Baker
4. The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
5. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

This was really hard for me to pick because I truly did love all the books I read this year- thy were so diverse and intriguing. I struggled only through a handful, some of the story lines were dry but interesting enough that I decided to keep reading. Some of those "dry-er" books actually ended up being really awesome, others not so much. 

Click here to follow me on Goodreads. 

How many books did you read this year? Which one was your favorite?

[[Reading allows you to be transported to a different world, from the comforts of your home]]

2021 by the Numbers

Hello!

Happy 2022! ( I totally wrote 2021 first and then realized we moved on to 2022. Does this happen to anyone else, the first few weeks of the year?) 

I am doing a fun post today where I go back and gather some data from my year and see how my year rounded out. 

Let's dive in:

133 days spent working in office

40 times I went on walks

15 times I went paddleboarding

10 visits to the Gravity Vault

8 dates went on

4,114 photos on my camera roll (including screenshots)

70 times I went to the gym

35,730 reps completed

510 average reps per workout

11 average exercises per workout

68 blog posts written

47 books read

113,984 minutes spent listening to music on Spotify

7,011 miles driven

584 average miles driven a month

23 restaurants I ate at

47ish bottles of hand santizer used

16 doctors appointments

4 squirrels I talked to

7ish plants killed (not intentional)

3 houses toured in hopes of buying

365 days of day dreaming

and on to the data you can't measure with numbers:

So many  adventures I went on

A lot of memes sent via text and instagram

Infinite number of times I whispered "what the hell..."

The limit does not exist of the number of sunset photos I took

and finally,

Too many times I wanted to give up but I am really glad I didn't

_______

A big thanks to Google, Libby, Spotify, My Buick App, my calendars/planners and my gym workout cards for keeping all this data for me. I love looking at my numbers for the year, I think it shows you concrete evidence of what you did during the year, while you may not realize it. 

Thanks for taking this fun trip down memory lane with me!

Do you compile your data  from the previous year to see what you accomplished?

[[Look back only to see how far you have come. ]]