this is a happy life

love everything about this.

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thankful

today i am thankful.
and so very happy.

wishing you a deliciously happy thanksgiving.

happiness is

...sister's night out.

...eating an ahi three ways salad from the farm.

...going to the carrie underwood concert.

...sitting in the 16th row.

...a stage that moves over the audience.

...the party song.

...a great show and an amazing singer.

...being blown away!

happy thought

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photo adventure

for a while i have had this idea: me + camera + adventure.

i want to stretch myself as a photographer and keep myself open to creativity and seeing things in a different perspective.  my plan is to go out with a purpose and theme of things i want to capture maybe flowers or things around town or food (obvious).

sometimes the sole purpose of the outing will be to take pictures and sometimes the pictures will result from the outing.  i am looking forward to seeing what adventures me and my camera will go on.

this time around we were at disneyland.  we are lucky that we get to visit the happiest place on earth a couple times a year thanks to grandma sue.  each time we go i take my camera and try to capture something that we've never seen before.

on saturday we went to celebrate andrew's 10th birthday - gotta love the birthday button.  i decided to use just my iPhone + instagram to capture the signs of the rides/places we went to.

i have to admit that after experiencing the traffic to get into the parking lot and seeing the long ticket lines i was skeptical as to how much we could fit into the day.  but looking at the pictures i realize we got to do a lot.

i also realized that i never really looked at the signs of the rides before.  have you?  looking for them as we went on each of the rides made it fun and new for me.  no matter how many times i've been on pirates or autopia.  i'm looking forward to going back and capturing a few more.

here's how the day went:

some words

and us

can't wait for the next adventure.

be happy

i love this.  and i especially love that i am working on so many of these things.  which means i must be happy, right?!

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a good reminder that life is good.  life is moving in the right direction.  so very thankful for all of it.

a very good year

another year has come and gone.
a year i will never forget.
a year full of wonderful memories.
a year of amazing moments...

i read a book i will never forget.

i challenged myself and pushed through the pain.

i realized a dream.

i focused.

my love for him grew stronger.

and for them grew deeper.

i had an unforgettable meal, or 2, or 30.

and experienced so much love.

i gave a speech from my heart.

we spent a few days in paradise.

ate many bowls of yumminess.

i let my heart go.

i made a commitment.

and stuck with it.

and changed.

i won.

i taught myself something new.

and i enjoyed every moment.

thank you for the past 365 +1 days.

i get the feeling this year will be even better.
and that makes me so very happy!