2014!

Happy New Year friends! How did you ring in 2014? At a big bash? Surrounded by friends? A cozy night in with your loved ones? We had some close friends over for cocktails and appies - it was the perfectly sized intimate gathering that I truly enjoy. This morning my loves and I went for a crisp, fresh walk through the park to let the wintry air rejuvenate us after a late night.
This year I've decided to tackle another 365. I haven't successfully finished one before - but now that I have an iphone I carry with me, there's no reason I can't snap a photo at  whim. This year I chose to do a 365 based on gratitude. I want every daily image to reflect something special within the day- whether it's a person or a moment - I want to celebrate each day for its own uniqueness.
I usually have a list of resolutions that I make for the New Year, you know the ones - get fit, read more,   etc. but because I already created a lengthy list to do when I turned 41, I decided that instead of creating resolutions, I'm going to select a word to live by for 2014.  I picked Love.
I chose love because it is all encompassing. It is a choice we make each day - to tackle the day from a place of fear or a place of love. I want to show more love for myself, in my choices, in my thought processes, in my behaviour from everything to the food I select, the exercise I do, to the people I choose to surround myself with. I want to show more love for others - being a better mother, wife, friend, daughter, citizen - to look at people from a place of love, and not a place of judgement. I hope my 365 will reflect this and show you that it's sometimes the littlest things from our day that make our year so extraordinary.
I don't know about you, but I find that the person who really needs my love the most is me. I am great at giving my love away to others, but I need to silence that inner dialogue that doesn't show me a whole lot of compassion. I love the phrase: Fire the judge and hire the witness. Isn't that fantastic?
So it's fitting that my first photo of this year's 365 is my daughter because for me she epitomizes all that I am grateful for (dreams realized) and she has taught me a love like I've never experienced before - one that is wholly selfless, completely vulnerable and continuously evolving.
Here's to 2014 - I wish you nothing but giant love, wonderful health and peace. xoxo