My blog is one year away from becoming a teenager! I try to take some time to reflect each July on why I blog, since this is the month when I began blogging 12 years ago (see 1st,  2nd,  3rd, 4th,  5th , 6th,  8th and 10th birthday posts). My primary reason for blogging continues to be for reflection. I am a introvert and I spend so much of my time in my mind, thinking about a million things, often a million miles a minute. When I write, I force myself to slow down and truly think about something. While I don’t publish many reflection posts annually, I reflect through writing often and in many places.

The second reason I continue to blog is to keep a record of my reading and to reflect on my reading experiences. My monthly reading posts are the majority of what I post these days, and I enjoy them. I love having a long-term record of what I’m reading and learning. I am sure that they will continue to make up the bulk of my posts each year and I’m fine with that.

Since I haven’t checked in on my word of 2024 at all this year, I wanted to take time mid-year to reflect on that as well. I chose DELIGHT to help remind me to look for not just the big exciting events of the year, but to find the delight in the small daily events as well. Here are a few DELIGHTS I’ve experienced so far this year:

• 3 New Kids on the Block concerts with my concert bestie, where we enjoyed meet & greets with our guys as well as the “Magic Seat” experience, which meant we were dancing on stage for the first 7 songs of those concerts- amazing!
• A long weekend in Maui with my family and my favorite sea turtles – a bucket-filling time with people I love in a place I love, where I can recharge and find peace
• An amazing vacation in Panama with my college friend and travel buddy – I loved being able to use my Spanish so much and see incredible animals and scenery and ending with a relaxing all-inclusive resort experience
• Updating my Been app with new states (Ohio) and new countries (Panama and soon-to-visit Ecuador)
• Updating my Countdown app with new events to look forward to
• Visiting with my Dad each week. Due to certain situations, my Dad has been geographically closer to me than normal and I’ve been able to spend extended time with him almost every week over the last few months. This time has been a gift!
• Dinners by and with my brother – Most weeks, my brother comes to my house to cook us a few meals. This gives us time together and we each end up with stack of meals ready to go for the week, which makes us both healthier!
• My Fitbit – I bought myself a new Fitbit on a whim about 6 months ago. I wanted to track steps and encourage myself to walk more and I ended up with so much more than that. The version I got buzzes on my wrist each hour to encourage me to walk at least 250 steps an hour. This has been great during the quieter summer work time when I am sitting in my office so much more than normal. The device also tracks my sleep and my heart rate, both of which provide important data for me.
• Lots of big and small work successes that I’m proud of!
• Cleaning out my work office and my home guest room – always love a good purge!
• Dinners, walks, and chats with friends
• FaceTimes with my nephews

If you are still here and still reading, thank you! Thanks for checking in on my rambling thoughts over the last 12 years. I appreciate anyone who reads this blog.