These are a few of my favorite things....

The smell of brownies baking, a good steak, Mediterranean food, sushi, snuggling up by a fire, scarves, puppies, being covered by warm laundry fresh out of the dryer, driving with the windows down on a nice sunny spring afternoon, laughing so hard you cry, a good glass of wine, a REALLY good meal, spending time with your best friends, impromptu dance parties, new clothes, getting your hair cut, lounging all day long in your pj's, watching movies in bed, kisses from the love of your life, gelato, traveling to new places, discovering your new favorite song, rainy days indoors with a movie, hot chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream, the state fair, boats, hearing the crash of the waves at the beach, relaxing on the lake, chickfila, spicy food, having great friends that love you no matter what, meeting "the one," experiencing God's grace, doing something nice for someone else, giving presents, surprises, tex-mex, marrying your best friend, seeing your baby for the first time, a babies laugh.....

This rambling hodge podge of items came to me as I was trying to write a letter for Blake to give to her when she's older of things in life that gave me true pleasure and joy.  I want to give her a list of things to try to experience in life and a list of things that express a bit more who I am.  This idea came to me after my dear friend Whitney's mother passed away last year and when going thru all her things we found a letter that she had written to Whitney when she was a baby.  I knew after reading that and both our eyes filling up with tears that I wanted to have something like this to give to precious little Blake to always be able to hold onto no matter what.  

It ended up being much harder than I thought to come up with my favorite experiences, things, moments and words of wisdom, but the funny thing is - for the most part - many of my favorite things were simple.  Items that we often take for granted and overlook if we go thru the motions of each day too quickly.  It made me realize that I need to really take a step back and take in every single moment of life and enjoy it to the fullest.