Hope + Celebration {CELEBRATE This Week: 161}

I'm glad you are here to celebrate! 

Share a link to your blog post below and/or use #celebratelu to share celebrations on Twitter. Check out the details here. Celebrate This Week goes live on Friday night around 10(ish). Consider it as a weekend celebration. Whenever it fits in your life, add your link. 

Please leave a little comment love for the person who links before you.

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I wrote this line today --

Hope is fed by celebration.

There are things in life that we must feed and things that we need to let be. Hope is one of those things to feed. It grows stronger through celebration. My hope needs fed, so I'm making a list. I hope you will join me.

1. Hannah's birthday was last week. She wanted to go to the mall with her friends and then eat at Flat Top Grill. Hannah is the one in pink. I love her smile. Do you know how long we've waited to see that genuine smile? Those girls with her? They're the best kind of friends. They are the kinds of friends who love you for who you are and believe in you for who you can become. I'm so happy that Hannah gets to experience this kind of friendship.
2. My friend Jodi is visiting. We chatted after school today and I met her new daughter, Whimsy. We have plans to have dinner together on Sunday evening. My family is tagging along, too. We have taco night planned and I can't wait to get together for an ordinary Sunday evening. When you live across the country from each other, you don't get very many ordinary evenings.
3. I'm getting a new office at school. Yippee! I've found that having a place makes my work much more productive.
4. My book is clicking along. Thank you so much for the well wishes. A special thanks to my crit partner, Ruth Metcalfe, who reads and rereads and listens to me ramble and points me in a direction and says GO. NOW.
5. I've been playing with an online notebook. It's been an adventure to explore an old tool in a new space. Notebook writing is a key part of my writing process. I've enjoyed finding the advantages and overcoming the challenges of a digital notebook. I've also remembered how notebook writing is cathartic and random and glorious in its chaos.
6. I've been slowing down. I always do this time of year. I'm sitting on the couch after school and not feeling guilty. I've been going for walks instead of runs and not feeling guilty. I've been going to be earlier and sleeping in later and not feeling guilty. I'm claiming peace and avoiding offense. 
7. Home is my favorite place, and this makes me happy.