A Year of Living Lovely

Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes,
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Moments so dear.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights
In cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.

In five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure
A year in the life?

If you are a Rent fan, you are surely singing along by now...

Seasons of Love is one of my all-time favorite songs. It immediately came to mind when I realized that it’s been a year since I started my little blog. It is so interesting to look back and see how my most recent 525,600 minutes are reflected on these pages. It was a pretty eventful and emotional year.

I have to admit, I’ve never stuck with any blog or journal for this long, so it is really fun to have this collection of thoughts and memories in one place. It confirms for me the value of this writing, even if nobody reads it but me and even if I'm not terribly consistent about it. Here’s how my year was summed up in tags:

aluminum, be the change you want to see in the world, benign, bickering kids, black bears, blessings overload, Blue Zone, Bob Mould, BPA, budget, busy mom, BWCA, cancer, cardio challenge, cats, children, Children's Theatre Company, Christmas cookies, Click Clack Moo, Club2030, clutter, Committed, dating your spouse, depression, disposable utencils, Earth Day, eat local and organic, eat organic, economy, endorphins, environment, exercise, Family Goes Green, family time, family wellness, Fanfarlo, farmers market, fear, Feng Shui, financial stress, First Ave, fitness, Food Inc., Food Pyramid, friends, gardening, generations, grandma, grandparents, gratitude, happiness, health care war, healthy eating, holiday cards, holiday lights, household organization, intention, is plastic safe?, Jason Mraz, job loss, keeping up with the Joneses, kids dishes by Duralex, Klean Kanteen, layoffs, light therapy, Lily Allen, live lovely, love each day, lovely life, marriage with intention, Mason Jennings, meal planning, medicine of the mind, memories, Minnesota winter, money, Mother's Day, motherhood, music, my style of blogging, new job, nurturing those I love, nutrition, One Phone Call From Our Knees, One Small Change, optimism, Organized Audrey, pets reduce stress, Phipps Theater, photos, pictures, plants, play, positive energy, reuse, Rock the Cradle, roller coasters, rotating toys, Sarah's Key, save money, save the planet, seasons, soul food, speed of time, spring, Stages Theater Company, stay-home dad, stitching, surgery, tears, tempered glass dishes, Ten Thousand Villiages, Thankgiving, The Book Thief, The Current, The Dead, The Secret Garden, the tumor, The Year of Magical Thinking, therapy, tight budget, Twin Cities arts scene, U2, unemployment, video games, waiting, Walker Art Center Free First Saturdays, water conservation, working mom, writing as an art

I’m doing my best to measure in love.