Dear Reader:

I was clearing off my dining room table a couple of days ago and spotted this Hallmark bag (I had been given after purchasing some cards earlier in the week) …

Before I tossed it…I read the words on the bag and immediately thought that a blog could materialize from the words.

“Life is a Special Occasion”

Hallmark explained this tagline that was created in 2011 with:

Hallmark introduced the Life is a Special Occasion tagline in 2011 to communicate the role our brand plays in peoples’ lives during both the big milestones and the small moments that happen any day.

Hallmark nailed it right on the head with this thought…we don’t have to be celebrating a birthday or anniversary to celebrate life. Every day we can select from any number of opportunities that come our way to celebrate life.

Yesterday…Rutledge was beside himself with excitement! The family birthday party had finally arrived for our terrific two year old. I went over to Walsh and Mollie’s around noon to keep the boys while she ran errands to get ready for the party.

* Tommy and Kaitlyn, also, came over and helped decorate and set up for the party. We all shared in the babysitting joys.   It was truly a family affair!

* Mollie and some of her friends had surprised their husbands with brunch and a round of golf Saturday….so sweet…especially since Walsh had to work today on Father’s Day! So we had a combo Happy Daddy’s Day and Happy Birthday yesterday!

As I looked into Rutledge’s excited face…a thought popped up in my mind: Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could, somehow, harness all that birthday excitement felt as a young child and bottle it up? We could, then, take a sip every day from it…every day of our lives.

One blog writer had some ideas on how to accomplish this premise without bottled excitement. She listed five ways to celebrate life every day.

Source: mbg (mind/body/green)  “Ways to celebrate life every day” Andi Saitowitz 

1. Fill your home with flowers, love, and music . We don’t always need a specific reason or date to party. Life’s a party and the fact that we have so much to live for, appreciate and share is reason enough!

2. Spoil yourself. It doesn’t have to be something luxurious and expensive. But small treats and reinforcements for acknowledging how far you have come, how strong you are and how special you are is something we can do every day. Even allocating a few minutes of “me” time is a treasured treat for most of us. 

3. Blessings and gratitude. We don’t need to let the people we love know it only once a year. We can make sure that the people who mean the most to us, always know they are valued, appreciated and needed. Not only when we thoughtfully create a birthday card filled with wishes, blessings and thanks – but every day, expressing how lucky we feel to have them in our world.

4. Dance. Moving your body is something we do every anyway so why not do it with style, passion and enthusiasm. The same way we feel free and full of energy on the dance floor, that’s how we can live every day. Play your favorite song and dance like no one’s watching you. Enjoy what you do and have fun! 

5. Superpowers. On our birthday we feel special, purposeful, filled with hope and possibility – we are powerful. We forget that we have superpowers that are with us always and it is our choice whether we use them or not to do so much good in this world. 

* For me….having a happy place that fills me with a mix of joy and peace is something to celebrate every day of my life. In fact I ordered this plaque for my Happy Room last week.

I, originally, intended to switch the color to yellow or orange (of course)…and place it on top of my wood burning stove…but, then, it suddenly dawned on me that I now have more happy places within and outside my home than wooden plaques.

So…I just need to carry the wooden plaque around with me…everywhere I go… to show everyone I meet…because wherever I go should be my happy place in life.

So until tomorrow let us remind ourselves to bring joy and happiness as we journey through each day.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

It was definitely Rutledge’s favorite day….he and Eva Cate played and played in the “giraffe” pool and had a ball! And of all the wonderful gifts Rutledge got… from scooters to lawn mowers to trampolines to trikes and so much more for little tykes…a small white truck was his favorite.

We thought it was going to be too hot…but there was a cool breeze outside yesterday and Eva Cate and Rutledge took advantage of the giraffe pool (along with Poogan) to have fun in the summertime! In the end….with family…all we need is love.!

* And we end on our last special occasion for today…Happy Father’s Day! To all the wonderful fathers in the world….we love you!

* Hot off the press this morning…more celebrations coming in….

* Joan and W. T.’s 45th wedding anniversary….Congratulations! ( Anybody see a resemblance between W. T. and Jakie…strong Turner genes floating around!)

* And look at what happened with Lee in his ping pong tournament! Congratulations! Hope Ben saw it! U2100 NC State Championships

* And to all the other anniversaries going on (Facebook is packed with them this morning (Libby…love the photo of your dad and mom…adorable)…Now Let’s go celebrate life today.