It has been a very trying year; I lost my grandmother, was feet away from the first bomb at the Boston marathon, had a health scare…not easy stuff to process. There have been very hard days, but through it all I have learned to appreciate life a whole lot more- to take hold of every opportunity and seize it, to love harder and to try to not be afraid of challenges or let tragedy define me. I am trying new things all the time (thank you for reading this blog which is one of them). I am blessed with my best friend for my husband and with amazing family and friends. Turning older used to feel like a negative thing to me, but this year is different- I am here and I am healthy. People were lost around me in April, and that very easily could have been me. I will live with that memory every day of my life and I am so blessed to be here to see another birthday.  Life may not have turned out 100% like I though it would at this point, and some days are harder than others, but in so many ways I am grateful for that because it led me to where I am today… with hopefully years of living, loving and growing left to do. Feeling very thankful for this new year of mine!