I know that happiness comes from within - not without. My insides are filled with happiness today! We just completed a family dinner at our house with Liz and her family. I am a natural born nurturer. So preparing dinner with love and enjoying it with family is one of my life's greatest pleasures and blessings.

So now I am getting ready to wrap up the day by curling up with a good book. The Universe delivered to me a wonderful book that I have been wanting for a long time. It is titled The Vortex, and I have read the first 70 pages online about 6 times - that's how good it is. Now I have the book, and am looking forward to reading the remaining pages. I love to end my day reading a good book and go to sleep with amazing gratitude for the wonderful day I have experienced, and amazing anticipation for tomorrow.

Here's to the Journey!

Today was an all day rainy Sunday. I can still hear it thundering as I type this blog. And yet, a rainy day is just as Joyful as any other day. I continue to see so many opportunities of Joy. and I continue to smile as I move through my day, and observe the happiness surrounding my life.

I drove into Memphis for the first time by myself, and I was so at peace with where I am, and who I am. I truly love being here now, and I find pleasure in the smallest of things. Watching the rain, lying in front of the fireplace with flames blazing, and loving my husband and my life.

My mind is filled with thoughts of the changes I am making, and the distance I have covered in the past few weeks. As I go through the motions of relocating our lives to this beautiful town in Tennessee, I am reminded again and again of the blessings of my life. The ease with which I can move through the changes, and the abundance that allows these changes to flow effortlessly into our lives.

As I wrap up this beautiful day, I am looking forward to my walk around the lake tomorrow morning, watching the ducks and geese, usually a few deer will run out of the woods and I will squint my eyes as I look across the lake, and imagine I am looking out over the ocean.

Oh - and tomorrow there will be more hugs and kisses from Tucker, Rollin, and Fynneus.

Here's to the Journey!

Today I spent some time playing tennis with my 3 grandsons and Liz and Jim. None of us really know how to play tennis, but that doesn't matter. The joy is in playing and spending time with family.

Sometimes, as an adult, it is hard to let go and play, but when you have children around, letting go is a little easier. Playing, leting go, and throwing your head back and laughing harder than you've ever laughed - reaching for the Joy in life. That is what I did today!

Here's to the Journey!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and I have much to be thankful for. We spent the day in our new apartment with Liz and her family joining us for our Thanksgiving feast and fun family time.

My life has changed so much in these few short days since moving to Tennessee. I love so many of the changes, especially seeing my family more often, but I know that I must still make time for me. My goal to look for Joy in my life every day is a constant reminder to be aware, to pay attention to all that is going on in my life.

I must pay attention to me, to my emotions, to what I say through out the day, and to my thoughts. For it is my choice in each moment to either be Joyful or not. I want to alway choose Joy, to always look for Joy, and to always feel Joy. I am given the opportunity so many times to see, feel and hear the Joy in my life. For this I am thankful.

Here's to the Journey!

Yesterday I got up early and made Banana Pudding just like my mom use to make. I chilled it all day long, packed it in ice, and then headed for the Fed Ex office late last night.

Today I received the most wonderful call from Jenn in New York, thrilled to receive a big bowl of 'My" Banana Pudding. Chilled, and ready to eat.

The experience of doing this small thing and feeling tremedous Joy amazes me. The experience of doing this small thing that brought tremendous Joy to my daughter triples my Joy and amazes me. I am blessed with abundant Joy!

Here's to the Journey!

This morning was cool and drizzly so Jim and I bundled up and walked a two mile hike around city hall and a small lake nestled behind called Halle Park. We call it a walk on the beach, but it is so different from Florida.

A flock of ducks had spent the night on the pond, but as we made our way closer and closer, they began to flap and lifted themselves out of the water rising high to our left. Then they did a 180 and flew over us, heading south. It was beautiful to watch and again I felt the familiarity of being home.

The trees here are still dropping leaves, with a colorful array still clinging as the cool breeze tugs at them. It feels so comfortable to see the trees with their changing colors. It feels right to put on coat and gloves in the middle of November to go outside. And it feels right to be traveling here.

Here's to the Journey!

It has been over a week since my last writing, and I have physically covered many miles. But this feels so good and I am right where my heart is. Close to family, and surprisingly, feeling like I have come home.

We have settled into a small apartment on the 2nd floor of a cute complex. Our deck overlooks lawn and a tree line separating us from a Home Depot a block away. We have been told that we can hear the Depot's Christmas music starting next week, and I am looking forward to that.

We also have a small fireplace in our apartment, and this morning we stretched out in front of the fire with our newspaper, and enjoyed the day, the life, the Journey.

I am so grateful to be where I am! Right here - right now- on this Journey!

Here's to the Journey!

It is early afternoon on loading day, and the internet service will be turned off soon. The house is empty except for an air mattress, a toothbrush and a change of clothes.

I am so happy. On Friday we will be in Tennessee with part of our family. I am enjoying this exciting new adventure. And I look forward to the many opportunities that are opening for me.

Here's to the Journey!

Today was my last full day in the office. My co-workers had a wine and cheese leaving party, and it was perfect. Friends stopped by my office to tell me goodbye, and to wish me happiness in my move to Tennessee. Several joined me in a toast to my new adventure, and it was so joyful to realize the friends I have made over the last five years at the law firm.

It's hard to believe that five years have passed by. I value these years for the lessons, the successes, and the many friends I have made. I love how friends are such a joyful part of my day.

Here's to the Journey!

I have been sitting at my computer now for over 45 minutes trying to decide what to write. This blog presents me with a challenge and an opportunity, which I am grateful for.

Yet as I try to pull moments from my day to write about, the words just don't seem adequate tonight. How do I write Joy? How do I express with words a day filled with Joy?

Here's to the Journey!

Jim and I took our final walk on the beach this morning as time quickly passes and we head towards our Tennessee Journey.

I spent the rest of the day packing with all the windows open as the wind blew hard through the screens. The neighbors wind chime kept a constant chatter as we watched big black birds play above us in the wind. We latched the doors so that they would not slam and basked in the breeze all around us. This is a perfect day! I am so blessed!

Here's to the Journey!

We are down to only 3 more days before we pack the moving van. The house has taken on a strange sound. As we empty the rooms, our voices and footsteps echo through out and my heart begins to echo too. The tone is changing and as the tone changes, so do I. We have many happy memories here. I am listening to the waves slap our seawall and it sounds like rain. I know in Tennessee I will always remember the slapping waves when I hear the rain on our roof. I will remember this house, and these years with great joy. I promise I will remember!

Here's to the Journey!

There is Joy in change. As the time gets closer for my move to Tennessee, I am reminded why I love Florida. The days are sunny and warm almost all the time, and the grass and trees are always green. I will miss this. But I am looking forward to the changes in weather that I will see farther north. We have probably missed the fall color change in Tenessee, but I will get to enjoy many cold, crisp, starlit mornings. We might even see snow once in a while. Spring is always so invigorating up north, with the promise of warmer weather, flowers blooming, and trees filling out their green leaves to form cooler shade. Summer will be filled with family picnics, playing in water to keep cool, and lots of popsicles.

Change is good - embracing change is joyful.

Here's to the Journey!

Joy is my day unfolding
Beauty and love everywhere
Caressing my soul
Until it sings in harmony
With all that is.

Here's to the Journey!

As I sit down each night to write my Journey of Joy blog, I am reminded to search my day for moments of Joy. Today has felt like a cascade of Joy.

The closing on my house has been moved up a week, and I have been grinning from ear to ear because that puts me in Tennessee a week early.

A very good friend at work, who has watched me loose a lot of weight and regain my health, gave me several pairs of pants today, size 6, and they fit loosely! That was a huge moment of Joy in my Journey to health.

And then our realtor from Tennesee called and our bid on one house was rejected, but we were given the opportunity to bid on an even nicer and bigger house, and our minds are racing - filling the rooms, cooking meals in the beautiful kitchen for our family, and filling the home with love and laughter. Oh...... and trying to decide where to put the Christmas Tree! What a fabulous day of Joy!

Here's to the Journey!

I describe myself as an avid reader. I LOVE, love, love to read. It's very rare that I read a novel more than once, but there have been two, no three exceptions. I have read Ride the Wind by Lucia St. Claire Robison at least three times and it is my all time favorite. I have read Gone With The Wind two times and For Whom The Bell Tolls by Hemmingway at least 3 times. And if I did not have these books packed away, I believe I would read them again today, starting with Ride the Wind.

I love the way a book can carry you away. It is almost like meditation. The words grab your heart and your imagination and weave concoctions never heard or seen before. Mere words weaving and vining, and pushing, until at last, the words leave you breathless or weeping but always longing for more words.

I love to read but I long to write. I know all the words - now to joyfully allow the weaving, the vining and the pushing.

Here's to the Journey!

First of all, I must write about how beautiful the sun rise was at the ocean today. Jim and I were up early so that we could catch the rise - and it was breathtaking. It only takes a few minutes for the sun to clear the horizon, and when it does, it is almost blinding. The pink and gold blend with the horizon blue of the ocean, and then just bright, stunning, beautiful light. We stood still to watch, and marvel at how fast the earth must be turning for the sun to rise so quickly. Everyone should enjoy an ocean sunrise sometime during their Journey.

Over the past few weeks as we have prepared to move from Florida to Tennessee, I am continually guided by my intuition. I have been amazed at how that guidance may come to me, but even more amazed at my realization today that even though intuition is something we all have, we are not encouraged to use it, and often embarrassed to talk about it. And yet it plays such an important part in our Journey -- if we listen.

My goal is to listen. This Journey is too important. When I stand by the ocean, and see how quickly the earth is turning, it is a reminder to me that it all passes, and that I must savor the Journey. I must listen to divine guidance, which is my own intuition, and I must dance in the sun light!

Here's to the Journey!