What energizes you?  What do you do when you are in a funk to get yourself out of it?

When I sat down to write this week's list, I realized it was much harder than I thought it would be.  The world is packed full of people that I admire.

I tend to surround myself with people that I admire in some way or another.  That is why I choose my friendships, why I read the things I read, go the the service providers that I go to.  How could I possibly make a quantitative list of people that I admire?  The answer kind of is...everyone (Well maybe not everyone, if you are a total jerk, I might not find reason to admire you).  I admire anyone who can make their passion a career, anyone who has a skill worth sharing, anyone who lives their life by their own terms, anyone who has struggled and moved past the struggle, anyone who has passion for life  - these qualities in people are the things that make me befriend them, hire them, follow their blog, etc.  How can I really even try to list all these people?

This is a very incomplete list, but here are just a few people I admire.


my parents... have struggled a lot in their lives, but they still push on and they have always tried their best & sacrificed to care for my sister & I.
my husband... is the most patient person I know.  He is creative and undyingly supportive no matter what and I am lucky to be married to him.
Annie... is one of the most courageous & positive people I know.  She had a dream of starting a resale store to help make plus sized clothing more accessible and joyful & she has worked her tail off to make that dream a reality.  She is also an all around amazing friend.  I admire her passion & commitment.
Heather... is not only a really great friend who supports me through a lot of dark times and celebrates our friendship with cute thoughtful notecards out of the blue, but she also has dedicated her life to help support children as a youth therapist.
Kelly... is the former foster care coordinator at the shelter I volunteer for.  She is also one of the most positive and perky people I've ever met...which is extra amazing considering her job centers around baring witness to some heartbreaking instances of animal cruelty.
Cristina... is an amazing therapist that has given me so much insight and helped me grow tremendously.
HQ... is talented is so many areas from screen printing to film making, and she is always working on amazing projects that inspire me.
Kaci... is a total go-getter and is always striving to achieve more in her life.  She is also super organized & rational.
Katy... has an eye for special things and a wonderful appreciation for nature and adventure.
Nicole... has made a life for herself from her art and gets involved in the community to share her passion.
Janel... is so wholeheartedly committed to being a mom & she seems to have just absolutely found her true passion in that.
Whitney... is a cancer survivor, but she never for a moment let's that hold her back or take away one ounce of her positive, bubbly outlook on life.
Beth Ditto... is a total fat fashion icon who has inspired me since the first time I saw her play when I was 18.  She is unapologetically fat and absolutely glamorous and talented.
Felicia Day... gets paid to live out her nerdy & creative dreams via youtube & makes some really rad content.
Tina Fey... is so talented & creative.  She has made her living as force to be reckoned with in a male dominated industry.
Margret Cho... is hilarious & also lives her life on her own terms with no apologies.
Kathleen Hanna... was one of the voices of Riot Grrrl that started a spark inside of me and inspired me to own my femininity, be proud of who I am, and seek out the community of amazing women that changed my life.

Just a few of the amazing bloggers that inspire me all the time:
Jules @ The Life of a Cupcake
Sarah @ Yes & Yes
Krissy @ Ponyboy Press & Plain Language Marketing
Elizabeth @ The Young Retiree
Jen & Brian @ That Long Yellow Line
Shell @ Kitty and Buck
Katherine @ Of Corgis & Cocktails
Rachel @ One Pretty Thing
Jessica @ How About Orange
Bonnie @ Going Home to Roost & Roost Tribe
....and so many more!

If we are friends, if I follow your blog, if you are living a life that you want to be living...I probably admire you too.

I have a confession.  I am not a big reader these days.

As a kid, I would read everything and anything I could get my hands on. I loved R.L. Stine, Francesca Lia Block, and all kinds of fantasy books. I would spend hours tucked away in my room reading books. They were in many ways my safe haven & escape.

This week's list is about quotes.  I didn't really think I was much for quotes, but when I sat down and really thought about it, I realized that there were definitely a few things that have really stuck with me.  Words are so powerful and sometimes you find the exact right combination that can kind of touch your soul a bit, so here are a few that have done that for me.

This week's list is about home. It's a concept I have struggled with a lot in the past decade. Growing up, home was obvious & constant, never questioned - it was the little tan house in Levittown, PA & it was where my family was.

When I was 18, I moved to northern New Jersey for about a year with a boyfriend but I don't think that really ever became home, it was just a place that I lived.

Then we made the giant leap 3,000 miles away from everything I thought was my home when we moved to Oregon. It took a few years, but eventually Portland started to really feel like home.  I've lived in 8 different houses/apartments over the past 11 years & that has made it a little bit hard to feel really comfortable with house in the same way that I used to when I was little, but it has also taught me about change and how home isn't always one physical place.

This week list is about essentials...the things that we can't live without. I tried to look at the more broad picture when considering my essentials and that wasn't something I've done much before.  It's a great challenge to see what is most important to me I suppose.

I missed a week last week with our trip, so I am catching up on the 52 Lists with a double entry!

The first one is full of places I want to go.  This year so far has been full of adventures and kicking huge items off my bucket list and into reality and it just makes me even more hungry for adventures and immersing myself in wonderful new experiences!  There is still a huge wide world to see and I want to see as much as possible, so this is really just a small glimpse.
The second list is all about cleansing for spring.  What a wonderful thing to think about!  We've had a few really beautiful days in Portland lately and the birds seem to be chirping and I know that it is almost time for the cherry blossoms to bloom, so it has me really excited for spring.  Before it comes though, I do think that taking the time to cleanse my life a bit and get all the loose ends tied up will really help me to enjoy and relish in the season!  I think I will start with that baking cabinet reorganization that I've been meaning to do for months!

This list is a perfect theme for me.  I've been wanting to write about gratitude a lot lately and wasn't sure how to do it.  Recently, I have learned that for me, gratitude is really the cornerstone of my happiness.  I have spent a lot of time in my life feeling sad and letting myself get really wrapped up in negative feelings and missing out on really appreciating the beauty in my life.  Part of being wrapped up in negativity is also that we often also forget to appreciate the things we have and express our gratitude to those in our life that mean the most.  I think I have ruined a lot of really wonderful relationships because of this.

I've made a commitment to myself to not only be more grateful for the small, beautiful parts of my life, but to also make a greater effort to document and share that gratitude.  I keep a gratitude journal on my phone and write down at least 3 things I'm grateful for each day.  I think that awareness has done wonders for my life.

Given that gratitude is such a huge theme in my life lately, I feel like this week's list could have gone on and on, but lists like this are really just the start of something bigger.

Interested in the 52 Lists Project?  Click here!