Wow… major radio silence over here. Just found this post that I wrote clear back on February 5th! Little did we know this was right at the time our little Isla got her start! Turns out we were celebrating something pretty big without even knowing it!
A friend of mine, knowing my affinity for champagne, recently shared this quote with me,
Always keep a bottle of champagne in the fridge for special occasions. Sometimes the special occasion is that you’ve got a bottle of champagne in the fridge.
Sunday night, we sipped on some bubbly to toast our weekend. Not that it was anything over the top or incredible, but because we lived it happily. Our special occasion simply was that we had a bottle in the fridge.
Living happily is something we value immensely and strive to do every day… in all circumstances. We have discovered that living as dreamers can make “living happily” challenging at times. We find ourselves wrapped up in looking ahead to future plans rather than reflecting upon, and giving thanks for, the place where we are at. Honestly, there are days we feel a bit “stuck” in China. As if living here is just a transitional phase, or jumping off point for our next big adventure, rather than an adventure in itself. We don’t like feeling this way. We want to live each and every day to the fullest, and therefore we are working hard to change our outlook. While life in China is not without its struggles and frustrations, we are SO thankful that we came here. We have experienced the most wonderful working environment and made some of the dearest friends we could ever ask for. For these things we are so, so, so thankful! If only we could pluck them up and drop them down on a tropical island somewhere… =). But, truth be told, we just don’t feel settled here. Shanghai doesn’t feel like home. We’re often finding ourselves antsy. What’s more is we find ourselves questioning what we should do next. So many things are out of our control… sometimes we get caught up and bogged down in this realization. There is nothing we can do about that which is out of our hands besides pray and believe good things await us. But, we also have to shake away the fog and remind ourselves that there are so many aspects of our life we can control, including the ability to choose happiness. So, while we work to live in the present and dream for the future, we know that ultimately, whatever comes our way, and whichever path we choose, we just want to live happily.
We had a bottle of champagne in the fridge. We toasted to that. And we toasted the good things we’ve been experienced over the weekend… things that have brought us happiness.
We toasted a weekend basketball tournament in Suzhou…
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Morning basketball games and yoga practice…
Kitty snuggles…
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Our favorite taco dinner…
Togetherness…
Here’s to reflecting on all of the good things in life and making every effort to live HAPPILY!
