Five years ago on this date, I threw myself a "halfway to 90" birthday party. So if you do the math, you'll figure out that I'm celebrating a pretty big birthday today - a substantial milestone of sorts. While I know there are some people that hesitate to share their age, I've never shied away from that because I believe in celebrating our resiliency in making it another year around the sun! I've always loved this quote from Mark Twain, which reinforces just that: "Do not complain about growing old. It is a privilege denied to many.”

There's a good chance you've heard that May is Mental Health Awareness Month. It comes around every year, but I'm guessing that it's getting a bit more attention in 2021. And rightfully so. The more we can 'make it ok' to talk about mental health, the more we keep stigma silenced. I took advantage of the first weekend in May for a little mental health rejuvenation, which involved a perfect weekend of camping and hiking with my family. Let’s hear it for bonfire season! I hope you're finding ways to take good care of your mental health and your relationships.

The concept of home has been on my mind lately, but let's talk HOUSES for a minute. I read a stat the other day, which indicated that there are more real estate agents in the U.S. than houses for sale! My husband and I considered selling our house for a hot minute for a handful of reasons, but in the end we concluded that this house of ours means more to us than perhaps we had even realized.

If you haven't hit a breaking point of any sort in the past 12 months, please – let me in on your secrets, strategies and survival tips. But I'd be willing to guess that you may be able to recall your own breaking point in the last 12 months (heck, 12 days).

Here in the midwest, we're getting into one of the coldest months of the year - hello FeBRRRuary. There's a meme I saw a few years ago that read "Check on your Midwest friends. We are COLD. We are BORED. We are as PALE as the snow on the ground."