It's been a while since I've done a life update!

Summer is in full swing and busy, busy! I've talked about this with a few people, and we all agree... doesn't it feel like this summer is extra busy and flying by? It feels as if everyone's on overdrive after a year of not being able to do much at all (myself included). It's really telling, I think, the ferocity with which we're jumping back into life and socializing with our people after having that taken away from us for a bit. Clearly, we missed each other.

Anyway! Though I don't do these often, so much has happened already this season, I wanted to pop in with some behind-the-scenes at the Tuckers', and some summer highlights. Before we know it we'll be back-to-school shopping so before that begins, allow me to revel in all things popsicles, water, and tiny (sweaty and sticky) girlfriends. :) Along with lots of inflatable pool time and swimming in our amazingly generous neighbors' pools (my girls would swim all day if they could!), plus swimming lessons and play dates with friends, oh! and a week of art camp which the kids adored!, here are a few things we've been up to...

We've been taking lots of walks (thanks to our rescue pup, Max!)

C "bridged" from a Daisy to a Brownie -- what a strange Girl Scouts year it was! But we're excited to see what the next (hopefully in-person) year holds.

Our library does a kids' story time each week and the special guest readers have been the principals at the various elementary schools in our town. So fun!

We celebrated Fourth of July with family at a BBQ (wearing my red, white, blue...and pink!)

My second baby turned FIVE! I can hardly believe it. In true 2021 style, she had multiple celebrations: her actual birthday during which she had art camp and - her favorite! - swimming lessons, a family party full of pizza and cake, and a friends party the next day featuring... Mister Softee! Did you know you can rent the ice cream truck for parties? So fun!

My cousin, aunt, and cousin's son came to visit from NY! It was the first time we'd seen them since before the pandemic and it was amazing.

Steve and I booked a trip to celebrate our belated 10th (now belated 11th, lol!) wedding anniversary in... Savannah, GA! We're so excited. This will be our first real trip without kids since having the girls (we've only done an overnight) -- we'll be away for three nights and the girlfriends will be having a blast with their grandparents! If you have been to Savannah and have any recommendations, I can't wait to hear them!

I turned 24! Ok, ok... 34. ;) I have to say, I mostly feel 24, only with some more wisdom. So that's a good thing...right? It was a great birthday (on my favorite day of the week - Friday!), and even ended with a rainbow. You can read my birthday post here.

What have you been up to so far this summer? Is time going at light speed for anyone else?

So good to "catch up" here in an informal way. And, by the way, I've been showing up on Instagram quite a bit, so if you'd like to come visit me there... I'd love that! 

Have a beautiful weekend, my friends.

On Turning 34 & My Birthday Wish for You

 It's the night before my birthday as I write this, and as I finally sit in some silence, I can't help but reflect on the past 34 years of my life and think ahead to what's to come.

I am so, so grateful.

I'm grateful for this chance at life, for my health, for the people in my life who love me, encourage me, and make me laugh until I cry (and I'm definitely a laugh-crier). I am indescribably (seriously, I could never put words to it to do it justice) grateful for my children. I pinch myself every day when I look at my three daughters. I mean, wow. Such a responsibility and also such an incredible privilege. Also just a whole lot of fun. :) I'm grateful for the man who helped make them and raises them with me, who I've loved since I was 15 years old, and his unending support of me and all of my crazy ideas and big dreams. I am grateful for my family, now more than ever before, as I had missed them so much during the pandemic and my heart is so full it could burst being all together again. I am grateful for my friends, who are as true as they come, who revive me and cheer me on, cry with me and make the best and most dangerous shopping partners. And I am forever grateful for a million little things from beautiful skies that my eyes get to witness to watching my girls dance in the ocean waves to salty french fries to music that moves me and my voice to sing along (however questionably). And so much more.

I don't really share this with a lot of people (until now!), but every night when my head hits the pillow, the first thing I say in my mind is: dear God, thank you for all the blessings of my life. And then I list them. And I fall asleep happy and content. It's the reason this blog is named The Lucky Lifestyle. Because I truly think that you're as lucky as you think you are, and it all stems from gratitude. I don't always get it right, but it's how I try to live.

I am so, so excited.

As I think ahead to what this next year may hold, I feel my heartbeat quicken. I think about all of the possibility that exists in a blank new chapter that stretches out before me. The last year and a half has taught me (and everyone else) that we never truly know what's coming around the bend. Sometimes it's the best thing ever, and sometimes it's the hardest thing we'll ever have to endure; and endure we will. As for the good times, I hope we'll all savor them just a bit more now. I often feel I'm living the best days of my life, and that can be a little scary. I don't want them to fly by, I often want to freeze time and try to take mental pictures of moments to tuck away forever. Try as I might, I know many memories will fade away with time -- but it's the moments themselves, the ones we live with vibrancy and gusto and enthusiasm and gratitude, as presently as we possibly can -- that add up to our life itself. 

So, at 34, I am so happy that I don't care if smile lines are starting to show. I am so thankful that I want to pay it forward however and whenever I can. I am driven in a way that I don't think I've ever felt before in my life, and I think it's because my "why" is so apparent and special. We rush ourselves along in the process, I think, without realizing that the process is the most important part. If we try to jump to the last step, to our last goal, to the final destination before we've lived enough to know why we're heading there... what sense does that make? And where's the fun in skipping the scenic route? We'd miss the wonders we're meant to see, the lessons we're meant to learn, the people we're meant to meet, the small accomplishments that are meant to build us into the person we're becoming.

So if you're reading this (and you've made it this far -- bless you!), just know that one of my birthday wishes is for you to live an authentic, one-of-a-kind life that feels good and right, not just one that looks the part. I hope you plan with purpose but also act on a whim sometimes, that you remember that life is happening all around you, all the time... it's not a spectator sport. We're not promised any of this, and it's finite, so jump -- literally, cannonball! -- into your own life and live it with joy. Every year, every day, every second. 

With love,

Jen