Gosh, I have so much to be grateful for this year. It hasn’t been an easy year, but there were so many precious moments along the way. Here are five things that stood out to me about 2009, not in any particular order.

1. Touring the city. I love living near a major city. This year, we took advantage of it by visiting gardens, museums, the zoo, parks, events and festivals. My parents taught me to appreciate culture and the arts. I would like to pass that on to my children.
2. My teammate. Nathan and I have contrasting strengths and weaknesses. He is the sports type, I’m the dance type. He is the entrepreneur, I am the writer. He is the calm one, I have OCD tendencies. But it works well for us, very well. We work as a team and complement each other with our strengths and weaknesses.
3. BFFs. Nathan and I have some of the greatest friends in the world. These are friends that we even consider family. And although we may be living in several different states, we still keep in touch and talk like we have never been apart.
4. Crazy ideas. That is what keeps me thriving.
5. SMM readers. I cannot thank you enough for reading Simply Modern Mom. As with any writer and bloggers, I often wonder if anyone cares about any thing I write about. But week after week, my readership numbers continue to double from the previous week. Thank you for your support and comments. I love reading them.

I can’t tell you why, but I love the smell of…

1. Pages in a new book.
2. Bakeries.
3. Pencils.
4. Ocean, the actual salt water, not the imitation sprays.
5. Butter melting or cooking in a pan.

Things I would not want to lose…

1. Photos. We have way too many of it, most of them digital. But photos mean the world to me as we capture precious moments in our memories.
2. Legal documents. Yes, it’s only paper. But if something was to happen to our house and we lost all of our important papers. I would have a horrible time trying to get copies of them all (mortgage papers, birth certificates, insurance information, etc.).
3. Journals. I have volumes and volumes of them. I have been writing journals since I was 8 years old.
4. Cell phone. It has become a security blanket for me. Even though I don’t call or text often, it make me feel secure knowing if something was to happen, I can call for help. We don’t do landlines, so cell phones are the only way to call from our house.
5. External hard drive. If we lose our computer, I wouldn’t want to lose the external drive that’s attached to it right now.

Why I love fall…

1. The season of many colors. The drive to our house is covered with trees. I love driving that road this time of year, seeing the leaves change colors and watch it fall on the car as I zoom by.
2. Less humidity. I live in a region of the U.S. where I swim in my own sweat in the summer. Fall is a nice change of atmosphere.
3. Baking season. Crank up the oven, I love to bake this time of year. Nothing smells better than the aroma of home baked bread.
4. Snuggling up to a warm cup of steamed milk and a good book. I haven’t been getting much reading done lately, book-wise. But this time of year, in the mist of the holiday crazies, I love to snuggle and read. My reading list is overflowing. I prefer steamed milk because I’m not a chocolate person, so no hot cocoa for me.
5. Gratitude. A good time of year to remember the things I am grateful for in my life. The abundance of blessings in my life are priceless.

5 places I have lived…

1. Taipei, Taiwan.
2. Laie, Hawaii.
3. Adairsville, Georgia.
4. Provo, Utah.
5. Westbury, New York.

I just picked 5 places I have lived, I’m not currently living in any of these places.