Thirty One at Thirty One

I have made it a personal credo to find things to celebrate everyday, but July is my birthday month and I plead guilty to selfish desires of celebrating more of myself everyday this month. I have unraveled so many gifts in the last year and I don't ever want to slip into complacency and begin taking any of these gifts for granted. The older I get, it seems the more I am grateful for the gift of perception, that which makes us feel and see the beauty amidst the chaos, the calm despite the noise. I pray that I keep alive this sense of aliveness. I want to stare at the endless blue sky or the stars at night and always feel like it's the first time and the last simultaneously. I want to be overwhelmed with things you cannot describe everytime you hear a child giggle. I want to ricochet with joy and dance whenever I feel like it. Will these things go away ten years from now, I wonder?

Artown opened today and it was so fun being outside, listening to eclectic, borderline kitschy music at Wingfield Park. It was a sight to behold such shiny happy people basking in the summer sun, sitting on the grass and lost in their own happy places.

I cannot rave enough about Artown, this month-long celebration of art, culture, and music in Reno (www.renoisartown.com). The Reno Pops Orchestra is performing at Bartley Ranch this weekend and Soljibe will be at the UNR Quad next

week for Watermelon Wednesdays. I have front row seats to see Reno Chamber Orchestra perform Cirque de la Symphonie mid-July. I believe there is a single painting Picasso exhibit at the Nevada Museum of Art all month. I might miss the Sierra Nevada Ballet since I will be in Las Vegas the weekend they are performing, but I'm hoping they have other shows this month. I have always wanted to go to the Shakespeare Festival at Sand Harbor in Tahoe and I think I will finally get to go this season! In between, I am hosting an uber early birthday party with my family and maybe a bbq with friends. To end the month, I will be going to a cousin's wedding and maybe, get to go to the Wanderlust Festival for a day.

I'm making this month mine and I don't see how everyone can't do the same! Oh thirty one, I'm looking forward to you!

Love, Love, and more Summer Love,

Trish