Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

If you know my family well, you know that I was raised among people who LOVE to celebrate. Birthdays, graduations, holidays, holidays from other cultures, made up holidays, we do not discriminate in the Halford household. (I have distinct memories of celebrating National Donut Day, Canada Day, Bastille Day, and entire birthday months for each of my family members.)

It should come as no surprise, then, that I found many different things to celebrate this week. So, here it is--the breakdown of holidays that you may or may not have known about from the past week:

• September 1: The First Day of Spring (AU) aka my Australian birthday (see Spring has Sprung in Newcastle for my excuse for this one.)

• September 2: Two weeks until I leave for New Zealand! You'll obviously hear much more about this later on, but I finalized all of the plans and started a packing list for this great adventure. STAY TUNED!!!
• September 3: Australian Flag Day. Okay, this is totally a stretch, but IT IS STILL AN AUSSIE HOLIDAY.

• September 4: Fathers Day (AU)! Who knew that my dad would get TWO Fathers Days this year?! Also, in AR time, the official start of Razorback football season! (SEC Christmas, anyone?)

Apparently, in Australia, Fathers Day calls for hundreds of people to flock to a bike race?

• September 5: The anniversary of the day my parents met--24 years!!! They are pretty cool, aren't they?
• September 6: Mom's birthday eve...yes, really. 

• September 7-8: Mom's birthday. Time differences are weird. September 7th is her birthday, but since Newcastle is 15 hours ahead of Arkansas, we said her birthday began September 7th at midnight here in Australia and ends at 11:59 pm Arkansas time. But then it continues for the rest of her birthday month. Did I mention we really like birthdays?

I got to Skype in for her party!

 (I'm the one you can't see on the phone screen!)

Okay, maybe I exaggerated; most of those are not *real* holidays. Here's the thing, though (brace yourself: it's about to get real): Every day is cause for celebration. 

In my twenty years, I have learned that celebrating the little things is what makes life so special. Sure, it may seem weird to some people that I celebrate all of these silly little things. But who cares? Life's too short not to celebrate any chance you get.

So, go ahead. Buy the $15 freakshake milkshake (with a whole piece of cheesecake on top, I might add). Make that your dinner.

Take a ridiculous number of photographs. Share them with friends and family.

Get on a plane and fly across the world.

Write about what makes you happy.

Celebrate everything life has to offer, and don't take anything about it for granted. This is your life; you get one shot at it. Make it count.

Keep celebrating, friends. There is so much in the world to be happy about.

And really, stay tuned!
~oNe WeEk UnTiL nEw ZeAlAnD~