a post worthy of first

My first blog post on my [new?] website! I guess it has actually been quite a few months since I launched a completely redesigned brand and website, but sometimes it feels like yesterday. Since first launching my new site, I have had several intentions to post an amazing and inspirational piece of my thoughts and images or designs, only to fail miserably and let my good intentions shuffle to the bottom of the never-ending entrepreneur to-do list.

This post, however, could not be overlooked on the list. The "first blog post" task shot right to the top of the seemingly impossible list when a stop by Battery Park, the 9/11 Memorial, and the One World Trade Center reminded me that life isn't really about the lists (no matter how much my Type A self loves them). You choose to do what you do each day, and you choose to let the other things fall wayside. Whether that's spending time with family, walking the dog, working until 8pm, or cooking dinner with friends, you make the priorities and you find the time for what feels most important. Its just that sometimes what "feels" most important just ... isn't. I'm guilty of this priority confusion on a daily basis.

Our trip to New York was actually a bucket-list trip for my grandmother-in-law. When she told my husband and I last year that she had always wanted to go to New York and see a Broadway play, but just didn't think she would really be able to do that in this lifetime, my heart sank. How could I selfishly spend every day chasing all these "important" tasks and my dreams and my priorities and my needs when someone we love was letting go of one of her own dreams at just 80 years old? It just wasn't right. So, my husband and I made the trip happen and took her to New York City last weekend. It was one of the most memorable trips of my life so far. Not because of the places we saw or the broadway show or the restaurants we enjoyed. It was because it filled our hearts with joy to see someone fulfill a dream. We spent three full days chasing every tourist spot in the city and taking it all in, and making family a priority.

Friday was the day we visited the 9/11 memorial, and this was the day I really realized how all these priorities work. Maybe this is said too often, and maybe you'll brush it off like every other time you hear it, but: tomorrow is never promised. Some of us know this pain all to well and some of us have yet to realize the true meaning. That means that the priorities you choose each day could be your last thing you cross off that list. Did you do everything you wanted? Could you say you made time for what really mattered? I hope I can end more days in my next x amount of years on this earth being able to say that I did.

And lastly, please remember that freedom isn't free. Our armed forces, our veterans, our loved ones, and even our own civilians have paid the price to give you the freedom to chase those important priorities and dreams. So go chase them, and thank those who provide the opportunity to do that.

I hope you enjoy the gallery below. Click on any image to browse through the full frame versions.