Start your day with an “attitude of gratitude!” It’s a good thing.
Wishing you a wonderful day filled with love, happiness and lots of endless possibilities!
Anything is possible if you just believe!
Florida
“On Turning 63”
It’s been quite an amazing day today. I’m feeling extremely blessed for this next “trip around the sun” that I celebrated today. I am grateful for each and every day that I am blessed to wake up to and today was an especially good day as I turned 63 years old.
My day was filled with wonderful well wishes from friends and family and ended with an awesome dinner sitting by the water in the warm and sunny weather in Florida.
Life is passing by more quickly than I had ever imagined that it would, but there is something about getting older that makes me appreciate every moment of every day that I’m blessed to see, that makes me stop sweating the small stuff and appreciate ALL of the stuff, and makes me realize that NOW is the time to truly make a difference, to love with all that I am, to laugh every chance that I get, and to be grateful for every moment of every day.
Here’s to each of our “trips around the sun.”
I’m so grateful for each and every one of you.
Wishing you love and light,
~Anne Dennish~
“One Year In Florida”
Today marks one year that I’ve been in Florida and what a year it’s been. Eleven days after I moved here Hurricane Ian, a Category 5 hurricane, hit and I had to grab my parents and evacuate to the East Coast until it passed. Happily, I had minimal damage done to my little Florida house!
It’s been a year of trying to find my balance and my place here in Punta Gorda. My significant other stayed up North for six months before he moved here. I’ve tried to find part-time work and have ended up with some crazy jobs. It’s been quite an experience, to say the least.
I did learn some interesting things about living in this area.
Florida has no cold water in the summer months, due to the extreme heat. The most you’ll get out of your faucet is warm water.
Porches are called “lanai’s” which drives some of my friends crazy when I say that.
Most bars have a last call at 9:30 pm and close at 10.
Onions are very strong here and if you cook them I can tell you that you will smell them in your house for over 24 hours!
I learned that lightning can, indeed, strike a car because we saw it happen while driving.
Some of the great things are that you can eat outside at almost every restaurant all throughout the year.
Though the summer is hot, the fall, winter and spring are beautiful.
I love thunder and lightning and this is definitely the place to witness some beauty in the storms here.
The clouds are absolutely stunning at sunset.
I’ll never get used to alligators and snakes. I do love the sounds of the pack of coyotes that live at the end of my street, especially during a full moon when they howl for quite a long time.
Here’s to Year #2 in Florida. It’s taken me this last year to get used to it, but I’m working on it. I still miss the beach at the Jersey Shore but know that I’ll make it back there at some point.
Here’s to change, finding the positive in it and making the best of it.
Wishing you love and light,
~Anne Dennish~
“Book Signing in Buttonwood”
I had my first book signing for “The Mind of a Heart” last weekend here at Buttonwood Village in Punta Gorda, the community that I live in. It was so nice to see so many familiar faces come out to support me and to meet new ones. The morning was a great success!
Thank you to those of you who came out to support me and purchase a copy of my new novel. I can’t wait to hear the reviews! And a special thanks to my Dad who came out to support his daughter.
Wishing you love and light,
~Anne Dennish~
“A Florida Cold Snap!”
There’s a million things that I should have been doing today but didn’t. I still have unpacking to do, paperwork to get through and a book to finish editing, yet it was one of those cool, baby blue sky days in Florida. Most days here are beautiful but today was a bit different. We’ve gotten a “cold snap” as they say here, but what it really is is a morning that starts out at 53 degrees with an afternoon high of 78. Yes, that’s a Florida cold snap! Heat on in the morning and the A/C back on by dinner.
And I love it.
So I decided to embrace this spectacular day of beautiful weather. I sat on my lanai enjoying the cool breeze and the warm sunshine, chatting with the neighbors who walk by now and then. My brain kept telling me to get things done but my soul was telling me that I was doing exactly what I needed to get done: nothing. And as I truly believe, it’s those moments when we think we’re doing “nothing” that we’re actually doing “everything.”
We’re stopping to smell the roses. We’re embracing the wonder of a beautiful day. We’re basking in the breeze and warm sunshine. We’re allowing our mind to slow down. We’re taking care of our mind, body and soul.
“Dolce Far Niente: The Sweetness of Doing Nothing.”
And today I enjoyed just that.
And I’m grateful for it.
Wishing you love and light,
~Anne Dennish~
“Time To Say Good-Bye”
Tonight is my last night in Delaware and I’m filled with so many mixed emotions. We trekked up to Jersey yesterday to empty our storage unit and came back today to load it with the rest of my things. Tomorrow we leave for the West Coast of Florida. It’s a very bittersweet time for me. Life is about to change and it’s a big one! I’ve lived at the Jersey Shore my entire life and spent this past summer in Delaware. Tomorrow I leave both places behind to begin a new life, a new adventure, in Florida.
I’m exhausted and will certainly keep you posted on my next adventure but for tonight, I’m spending a quiet night silently saying good-bye to all that I’m leaving behind and saying a silent prayer of gratitude for the amazing life I’ve had for all these years at the Jersey Shore and in Delaware.
Tomorrow another chapter begins and tonight this chapter closes.
Here’s to change and all the wondrous things that life has to offer.
I’ll talk to you when I get to Florida.
Wishing you love and light,
~Anne Dennish~
“Good-Bye To My Childhood Home”
Two weeks ago my brother, sister and I gathered at our childhood home to say good-bye to it. We’d been packing up my parents house for months and the time to bid farewell was upon us. This was the house we grew up in and as my sister and I sat one afternoon in the living room, it suddenly hit us that this was our tie to the Jersey Shore and even though my parents were snowbirds, the grandkids always had a place to stop in the summer for a grilled cheese, to do laundry or just spend time with their grandparents. The same rings true for my brother and sister. I’ve been lucky enough to have lived at the shore all of my life so when they weren’t in Florida, they were home and I was close by. Yet time marches on, life changes and my parents will now be living in Florida full-time. It’s a big change for all of us because the only way we’ll see them now is to visit them there.
It wasn’t easy going through all the things that my parents had saved, yet we certainly had a few laughs along the way. It was a time of remembering our youth and telling old stories.
The same day that I moved from the Jersey Shore to Delaware was the same day I said good-bye to my parents and to my childhood home. Life will never be the same without this old house but it’s time for the next chapter and a new adventure for all of us.
I love this picture below of the five of us. It’s the first time we’ve all been together in years and we certainly spent much of that time laughing! That’s how we said good-bye to our house on the boulevard.
I know that the world is a troubled place right now and so much has happened in the last few days, but I also believe that even in the midst of it all, it’s important to remember the good times and to be grateful. Memories are a good distraction, if only for a brief moment or two, to bring us back to simpler, even happier times in our life.
Hold onto the memories and embrace the next chapter with open arms.
Wishing you love and light,
~Anne Dennish~
“Helping Those Affected By Hurricane Dorian”
My heart breaks as I watch the news about the devastation in the Bahamas from Hurricane Dorian. I can’t even imagine what those people are going through and I pray that the East Coast doesn’t suffer that same magnitude of destruction.
Ever since I’ve returned home from moving my parents from their Florida home back to their New Jersey home, I’ve been cleaning and purging my own garage and house. I have a whole corner in my garage filled with items to be donated to an organization that needs them…kitchen items, bedding, books, and more.
Last night as I was watching the news I thought to myself: “Why not donate these items to be given to the people who’ve lost everything from this hurricane?” I know it’s not much in the grand scheme of all that they’ve lost, but it’s something. In fact, there’s always someone we can help, even in our local towns.
Today I’ll be looking for organizations that can use these items to help in the rebuilding of the lives of those most affected by Hurricane Dorian. I know the storm is still raging on and there are still other areas that may be affected by it, yet I have no control over that.
What I DO have control over is what I can do to help, even if it’s as small as donating the things I no longer need to the people who now need everything to rebuild their lives.
You see, we CAN make a difference and we can make that difference together.
Let’s do it.
It’s a good thing.
Wishing you love and light,
~Anne Dennish~
“On Hurricane Dorian”
I woke up a little before 4 am this morning with but one thought on my mind: the safety of those in the path of this dangerous Hurricane Dorian.
I have close family and friends in Florida and the Carolina’s and have been keeping in touch with them before the storm finds it way to the coast. Rob’s son traveled to Florida with the New Jersey Task Force 1 a few days ago to do whatever is necessary to keep people safe and help wherever they’re needed.
This morning I ask you to join me as we keep all the people in the path of this storm in our thoughts and tight in our prayers. Let’s pray for their safety, the safety of the animals and for the safety of all the first responders who have selflessly given their time to help everyone get through this storm.
We can make a difference, and we can make a difference together in many ways, both big and small.
Let’s keep everyone in our thoughts and prayers as this storm approaches.
It’s a good thing.
Wishing you love and light,
~Anne Dennish~
“Blinded By The Light”
I woke up this morning feeling grateful that I’ve been given another day to live my best life.
I was thinking about the people that I’m blessed to have in my life: my family and my friends.
I was thinking about all the things that bring me joy: my home, my writing, and my life at the Jersey Shore.
I was thinking about the smallest of things that bring me peace: my morning coffee, the smell of the salt air, the sounds of the ocean, the sunrises and sunsets.
So often we lose sight of all the beauty that surrounds us because of the “ugly” things that try to blind us.
Keep your eyes open to see the beauty that surrounds you and let your light shine.
After all, “ugly” is always blinded by the light.
And it’s a good thing.
Wishing you love and light,
~Anne Dennish~
Anne Dennish - Writer/Author 