Welcome back readers!

Hello again readers! It's been a much needed rest and rejuvenation and now I'm back and ready to re-vamp the blog with wonderful smiles, stories, quotes and photos.

Have you ever noticed how the longer you go without doing something, or doing something, it quickly becomes a habit? Even thought I spent six months blogging daily, each day of the last week was increasingly more difficult to get back into the swing of things. (I'll admit I intended to start last Friday and then kept making excuses why I should wait until Monday!) It's funny how after a few days I quickly formed the habit of "not blogging" on a daily basis.

The same goes for anything though, don't you think? If you make it a point each day to wake up in a good mood - pretty soon you don't even notice that you're doing it, and it just becomes a natural part of who you are. It's pretty simple when you think about it in terms of lifestyle habits and creating positive energy in your everyday life. It truly is as difficult as you make it! (And now it's funny because as I sit here writing this I remember why I like doing it every day and how truly, it is effortless. It was just the thought of doing it that was weighing heavy on my mind.) I find it true of most things - we make them into bigger monsters than they truly are - the thought of that daunting list of things to get done is often more dreadful than the actual "doing" part. I speak for myself - I did my laundry today (the very last thing that I wanted to do) and guess what? It was painless. Not quite effortless - but definitely painless! I even made an iTunes playlist to accompany the task of putting away clothes. Yes it really is the little things that make me smile...

On a different note, I have a few good mood lifters to share since I've been away for a few days!

• Billionaire song - My brother and I heard this the other day and fell in love with it (he even posted a blog post about it a few days ago.) Anyway it's just a fun song and it does make you think - what would you do if you were a billionaire? Help others? Travel? Give it all away? Save it? The list could go on. I'm not even sure I know what I'd do!
• Quote of today - "Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." (Helen Keller.) It's definitely an insightful quote as the several group projects I've been involved in lately have shown that yes, you can definitely accomplish more (I swear it's like 10-fold for each person added to your team!) Awesome.
• Random - the organization that I intern for, Girls Inc of Orange County, recently announced that five high school women won a total of $50,000 in college scholarships through Girls Inc. as first-generation college students in their families. I found their stories and incredible hard work ethic and determination really inspiring.
• Shoutout to everyone who reads the blog - YOU are the reason I came back to writing. After having a break and getting caught up in everything else I have going on, I did contemplate leaving The Daily Challenge blog for a while. But then I remembered that someone recently told me they read it daily to find inspiration. And how could I walk away from that?!
  
• Lastly, a nice poem that was shared via TheDailyChallengeBlog@gmail.com (Continue sending stuff my way!)
  "Count your blessings.
  Once you realize how valuable you are
  and how much you have going for you,
  the smiles will return,
  the sun will break out,
  the music will play,
  and you will finally be able to move forward the life that
  God intended for you
  with grace, strength, courage, and confidence."

Smile. The week has just begun!
:)