27 Things I'm Grateful For

Being stuck in quarantine has given me a lot of time to think and reminisce about the last 27 years of my life. The good, the bad, the beautiful and all the trials and lessons I've learnt and grown from.

In the last 27 years, I've had some major life milestones and events, such as carrying through a teenage pregnancy, becoming a teen mum, graduating from high school and fashion college, getting engaged to the love of my life, having our second baby and ultimately finally getting married to my best friend. I feel like I've lived 40 years worth of life in just a matter of 27 years, which is crazy, but I wouldn't change it for anything at all.

For some reason, turning 27 this year has been more of an eye-opening and pivotal moment than turning 25 two years ago did. It's strange to think about; that I'm already almost 30 yet there's still so much I have left to do and experience in this lifetime. So many groan at the thought of getting closer to their 30's, and getting older in general, but me, I can't wait to be thirty, flirty and thriving! But seriously, I've been mistaken enough as a teenager, I'm done. I know a lot of people say having a bay face is a blessing in disguise but ya girl is just over it and wants to be able to be taken seriously.

♡

Something I wanted to touch on in this post was 27 Things I Learnt in the last 27 Years but it was a lot harder than I thought. There was no way I was going to bang it out in one afternoon. So instead, I want to list 27 Things I'm Grateful For. Here we go!

1. My family - this goes without saying because without my parents, I literally would not be here; without my brothers, growing up would have been boring; and without my grandparents and cousins; I wouldn't know the value and adoration for family like I do because distance certainly makes the heart grow fonder. And without my husband or my kids, my life would just be colour-less and lacking love and joy.

2.  My friends - the family you choose. It's funny because throughout high school we called ourselves "The Fam" because right from the get go, we felt like a huge, lovable, sometimes unconventional family and till today, they're exactly that. We may not see each other as often as we'd please but the presence of the love will always be there. No matter what.

3. My bestie - someone I met much later in my life but time and time again goes to prove that it doesn't matter how long you've known someone but what matters is how often they're there for you and prove it. She is my rock, and I could not be more thankful for her best friendship being in my life.

4. Having a roof over my head - I'll always be thankful to live in a modern, simple yet beautiful home in a great neighbourhood that I feel safe raising my kids in. I really couldn't ask for more.

5. Having food on the table - another thing I'll always be thankful for. It's a basic life essential yet many families go without, so today and every day, I'm grateful that we have food to feed our family.

6. My family's health - especially in today's circumstances with the fear of this pandemic, I'm grateful for the health of my kids, my husband and myself. Our Australian healthcare system is also something I'm really glad is of priority in our country to support our communities because healthcare shouldn't be given out based off of class income. It's a basic human right.

7. Being in the right financial situation for me to be able to stay home with my kids - this is something I struggle with because as great as it would be for us to thrive financially if I were to have gone back to work immediately after our daughter was born, it wasn't what was right for our family. Now we may not have the right finances to buy our own home or much less, rent our own home, but for now, this is what's working for us to reach our life goals in the near future. It's all about patience. But I'm thankful that we're in the right place in life for me to be able to stay home with our kids and raise them as well-mannered, honest and wonderful people of the world.

8. The bad days so that I can appreciate the good days more - when I'm going through a bad day, it honestly just sucks and my mood bounces off onto other people and I feel even more horrible. But without those bad days, I wouldn't be able to feed off of the feelings and joy I get from the really wonderful days. It can't all be one sided. Life is a beautiful mixture of both and I think the sooner we learn and appreciate that, the better everyday can be!

9. My room / space of sanctuary - I absolutely love my bedroom which is why I'm so excited to one day have our own home and make that house our little sanctuary. My room is my comfort zone. My safe zone. I love it so much and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be able to style it the way I want (thanks to my husband also for letting me make it as girly as I want without ever feeling emasculated.)

10. Coffee - I mean, need I say more? ☕️

11. Fresh or faux flowers - even though fresh florals make me a bit sneezy, I do love a gorgeous bouquet when the occasion calls for it. But artificial flowers are just as beautiful and I love how the freshen and brighten up any space. Heck, when I'm on a walk and see a neighbour's garden with beautiful flowers, I instantly have a smile on my face.

12. Music that gets me singing or dancing - if you know me personally, you know I have a very typical pop girl music taste. Taylor Swift gets me crying, Ariana Grande gets me dancing and Kehlani gets me in a whole moooOoood. But I just love any music that makes me feel good and makes me dance around or really get in my feelings. I'm partial to absolutely anything that's love to my ears.

13. Having a platform that lets me share all the things I love and enjoy - my Instagram has been a great place for me to connect with likeminded people. It's been so great making friends on there and sharing all of our different passions and opinions. I'm so grateful for a platform to be able to do something like that!

14. The opportunity to travel - my last overseas trip was to America and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to be able to take my daughter to meet my family over there. Experiencing NYC all over again was also so magical because this time it was Winter so it was snowing and Wintertime; my favourite. We have other plans to travel once this pandemic mess is over, so I'm thankful for that.

15. The sisterhood I formed with my cousins-in-law - so my husband's side of the family is rather huge and so he has a whole bunch of cousins which came as a shock for me considering I can count my cousins on one hand. Over the course of my 14 year relationship with my husband, I'd grown close to a few of them (one I actually went to primary school with years ago and had no idea I'd end up marrying her cousin!) and till today, I am so incredibly thankful for their infectious laughs, caring concerns for me and my little family's wellbeing, their friendship and most of all, welcoming me into the family long before I legally married into it! They're much like the sisters I never had because I can literally come to them for absolutely anything.

16. The time I spent studying at The Fashion Institute - probably my favourite years ever. Granted it was only 1.5-2 years of my existence but it was seriously the best experience ever. It had been a lifelong dream of mine to attend fashion school and to proudly say I'm a fashion graduate is ever so empowering and fulfilling.

17. My relationship with my son - as he gets older, I appreciate him becoming his own person more and more. Someone with his own opinions, views and values. I've seen this little boy turn into this young adult and our relationship has evolved so many times, I honestly could not be prouder of who this kid is growing into.

18. My relationship with my daughter - this girl is one to be reckoned with. The world needs to get ready for what she has to offer because she is feisty, loud and powerful. But she's also so sweet, caring and sensitive.

19. My relationship and marriage with my husband - I will never stop being thankful for all that this guy has done for me and our little family. Honestly, the most amazing man ever and I am so lucky to have him as my partner for life. We've been together for half our lives (yup, you read that right) and there's still so much adventure and life to go through together. Life would suck without him (and our babies, of course.)

20. Cosy pyjamas, fluffy blankets and candles - something a little more lighthearted; because Autumn/Winter are my favourite seasons and I wouldn't get by without these things. They are so essential during this time of year and I'm thankful that they exist. (Also very thankful that they are considered brilliant gifts for Mother's Day. I will never run out!)

21. New skincare and makeup - ahhh, the simple joys in life. I'm a hoarder and thankfully my side hobby is reviewing and testing out new beauty products because nothing is as satisfying as opening a brand new bottle of skincare or makeup. I'm also very thankful for what skincare and makeup do for my skin. It's not a form of covering up at all, but enhancing and accentuating what I already have and love about myself. Beauty itself is also just really fun, and it should be normalised more to just have fun with it than made to look ridiculous or self-obsessed.

22. Being able to work with numerous reputable and wonderful brands - this goes hand in hand with what I was talking about in the previous point, but I'm so incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to work with so many wonderful brands and companies. It's still surreal to me that they enjoy my content enough to want to send me stuff, but I'm just so thankful regardless that I'm deemed worthy enough. It's a lot of fun and I love finding new brands and products to love and share with my friends and audience!

23. The colour pink (blush pink, to be precise) - if you know, you know 💗 (Apple, it's really about time you made a blush pink heart emoji btw)

24. The sunshine in a cool breeze - absolute perfect weather and I'm grateful for it. It's also one of the many reasons why I love living in beautiful Australia.

25. Self care / pamper nights - totally, completely and absolutely necessary. A high-priority essential! I am so grateful for self care days / nights. Treating yourself to a disturb-free, scented, relaxing bath while you plop a face mask on, wine in hand with some mellow music as the lights dim and the candles brighten small parts of the bathroom is all any woman wants.

26. Our Dyson cordless vacuum - thought this was a funny thing to include because ever since we got our Dyson vacuum, I have spent many days just being SO grateful for it coming into our lives when it did. Especially when you have kids who make a mess in a matter of seconds then run away, this vacuum is such a lifesaver! It's my 'adulting' pride and joy, honestly.

27. Another year to count my blessings - thankful to have had another trip round the sun. Here's to 27!

♡

I've never been a "birth week" type of girl. I much prefer celebrating the wonderful people in my life than myself which is why I've always tried to keep my birthday on the down-low year after year. A celebratory dinner here and there. But this year felt different. I'm turning 27 on the 7th of May and it seemed like quite a milestone for me to be reaching so in the beginning of the year, I had planned for a larger than average shindig to celebrate; then the pandemic happened and my plans were put to a complete halt. I was sad for like a second, but then I picked up my heels and decided to go abso-effing-lutely extra AF and do a fun little at-home birthday photo shoot! Hey, who says only infants could do this?!

Thanks to my incredible husband, who is quickly becoming an ~*Instagram husband*~ and trust me when I say I'm impressed that he manages to capture the inspiration I've got floating in my mind, but don't let him hear me say that because he'll totally eat up the glory for weeks to come. Although now I've got some stunning photos to keep in my memories forever to mark my 27th birthday as being glamorous and extravagant despite being stuck at home.

I just wanted some way to commemorate my 27th birthday and now that we achieved and nailed this so well, I feel like I want to make this a yearly thing because this was so much fun and I absolutely love the way the photos turned out. Nothing feels better than your visions coming to life better than expected like this!

♡

Love always,
Danica Janine x