One of my favorite rom-coms from the early 1990s is a little-known film called “Prelude to a Kiss,” starring a luminous Meg Ryan at her quirkiest and a young, handsome Alec Baldwin before he developed a reputation as a narcissistic asshole.
 
It’s basically a body-swapping fantasy, in which Rita (Ryan) gets a kiss from an elderly stranger at her wedding at the precise moment they each wish they were old/young. Hijinks and hilarity ensue as Rita’s soul in the old dude’s body spends most of the movie trying to convince her new husband, Peter (Baldwin), that it’s really her under all that saggy skin and ear hair.
 
When Rita and the old man finally switch back to their own bodies at the end, he says, “Can I give you two a piece of advice? Floss.”

Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to take a bucket-list trip to Ireland. It was my first trip out of the country (unless you count Canada for a high school band trip in 1988, which I don't), and every single second of it was sublime. Here are some photo highlights.

I’m super lucky I get to do what I love for a living, and I’m extremely thankful that I get to do it on my own terms. Every time my little marketing and public relations business successfully completes another 365-day journey around the sun, I consider it to be a major milestone.
 
Six years ago this month, I quit my last corporate job and went out on my own as a freelance writer and media consultant. It is still the best career decision I ever made. Read all about my big leap into entrepreneurship here.

Every single day without exception, I wake up happy to go to work. My heart positively overflows with gratitude for the life and career I have somehow managed to create for myself. (Gross, I know. Go ahead and roll your eyes. I’ll wait.)

Truth bomb coming in hot: Whoever said money can’t buy happiness was never $40,000 in credit card debt.
 
Yeah, yeah. I get the essence of that old maxim —if you’re generally an unhappy person, no accumulation of physical wealth will change that. Misery is a choice, happiness comes from within … yada, yada.
 
For quite a few years now, I’ve chosen gratitude over wallowing, and my life is pretty amazing as a result. I don’t do math very well (I’m a writer, after all), but this fact adds up for me time and again: The more I count my blessings, the better my life gets.
 
All that being said, I am here to tell you that when I made the final payment on my last remaining credit card, the balance of which had been hanging on by its gnarly-ass fingernails for nearly 20 years, I experienced a palpable wave of relief and joy the likes of which I only felt one other time in my life, and that was after the birth of my child.

If strong is the new sexy, then nice is the new cool. If you are ever lucky enough to hear, “That was so nice of you!” you are winning at life.
 
Seriously, y’all. Mean people truly suck, and ain’t nobody got time for that. In a world where it seems like everyone is openly angry and hateful to each other, we need nice now more than ever.
 
To me, simply being kind to your fellow humans is more valuable than money, looks or power. While I admit to being easily sidetracked by all things shiny, wild and pretty when I was younger, now that I am in my 40s, the willingness or capacity to be nice is the single most essential quality I look for in a person — whether they are a client, service provider, friend or lover. Entitled assholes need not apply.