100 Happy Days

Wow! I can't believe it's been more than a year since I've written on my blog. I think I stopped writing because blogs can be so self-absorbed, they are a dime a dozen and honestly do people really care that much about what I have to say? However, it's nice to be able to share my thoughts with those who want to read them from time to time. 

I'm an avid user of Facebook (FB) and some days it just gets old sifting through so much negativity that I often contemplate leaving FB. I'm not saying I've never said anything negative on FB but I hope that most of my posts reflect how I feel about life and that is pure happiness. I feel so blessed and fortunate for the life I have. My life isn't perfect but whose is? When it comes to the important things in life I feel blessed...having a roof over my head, a job to go to, food to eat, someone to share my life with, and family and friends that I love and care about. 

Recently I've been seeing this 100 Happy Days Challenge on FB, and was curious about it so I went to the website. What a great idea! Basically you submit a photo every day of something that you made you happy. It's not a competition for who has the better photo. The idea of behind it is to have you focus on more the positive things in life versus the negative. For as long as I can remember I've always been a believer in "what you think about you bring about." I know, I know, to some it probably just seems like new age psychobabble talk but to each their own. What you constantly put out into the universe you get back. Call it karma or whatever you want. Energy is energy and when you constantly put out positive thoughts, actions and words that is what you will get back. Conversely, when you constantly put out negative thoughts, actions and words that is what you will get back. I know not everyone will agree with this philosophy and this post isn't intended to start a debate on the topic. After looking over a few recent posts on FB I started thinking that if only those people could change their attitude about life and change their thoughts. There is a quote on the home page of my blog from Charles Swindoll that I've found to hold true...

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

As I embark on this new journey called parenthood. I hope that I can teach my daughter the importance of her attitude and becoming a positive influence on others. With that, here is my happy photo or photos (sorry I had a hard time choosing one) for today in honor of national sibling day! #100happydays Day 1 #nationalsiblingsday

  

Meet Me in St. Louis

Chicago will always be my favorite city but over the years St. Louis has come a close second. Minus the fact that St. Louis is home to the Cards it's a pretty cool town ;) For Kris' birthday we spent some time in St. Louis and visited some of our favorite places and one place that was new to us called Pi...

1. Forest Park: Home to the The Muny (which I still haven't experienced yet but it's on the list), the zoo, the boat house where you can eat or paddle boat, art museum, botanical gardens, and my favorite The Jewel Box, to name a few.  I really wanted to have our reception there but unfortunately it wasn't big enough. With so much to see biking or a run through the park is a great way to enjoy a Saturday morning. On our way out we stopped by The Jewel Box so I could take some photos. 

2. Soulard Farmer's Market: Great place to get some spinach basil homemade pasta, buffalo meat or of course produce. 

My first visit to the market as a kid was of course a sweet treat..

3. The Loop: Home to Blueberry Hill (Chuck Berry's restaurant), Vintage Vinyl, The Pageant, Tivoli Theatre and my new favorite pizza place, Pi. They serve delicious specialty and deep dish pizzas as well as some tasty sangria! 

4. Last stop was to watch fireworks on the river. We done this several times before in a few different spots. My favorite was watching them from the Arch. 

Change your thoughts, change your life

I've always been a huge believer in the power of positive thought and what it can do and what you are trying to accomplish in your life. Although it seems recently that I've somehow managed to forget that.

Without going into too many details, certain aspects of my life have recently become stressful. I've always felt like I'm a relatively positive person, and I feel like I've gone to the "dark side" as some might call it. Today was my hitting "rock bottom" of sorts or maybe it wasn't actually today but it felt like it. In any case, I'm determined to try and turn this situation around. It has always frustrated me to hear the same people complain day in and day out about this and that, and whine about things that they don't care to do anything about. I don't consider myself to be one of these people. If I have a problem I try if figure out a way to resolve it or if something is out of my control I have two options 1. find a way to deal with the status quo or 2. change the status quo. For instance, if your boss is a jerk (which is not my situation at all this is just an example) you can either learn how to deal with him or her or quit.

Back to the whole point of this blog and that is - change your thoughts change your life! Easier said than done. It's always much easier to complain and become stressed out about things and why is that? Most of us have complete control over our feelings, thoughts, and how we choose to react to situations. Yet some of us deal with stress so much better than others. I could go off on a tangent about biology, conditioning, etc. but I won't. The point is that I believe that we can train ourselves to change our thoughts thereby changing our lives. I'm sure I'm not the first person who you've heard this from and there is tons of research, books, dvd's, etc on this topic which brings me to my motivation for writing this blog...TEDTalks. I LOVE TEDTALKS (TT)! I mean I've watched/listened to TT on and off over the years but since TT came to Netflix (which I discovered this past week) I've become a energized again...ok well maybe just today. This past weekend I started watching TEDTalks: Life Hack. A M A Z I N G. What's so amazing about TT is that they can fit so much valuable and inspiring information into less than 20 minutes.

Here is the deal, I decided this evening that I refuse to go down this slipper slope of negativity. I am trying out this experiment which was referred to in TEDTalks: Life Hack, Episode 3: The Happy Secret to Better Work. To give a quick synopsis of the episode...Shawn Achor discusses reversing the principle that "success will bring you happiness" to "happiness will bring you success."  You are actually much more productive and successful when you are happy, and by making small changes for a 2 minutes a  day for 21 days you can create lasting positive change.

What is the next step? Rewiring my brain in 21 days by doing the following each day:

• 3 Gratitudes - Write down 3 new things each day that you are grateful for. This rewires brain to start scanning the world for the positive first instead of the negative.
• Journaling - 1 positive experience over the past 24 hours allows your brain to relive it.
• Exercise - Teaches your brain that your behavior matters
• Meditation - Allows our brains to get over the cultural ADHD that we've create by multitasking
• Random Acts of Kindness - 1 positive email to someone in your social network

Hopefully I can report back some positive results. Don't be expecting any qualitative data in these results just my overall mental state!

Adventures with Alex

Alex has come to Columbia several times to visit us and when he does we always have a great time exploring. Here are some photos from one of his weekends here...

Devil's Icebox: This has become of our favorite places to go exercise, hike and spelunk.It's about 15 mins. from our place and almost every time Alex comes into town we visit. The last time we decided to go out and get some head lamps and flashlights so we could really explore the caves better.

After our day of hiking, spelunking and working off some calories we decided to make a post workout snack - homemade protein dots. We actually saw these at the gym cafe. Most of the ones I've seen in the local stores or the cafe have coconut on them which I'm not a big fan of so we made our own.

Chocolate PB Protein Dot Recipe

Ingredients:

• 5 servings (scoops) of whey chocolate protein powder
• 2.5 servings instant oats (1/2 cup per serving)
• 1 bottle of PB2 - which by the way I've recently become a huge fan of
• Few tbsp's of unsweetened vanilla almond milk 

We mixed all the ingredients together and then put them in the freezer for a few hours. This recipe makes 15 dots. If I was to make them again I would use a minimal amount of almond milk because the PB2 already makes it pretty moist. It was a bit messy trying to shape into the "dot" but we managed and had some fun in the process. The freezing helped to make them easier to handle when you want to eat them. I'd like to make them again and try experimenting with pumpkin and other ingredients. They were pretty tasty and a nice change from protein bars/shakes. Nutritional breakdown below.

Thanks Alex for an always active and health inspired weekend! xo

Saying goodbye to my twenties!

It's the Sunday before I turn 30 and I'm at the Naperville train station waiting for my train to take me back to Columbia - I came in for the weekend for my cousin's bridal shower. Nick and Kate dropped me off and wished me off with an early happy birthday. As we sat and talked about turning 30 it hit me that I'm not said about turning 30 but that it's a bittersweet milestone for me.

I think for most people your 20's is a time of  learning, finding yourself, and developing/cementing  lifelong friendships. For me it's about all these things as well. As I look back over my 20's, I am baffled by how much I have learned and experienced. During my time in my 20's I attended 3 colleges, graduated college with a degree in marketing, worked for 10 different employers, got a real estate license, managed a shoe store, managed approx 130,000 sq ft of commercial property, was laid off once, participated in 4 weddings, bought a car, invested in real estate, met the love of my life, got married, moved to schaumburg, moved to Missouri, traveled to at least nine places including 2 abroad, met countless people who have changed me,  gained weight, lost weight, learned a lot about food and exercise, developed an appreciation for wine, ran 7 races that I can think of, lost 2 grandparents, developed quite a shoe collection, developed an interest in DIYing and crafting, got to see the Bears go to a superbowl, watched the Cubbies beat the Cardinals on numerous occasions, Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, and started this blog...just to name a few.

I'm sure there are countless other memorable and significant events that happened that have changed me and molded me into the person I am today. My 20's will always be a time that I look back on and smile. I have been blessed with a loving and supportive husband, a truly caring and wonderful family, amazing friends and experiences that I will treasure forever.

Weeks like this remind me how blessed I truly am, and to live each day to the fullest. I am looking forward to the next 30 years!

for the love of the run

as many of you know running is one of my hobbies and favorite forms of exercise. my love of running began many years ago when i ran started running track in middle school where i ran the 800m and 1600m. after all these years, it's still a passion of mine.

i've never taken running all that seriously. by that i mean, completing a run with a set time in mind. while i do love surprising myself from time to time in being able to complete a run in less time than i anticipated, i mostly focus on distance and ability to complete that distance. within the last few years participating in races have become a fun and motivational tool for me. in my opinion, it is extremely exhilarating running amongst thousands of people with the same goal in mind.signing up for these races helps me to stay motivated and gives me something to works towards. i've contemplated running a half marathon but mentally and physically i'm not prepared for that quite yet but it's a definitely goal!

to date, the longest distance race i have run has been 5 miles which kris and i have done for the past 3 years - the st. patrick's day run in st. louis. this year we ran the race with good friends, steve and liz letsky! i have to admit i was bit nervous about running side by side with liz because i know she's much more of an avid runner than i am. in the end, she turned out to a be a great running partner! it's always nice to run with someone who you are able to keep pace with but who also challenges and motivates you. i think we were able to keep each other motivated during those times when each of us got those surges of energy. we finished in 49:30 min and i was really happy with this result. we had a great time celebrating st. pat's day with steve and liz and hope to do it again next year!

this past weekend. a group of friends particpated in the glow run - a 5k race at night through downtown columbia. it was a first for me, that is running a race a night. it's more of a fun run/walk (it's not timed) where you adorn yourself with a glow gear and run through a course that includes black lights and dj's along the way. all in all the race was fun and we had a good time hanging out with friends during and after!

Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose

No this is not an environmental blog, but I suppose it could be an indirect outcome of this repurposing project. This is a bit of a follow-up from my last post. If you read my last post you probably know that within the past year I discovered an interest in DIYing. My favorite DIY this past year was making this Christmas gift for my bestie Molly. We exchange Christmas presents every year and this past year I really wanted to make her a unique gift. After searching some of my favorite sites - Pinterest,  Etsy, and a few other random DIY blogs, I came across an antique printer's tray repurposed into a jewelry organizer...it was the perfect gift for Mols.

To do this project, you first need to find you a printer's tray. This may not be easy. Some great places to search for these are local antique stores, Craigslist, Etsy or Ebay.  I was luck enough to get one from my boss, and I also found one on Craigslist. Most of the one's I've seen range from $35 - $75 depending on the condition. After tracking down the tray, I got to work! This is the fun part but the most challenging - REPURPOSING your tray! I did get some help from my husband and father-in-law towards the end, and I'm so grateful for their help. In addition, to loving the color combo I used for this project, I also love using the crackle to get the antique look.

DIY Project 2: Christmas gift for Molly - Printer's tray repurposed into a jewelry organizer

Materials:

• Printer's Tray
• Ceramcoat All Purpose Sealer
• Two acrylic paint colors (your base coat and your top coat) - I used brown for my base coat and a turquoise shade for my top coat. The base coat is your color that will show through the crackle so it's best to use colors that contrast well together. Some other combinations I like are brown/pink, black/white and black/lime.
• Ceramcoat Crackle
• Ceramcoat Varnish
• Paint brushes
• Eye hooks 
• Cup hooks

Instructions:

• Seal the tray. Let dry.
• Apply base coat. Dry again. Apply more coats as needed to cover your piece. This is probably the most time consuming portion because you have to cover all the small boxes, nooks and crannies.
• Apply crackle. Don't let it completely dry. Dry till it's tacky. Then immediately apply top coat. Let dry completely. This is second most time consuming portion. I found it easiest to do this in sections because the crackle dries so quickly and it does take some time to apply it in all the boxes.
• Apply varnish. Let dry completely.
• Twist in the eye hooks and cup hooks into the boxes. These boxes will mainly be for your earrings and bracelets. I found it best to use eye hooks for the small boxes and cup hooks for the larger boxes. You might need some help with this step. I would advise using a pair of work gloves as twisting these does take some finesse. You might even want to try drilling out the holes first with a small drill bit to make that process a little easier.
• Twist in your cup hooks on the bottom of the frame for hanging your long necklaces. 

Finally, Molly sent me the final product with some jewelry on it. I'm such a fan of this organizer that I plan on making one for myself! Woot! I feel that I'll be more likely to wear my jewelry every day if I'm actually able to see it. Promise to post some more upclose photos of the one I make for myself. Happy DIYing!!!