smile like you mean it

it's as simple as that.  a small little gesture can make all the difference in someone's day. 

i challenge you to smile at at least 3 strangers every day for about a week and see if you notice a difference in how you feel.  you know the person you smile at will feel better, therefore i bet you will too.  i know that i don't smile enough and i think the world in general doesn't either.  it seems we, as a whole, less happy and more negative than we used to be.

i am on a mission for myself to smile more and i would like others to do the same.

hope you'll join me (:

photo credit weheartit

my age has gone up by one.

whew!  i didn't realize that the last couple of weeks had been so busy and that i have hardly posted.  makes me sad because i hate not having time for my sweet blog.  anyhow, since i posted last, i celebrated a birthday on friday.  i can't believe how old i am.  i seriously feel like i'm about 26 or so.

it was a fun birthday.  the nite before i had gone to my cousin's for a wine nite, where i was presented with the most amazing chocolate cupcake.  i slept over at my sister's with my younger cousin.  is it weird that my sis and i sleep in the same bed?  i think not.  it's just such a comforting feeling since we grew up doing it.  anyway, the next morning i got up and had birthday pancakes at my grandma & grandpa's, visited with my parents, and brought my cousin home with me.  she and i shopped and made jewelry until SH got home so we could go eat.

my favorite restaurant in the world {ok, maybe not in the world} is cracker barrel, so that's where i wanted to go.  i could eat there many times a week and live off their blueberry pancakes, macaroni and cheese, fried chicken breast, and chocolate cake.  oh, and the biscuits.  it really was a super fun day.  since i had to work the next morning, it was early to bed for me.  additional celebrating may take place in a few weeks, or so i hope (:

i know it's so cliche to say how life goes so fast, but it really does.  i am two years past thirty, i have been married for five years, out of high school for almost fifteen, and my next big bday is going to be forty.  holy hell!  another birthday celebrated and another age past. although i am a negative worrier, i am also all about living life to the fullest and more so the older i get.  you only have one life to live; might as well enjoy it!

paddleboats & the boathouse.

st. louis has a lot of great things to do, so on our anniversary we decided to eat lunch and hang out at the boathouse in forest park.  it's a beautiful place because it's located right on a lake, has amazing outdoor seating with a nice breeze off the water, gorgeous views, and it's super relaxing.  i also love the fact that it's pet friendly so i love to see the different breeds of dogs and cute water bowls all over the place.

the temperature that day was around 95, but we were able to sit on the patio with an umbrella and luckily the breeze from the water kept us somewhat cool.  we ate well and shared one of my fav desserts - bread pudding.  this one was banana + pecan and was just ok, so i was somewhat disappointed.  the waitress offered us a free sundae but since i'm lactose intolerant and wanted bread pudding i asked if she would switch.  did she?  hell no.  thanks. . . 

although the temps were blazing, i still had my heart set on paddleboats so we did just that after our meal.  it was so relaxing and the trees, wildlife, and scenery were so pretty and neat.  fall would most definitely be the best time for this because it sounds fantastic to be out on the lake seeing the changing of the leaves wearing jeans, boots, and a sweater, with the smell of bonfire in the distance.  i'm not wishing summer away however.

it was a really nice day to enjoy our 5th year as a married couple, do something we haven't done before, and have a fun, relaxing, hot summer day.

if you ever visit st. louis or live here and have never been, it's definitely a must-do thing.  i love it.

happy 5 years to us!

today was our 5th anniversary!  when i say i don't know where the time went, i seriously mean it.

5 years ago today we were surrounded by 20 some people as we were married and celebrated on the beaches of jamaica.  we celebrated today by hanging out and having a fun time with each other.  i'll post pictures and what we did in a different post one day, but had to share this cute pic. we were both severely hot, sweaty, and exhausted with these st. louis temps & humidity, but could not resist a photo op.

now it's time for bed so i can be up at 5 to start my day working a couple 12 hour shifts.  i think i'll sleep well tonite because we are definitely worn out from the fun day we had (:

i love you, sh!

life lately, thru photos.

it's been a pretty nice last week, or so.  i had a mini-vacation, where i just stayed around here, but i had a lot of fun. 

there were a couple celebrated birthdays, book club gatherings, hockey games, concrete cake, movies, having fun, walking, and nice weather.

here is some of what was captured.

 

 

my week's favorite things.

thank god it's friday, although i've been off since wednesday and don't have to go back to work until monday so i've had a mini-vacation, but still.  fridays are always a good thing!  here are some of my favorite highlights from this past week. enjoy!

1.  today is the mr.'s birthday.  good ol' ripe age of 42, but sure doesn't look it, does he?  i can't believe this is the seventh birthday i've spent with him.  holy hell, where has time gone?!

2.  so, to celebrate his birthday, we are going to the blues game tonite.  hockey is one of our favorite things and what better what to celebrate his birthday.  can't wait!

3.  i've been sooooo addicted to these arbonne smoothies.  i mix the powder with water and then add a variety of fruit and spinach.  so far my favorite is the mixed berries with a frozen banana.  heaven. plus they keep me full for hours!

4.  making jewelry has been keeping me super busy.  here is one of my latest creations that i made for my grandma's birthday.

5.  we took dutch to a doggy easter egg hunt.  it was so much fun and he was such a hit there.  he collected the most eggs, which were filled with treats and gift certificates.  we won a BOGO day at doggy day care.  it's the cutest place!

HOPE YOU HAVE A HAPPY WEEKEND!

some things i'm looking forward to

1.  going out for st. patty's day.  have a few green beers, irish car bombs, wear green and have some fun. it only happens once a year so why not celebrate!

2.  i started a new medicine for my anxiety so i'm curious to see how well it works.  keeping my fingers crossed because the last med i was on seemed to wear off after a few years.

3.  spring.  when will it ever be here?  i'm so tired of the 40 degree, windy, sunless days.

4.  booking a trip to vegas for my sister's graduation celebration.  hopefully sometime in may or early june!

5. being part of a new book club.  my friend introduced me to a group that she belongs to and i'll be going to the first meeting next month.  we are going to read the paris wife. 

6.  spending our tax money.  we didn't get back nearly what we did last year, but it will be nice to apply what little we did to our ever increasing credit card balance.

7.  showering and using my mask.  as routine as it sounds, i'm ready to get this day started and feel refreshed.

have a great weekend!

my black friday was better than yours!

...if you went shopping.

Even if you didn't, mine was pretty much a blast.  I don't do crowds, rude people, or late nites, however I do love a good sale, especially when I know I can find a ton of stuff for my selfish self.  However, I just can't justify shopping on that day, not only for the reasons mentioned above, but it seems like it bring out the worst in people - anger, greed, hate, you name it.  Small-Business-Saturday is something that I enjoy a lot better and it supports all the hometown people, not huge corporations.

Our group of girls don't really care too much for the shopping either, so we decided to have a different kind of girl's day.  We went to a couple of our favorite bars in St. Louis while some of the guys did their annual hunting trip.

It started about noon and ended roughly around 10p.  There were lots of giggles, irish carbombs, dance music, too much money spent on the jukebox, cajun shrimp, toasted ravioli, beer, and honestly I can't remember what else.  I can tell you for the first time in my life, I actually used my debit card to play music on the jukebox.  What was I thinking?!  Since only a couple people in my group actually like trance it was my choice and I was in heaven (:  My mom even played a little Tiesto.

Great day for us all, however the next day was spent loving my headache pills, Vitamin Water, pepto, and eye mask.  It was worth it because I haven't had that much fun in a long time. 

our happy 4th year!

Sunday is our anniversary.  Four years to be exact.

I can't believe I have been with the man of my dreams for this long already.  It makes me really sad that time goes by so fast.  We have been through a lot and accomplished so much and I cannot wait to see what the rest of life brings.

Today we are off to celebrate the weekend in Chicago!

This was us on our wedding day in Jamaica.   

[Bit of advice to all destination brides, or really any for that matter: don't think just because there are going to be 20 people at your wedding taking pictures that you don't really need to hire a photographer.  biggest.freaking.mistake.  As picky as I am about picture quality, I still kick myself in the ass for skimping on that.  Needless to say, we have only these kind of pics.  They will have to do, I guess!] 

changes to le blog!

I had a pretty fun weekend.  I was in my hometown this weekend for my cousin's bachelorette party.   We went to a winery out in the country and it's the most relaxing, peaceful setting in the area.  I wasn't ready to come back and get back to reality!

In other news, the old blog has a new name!  What do you think of The Dream Tree?  I love the name for lots of reasons.  I may be doing a post on that in the near future, but in the meantime, bear with me as I update everything.  I'm definitely a creative person, but not quite so savvy when it comes to blog design.  So it may take a few weeks or so {cringe}

Also, the sexy Janna from Perception is Everything nominated me for the One Lovely Blog Award.  She is one of my best blogging BFFs and I love her.  Thanks girl!

I hope you all have a great week.  We're going on like 3 weeks straight of 100+ degree weather.  I haven't seen heat like this in all my life in St. Louis.  It gets in triple digits a lot, but nothing like this!

happy birthday, love.

Today is Eric's birthday.  

He is 41 today.

He's my sweet, sexy, old man of a husband, and I love it!

I also can't believe that this is the 6th birthday we have shared together because it seems like we just met yesterday.  I have no idea where time goes but I wish it would slow down!

He's a super laid back kind of guy and therefore he doesn't really want to do much to celebrate. I'm going to make this delicious meal in the crockpot (recipe to follow sometime!) and my family is going to come over and eat.  He moved here from Buffalo so unfortunately none of his family will be around, but that's ok!

[Great, I just looked outside and it's starting to rain.  We have had beautiful, summer-like weather for the last month, and now today it has to be chilly and rainy....]

We both have the day off and so I'm not real sure what's in store, but we're going to enjoy it together!  In a couple weekends from now we are going to the horse track to celebrate also - it's pretty fun to bet and hangout there. Anyone ever go??

But anyway, I could not be luckier.  I have the most perfect person as my soulmate and I am going to enjoy celebrating with him tonite.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOVE!