Rachael Getting Married

Ian is engaged--and soon to be married to this darling girl! We hosted a shower today for Rachael to celebrate their marriage next week. Love how gracious, smart, and sweet she is. Looking forward to all the exciting wedding festivities over the next month. Congrats you two!!

Sleep. Eat. Talk. Relax. Repeat.

So one very cool thing about Shane and his new ride? The need for a road trip. Pronto.


Left M at home and zipped down to St. George. K, so Shane and I really, really love St. George. I love sun, palm trees and pools without having to change time zones. Kinda like our Hampton's weekend spot if we lived in New York. You get the picture. Packed up all my reading goodies, took control of the XM, and we were set.



My biggest fear is that when M is gone and we get on regular work schedules that we won't have anything to say to each other. You hear about all those couples that the bottom falls out once they are actually faced with talking and living with each other. So, these little trips become very important to reconnect and make sure we still have just a bit of a crush on each other. Love our conversations, our fun, our laughs. We ate at our favorite spots (The Pasta Factory), tried a few new ones (Panama Grill), found some real estate we both wished more than anything we could buy, ate Sweet Tooth Fairy cupcakes, sat at the pool for hours, laughed our butts off at Hot Tub Time Machine, took naps, slept in, got so lazy, came up with a business plan for a decent movie theatre in St George, hung out at the local Walgreens for a bit, took a walk around Green Springs and marveled at how quiet it was, tried to convince each other our music was cool (me Radiohead, Shane the entire country music genre), held hands, and drove that new Camaro suuuuuuper fast.

XOXO S.

Attitude adjustment

Trying to work on some fresh, new attitudes in this house! Found five quick steps today to get readjusted:

Practice upbeat communication

Make an effort to greet people in a positive way because people typically reflect the tone of your greeting back to you.

Learn something new and interesting

Develop a new hobby or learn how to do something you have always been interested in. You'll be amazed at how much more exciting life is when you are involved in something interesting.

Act positive

Have you ever noticed that if you mope around the house, acting tired and depressed, you feel even more tired and depressed? But if you get up and act enthusiastic about life, even if it is only an act at first, pretty soon, you will feel enthusiastic. In other words, fake it until it becomes true. Shakespeare said it more eloquently, when he counseled, "assume a virtue, if you have it not" (Hamlet 3:4). Do this: when you wake up tomorrow morning, jump out of bed and say, "I feel great! It's a great day to be alive!" Say it with conviction, and in no time it will be a great day. Of course you will feel a little silly, that's OK. It sure beats dragging out of bed mumbling, "today's going to be another lousy day, just like yesterday."

Look for the Good

Make a conscious decision to look for the positive. Abraham Lincoln once said, "Most people are about as happy as they decide to be." If you look around, you will discover that everyone has challenges and heartbreaks; and everyone has good things in their life. The issue is not the problem--everyone has problems of one type or another--it is our reaction to the problem. Will you choose to respond positively, no matter what life hands you, and then focus on the good things that are happening? Or, will you choose to react negatively, and focus on what's wrong? The decision is yours.

Give yourself a break!

Remember, YOU are the only one who can help your attitude. You cannot depend on other people or changing circumstances to get you out of the dumps. Take time to give yourself the break you deserve. Stop criticizing yourself or blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong. Remember, you are doing some things right too!

concepts by mindperk.com