Thursday, January 26, 2012

10 Unlikely Questions to Create Success

A friend of mine posted an article on Facebook called "10 Questions That Create Success".  I clicked on the article thinking I would see things about job performance and getting ahead at work.  Instead I found something that surprised me..  The questions are:

1. Have I made certain that those I love feel loved?

2. Have I done something today that improved the world?

3. Have I conditioned my body to be more strong flexible and resilient?

4. Have I reviewed and honed my plans for the future?

5. Have I acted in private with the same integrity I exhibit in public?

6. Have I avoided unkind words and deeds?

7. Have I accomplished something worthwhile?

8. Have I helped someone less fortunate?

9. Have I collected some wonderful memories?

10. Have I felt grateful for the incredible gift of being alive?

What an incredible way to re-frame what it means to be a success.  Think about how fulfilled you would feel if at the end of the day you could truly say yes to each of those questions.  These questions inspired me so I thought I would share a little inspiration with you.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Wedding Wednesday: Ted Drewes

After we were finished at Forest Park we decided we needed some ice cream (actually frozen custard but close enough).  Ted Drewes is a St. Louis iconic location that Nick and I frequent regularly so we thought it would be a fun treat and a fun place to get some pictures.  Ted Drewes was also very generous and gave us our custard for free!

Here are the pictures from this stop:








While we were at Ted Drewes another wedding party pulled up and got off their bus.  They got in line behind us and Nick jokingly asked if they wanted to do a dance off.  We all found the suggestion entertaining but apparently they were intimidated because next thing we knew they were getting back on their bus without waiting to get their ice cream.  In reality they probably just thought the line was too long, but we are convinced it was because we intimidated them!

Once we were finished with our ice cream it was back on the bus and time for the reception to get started!

Wedding Wednesday: Forest Park

**Warning very heavy picture post!

Our first stop on our picture tour was the Grand Basin in Forest Park.  Even despite the rain it was still very hot outside and our wedding party were the troopers indulging me in lots of pictures.  Here is a small sampling of the pictures we took at the Grand Basin:














After we finished with pictures at the Grand Basin we headed to the Missouri History Museum (also in Forest Park) for more pictures.  This was a bit of an impromptu spot.  We had originally wanted to get pictures at The Muny (an outside theater in Forest Park) but there was a carnival there so our photographers suggested the Museum and these ended up being some of my favorite pictures:


















Wedding Wednesday: A little surprise and some KAOS

Once we were finished with formal pictures we planned on getting some wedding party pictures out and about in St. Louis.  As we packed up some things and started making our way out of the church we were confronted by a bit of a surprise- it was pouring down rain!  Luckily it didn't ruin the day and only put us a few minutes off schedule.  It also helped lower the temperature which was a welcome relief from the 100 plus temperatures earlier in the afternoon.  And they say rain is good luck on your wedding day, right?

Here is how we amused ourselves while we waited for the rain to pass:

Did a little shoe switcheroo






Not even married an hour and he was helping me change my shoes- what a gentleman!

Then took advantage of the atmosphere to take some pictures.  Unfortunately all we had was the umbrellas they had at the church so not the prettiest but still made for some fun pictures.




Once the rain stopped it was time to load the KAOS Party Bus.  A friend of ours was gracious enough to put us in touch with his friend who owned a party bus.  It was nothing fancy but did the job of getting us from point A to B and we had some fun along the way!


Always a Gentleman
,







Monday, January 23, 2012

Pinterest Challenge: Kitchen Drawers

Months and months ago two of the blogs I read regularly Young House Love and Bower Power issued a Pinterest Challenge.  The premise was basically to motivate themselves and others to actually do some of the projects that we keep posting on Pinterest.  (Which by the way if you haven't discovered Pinterest it is one of the coolest inventions ever and I may be slightly obsessed so you should go check it out).  My food board has the most pins and I do regularly make recipes from that I have pinned but I must admit that most of my other pins were just looking pretty.  So I finally decided to do something.  I had pinned this picture:


and our drawers were a hot mess:



We had attempted to use a store bought utensil organizer for the silverware drawer but it just wasn't working and we hadn't found any others we thought would do the job.  DIY time it was.  We basically just bought some plywood and cut it to size and then glued it into the drawer.  Nick was excited for an excuse to use his power tools:


The messy glue process:

This was the hardest part of the project and in hindsight we probably should have bought thicker wood so we could use screws or nails to secure the dividers.  I was just worried they would take up too much space in the drawer and not leave enough space for the silverware.  The glue also isn't as secure as I would have hoped so we will see how long it lasts. We may end up picking up thicker wood in the end anyway, but for now here is the finished product:



Much better if I do say so myself!  Like I said I'm not sure how long the glue will last so we may have to start over but either way we will probably also end up painting them at some point so they look more cohesive.