Be Positive

Sometimes, 

Nope, I take that back.

You should always surround yourself with positivity.  Sure, it isn't easy, but do your best.  



Over the last few years I have really come to understand that removing the negative people from your life and surrounding yourself with positive people can really make a difference. I'm not sure if I just didn't notice when I was younger, or I just wasn't friends with Negative Nancy then, but something in the last few years has caught my attention. I'm not saying that I can only be around people who are happy all the time, but people with a positive outlook makes a difference!  I realized that being around unhappy people started making me unhappy.  If they're putting everyone else down, they're probably putting me down too!  Their crabbiness rubbed off on me. 


 

It is exhausting: being cranky and crabby.  I always feel like once I start going down that path, it is so easy to just keep going that way. Getting out of that funk and finding the positive takes some work, but man, I realized it is so worth it! It starts with getting away from the people who keep you down and finding people who have that positive attitude. Their attitude starts to rub off and you start feeling better pretty quickly.  And when you feel better, you find more things that make you happy, which improves your mood. 

See above.  

 Surrounding myself with a good group of friends and coworkers though has helped me become a better person.  Not just to others, but to myself.  I feel better and I do better.  

There's no magic spell to do it, you just have to find those people who make you feel good and make you happy and gravitate toward them.  Spend more time with them and less time with people who leave you feeling empty. Need to find more? Try finding a volunteer group; their members are usually focused more on helping then putting people down.  Whoever it is, just remember, surround yourself with people who make you happy as it will make you happy!

California

Nearly a year ago I turned 30. Two weeks later Emily and I went to California to celebrate each of us surviving the prior three decades. It was awesome. It had thrills (we almost died), chills (it was rather cool) and gorgeous scenery. It was one of the best vacations I've ever been on!

We did the San Fransisco thing...rode the streetcars, checked out the bridge.



Checked out a number of local wineries.

Took in some amazingly beautiful scenery.

And just enjoyed each others company for the long weekend.

It definitely was a great start to a good year!

Captured

There are some photographs that make you smile for one reason or another every time you see them. Sometimes they are candid shots that take you back to a moment or sometimes they are the posed shot where everyone looks their best, and that's how you want to always remember them. I was recently looking at some of my photos and found some group shots that I just love. I think they are mostly posed shots, but they capture something that I love. So I figured I'd share them.

This photo was taken at Anna's wedding shower. It was at a fancy golf course or something, so we all had to dress up. But we all look our best. Sara will complain because she's pregnant in the photo, but whatever. Its one of my absolute favorites of all of us. I feel like we look like the group I always wanted to be a part of...the pretty girls who have done alright.

I feel like to fully appreciate the above picture, you have to see where we started, five (maybe six) years prior:

This is one of those pictures where we may not look our best, but that's how we looked. I love these girls still today, eleven years later!

This is another one of those perfect shots. Sure its posed, but we all look our best...and that background...that was the actual sky that night. We were all just so happy.

Just one more...for now...
Senior year. This was our 'family' Christmas card. Yup, we sent out a card with all of us on it to our friends and family and we were darn proud of it. It was one crazy (and slightly hellish) year, but we leaned on each other and made it though. Thanks roomies!

I could load this up with my favorite photographs, but I'll stop here.

Vegas Baby!

I needed a vacation. Like bad. I just needed to get out of Central Illinois and not have to think about anything. I really wanted to go to a beach and just sit on it and soak up some sun. I wanted my biggest decision of the day to be "what am I going to drink today?"

However, apparently everyone has the same idea in March/April. Stupid people. So the condo things were all booked up down South. Emily declared she would come with me, so we just had to find a place and a weekend. Finally, we settled on Las Vegas!
While it wasn't the warm sunny beaches of Florida or Aruba, it also wasn't Central Illinois, so therefore it was pretty darn good. Some how we ended up there on a 'cold' weekend and the temps the first two days didn't get above 65. Slightly unfortunate. We did however have a indoor heated pool and hot tub, which we took advantage of.

We did A LOT of walking up and down the strip and just taking it all in. Saturday night we went to go see LOVE by Cirque du Soleil. It was pretty darn awesome! I would love to see some more of the shows. It was just cool. I highly suggest seeing a Cirque du Soleil of some type if you can.

There is honestly so much to do out there that we atually had to make a conscious effort to sit down and gamble. And it was more to get the free drinks than to really gamble. Of course we hit the penny slots. :) In the end, Emily finished $5 up and I was out a whole $7. To prove we did so, the following:


It was an awesome trip and I only wish it could have lasted a few more days! I can't wait for the next trip.

All My Single Ladies

I am retracting this post. I just feel like I wasn't able to say what I meant clearly. Sorry.

Girl's Weekend

A girl's weekend always includes a few things...good food, good wine and good company! This weekend was no different. We all met up at Miller's (though now Lubich, but that doesn't flow as nicely...sorry Jason) near Springfield, IL. She welcomed us with bottles of wine and enchilada's in the oven! There were no boys to be seen and we filled our plates and glasses and sat around the basement coffee table to enjoy ourselves.

We laughed and talked about the past, present and everything in between. It may have been months since we'd all been together, but soon it felt like no time had passed. As the night slipped on, so did the glasses of wine and soon we had to break into Jason's Dad's wine. It was a different experience, but as Emily suggested, a little OJ made it all better. Stories continued late into the night. We laughed at each other and told stories from our college years.



It was somewhere around 3am when we decided to call it quits and turn off the lights. Most of us didn't only fall asleep, but flat out passed out. Still a little hung over, Anna and Sara woke up at 7am to drive back to Peoria to pick up their family and continue up to Chicago for separate family events. Emily, Amanda and I woke up shortly thereafter and lazyily made ourselves some much needed coffee and cinnamon muffins. After what seemed like 11 cups of coffee each, Emily and I said goodbye to Amanda and headed to St. Louis so Emily could attend a high school friend's wedding. I went for fun. While she was at the wedding I wondered a bit downtown (because I work at the Embassy, I got us a great deal on the Hilton in downtown) and ate dinner at some tasty little diner around the corner...stuffing myself with Alfredo and Chocolate Cake. When Emily returned from the wedding, I got dressed up to match and we ventured off in search of a great little St Louis bar. After a broken heal and major blisters, we gave up searching and landed in a loud Irish Pub - not exactly what we were looking for. We made due. After a drink there, we headed off in search of something a little less loud and landed in a bar/restaurant that was about to close but seemed to have the atmosphere we'd been looking for. We opted for a cab to take us back to the hotel and fell into bed immediately. As we sank into slumber, we realized once again, we forgot to take a picture of us!

Sunday morning we took our sweet time getting up and getting going. Hell, it was vacation. But we did promise to be back in Peoria for a BBQ later that afternoon. With a quick pit stop at Bob Evans, we drove up to Peoria. After picking up Rob and Ellie, we headed over to Sara and Bobs for an afternoon with the families. The babies were there and so were the boys (Miller's was boyfree - for the most part). Bob lit up a fantastic grill and got everyone some tasty treats. We all brought sides that were delicious and mostly sat around and stuffed our mouths and talked some more.

It was a fantastic weekend that ended way too soon, but we all had a great time. We definitely have to do it again soon!

The Girls
The Girls...with their girls