The other day I received a nice email from a woman who shared, "I was at the conference in Milwaukee last week and really enjoyed your message -- thank you! Very positive and I just left thinking...wow, they must have a really fun marriage." What a nice thing to say and very timely, since we were celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary the same week. Man, if every decade goes this fast then I might as well accept the fact that I'm going to be ninety years old in about 25 seconds. Seriously. Ladies and gentlemen: time is not our friend. Jason and I are a good team. Usually people who are …
Chuck’s Investment (What Would You Do?)
There once was a man named Chuck who had a few years left 'till retirement -- the final stretch. The previous forty years of his life had been truly awesome. He felt blessed being the dad to four amazing kids, now all grown. He enjoyed challenging and rewarding work. He took opportunities to coach some of the kids' sports teams and to travel to memorable places. He and his bride of 41 years were best friends and partners on the crazy journey (and crazy it often had been.) Chuck was now the big 6-0 and was in good health, as opposed to many of his peers. Good or bad, his life had been filled …
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The Amazingly Stupendous Do-Over
Remember the "do-over" in childhood? Often applied to a "too close to call" play in a childhood game, do-overs were often used liberally by kids who hated to lose. Lucy called for a do-over this morning. She woke up early and crabby (or as I like to call her, "sensitive.") She was touch-and-go about everything. The day ahead was looking like it was going to be an inevitably rough series of battles. I decided to take her out with me to run a few quick errands, just to get her out and change the scenery. On the way home from our short adventures, I looked in my rearview mirror to find a …
Top 13 Inspiring Movies
I'm a sucker for movies that challenge me to be a better person, ones that help me remember to live each moment to the fullest. If you're going to spend two hours of your life doing something, you might as well walk away fired up about living a richer life. Here are my top 13 picks that will leave you inspired and excited about living life more abundantly. …
The Boring Road to Nowhere
Would you consider yourself to be a happy person? I know, I know, happiness is subjective, but if your BFF's were asked to use three words to describe you, would "happy" (or joyful, lighthearted, carefree) be one of them? I don't ask the question to make you feel guilty for not smiling more or because I think you need to be in a constant state of bliss to have a life of meaning. I ask the question because I feel like a lot of people are settling for a less-than-happy existence. Are you settling? …
9 Ways to Celebrate the Child Within
This week is officially the "Week of the Young Child" and today is Celebrate Children Day in Wisconsin. Boy, this is right up our alley. In celebration of all of the fabulously inspiring shorties out there, I'd be remiss if I didn't say that you don't have to HAVE kids or WORK with kids in order to celebrate children. Raise your hand if you used to be a kid... Wow...you all raised your hand. Sweet. This should also be an opportunity to celebrate the child within -- that little spirit left behind in a world that grows foggier and farther away with each additional birthday …
Good Day Sunshine: 7 Ways to Make Your Living Space More Fun
If you've followed us for a while, then you know that like many entrepreneurs out there, Jason and I have had to work and sacrifice a lot to get where we are today - all the while being quite unsure if the investment was actually going to pay off. We spent the first seven years of our married life together living and working in a crowded apartment here in Madison. When we were selling greeting cards and prints wholesale to retail stores (one of our early business models), we often felt like we were living in a Hallmark store/warehouse filled with boxes, packing peanuts and the screeching sound …
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Lessons from a Screaming Teether
Last night, Lucy screamed and cried for 90 minutes straight. Jason and I are convinced that every baby has a "thing." We escaped colic, gassiness, and sleeping problems, but teething has proven to be Lucy's archnemesis. Those 90 minutes last night definitely ranked up there as some of the worst minutes of my life. Screaming "mama" over and over again, Lucy was in pain and she wanted me to take the pain away. I tried everything... Walking her around the house. (Check.) Singing. (Check.) Talking softly. (Check.) Tylenol. (Check.) Playing her favorite song on the iPod. …
20 Signs That You’re Living Life to the Fullest
Are you living life to the fullest? If you had to name one person in your life who lives their life to the fullest, who would it be? Did anyone immediately pop into your mind? Now, be honest... did you name yourself? I hope so. But if not, why not? It's never too late to be make some changes so that your answer to that question is a confident, "ME!" Need some ideas of what changes to make? Here are 20 signs that you are living life to the fullest: …
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What’s Your Gold Medal?
We've had several speaking gigs since the Olympics has started and I'm finding it's a great conversation piece for people. There seems to be a common denominator of interest: the individual stories and montages. The most inspiring ones are the ones where the Olympian overcame a major adversity to get to where they are today - whether injury, personal defeat, loss of a loved one, or just years of discipline and sacrifice. If you're not happy for Shen Xue and Zhao, the Chinese pair skaters (and married couple), who finally won gold, then you may not be human. That's simply an awesome story! …