After a 2018 that was all over the map, I had the absolute best end of the year and beginning of the new one. I woke up on this first day of 2019 feeling full of hope, energy, creativity, possibility and love. For the first time in a year, I arrived back in Charlotte tonight [...]
Life Balance
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14 Layers of Love
December 26, 2018 { 13 comments }Finn and I hopped on an 8 a.m. flight this morning that put us in Florida by 9 a.m. (There is a one hour time change so that helps a lot when traveling here.) Meeting my parents at the airport has taken on a new level of special since I now have Finn in tow [...]
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Christmas 2018: Friends are Family
December 25, 2018 { 4 comments }I am writing on this Christmas night with a heart full of joy and gratitude. Finn and I take off for Florida tomorrow morning to spend some time with my family but Christmas in Charlotte was truly special this year. Over the years, I have been fortunate to form bonds with some of my friends [...]
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Instead I Held You
December 13, 2018 { 49 comments }Good morning. My eyes popped open at 5:30 a.m. and I couldn’t will myself back to sleep. I got up and made a pot of French press instead. It’s been months since I made coffee in the French press and I’m reminded how amazing it is! If you’re looking for a gift for the coffee [...]
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6 Ways Being A Mom Has Changed Me In The First 6 Months
December 1, 2018 { 30 comments }I apologize for the disappearing act the last few days but I needed to take a step back. One of the things that I have learned in my years of blogging and creating is that if it’s not flowing, don’t force it. I’ve been wanting to write a post about six months of motherhood but [...]
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Resources for Compassion, Healing and Grace
November 8, 2018 { 7 comments }Waking up to news of another mass shooting in California right on the heels of the last one at a synagogue in Pennsylvania felt heavy. Especially after all of the divisiveness of the midterm elections, the attorney general stepping down, the craziness of the press conference, the ongoing immigrant situation and so, so much more. [...]
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Thirty
October 21, 2018 { 31 comments }I tried to start two other “regular” blog posts today but they just weren’t coming together. This post has been on my heart but I wasn’t sure whether I was going to write it. I guess the words need to make their way out so here we go. Today would have been my brother’s thirtieth [...]
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5 Reasons Why I NEED to Spend Time Outside
September 26, 2018 { 14 comments }This post is sponsored by Zappos. The Environmental Protection Agency says that the average American spends 93% of their lives indoors. The breakdown is 87% inside and 6% in vehicles. 93% of life spent indoors. That is just insane to me! For as along as I can remember, I have loved spending time outside. Growing [...]
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We all get lucky in turn.
July 17, 2018 { 49 comments }Last weekend I was so fortunate to have the opportunity to book a super last-minute flight to spend a few days with my family. I had only been back in Charlotte for just shy of two weeks but really needed the support of my family. I am grateful that American Airlines Super Saver mile redemption [...]
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A New Way Forward
July 6, 2018 { 154 comments }We’re in the midst of a big summer afternoon thunderstorm and it’s a welcome break from the unrelenting heat we’ve had all week. It’s 4:30 p.m. and I decided to get in bed to write this post because it seems like a cozy and comforting place to be right now. I truly feel like god [...]
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On Female Friendships as an Adult: Developing, Nurturing and Maintaining Relationships
June 5, 2018 { 47 comments }Last Friday I put a call out for topic requests given that my normal groove has shifted to all baby, all the time right now. My day-to-day looks much different since I’m not working or working out so I thought it would be a great time to tackle some topics that you guys want to [...]
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6 Ways You Can Help the Older Adults in Your Life
May 1, 2018 { 5 comments }I’m proud to be working with CVS Pharmacy to help spread the word about #BetterHealthMadeEasy, how to #FindYourHealthy and #DiscoverCVS. All opinions expressed are my own, and all product claims or program details shared should be verified at CVS.com or with the appropriate manufacturers. Hey guys, this is the third in a series of three posts that [...]
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9 Smartphone Apps That I Use All the Time
March 28, 2018 { 2 comments }I’m proud to be working with CVS Pharmacy to help spread the word about #BetterHealthMadeEasy, how to #FindYourHealthy and #DiscoverCVS. All opinions expressed are my own, and all product claims or program details shared should be verified at CVS.com or with the appropriate manufacturers. Let’s talk about smartphone apps today! I have five screens full of them [...]
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Planning for the Week Ahead: Meal Plan + Work + Life
February 25, 2018 { 12 comments }Hey there and I hope you guys are enjoying your Sunday. A few months ago I wrote a post about Sunday planning to strategize for a busy week ahead and it was well received. Given that I’m hitting 30 weeks this week and feeling the squeeze to get my ducks in a row before baby [...]
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Staying Open in Times of Fear, Uncertainty and Struggle
February 15, 2018 { 120 comments }Hi friends. Days and days of gray clouds and rain have given way to sunny skies, a gorgeous breeze and 74 degree temperatures here in Charlotte. I am sitting here working with doors and windows to my house open and I’m going to get out for a walk with the girls here in a bit [...]
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5 Hacks to Streamline Your Busy Life
February 2, 2018 { 10 comments }I’m proud to be working with CVS Pharmacy to help spread the word about #BetterHealthMadeEasy, how to #FindYourHealthy and #DiscoverCVS. All opinions expressed are my own, and all product claims or program details shared should be verified at CVS.com or with the appropriate manufacturers. I think it’s accurate to state that most of you reading [...]
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Friday Things
January 19, 2018 { 38 comments }I hope that your Friday is off to a nice start. I finally arrived back in Charlotte last night just in time to dash from the airport to the studio to teach my 5 p.m. strength class. And let me tell you, after not picking up a weight for a week…I am feeling it this [...]
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Four Different Ideas for Approaching 2018: Feel More, “Goal” Less
January 4, 2018 { 4 comments }Hi everyone. I hope the first week of the new year is off to a wonderful start for you. Although I’m not personally setting specific intentions, goals or resolutions, I have found myself in a very contemplative place this new year. My whole life is going to change in 2018 in ways that I can’t [...]
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My Strategy for Managing a Busy Week: Meals, Workouts, Work Priorities and Life Balance
December 10, 2017 { 19 comments }Happy Sunday. I sat down to do a little prep and planning for the week ahead and realized that it’s going to be a busy one on the social front in addition to what I have on my plate for work and personal. This means even more prep and planning is necessary because it can [...]
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Finding Food Freedom…And The Journey of Getting There
September 20, 2017 { 128 comments }This post has been bouncing around in my head for a few months but I haven’t had a clear direction for how to present it…so I’m just going to go for it. I want to talk about food. And relaxing the rules around it. And about becoming less attached to comparing what you’re doing to [...]
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Taking Stock, Part 2
September 12, 2017 { 14 comments }I first posted this “Currently” survey-style blog post back in October 2014 after seeing it on my friend Teri’s blog. I came across the old post a couple of weeks ago and put it in the queue for a redo. So here’s the 2017 edition! CURRENTLY… MAKING: plans to visit my grandmother very soon. I [...]
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Less Laboring, More Living: Part Two
September 4, 2017 { 21 comments }Last Labor Day I wrote a post titled, “Less Laboring and More Living” and it’s been on my mind all weekend…because I’ve done it. In last year’s post I shared that the norm for me was to get by on 5-6 hours of sleep a night, “because I could.” I had a lightbulb moment where [...]
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Living In Charlotte: The Good, Some Considerations and Additional Resources
August 30, 2017 { 32 comments }In the past couple of months I have received quite a few emails, messages and Instagram DMs about living in Charlotte, NC. I wrote a few posts about Charlotte two summers ago but this city is changing so rapidly that I think it’s time for an update! First, here are links to those three posts. [...]
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There Is No Difference
August 14, 2017 { 15 comments }Sometimes I find it so hard to understand the downright hate and extreme lack of connection that exists between some humans in this world. I forget that my work environment and community is sadly, somewhat of an anomaly. One of the things that I love so much about the practice of yoga is how it [...]
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Say Thank You Until You Mean It
August 2, 2017 { 17 comments }My Wednesday is off to a bit of a nerve-wracking start. First, we found a big red lump on Sullie’s belly last night when we were patting her. It seemingly appeared out of nowhere and after last year’s surgery, it has me on high alert. We have a great vet and they asked me to [...]
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6 Ways I’m Taking Care of Myself During a Busy Season of Life
May 19, 2017 { 16 comments }I am waving the white flag on this week. It was a short week for me but a busy one. I’m finding that since I changed my schedule this month to add in the four Y2 Strength trial classes, I’ve had a hard time fitting everything in that I want to get done in a [...]
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Finding My Flow
April 27, 2017 { 43 comments }I sat down at the computer this morning to begin working. On my blog editorial schedule for today I had “Zoetry review” and while that is coming (soon!), I felt like I wanted to share something else instead. Photo Wanda Koch Over the last couple of months I’ve felt more ease, joy and flow than [...]
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Sometimes Simple is Best
March 9, 2017 { 31 comments }Good morning. I’ve got Kings of Leon radio playing on Pandora, a cup of coffee sitting on my desk and sunlight streaming in through the windows. I taught yoga at 6 a.m. and then came home and made breakfast for Tanner and myself. I’ve got the rest of the day ahead of me to focus [...]
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How’s Your Brain Health + What I Learned from the Staying Sharp Brain Health Assessment
February 25, 2017 { 67 comments }This post is sponsored by Staying Sharp. Keep reading for a giveaway for a free brain health assessment. It seems that the older I get, the more I understand that being healthy is about so much more than just physical health. While I love to workout, nurturing my body on a deeper level has become [...]
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5 Ways To Find More Happiness at Work
February 15, 2017 { 11 comments }A few weeks ago I shared a time evaluation exercise that we do with our yoga teacher trainees. If you missed that post, definitely go back and read it because the exercise can really help you understand how you spend your time and how you feel about how you spend your time. The whole point [...]
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Celebrating Truth: A Name Change + A Confession
February 6, 2017 { 41 comments }Hey there. I want to get straight to it today. I have two things on my heart that I want to share with you. First, I changed my name. If you’re newer to the blog, I got married in my early 20s to my college sweetheart. We ultimately ended up going separate ways but I [...]
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Team Human Being
January 29, 2017 { 19 comments }Every now and again I find myself in a spot of questioning my authority/ability/worthiness to do what I do. I tell myself this story that there are many others who are more knowledgeable/qualified/serious than I am and that I’m somehow not in the place I should be professionally or personally to be telling anyone anything [...]
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The Eye-Opening Time Evaluation Exercise That You Need To Do!
January 19, 2017 { 7 comments }I’ve always sprinkled personal development/career/growth/deep thoughts posts into my blog content in the past but in 2017 I’m efforting to share MORE of that with you. I’ll be writing more about some of the topics I talk about in my yoga classes as well as some of the personal growth exercises that we do in [...]
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15 Favorite Moments from Our Florida Trip
January 5, 2017 { 21 comments }We have been home from our trip from Florida for a week now and I’ve been scrolling through my iPhone pictures and smiling at the memories ever since. It was such a special time getting to know my oldest niece and y’all…she’s incredible. Smart, funny and full of personality. I shared some scenes from Christmas [...]
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Don’t begin 2017 without taking a look back at 2016
January 1, 2017 { 17 comments }Happy New Year. I taught my normal Saturday 11:15 a.m. yoga class on New Year’s Eve in addition to a “Resolve to Evolve” workshop with Dorie that afternoon. The theme of my class and my workshop yesterday was spending time reflecting on the year behind us before we zoom into 2017, forgetting (or choosing to [...]
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Christmas Eve in Charlotte and our first Christmas in Florida
December 27, 2016 { 14 comments }It felt so nice to take a few days away from my blog and social media. While I’ve been sharing ongoing updates on SnapChat, I’ve spent probably less than 30 minutes online daily and it’s been so nice. RE: SnapChat…I just love it so much for super quick and easy “in the moment/unedited” sharing. I’ve [...]
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A Bittersweet Weekend
December 12, 2016 { 19 comments }I’m getting really good at these late Monday night weekend recaps but today has been a catch up day with work for the studio. It feels a little weird to write a weekend recap after such a sad and emotional weekend but it also feels weird to only share the highlights and good moments of [...]
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Scenes from Thanksgiving 2016
November 27, 2016 { 9 comments }Happy Sunday! I’m currently listening to Classical Christmas on Spotify and I’m getting really excited to go pick out our tree later this evening. Before we go fully into Christmas mode, I wanted to share a few scenes from our Thanksgiving. I always love to get a glimpse of everyone’s family traditions and menu spreads [...]
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Sunday Morning Coffee Chat: Life, Love and Running
November 20, 2016 { 25 comments }I hope your Sunday morning is off to a beautiful start. I just poured a cup of coffee and took that magical first sip and thought I’d sit down and write a coffee chat post since it’s been many months since I’ve done so. If we were chatting over coffee I would share…that last week [...]
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November 9, 2016
November 9, 2016 { 36 comments }Good morning. I didn’t post yesterday because nothing I had to share seemed significant given the huge decision our country was making. I felt so anxious all day. I hope you exercised your right to vote. We are truly so lucky to have it and to live in a country where we enjoy personal freedom, [...]
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Choose Your Attitude + 3 Special Deals Just For You! :)
October 27, 2016 { 11 comments }I have been teaching yoga at 6 a.m. for over 5 years now. It’s an early wake up call but a gift to be able to begin my day in such a positive and intentional way. One of the things that I message to my early morning yoga classes most often is, “you choose your [...]
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The First Birthday
October 21, 2016 { 40 comments }I wrote a post this morning with a short recap of my Thursday, a story of comparison and running that came up for me after my last post, some recent eats and a shout out about my friend Teri’s blog. It’s been sitting in drafts ever since. I wrote the post and then I was [...]
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Holding on to my most special memories with Legacybox
October 17, 2016 { 30 comments }This post is sponsored by Legacybox, a wonderful resource for preserving your memories through digitization. Over the last couple of months I have been working behind the scenes on a project with Legacybox. It’s a service that preserves old tapes, films, photos and audio and digitizes them so that you can have them easily accessible [...]
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Moving Through, Part Three
October 12, 2016 { 36 comments }I am really struggling with how to continue on with my day-to-day life and work responsibilities while feeling so sad (and so many other feelings) on the inside. There’s like this blurred filter between my inside and the outside world. When it comes to teaching yoga, 50% of the time I feel grateful to be [...]
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Moving through, part two.
October 4, 2016 { 48 comments }Monday marked two weeks since my brother’s death. It was a hard day for me. I’ll say the same thing to you guys that I said to my Monday morning yoga class, this shit is hard. And I just can’t be a cheerleader right now. I don’t really know what else to say other than [...]
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On Being Okay with Where You Are Today
September 30, 2016 { 17 comments }I was about halfway through teaching a yoga class this morning when I realized that I was there, but I wasn’t all there. I was in it, but I wasn’t bringing much for my students. I was saying all the words right and teaching a well-sequenced class but I felt an emptiness that’s not usually [...]
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Moving Through
September 28, 2016 { 19 comments }I can’t even begin to express my thanks for your outpouring of love and support. It’s been a comfort to read your emails, comments and messages and I’m so sorry to learn that many of you have also experienced the terrible effects of addiction in your own lives. I hope it’s something that we can [...]
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Loss
September 26, 2016 { 286 comments }I apologize for the disappearing act over the last week. I’m currently in the middle of a 10-hour road trip back to Charlotte after spending the last five days in Florida with my family. On Monday, September 19 at 11 p.m. I received phone call from my mom that my little brother Will had passed away. [...]
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20 ways YOU make the most of every day!
September 23, 2016 { 4 comments }A couple of weeks ago as part of my “Live Your Life with Heart” partnership with CocoaVia®, I shared 5 ways that I make the most of every day. I asked you guys to share back to me how you live a life that’s full of heart and happiness and received some seriously amazing responses [...]
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A Labor Day Lesson
September 5, 2016 { 29 comments }On Sunday afternoon I taught three classes in a row. A double header of HIIT and Total Strength at the Y for my once-a-month rotation followed immediately by hot yoga. These Sundays are four hour marathons of teaching but always leave me feeling energized and remembering why I fell in love with group ex and [...]