Waterfall Wedding Weekend

Location: Lake Norman, NC & Carrigan Farms Rock Quary 

One of my very best friends got married last weekend! I was so lucky to get to be a part of the special occasion.  Alyssa and I have been friends since we were 8 years old, 20 years of friendship and still going strong. I felt so honored that she asked me to be a bridesmaid so I could be there through the whole process.

The whole week up until the wedding it was gross and rainy and calling for a high chance of thunderstorms.  Instead we got a gorgeously perfect day for an outdoor wedding by a waterfall.  Everything couldn't have gone better. 

We stayed on the lake in a house with the bridal party for the whole weekend for all of the fun festivities.  We had a delicious girls brunch, got our nails done on Friday before the rehearsal dinner.  Then Saturday was full of last minute touches, mimosas, and getting our hair and makeup done. 

The wedding itself was so lovely.  There were many tears but only because everyone was so happy.  I have never seen a couple more perfect for each other than these two and I couldn't be more excited for them.  After the ceremony we had the best dinner and then danced the night away, just like she wanted! It was such a special weekend.

Congrats to the bride and groom!! 

Happy Things

In light of Monday's post I wanted to create a fun list of all things that make me happy.  We are all so beautiful and so unique.  Everyone was created for a different purpose; that is to live your own best life. Not anyone else's.

So perfection stemming from comparison doesn't get us to the place of happiness or living well.  I find that when I am in a place of want want want I need to shift my mindset and think about what I have, what I love, and what truly makes me happy. So here it is in no particular order; my happy list:

Puppy tail wags and sloppy kisses

Savoring a delicious meal that you dream about for days after

Completing a tough workout and feeling so strong after

Coffee

Journaling in the early mornings

Long walks with friends [and Finn]

Popcorn and M&M's at the movies

A gorgeous sunset

Running a race

Standing in front of a vast view [mountains or beach] that creates wonder and awe and that feeling of being small

Feeling creative and inspired

An outfit, make up, and hair that makes you feel like you can take on the world

Completing a tough project

Wine & Cheese

The look on a child's face when they learn something new and do it all by themselves

Lovely conversations with girlfriends

Traveling to a new place and truly getting to explore

Learning about people; their stories, their culture, their daily life

Creating something delicious in the kitchen while drinking wine and chatting about life with my man

Being engrossed in a really good book

Getting something at a really good price [clothes, furniture, fun items] I love a deal!

A beautiful yoga practice

Green plants making living spaces warm, homey, and beautiful

Laughing until you cry

I could probably sit here all day and brainstorm more and more happy things.  Once you start thinking of one more pop in your head - it's a really great practice to lift your spirits and help you realize living your best life means doing more of what makes you happy. I intend to incorporate more of my list above into my daily routine to continue to strive for health and happiness!

What are some things that make you happy?

Ode to Fathers [especially mine]

It's now June which means Fathers Day is coming up! I have been so blessed with such a wonderful, caring, giving, and hardworking father.

My daddy has always been there for me and my family.  He works tireless hours then comes home to  make sure the house is in tip top shape. My dad is the kind of father who was around to play with us girls, put up with our endless drama, and always be the receptive person at the end of those "dadddddyyyy" phone calls when we are in peril. I always took that for granted until I started working in schools and learned the hard stories of many children.

I feel so blessed to have a Dad who has been there physically and emotionally for me throughout my whole life, and still is [who do you think has helped me build furniture and transport heavy items on my many moves from apartment to apartment?!]

Now I know that all families aren't exactly made up the same way mine is, and that's okay.  Learning about peoples daily lives fascinates me; it also fills me with so much gratitude for being brought up with parents who stay together through it all.

So cheers to all the fathers out there raising their children to be strong and humble and to do the right thing.  The world needs more involved fathers.  I have seen first hand what a positive male role model does to students who seem to be helpless otherwise.  Thank you to the men who stand up and stick together and cultivate a positive family life.

How are you going to celebrate your father this month? 

It's Been Two Years

I love reflecting on life.  My favorite past time is taking pictures so I can look back through them and cherish the memories of those moments captured in time.  I have tons of scrapbooks taking up space in my hall closet full of smiles, adventures, and bad hair days haha.

We don't really take photos and craft a cute scrapbook about the tough stuff in life.  Those are the days where the camera is collecting dust on the shelf.  Tears are typically shed.  Prayers are uttered in quiet rooms for some relief.

It's been two years exactly [as of yesterday] that I had a pretty scary situation.  I haven't really shared my story or my thoughts on it besides conversations with close friends, but I felt like it was time to reflect on how that moment changed the course of my life.

On April fools day, two years ago, I woke up with the most intense pain ever.  I ran through all sorts of scary thoughts in my head wondering what the heck was wrong with me.  I called my mom in tears on the bathroom floor hoping for the pain to pass and it never did.  Then I started texting and calling all of my grad school friends - I needed a ride to the ER. asap. Something just wasn't right in my body. After a day in the ER, feeling terrified undergoing tests and ultrasounds but no one really saying anything to me.  I could just read on the doctors and technicians faces that whatever was going on was unusual.  I was so scared because I truly had no idea and neither did they.  I ended up getting discharged with an appointment to see an ob/ gyn the next day.

My doctor was very kind and walked me through everything.  She said I had a dermoid cyst on my uterus that was very large and she wanted to operate as soon as possible.  We scheduled the surgery - me wide eyed - wondering how something so big could just be hanging out inside me with out me knowing.  My parents made arrangements to come stay with me the next week and we got a friend to take care of my dog while I was recovering and then I just waited for the big day.

The day of surgery is a blur.  Anesthesia and pain meds will do that to you.  Apparently, I sent my sister some very flattering snap chat selfies that she took screenshots of.  I guarantee those will make an appearance at a very opportune moment for humiliation purposes.

I do remember my doctor coming in and checking on me. She explained that when they made the cut the doctors realized that I didn't have a dermoid cyst, I had a fibroid tumor that was way larger than originally anticipated.  They had to extend my incision to ensure they could take the whole thing out.  This was only supposed to be an out patient surgery but because of the unexpected fibroid inside of me I had to stay overnight.

The fibroid was benign, praise God, but it still made a huge impact on my life.  I am left with a reminder of the fear, anxiety, and unknown every single day since I have a 5 inch almost c-section like scar on my stomach.  My recovery was hard.  The week before I was in the ER I had just run a race with a bunch of friends.  Now, I was being told not to work out and take it easy.  I could barely walk to classes.  I had to take a month off of work as a server.

Moments like these aren't in the scrapbooks.  They are burned into our brain remembering every feeling, every thought, every moment.  I resolved to always be brave.  To take risks.  To live my life to the fullest. To do things that make my heart happy way more often.  I made a commitment to be even healthier and take care of my body.  The human body is an incredible thing and we only get one of them.  I am proud to say that I was able to recover and run my first half marathon by the end of that summer.  What an incredible emotional experience that was, knowing that months earlier I was in the hospital, but my body was able to run 13.1 miles in the mountains.

Sometimes I am struck by the fear of asking myself - what if it happens again?  Then I remember how blessed I have been in the past 2 years.  All of the things I have accomplished.  The relationships with people I love that have only gotten deeper and stronger as a result.  I am so thankful that God teaches me little lessons every day about how amazing this life truly is.  My tough moment isn't in a scrapbook, it doesn't have to be, I carry the scar with me, but I learn from it every single day.

What has been a pivotal moment in your history? 

What I Learned Doing the Look for Love | Tone It Up Challenge

all tone it up photos taken from toneitup.com

Yall, I did it.  I completed my first Tone It Up Challenge. I cannot even begin to articulate what these past 6 weeks have meant to me.  FYI this is definitely not a sponsored post I just love this plan, these trainers, and the transformation I have had within.

But in order to truly understand my why for joining Tone It Up we have to go back in time. Like to high school... I have always been an athlete.  Swim practice 6 days a week was my norm.  With all of that practice, I never really thought about what I was eating.  We weren't really educated on nutrition either.  Carbing up is a common phrase in the swim world.  And not healthy carbs I'm talking full on mac and cheese binges before meets was a regular occurrence.  I also didn't have the best relationship with food either.  I would come home from school and as my pre-workout / after school snack I would eat everything and anything in the cabinet [sorry Mom!] I had no real sense of portion sizing.

Then I left for college, I still swam for my school, so going to practice daily was my working out, plus swim meets on weekends.  Again, I felt like I was good because I swam so much and that burns a ton of calories.  Being in college comes with it's own challenges. No parent to yell at me when the whole bag of chex mix is gone or to tell me I can't go to a fast food place with my friends because it's past curfew.  Add in drinking and I was wrecking my insides slowly without actually realizing it.  Because, you see, this whole time I was blissfully thinking I was okay because I swim. I used swimming as an excuse to truly eat whatever I felt like.

So then I graduated college and got my first teaching job.  I moved back home with my parents and in order to find something to replace swimming I joined a gym and got hooked on zumba and yoga classes.  I was on a super strict budget now #teacherprobs so I had to figure out how to really meal plan.  I started losing weight I think based on the fact that I wasn't going out to eat all the time to save money.  I also pack my lunch for school every day because a lunch break is not a thing in schools #anotherteacherprob so by default I was eating slightly healthier. Yet, I still didn't really eat properly but it was in this time period that I realized I wanted to feel healthier and needed to make some changes in my life.

A few years later I moved back to the mountains for grad school.  Grad school, specifically a counseling program is 2 years of intensive self care and therapy, it was here that I found a passion for nutrition.  I got really into reading articles about food and what it does to your body.  The connection between food and mood was absolutely fascinating to me.  I also stumbled upon Tone It Up and starting following their workout schedule they post every week.  The more and more I researched I kept coming back to Tone It Up and knew they advertised a nutrition plan.  I have been a silent observer in the community presence online as well.  I was blown away by peoples testimonies.  They did a huge black Friday sale one year so I made the purchase and became a full blown member.

I read through the nutrition plan and loved their guidelines.  The science behind their recipes and nutrition plan really peaked my interest.  The more I educated myself the more I realized they are right.  Health is truly about what you put into your body.  You should fuel your body with fuel that takes care of it and is going to create the best version of yourself because you love your body. 

Still, I wasn't fully committed.  I tried a few challenges and always seemed to fade.  I observed the community still but didn't participate [social media is sometimes a difficult thing for me] Then I did Whole30.  I stuck with it for the whole 30 days. I fueled my body with clean food that is good for me.  I never felt better.  I actually liked what I saw in the mirror.  I was making the best choices for myself. Whole 30 completely changed my relationship with food.  I listened to my body and what it needed.  I stopped eating when I was full.  It was so encouraging to be proud of myself for actually accomplishing something too.  But, whole30 for me, wasn't sustainable.  I wanted to add back in foods to my diet that I knew from my research was still good for me but not allowed on whole30.

So life after whole30 left me searching for what to do with myself nutrition wise.  I read back through the whole tone it up nutrition plan again and this time it clicked.  I was committed.  I started truly eating based on their guidelines and rules. It's all about eating the right foods at the right times but also giving yourself permission to have some treats.  I began just simply asking myself the question is this tone it up approved or not? See, I was good at whole 30 because I am a rule follower.  So this little question helps me and my relationship with food tremendously.

This past January Tone It Up released their look for love new years challenge.  I wanted to follow along and stick it out; the whole six weeks.  I did. I didn't follow their plan to the t but I learned that sometimes that's okay as long as you still eat approved foods.  I learned that working out doesn't always have to be a crazy 2 hour long swim practice, sometimes you just need to listen to your body and maybe all it needs is a simple walk with the dog [that counts!] I learned that progress isn't always the number on the scale, it's how you feel, it's in the small choices that you make every day to push you toward your goals.  I learned that you can find love within.  Love yourself first because that's what matters.

I still have some personal goals that I set for myself.  My health journey is far from over.  But I feel like I accomplished what I set out to do.  Now I have started over for round 2 of the look for love plan, because the meals are just that good yall.  I truly feel better about myself following their plan.  And yes I still have my indulgences but the plan really taught me to make better decisions and to get back on track quicker instead of wallowing in self hate which turns into more than one bad choice.

So thank you Tone It Up.  I am still learning, but you have taught me oh so much and I can't wait to see what comes next for me. I'm thinking another race? Maybe yoga certified? Who knows the sky is truly the limit. Karena and Katrina I am so grateful that you are my trainers.

Have you ever tried a health journey or plan that completely changed your relationship with food and self? 

Getting a Dog Changes Your Life: For the Better

As you can see I take entirely too many photos of my dog.  There are about 2000 more where these came from.  I was just scrolling through memory lane and pictures the other day and figured it was about time Finn gets featured on the blog.

He will be 4 years old in April and has been with me since he was 8 weeks old. The moment I saw him on the humane society's website I fell in love and knew I had to have him.  Finn is a mutt, I have heard many many breed names to describe him.  Really I just describe him as a crazy, fun, loving, cuddle bug.

Finn changed my life.  He came to me at a time in my life where my job wasn't the one I wanted, a relationship was ending, and I really just needed something else. Taking care of my dog was the best thing that could have happened. Dogs really just make everything better. Here is why.

1. They are instant best friends. I have someone to greet me at the door every time I walk through it - doesn't matter if I have been out five minutes or all day long at work - he wags his tail with love.

2. Your feet will never be cold again.  Finn sleeps in the bed with me and has since I couldn't deal with the night-time whining any longer but that means no cold feet and always someone to cuddle with.

3. You never have leftovers if you don't want them.  There is always a pup nose on the kitchen table waiting for scraps using those melt your heart sad eyes.

4. Fresh air and exercise.  Since Finn has been toted around with me on my many many moves in the past 3 1/2 years mostly apartments it gives me the best excuse to get outside and play at the dog park or go for a really long walk. Now it's part of my daily self care routine right after work, we walk.

5. They are just such cute photo models.  I mean - see above.

Needless to say Finn is my furry bff. I mean I hardly run errands without him tagging along and sticking his head out the car window enjoying the ride now. I never grew up with dogs so he is actually my first pup. I am amazed how just having a pup around has made my world wonderful.

Do you have dogs? What is your favorite thing about them being in your life?