Smile

Mini break...

K and I headed to Nola the Saturday after Thanksgiving for a little Soul School action. I met up with Andie and some other Soul Schoolers at the Downtown studio for a nice flow with Andra. We worked on dropbacks, jumps and flowing with ease. After, K and I walked to Satsuma only to discover they were out of gf bread; so, we stopped in Lost Love and had some amazing bun and spring rolls with mint limeade. Oh yea, it is that good! After we strolled through the Bywater, we headed out of town and stopped at TJ Maxx and got our shopping on and then passed through Cafe Du Monde for a frozen treat. 

So thankful...

I wake with gratitude, walk with gratitude, and rest with gratitude. So immensely grateful for this wonderful life. At times I feel overwhelmed and in those moments when I lose the connection to gratitude I start to struggle. I am grateful for my family and the richness they bring to my life. 

Post- turkey napping

Oh yea, I made all that food!

The beautiful Bai before youth group.

A little toe stand for turkey day.

LIFE

It feels like I am living in BOLD CAPITAL LETTERS! LIFE is big and sweet and succulent and all the things I've hoped for. It is happening now. I'm so appreciative and as I delve deeper into the now, the now becomes the past and the future the present and I root down to stand and sway in the whirl of it all and just smile. My heart is cracking open and life is bursting through.

She turned her can'ts into cans and dreams into plans

"If you build it, they will come"
I had my own Field of Dreams moment on Saturday. Thanks to Bailey and her knack for marketing, I was able to provide kids yoga to any and all interested kids at SBRCA Open House as part of our family volunteer requirement. This truly was a dream come true and the energy I received from the kids was so encouraging and powerful. I was inspired by their honest and true spirit and thirst for movement. And because the kids enjoyed it so much, as well as parents and many teachers inquired as well, I will lead a family yoga class in two weeks open to the whole school! I am so excited! I am working with the volunteer coordinator to secure a proposal for mat donations and am flooded with joy by this opportunity to share yoga with so many.

The very next day, Bailey and I traveled to Wild Lotus in New Orleans to turn in my application for Soul School, just applying is another dream come true. I am so grateful for the support I have at home to pursue my passion and share yoga with others and I am grateful for the amazing teachers that I have the privilege to practice with here in town and in Nola. After we turned in the application, we headed over to Cafe Du Monde and the 2 story Target.

And just like that we have a home...

Thanks Universe for making life possible. I am in awe of the magic surrounding me and mine. Our family feels so complete and completely amazing. I look forward to our adventures on Cypress Point.  Our first adventure: choosing paint and flooring. Let the reno begin! Today is the official day of renovating as the guys are scheduled to start on our list today. It's so exciting! I look forward to seeing our ideas come to life and the birth of our modern-shabby-farmhouse-gallery vision develop.

The Whole Story....

I just hit the motherload, the whole shebang, the mecca of Whole30/paleo recipes......drumroll......CLICK HERE . I mean, only click there if you want your life to change. Only click if you want to know what it feels like to wake without dread and lick the plate clean and smile at all of the wondrous bounty surrounding you. Only click the link if you are looking to maximize your life. Yes, it is that good. If you are already gluten free, going Whole or Paleo isn't as big of a deal as one may make it (this one included). However, I am still a little turned off by the whole primal/ketogenic thing. I just love food too much to restrict awesomeness from my life. But I love myself enough to know that going Whole really can mean having it all, treats included.

As the new school year approaches (Monday), I am looking at recipes to spice up our lives and I think I will start with spices. Ooh Kathleen will love that I have a new project! (Ha) I have visions of coconut aminos chicken, pineapple and pepper kabobs dancing in my head with banana pancakes and buffalo burgers. The sizzle of a fresh farm egg hitting hot coconut oil and the arc of pink Himalayan salt cascading over the sizzling simplistic dish. This is what happens in my head when I sit to write the weekend's grocery list. Makes me so jazzed! I wonder who else gets jazzed about the grocery like this and where are those people, I want to be friends.

Perhaps all this is influenced at this moment because I know there is a cookbook on hold for me to pickup at the library tomorrow, 100 foot Journey premieres tonight and I just spent majority of my lunch break swooning over recipes online. Whatever the case, I know that food not only nourishes us and allows us to be some insanely creative omnivores, but food nourishes my soul. I love to flow in the kitchen as much as I love vinyasa on the mat. It's all interconnected and when you approach cooking connected to the ingredients and open, the plate yields a loving result. Well, work awaits and now that my grocery list is started it truly feels like the weekend is near.

xoxo