Grace, Love & Kindness + Life.

With age comes wisdom. With age comes contentment. With age comes the 'it is what it is' attitude. With age comes facial hair. What? Yes. Also, grey hairs.  Yes. Also, hormone changes. Yes. Also, sun spots. Two words- Weight Mangagment.  Let's back up to facial hair. I mean, what. is. that!? And why, is it black? I mean, can we say, whhhhyyyy tho!?! I am grateful that I'm coming into the stage of 'contentment' but, the struggle is real y'all. Grey hair... I have a name for every single one of you gems... Thank God for hairdressers, and they thank God for you! Let's move along to the hormones. And don't tell me I don't know... because I do. For 10 years I do. But no one said it would last 10 years. So, not only did I get to start the 'change of life' at 24, but I also, get to experience it for 20 years longer than most my age. Well, that's super fun. Sun spots. And please don't use t...

What you eat in private, shows in public. These are words I tell myself, often. Especially when I'm enjoying ice cream, or candy of any kind.. preferably gummy bears or chocolate covered marsh mellows. In case anyone is looking for last minute Valentine's Day gifts for me... you're welcome. No, don't... please. Does it stop me? Not much … not like it used to. Not like it should. Can I just be real with you? Like, legit, raw honesty here? I am a stress eater. And since about June of 16' I've been more stressed than a 'normal' stressed. The why isn't really important, what's important is I'm destroying my health.. my body and my self esteem. I pride myself on healthy habits. On exercise. On guiding others to a healthier life. So, what am I doing to myself? I feel like such a hypocrite . I read recently in several places... where it said 'Food is medicine'. That fires me up. Because that is NOT true! But a sm...

So, do you? Do you really know someone? In today's world everything is merely surface level. We filter our photos, so we're not exactly the same person you run into at the local store, as we are in our profile photo. #BestFootForward right? We wonder why our photo or status update didn't get any likes, or as many as we thought it should. We even delete a post, if it didn't have as many likes as a previous post. I mean, how embarrassing that it would have 4 verses yesterday, you had 54 likes. I'm guilty of all these things, by the way . My current profile photo is one I had taken for my professional portfolio. So it's not the same as running into me on Sunday while I'm at the local piggly wiggly with no make-up and a ball cap on. I've deleted a post before, because no one had liked it. I've also been guilty of only posting the highlight reel. The growing I've done in the last 4.5 years has blown my mind. I love who I am . I love wher...

I've just finished up my 21 day fast. What an amazing experience. <I slipped up three times.>  For my first full fast I am pleased with my obedience. Giving up sugar, (sweets, aka chocolate, candy..) and junk food (chips... etc) was something I knew would challenge me. And it did. And I grew closer in the word of God during this time. What a phenomenal experience. I'm so grateful for the accountability I had too. Even from people who weren't on the fast with me. They knew and we're accepting and supportive. Onto the health side of this, I felt so much better! I'm not saying I'll be giving up cake altogether.. I couldn't do that to the cakes. But I will be subsiding with my intake. I still plan to limit myself. My next challenge begins Feb 1st. And I'm taking people with me on this one.  It'll be the entire month of February! Why yes... I did pick the shortest month. 28 days. The catch? Minus 5. You get 5 cheats. - "why...

We are 11 days into 2017. 11 days. That's 2 weeks... yes, 2 weeks. I've been sugar free for 9 of those 11 days (got a late start) I've been eating so well for 9 1/2 of those days. I worked out for the first time in 4 1/2 months. Why am I not skinny yet?? Isn't this what we all struggle with? All of those who are in the "New year, new me" bit that is. And maybe that's not your motto... maybe your motto is, "be better 17'" I don't know what it is. But somewhere along those lines, you completely understand where I'm coming from. And we both know, it's totally not realistic. You didn't gain the weight over night. You didn't just wake up with cellulite. ( no, you didn't. ) you also didn't wake up with the goblet. (the extra skin, under your chin) I wish wisdom was for the younger, because it's taken me 33 years to get this down. And the older I get, the harder it's becoming. I let myself ...

I'm done with the consumption of my life with such minimal 'things'. I love my phone.  I love food. I love chocolate. I love all sweets. I love looking at my friends snap chat stories.  I love reading facebook posts. I love seeing my friends and people who inspire me, instagram photos. I love reading updates on Twitter. I love Television. I love movies. I love food. Oh... wait. Seriously. I could be like Bart Simpson and write these over and over again, in hopes that I would purge myself from loving these things, too much. Which is where I believe I am. I also love exercise, and reading and I love spending time with my boys- all of them. But the things I listed above consume me. Too much. I don't really make resolutions. I don't wait for a 'New year, new me'. I wake up every day knowing it's a brand new day, and the fact that my eyes opened, I'm breathing and can see, means God has blesse...

In 2016 I made the commitment to be committed. That if I was invited and I said I would go, then I would go. And for the most part, I stuck to it, pretty well. I also discovered the word "maybe" which was my go around... to making sure I was giving my best yes to something. I'm an introvert by nature. Actually, I call myself an “Outgoing introvert”. And when 2016 began I created a resolution if you will, that I would truly commit. As I said, I stuck to it pretty well. If the circumstances arose that I couldn't for emergency purposes... that was different. But I was notorious for saying I would, and then backing out. Back up to just before making that resolution to myself... at the end of 2015, Daniel and I prayed for a word that would carry us through the new year- for all of 2016. Something we would stand on and push through. This was new for us. But so was our commitment in listening to one of our favorite preachers, who did this tradition with his congr...