Eat Play Love

Word broke late Friday afternoon that President Obama would be speaking at CU Boulder and immediately I knew I had to be there. The President of The United States, in my town, at my alma mater? My enthusiasm waxed and waned as rumors of the student ticket lines were deep into the thousands, I assumed there wouldn't be many tickets left for the general public. 
The big question Monday morning was, did I want to wait and try to get tickets? I sent my husband by the ticket line on his bicycle commute to work to see how it looked. At 8:45 in the morning, the line wasn't bad at all, so I decided I'd give it a shot. 


When I arrived around 9:30 am, I was around the 100th person in line with an estimated 1500 tickets available, so I was guaranteed a ticket. Luckily I was waiting in the shade and was sitting around some pretty friendly people. The time passed fast, before I knew it I had these in my hand:


The tickets were handed out in a pretty straight forward fashion, one ticket…

Somewhere in this group of precious ballerinas, is my girl. She was beyond thrilled to finally be performing on stage in front of an audience. Watching her makes me smile.

Kindergarten can be one of the most stressful decisions a family is thrust into making, typically complete with much internal dialogue, tons of reading, and plenty of advice seeking. Is my daughter or son ready, should I hold them back, she's not emotionally there, will they get picked on, are they mature enough, I don't want them to be the last one driving, he'll be bigger for football, she doesn't quite seem ready. Those are all other's words. Words I've read, words that have come up in countless discussions. There is no formula, age cut off, or magical red shirting to give a child the perfect school experience. We simply have to give a look at the whole child and make a decision and watch how the path leads from there.

Being an elementary school teacher and working right up until giving birth in September, Kindergarten cut off dates were at the forefront of my mind. While I thought a third week of September due date was enough of a cushion to not have to wor…

Here's what you are missing...

The studies are in, sugar is toxic to our bodies. Every little sweet nibble sending our taste buds into overdrive and our dopamine levels through the roof, is bad for us. Bad, bad, bad. While I hate to be the bearer of bad news, this can't actually come as a surprise, right? Deep down, we already knew this.

I know how my body feels when I consume higher levels of sugar than normal, it feels like crap. After the sugar rush is over, my body feels depleted and weak, most of the time I want to take a nap post-sugar crash. When I detoxed off of sugar in January, I honestly felt like I was detoxing off of a hard illegal substance. I was irritable. I spent one night from 5 in the afternoon until the morning with a pillow over my head, I was miserable, sensitive to noise, achy, and overwhelmed by a dull malaise. But when that detox phase was over and I was eating a diet free of processed sugars, I felt incredible.

With the new studies confirming what my gut instinct may have already told …

While inevitable that a days worth of actions are not going to be chock full of delight and wonderment, I can't help but fall back on the statement, start showing up. I go through phases of my attentiveness to home matters, my personal goals, and what exactly I want my waking hours to accomplish. Maybe one day it's nurturing friendships, another it's taking on a new adventure with my girls, always shifting in my mind thoughts and actions knowing variety is one key to maintaining my personal happiness.

Recently I've been showing up at the gym, on a variety of hiking trails, and on the yoga mat, which makes me realize that I haven't been showing up in other places. Like this blog for example. It's a little give and take. Only so many hours, what do I want to do with them? Instead of focusing on what I haven't been doing, I'd rather set my sights on how to better incorporate the things I've been neglecting into my routine. Those three simple words, st…