Join the FREE 7 Day Grilling Challenge!
So I want to share a chance hang out with me for the week and grab tips on how to stay healthy all summer long! Plus a chance to win some prizes!
Bonus for signing up now: A delicious 7 DAY MEAL PLAN with you! Includes breakfast, lunch & dinner plus some super yummy treats & cocktails!
Enter your email here for the Recipe PDF and the link to join the group!
Posts will start dropping on Friday the 14th! Can't wait to see you!!
In Between Two Dreams
When I left my old school on Friday, I felt lost. Honestly, a little discarded - though so many people have reminded me how valued I was there. The last month, the staff had weary eyes filled with excitement. Ready for a rejuvenating break, but also already looking ahead to the possibilities of the next school year. This is what teachers do. We are constantly looking for the next chance to be better, make a difference, and encourage learning. But this year, that excitement didn't include me. I wasn't sure how to feel when I left. But because of the work I've been doing through coaching, I am able to just recognize that it's ok to feel confused or different than expected.
I wasn't really surprised, however, at how I felt leaving the space. I would guess it's what a lot of people feel after leaving a home they have lived in for 10 years. I completely redesigned the space in the last 10 years. Anytime I thought about leaving, I always said "I don't want to leave my library. I built it. I'm not ready to go."
Thankfully, I was able to visit my new school today. I had a couple of chairs to drop off that I didn't want to store over the summer. My reading chair - which has been the glider in our nursery for the last 8 years - is now placed perfectly in between a wall of windows and the story rug. It's going to be my new home away from home in just 3 short months.
I wasn't really surprised, however, at how I felt leaving the space. I would guess it's what a lot of people feel after leaving a home they have lived in for 10 years. I completely redesigned the space in the last 10 years. Anytime I thought about leaving, I always said "I don't want to leave my library. I built it. I'm not ready to go."
My first year, I made decorations for above the shelves. It was before the murals, before I got rid of empty shelves to create all of the open space, when the walls were cream and beige. I do not claim to be an artist, so my first decorations were people with rectangle and triangle bodies, faces with hand drawn smiles, and little cloud bubbles above their heads. Each cloud had a different “profession” that they were dreaming of. I wanted students to know that the library would open up their dreams to a world of possibilities within the pages of the books and the screens in front of them.
The decorations have changed, the students and staff have changed, But the feeling of emerging dreams has remained exactly the same. I have walked into this space everyday for 10 years thinking about how lucky I am that I still get to show kids and my coworkers just how big our dreams can be.
My very favorite part is the quote on the library doors. It’s from a book of poems and that is actually the inspiration behind the murals the decorate the walls as well. It’s simply called “Imagine a Day”
Imagine a day
when the world swings open
on silent hinges
and a place you’ve never seen before
welcomes you home.
Imagine today.
As I left, I was so grateful for that home, but also really sad. I took one last photo on my way out.
I was able to chat with my new mentor and our conversation made me feel so darn happy to bring my favorite songs, stories, and lessons to this new community. It's a really fun feeling to already be excited for fall and the summer has only just begun. So today - I thought of the poem again as I saw my reading chair in it's "spot." (REALLY wish I would have taken a photo of that!)
A new world has swung it's doors open for me and after a summer of relaxation, fun, productivity, reading, yoga, family, and helping others reach goals, too - This place will welcome me home. I can't wait to inspire my new community to dream bigger!
(But I think I'll skip the triangle and rectangle people)
You are a Bad Ass
You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen SinceroMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
You ready to get kicked in the butt to improve your life in any area! Get over the excuses and read/listen to this for the motivation you need to follow your dreams! You are the only thing in your way and Jen will tell you that over and over. Loved this for confidence!
View all my reviews
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth GilbertMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved so much of this! A book that starts off with the example of an adult figure skater certainly got my attention! So much of my library and coaching jobs are creative and this was a such a great inspiration to keep going! I loved hearing about her struggles as a writer and really connected with her on not wanting to have my creative outlets take the burden of providing for my family. I'm also getting even more excited to continue working on a personal blog and update my work one.
View all my reviews
Mastering Your Mean Girl
Mastering Your Mean Girl: The No-BS Guide to Silencing Your Inner Critic and Becoming Wildly Wealthy, Fabulously Healthy, and Bursting with Love by Melissa AmbrosiniMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
If you haven't jumped on the PD bandwagon, this is a great starter book! I'll be personally recommending it to all of the women (and maybe even men) in my life! Each chapter holds a little of so many of the other books I've read in the last year. Productivity, positive thinking, re-framing your thoughts to be happier, healthy eating, and even grief. So many of the other books like this I have read, I have thought, "But does she really REALLY get it? Has she lived through terrible grief or a personal health scare?" And the answer for this one is YES! I connected with Melissa on quite a few things, and some things I didn't identify with still helped me look through a window of lives I see in person so frequently. Her accent is delightful to listen to and she has a podcast to enjoy as well (The Melissa Ambrosini Show)
View all my reviews
Happier in Hollywood
This podcast is a spin off of the long time Happier by Gretchen Rubin podcast. This one is led by Liz Craft and her writing partner Sarah Feign. They currently are writers in Hollywood and they concentrate on being happier at work, the writing profession, and balancing life in Hollywood. It's fun, funny, and informative. And they swear. I like that.
Present Over Perfect
Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living by Shauna NiequistMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I needed this right now!
My life is all of a sudden crazy. School started, I have this coaching gig, I'm still teaching skating - but now my daughter has activities, the husband is beyond busy with his own work and passionate professional pursuits, and the 2 year old is - well, 2.
To slow down and build a life you can maintain is such a freeing idea. Listening to her story of how she followed her heart instead of her mind to a happier, calmer, more joyful life has already inspired me to re-evaluate and reign in the chaos. Her approachable voice made me feel like I was a friend listening to her story over cups of fresh coffee.
View all my reviews
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)