Happy 2021 friends! I think it's safe to say that 2020 was a challenging year for us human beings as a whole. I never could have pictured quarantining for months, watching my little one 24/7 while running a small business, making grocery store trips every 3 weeks with a mask on, and not seeing family members who live only 2 hours away for a good part of the year. But despite 2020's hardships, I move into this new year with a grateful heart and an optimist look ahead. January always gets me motivated to set new goals and intentions, and my mantra for the year is to live consciously. I want to be mindful about my attitudes & perceptions. ⠀ ⠀ How I parent. ⠀ ⠀ How I love my husband, family & friends. ⠀ ⠀ The work that I do. ⠀ ⠀ The food that I eat. ⠀ ⠀ The ways ... [Read More]
healthy lifestyle
5 Ways I Lose 5 Pounds
Leading a healthy lifestyle has no finish line and no stopping point. If you want to live a well-balanced, healthy life, it has to just become part of who you are. I default to mostly healthy choices each and every day. But sometimes, extra eats and drinks here and there add up, the stresses of life take over, and I find myself a few pounds heavier than I like to be at. Like many people, 2020 has been a challenging year for me. I never envisioned myself taking care of my 1-year old 24/7 while running my freelance content creation business, but here I am. I'm not comfortable having a nanny come to my home to watch my baby girl as I had been doing pre-pandemic, so I've done the best I can at making it all work well while still practicing self-care. Though I am very grateful to ... [Read More]
5 Healthy Ways to Make the Most of Your COVID-19 Quarantine Days
Here am I, three and a half weeks into quarantining myself as much as possible, and with the exception of two grocery store runs and a trip to the pharmacy, I haven't been in close proximity of anyone besides my little family. During this surreal time, as I watch endless news stories about what it's like the on the front lines of this virus and get updates about my family members who have gotten sick with COVID-19 (3 so far), I've been reflecting a lot about life. With most of us sheltering at home around America and the world, it's easy to feel like we've pressed the pause button on life (and that's if you're fortunate enough to be healthy). A lot of people are probably spending all of their free time binge watching on Netflix, and while there's time for that too, this forced ... [Read More]
8 Of My Favorite Healthier Junk Food Alternatives
Who says that healthy eating has to be boring and bland? I'm a big believer that eating should be fun, and I look at healthy food as both nourishing and delicious. None of us have to sacrifice our love of food because we want to be fit and healthy from the inside out. A common mistake that people make when they're trying to adopt a healthier lifestyle is categorizing foods as "good" and "bad," and completely cutting out all of the bad. This simply doesn't work in the long run. In my experience, if you completely deprive yourself, you wind up fixating on it and eventually falling off the healthy eating bandwagon and pigging out. On the contrary, if you allow yourself moderate splurges to satisfy food cravings, you can have the best of both worlds and find balance in your healthy ... [Read More]
Reflections // Ignoring Societal “Shoulds” To Create a Truly Happy Life
A few weeks ago my grandma passed away, and I find that death has a way of making me really reflect on the kind of life I want to lead. She died 5 days short of 5 years apart from my other grandma, who was the first person I ever lost that I was talk-to-you-every-single-day kind of close with. Admittedly, this grandma and I weren't as tight, but she touched a lot of lives and made people laugh with her in-your-face North Jersey sense of humor. When I visited her in the hospital a couple weeks back as she neared the end of her battle with cancer, I was thinking about how a few short months ago, she had my husband and I hysterically laughing when she shared with us how she had been eating marijuana laced goodies to deal with the pain, but had to stop eating them because they were giving ... [Read More]
Fit Spring Break Tips \\ How I Kept it Healthy in Turks & Caicos
Disclaimer: The following post is sponsored by adidas. As always, all opinions expressed are genuinely my own. Happy April everyone! Spring is in the air! The above freezing weather has been feeling nice, hasn't it? While I was in the midst of really cold winter temperatures a few months ago, I booked a trip to the Turks & Caicos Islands for a tropical getaway. My husband and I love staying super active and being outdoors a lot when we travel, and this trip was such a glorious mix of our favorite things. With spring break coming up soon for all of you students, parents, and educators, I thought I'd share the ways that I kept up with a healthy lifestyle while on my recent vacation. I hope that these serve as ideas for how you can feel healthy and strong during your ... [Read More]
