My non-recap of 2016

This is the time of year where you see everyone recapping their year and their favorites. I have decided not to do that this year. Not because I have nothing to recap or nothing that stuck out, but because I want to look forward rather than behind. I spent a good portion of my year struggling with my own demons along with all the crazy that comes with life.

I don't see 2016 necessarily as the culprit to having a said "bad year". We all run through cycles where things can be really good or they can be really bad. Sometimes right in the middle. It seems like more people were vocal about how bad this year was, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was the year.

I will be happy to see 2016 go, just as I am glad to see every year go. It's inevitable. Time continues, even if we aren't ready. I enjoy starting with a fresh slate to re-evaluate what I can do to make the next year better.

And if I must put out into the universe one great thing about 2016, it is this: I learned a whole lot about heartbreak and unconditional love all at the same time. It was a wonderful thing to learn as I was able heal some parts of my life that I was hanging onto.

Now onto to 2017 to continue the journey of healing. And a journey it will be..

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Holidays 2016

I hope each and every one of you have a magical holiday. Whether you are celebrating Christmas or not, I hope the magic of the season brings you together with your friends and family.

We are quickly approaching the new year, which is celebrated near and far. I hope you can all reflect back on your year and apply what you learned to the upcoming year. We never know where another year will take us, but we do know time will keep on.

A friend of mine and I always send each other cards, where we end our writings with "20XX" will be our year!" and then we talk about our year and see if we felt it was our year. It really does put perspective into your thinking when you have someone to discuss it through.

As the year comes to an end and I get a little older, I can only hope to be my best self and never allow someone to take that away from me.

Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays to you all!

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Blogging Progress Report 2016

Christmas week has officially snuck up on us. Are you done with your shopping? I'd like to answer that question with a big fat yes, however I am not done yet. Seems to be a trend for me every year.

I know I had said I am on a blogging break, and I really have been, but I wanted to take a moment to write a few things as we lead into the crazy weeks that are "the" holidays.

I am planning to write a 2016 wrap post, and that will come next week, but this week I wanted to take a moment to just reflect on what this blog has been to me this year. Kind of a reminicing blogging progress report.

Looking back at the archives, I feel like I started this year off strong and with a positive note, and gradually through the year I went down hill. I found myself complaining here more often then I would have liked, and that bothers me. It bothers me because 1. I don't like to read about someone complaining over and over again on their blogs and 2. I could have done something to fix those issues. I could of kept them to myself.

I felt like I came here to get justification for my struggles. Like I owed you all an explaination on why I was absent, or always complaining about something. Part of that happened because I felt like I was obligated to write here 3 times a week. No ands, ifs, or buts about it.

After numerous blogging breaks and some crappy posts, I am finally to a point where I won't blog just for the sake of blogging. I noticed as the year started to end, my blogs made more sense to me. They had reason. They weren't posted just to get something posted.

I have learned a real lesson this year. No matter how crappy I am feeling in real life, I can't let that reflect on the blog over and over again like a broken record. I have learned that if I am having some trouble keeping things straight here, I will write about it once, let everyone know where I'm at, and move on.

I think that makes the most sense.

Overall I think I did okay this year. I was consistant, but not in the way I had anticipated. Next year I would like to blog with more passion and purpose. I want there to be reason to have you all back. Not have you all leave thinking, "Dear Lord, this girl complains to much!".

I really hope you all will join me in 2017 for a bit of a shift in content here. I will speak more about that in my wrap up post next week.

In the meantime, have a wonderful and safe holiday week! I hope it is filled with friends, family, spirits, and good food.

From my family to yours, Merry Christmas!



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Yogi Christmas Gift Guide

I announced last week that I am going to be starting my 200 hour yoga teacher training in January. Now that I am all signed up and accepted, I need a few things. I put together a Christmas wish list of sorts that I am looking for this year, and in return I hope it helps you shop for the yogi in your life.

For me, I am all about learning and training, as I will be spending a lot of time on my mat over the next 4 months. I added things to my list that would be useful and handy for my training. I threw in a few fun items too, just because.

Yogi Student Wishlist

1. Yoga wheel: I am not very flexible in my back. I have seen the wheel being used to help with back bends and other poses that require some flexibility. This would be a real blessing to anyone in my boat with the flexibility issue.

2. Blanket: I don't know about you, but when I start my savasana, I get really cold. My body relaxes and my body temperature goes down. Having a nice blanket to carry with me would be helpful.

3. Ombre leggings: I just really like these. I was at a point where all I wore was black leggings. They aren't fun. If I am going to be living in leggings more often, I might as well make them fun to look at!

4. Yoga mat: I have a mat currently, but just like everything else, mats do need to be replaced. Mats can be as simple or as fancy as you'd like them to be. For me, as long as I don't slide and it's not paper thin, it will be sufficient.

5. Sweatshirt: I am going to be training through the whole winter. It will be cold. Having a fun sweatshirt always makes it better. When you look forward to wearing youe winter wear, it doesn't seem like such a chore to go out.

6. Tank top: Just as much as getting cold can happen during your practice, so can getting warm. Having fun tank tops to practice in are always a good time. Plus I am going to miss pigging out on things like tacos..

7. No slip socks: I rarely ever wear socks when practicing, but again it will be winter and it will be a long day. I am going to want something I can put on my feet that won't cause me to slide on the mat.

8. Mesh leggings: Again these are just fun. Yoga can be as fashionable as you want. Sometimes it will be fun to put on something different to practice in.

9. Yoga block: Props are so important as I mentioned with the yoga wheel. We all need a little help sometimes to learn new poses. Having a nice cork block can make all those challenging poses a little easier.

10. Bag: Finally, you need something to carry all of these things in back and forth from classes. I really like this one because it fits everything and your mat has a place to go. This is probably what I'm hoping for the most this year!

So there is my wish list/gift guide. Is there anything I missed? Are you a yogi looking for some new stuff for Christmas? Let me know in the comments what you are in need of!


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Christmas in the Bahamas

Sometimes you have to love Facebook memories. Today a photo popped up reminding me that 6 years ago I was in the Bahamas. It was a beautiful photo of the ocean and blue skies. It had me thinking about how great it was to spend a week on a tropical island so close to Christmas.


We (my brother and roommate at the time) were in Nassau. It never dawned on me when we booked the trip that we would be there a week before Christmas. I was so excited to see the island all decked out for the holidays. The tree above had all kinds of shells as ornaments. It was super pretty with the pink building in the background.


We spend our days exploring the island and getting to know the locals. The weather was chilly for the locals (only 60 degrees on some days), but that didn't keep us northerners from swimming in the ocean and running around in only cardigans to keep warm.

 
The scenery was breathtaking, and the rum was a plenty. We took one guided tour of the island which provided all you could drink rum punch. It was pretty amazing. As you see in the above picture, Bacardi was pretty big there..

The island was pretty busy, and the shopping was insane. I am convinced if you couldn't find it on this island, it doesn't exist. The main shopping area of Nassau, which is conveniently located down by where the cruise ships come in, range from small boutiques, to high end stores. Everyone was Christmas shopping while we were there and it was so hard to navigate through the sidewalks.


 We only went down to the main shopping areas 2 days of the 7 we were there. It was so overwhelming. We instead stayed on our own private beach (we stayed at a small place that wasn't as resorty and enjoyed the beach to ourselves most days).


Having the opportunity to spend a week away before Christmas on an island who was also deep in the holiday spirit was amazing. I really enjoyed having that opportunity and I recommend everyone to do it at least once.

I sure do miss waking up to this every morning.. We had a balcony and it was glorious.


 Have you ever spend the holidays in a tropical setting? What about in a place opposite than you currently live? IE saw snow for the first time?

Let me know below!

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Whatcha Up To?

Happy Thursday!

As I mentioned on Tuesday, I am planning a break this month into January to prep for my yoga teaching certification as well as time to do things that I love in hopes to bring the stress level down a bit. I am deep into entering every single 12 Days of Christmas giveaways. I swear almost every company on Facebook is hosting something.

Fingers crossed that I win something this year!

I just wanted to give a little glimpse into what's been going on in my world lately.

I am just over a month into treatment for GERD. For those of you not familiar with it, it stands for Gastoesophageal Reflux Disease. I have had suspect for over a year that I had acid reflux issues. It really came into play around the end of October where I had extreme heartburn all the time. Nothing I did made it better.

I went on meds that made no difference at first. I saw a new doctor and we have a plan in order. I am starting to feel better, but let me tell you.. acid reflux and heartburn are no joke. If you have even the slightest feeling you may have it, please get seen. It can cause a lot of damage if not treated.

I am still on the fence on if I want to tell my story here as to why I have been under extreme stress for the second part of the year. I have been working on a post for a long time, and I just never feel ready. I also know I in no way have any obligation to talk about my struggles here, but I feel some days like I owe an explanation of my vague complaining and why I am always stressed out.

I am hoping that taking this break and starting with the yoga next month will really help me heal. Maybe then I will have the strength to write about everything that has happened.

I can be honest about one thing, and that is, this blog became very uncomfortable to me at one point last year. Sometimes when we put ourselves out there, we have bad days. We write things that bother others. These things happen all the time, and it has happened to me. I have never quite recovered from that one incident.

I am working on moving past how that incident made me feel. I am working on making this space comfortable again. I am also reminding myself that not every person will love what I write, but I know in my heart that I write from the heart and truth within myself. I accept that not everyone will love me and my writing, but I can't control that, and that's okay.

So tell me. Whatcha been up to?



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I have an announcement

Soooo I totally dropped the ball on posting yesterday. I really had every intention of starting the week off on the right foot, yet here we are.

I have some really exciting news to share as well as an announcement about this blog.

As we all know, life happens. It has some unexpected twists and adventures that it likes to take us on. I have had a whirlwind of twists this year, and I am ready to slow down the whirlwind and do something for me.

I took a risk and decided to apply for my 200 hour yoga teaching certification. I am happy to announce I was accepted into the program I wanted last week and will officially start training in January. I plan to graduate in May with no real idea on what I will do with it yet. For now I am super excited, and ready to finally do something that is soley for me.

Now as far as this blog goes.. I have decided to take a small hiatus for the rest of December and possibly into January. I have to see how things go with the training. I want to use this month to to my advantage and get lots of reading and relaxing in. Lord knows my body is going to need it once training starts.

I am not planning to completely quit blogging, but I also don't know what my life will look like between January and May. I have thought about sharing my journey and hoping it is found useful to someone out there. I also have some posts already planned out that I will be sharing throughout the rest of this month and into January.

I didn't want to go completely rogue, and also didn't want anyone thinking I stopped reading their blogs. I am still reading as much as I can. I am not commenting much, and I am sorry for that. I am going to try to set one day aside to read and comment. I enjoy keeping up with a lot of you.

2016 has been one of the craziest years to date for me. I sometimes wonder how I survived it in one piece. This is why I know the yoga path is the path for me. I'm ready to heal and reconnect with myself.

I hope you will all stay with me and check in from time to time. This isn't goodbye, but until I see you again.

Happy December. May it treat you well as we transition into 2017

<3



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Friday

Nothing to exciting today. Event planning this morning and a half day to do whatever I please.

It's been a long week, and I'll get more into that next week. Make sure to stop by on Monday as I have a few announcements to make.

Pop around the blog if you're new. Lots of stuff to discover.

Have a wonderfull weekend!

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