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?

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

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!

The holidays are upon us and one thing that always seems to stress everyone out is gift giving. It's not because we don't like to shop, it's because we never quite know what to get the ones we love. Today I wanted to focus on a gift guide for newly weds. I myself am a newly wed and this will be my first Christmas as a Mrs.

After the wedding is all said and done, we look around our homes and realize we will need some things Whether we didn't get everything we put on our wedding registry, or we simply didn't think about all of the practical things we would actually need.

The list is meant to be fun and useful. If you're shopping for a newly wed, or you're a newly wed yourself, I hope this list finds you well.


This list at first may look confusing, but let me explain why I chose all of these items.

• Measuring cups: For starters these are really festive and have really cute writing on them. We both enjoy cooking, so having measuring cups are really important and often forgotten as a gift idea.

• Mr. and Mrs. stemless wine glasses: These are just for fun. No one really NEEDS these but they are fun to break out on special occasions. 

• Fluffy bath robes: Have a romantic night at home and slip into a comfy plush bath robe. They are perfect for cold nights or when you just want to hang out on the couch all day together.

•  Canisters: I am actually really sad I didn't put these on my registry. We have so many different things we could use these for, both in the kitchen and out. Maybe Santa will get the hint. ;)

• Eye mask and ear plugs: Ladies (and gentlemen).. I don't know about you, but my hubby snores and loves to stay up reading his kindle. The honeymoon is over real fast when you aren't getting enough sleep. Black out those lights and noises early on. Your body will thank you.

• Cooking utensils: This bamboo set is beautiful. Having spatulas and slatted spoons are real essentials in the kitchen. You miss them when they are missing. 

• Kitchen scale: I cannot tell you how many recipes I have made that asked me to measure out something by weight. This is especially helpful when you are watching your portions. Get one. It's a game changer. 

• Point and shoot Camera: Yes I know, we all have cellphones with camera's, but it's fun to go on little adventures with your significant other and snap photos along the way. They are pretty compact and can fit easily into pockets. Capture all your moments together.

• Gift Cards: Sometimes people just enjoy purchasing their own gifts. Many people find this option a cop out gift, but really, sometimes this is really what someone wants. Besides you can use gift cards for so many things. I show you in this post. Check it out. 

• Weekend bag:  It's nice to have a bag to be wisked away for a weekend with. It's purpose is to hold clothes for each of you for 2 days. It really comes in handy if it's hard to get away often but you take many weekend trips through the year. 

What would you add to this list? Anything you really needed but didn't get and hoped for as a Christmas gift from loved ones? Share below!

Just a few thoughts today...

I had a nice Thanksgiving and enjoyed 4 days off filled with family, cat snuggles, and yoga. I am very grateful for all of it. Family is always comforting, Hugging my kitties makes me happy, and yoga was a great way for me to get my head cleared.

Today is Cyber Monday. There are a lot of great deals out there if you are one for shopping online. I personally love to look for travel deals. A little tip I like to share is, follow people on twitter. So many great deals go live on there!

The Holiday Tea Swap sign ups close today at 11:59pm EST. If you are interested in joining in, please get signed up as soon as possible. I will have all swap buddies e-mailed by Wednesday. I really hope you will join us.

I have a few announcements coming up in the next few days. Stay tuned.

May your transition back into a work week be smooth and your week be full of love.