Happy 2017! I hope you all had a great start to the new year!

I celebrated my birthday last night into the countdown to 2017 with my hubby and good friends. I couldn't have asked for more.

Let me take a quick moment to talk about my 2016 highlights before jumping into the outlook for 2017.

I traveled to NYC in March for a weekend and stayed at the Dream hotel, which had been on my bucklet list for years.

In May we flew to Colorado and visited Denver and Glenwood Springs where we soaked in the hot springs for the first time. I also hiked up a mountain on a whim and lived to talk about it.

In August I visited Point Pleasant, NJ and went to the beach for the first time in years. We had a beautiful day where we played in the ocean like kids with no worry in the world.

I got married in September! It was a beautiful day with close friends and family. I couldn't have asked for a better day!

October brought on a mini honeymoon to Alexandria Bay in the Thousand Islands. We visited Boldt Castle and took a boat tour of the islands traveling between Canada and New York. It was a beautiful trip with beautiful fall colors.

In November we hosted not 1, but 2 Thanksgiving. One with friends and one with family. The food was a plenty and the conversations endless.

December I found myself dreaming of something I wasn't sure was possible. I enrolled and was accepted into a 200 hour yoga teaching training. I can't wait to see where that journey takes me...

Something noteworthy for me, I read 16 books in 2016. That may not sound like much, but for me that was a great accomplishment.

Now onto what 2017..

Lots of new opportunities are on the horizon. I will be starting yoga training in January. I'm planning to document my journey here on the blog. I hope you'll join me.

I'll be working on new ways to keep this blog relevant for not only me, but for you. Lots of ideas on my mind.

I plan to double my books read for this year and have decided to read a lot about travel and new places.

A honeymoon and a solo trip may also be in the works.

The biggest thing I'm working on this year is my own personal growth. Always learning and evolving. I'm hoping to have an exciting progress report come December.

What are you planning for 2017?

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..

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!

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!

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.


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!