Guys, let me tell you.. 34 hours of yoga teacher training from Friday to Monday is INTENSE! I am training to be a mindful warrior. I spent many hours in meditation along with learning the history and base poses to a yoga practice.

I am still working on processing everything I experienced on my weekend retreat immersed in all things yoga and mindfulness. I left feeling extremely close to my classmates and pondering all sorts of things in my life and about the world.

I do not have to be back in the class room for 5 weeks, but will be doing home study and practice in between. I will be logging a minimum of 2 yoga classes a week. I will be meditating 10 minutes a day, every day. I will be reading and studying the history and learning the whole body system.

I am beyond excited for this journey, and wish to share more once I processed everything completely over the next few weeks. I debated not posting at all until I had the words, but felt like going radio silent wasn't fun either.

Now I want to ask.. Do you practice mindfulness? Do you practice yoga? Please share with me your stories and journey. I would love to hear them all.


Much love!

Trish

Hi there! It's Friday and that means I want to do something fun here on the blog. Maybe it's more fun for me than you, but fun none the less. Today I decided it would be a good idea to re-introduce myself (I did one last year too, and it has more info if you're interested..). 2016 was pretty hit or miss for me and I know I have some newer readers who have no idea what I am all about. You might even learn something new if you've been around awhile..


So.. My name is Trish and I have been blogging for almost 3 years. I started this blog as a product review site and after taking the plunge I realized I wanted to write more than just reviews. I wanted to talk about life, and things, and stuff. So I moved my domain over to blogger and got myself a fancy design (or 5) and here I am.

In the past I have focused on a variety of things, and never really found a niche. If I wanted to talk about fitness, I talked about fitness. If I wanted to talk about my crazy life, I vented here. In 2017 I want to be more focused and talk about things that matter to me and things that I know lots about. I feel like that is how you become the expert. You talk about the things you know best.

More about me..

I got married in September and live in a town home with my hubby, step-children, and 2 rescue cats Rick and Grace. I have always been a cat person, and have an allergy to dogs. My house is constantly full of some form of chaos, but that's life right?


Starting tomorrow, I am starting my 200 hour yoga teacher training (200 YTT). I will be immersed in yoga every week until May. I decided this is a good year to really find myself. To release all of the stresses and upsets that I have been holding onto. I will be incorporating this into my weekly blogging.

I will be starting a new career at the end of the month, which will allow me to work from home. I will be talking a little more about that when it gets closer.

I love photography, journaling, reading, music, and finding new ways to earn free stuff. I have been told I am lucky.. I've won trips to The Grammy's and an adventure trip to Montana. I often win giveaways and free night stays at hotels and random beauty products. I don't completely consider it luck, but lots of work.

Grammy's

 One of my greatest passions is mental health. I want to find a way to get everyone who needs help, the help they need. I want people to be able to talk openly about mental health without feeling judged. I had plans to write a mini series on this last year, but it never happened. I am working on making that happen this year. Link up and all.

If you asked me one thing I would want to do for the rest of my life, I would tell you travel. I think the most fascinating thing we can ever learn is the cultures of the world we live in. If we could just all understand each other and share the beauty of life, we could have a beautiful world full of love.


I could probably go on and on, but I am going to stop there. I want you to understand who I am without getting bored. I am hoping to bring a lot of who I am to the blog this year. I am done following in others footsteps as it doesn't always suit me. I may find something interesting in the blog world and do something similar, but I no longer want to "keep up with the jones' "per say.

Time to find my voice and my place here in the blog world. I can't wait to see you all along the way. Take a poke around the blog. There are some good ones throughout the past 3 years, I promise!

When I announced I would be starting classes for my yoga teaching training, I had a lot of people ask my why. Why am I going to put myself through 200 hours of yoga in a short period of time?

Well since I start my journey this weekend (eek!) I figured I would give you my why.


Being healthy, both physically and mentally is always something I strive to work on. It is a personal choice for me, and I think it should be personal for you. Anytime you make a decision about your well-being you should be all in or not at all.

I have been committing to yoga for about a year now and I wanted a way to take it further. Life is stressful and I know I feel better when I give myself over to yoga and meditation. My mind clears and my body feels better.

I am also at a place in my life where I want to really get to know myself. I want to have a deep relationship with myself, which will help me have deeper relationships with others.

This was my calling for a better and balanced life.

Starting this Saturday the 14th, I will completely immerse myself into a yoga practice. I will learn about my body, and how to help you learn about yours. I will challenge myself both physically and mentally, and hope I will heal along the way.

That is what 2017 is going to be for me. Healing. Growth. Strength.

I am also going to do a journal here weekly. I will start this weekend with a start photo. I can't wait to see how much I change in 4 months.

What are you doing this year to encourage growth within yourself?

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..