Working on sleep discipline + an overdue Christmas vlog!

Posted on January 10, 2021 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

pray.

I have come to the acceptance that I’m naturally a night owl, but I think it’s less of some hormonal / physiological thing and more of a vice…

People have said that going to sleep is like accepting that the next day is beginning, which can be daunting or undesirable for people who are tired and want to “rest” (i.e., do things besides the thing they are required to do the next day). Which is SO ME.

I know that I stay up too late on weekend nights doing things like learning Kyle Hanagami dances, watching Youtube videos of fitness/food influencers, or talking to friends. Anything but sleep and wind down. And then I complain of not getting enough sleep, at no one’s fault except my own (usually).

I made a resolution a while ago to be silent by 10pm, but I’ve become very lax with that, partially because I became lax with the accountability of it to my friend. Will be reinstating that now. But something that I keep thinking about is taking at least 60 seconds to check in with God when I am really tempted to open up a new tab on my browser at night… to just tell Him what I’m really feeling and what it is that I really want to do with my life at that point. Because no decision is isolated, and my decisions at night definitely affect the next day, and I would prefer to have healthy, productive days.

Working on it.

eat.

My brother and his gf brought over the new Korean chicken sandwiches for us to eat from Shake Shack yesterday, which were very tasty! I air fried some frozen curly fries on the side, which hit the SPOT. Few things beat a crispy, seasoned curly fry.

Made my own special sauce in the ramekin there: light mayo, ketchup, vidalia onion dressing mixed together

I became hypertensive for a short time after this meal, I’m sure.

move.

I did a fun running circuit workout last weekend. That’s right, I said FUN. It was 3 laps of running around the neighborhood (~1/2 to 3/4 mile each), followed by this circuit:

10 pushup burpees
15 pushups
20 v-ups

Repeat with 2 laps + circuit, then 1 lap + circuit.

Was a chilly but lovely time.

groove.

I totally forgot to share this Christmas vlog that I filmed three weeks ago now… But in case you want to join me retroactively on my Christmas day festivities, please do!

https://youtu.be/bFjdzJc-Mq8

I hope your 2021 is going well (or as well as it can be) so far 🙂

So tell me:

Do you have trouble with sleep discipline?

Curly fries, regular fries, sweet potato fries, or tater tots??

Marathon Monday 2017

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

PJ: “Marathon Monday is the most American day of the year.”

Me: “Even more so than Fourth of July?”

PJ: “Definitely.”

After this year, I can actually believe him. Marathon Monday, aka Patriot’s Day (technically, vice versa) was yesterday, and it was as awe-inspiring, patriotic, and fun as ever!

I’m sure many of you know that the Boston Marathon is a pretty huge deal, and we students at Boston University have the privilege of ~~getting the day off classes~~ watching the participants charge right through our campus.

LOTS of police security

If you missed coverage of it, here are 12 must-see things moments from the marathon. My friends and I got to see Jose Luis Sanchez (a marine who lost his leg and ran the race with a prosthetic leg while holding a LARGE American flag) run to the finish. It was incredible. Everyone who participated is incredible.

Marathon Monday is also a notorious drinking day for the young, 21+ adults of Boston, but that’s much less important.

My day started early with more peanut butter, banana, strawberry overnight oats (it’s good to be back).

Then I headed to my friend Lauren’s place to watch them celebrate Marathon Monday the way young adults do 🙂

applause for those leggings, please

After a couple hours of hangin’ out, I headed back to my apartment to study for an hour and nap, because I have been the worst at letting myself sleep at night lately.

I woke up feeling refreshed and then scarfed down a quick lunch before meeting back up with the crew on their way to see our friend/Rachel’s boyfriend, Austin, at the finish line!

As always, we had a grand ol’ time cheering on all the runners/cyclists. It’s not a Marathon Monday without losing your voice a little bit. But we were truly the loudest kids on the block when we saw Austin coming!

Congrats, Austin!! He got pretty badly dehydrated but still finished in 3:45:15. What a champ.

The rest of us were just like, “Our feet hurt from standing. Let’s go eat.”

Afterwards, I went back home to study a little bit more and do a quick workout in the apartment:

4 rounds for time:

10 pushup burpees
20 jump lunges
15 pushups
30 mountain climbers each leg
40 air squat to side leg lifts

It took just under 19 minutes to complete. That’s about the extent of my stamina right there.

Then I rushed out to meet PJ for dinner at Saloniki Greek in Fenway!

It’s kinda like a Greek version of Chipotle or Subway, except a little more gourmet. I got “The George”, which had spicy Colorado lamb meatballs, charred eggplant spread, zesty garlic yogurt, secret sauce, greens, tomato, cucumber, Greek fries, and I added some broken olive tapenade, all in a homemade pita.

It was giant and so delicious. I [slowly but surely, and very messily] finished every last bite. Thank you again for treating, PJ!

Of course, we had to end with dessert, so we went to Cafe 472 for frozen yogurt. I got the apple pie flavor with granola on top. This isn’t like other froyo, guys. This is more like a massive soft-serve-blizzard-type deal.

I also finished every last bite of that. Look at this sunset we got to witness while we ate!

Goodness gracious, I love you, Boston.

Hope you all have a great Tuesday!

So tell me:

Did you follow the marathon at all? What were your favorite parts if you did?

Best thing you ate yesterday! That pita for sure.

Day in the Life {Second Semester Junior}

Posted on March 23, 2017 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

I’ve attempted to write a day in the life post for this semester maybe three times already.

I’ll start taking photos of everything and making mental notes about what I’m doing throughout the day, but then it hits about 7pm, and I give up, either because I realize I have too much work to do or because I forgot to take pictures after breakfast.

I kicked those two gross anatomy exams to the curb on Tuesday, and now I feel like I can do anything with my life.

shoutout to Janice for being the best study buddy ’til the wee hours in the morning

Duty still calls, but I at least I have a little more time to type up this day in the life!

Wednesday

7:00 AM — Alarm goes off. I immediately know I’m going to need a nap later in the day.

7:08 AM — Roll out of bed, go to the bathroom, brush teeth.

7:15 AM — Crawl back into my bed to do some reading for my “Religion, Health and Medicine” class (the reason I had to wake up earlier than I usually would on a Wednesday).

7:30 AM — Roll back out bed to pray and eat breakfast. I continue reading while eating this zesty jar of overnight oats.

1/2 c. oats, 1 tsp. chia seeds, 1/4 c. greek yogurt, 1/2 c. milk, half banana, 1/3 of a champagne mango(!), pinch of salt, lime zest ➔ topped with salted cashews in the morning

8:00 AM — Go back into my warm bed to finish reading. Eventually decide that lying in bed is not conducive to reading something analytically/staying awake, so I drag my butt to my desk.

8:50 AM — Cut it close to start getting ready for dance.

9:05 AM — Leave for dance class in Cambridge. It’s snowing and I’m not lovin’ it (but it’s not icy, which is the important part).

9:35 AM — Arrive slightly late to dance, but class usually starts a little late, so I’m right on time! (Unfortunately, life doesn’t often work that way.)

11:10 AM — Dance class ends (my last one of this semester! ☹️). It was a great one! Walk back to my apartment.

11:40 AM — Arrive back at the crib and eat loads of kettle corn and a random piece of chicken. Check my email.

needed some umami

12:10 PM — Walk to my religion and medicine class.

12:20 PM — In class today, we discuss how social context cannot be separated from mental diseases such as depression and anxiety. Mental illnesses may have specific biochemical bases, but that does not mean that we should treat them one specific way cross-culturally (via antidepressants, for example). Rather, sociocultural factors hold a great weight in the presentation of mental illness, so they should be considered and incorporated when treating patients.

INTERESTING.

1:35 PM — Class ends and I walk back to the apartment for lunch! Part 1 is the last of this tasty massaged kale salad I made on Monday.

red kale with olive oil, lime juice, honey, salt, pepper

Part 2 was the classic avocado egg toast with sriracha. ♥︎

(Interruption for avocado appreciation photo)

what a beauty

Part 3 was a clementine.

do clementines come from Connecticut?

Part 5 was a couple handfuls of pita chips to fill the tank.

I read some blogs as I ate.

2:40 PM — Oof, I indulged in a nice long lunch hour. Clean up and get to some studying.

3:50 PM — Remember when I woke up and knew I would need a nap? That hour had come. I nap like a rock for 35 minutes.

4:25 PM — Alarm goes off and I don’t want to move. Lay in bed for a while, checking messages and probably Facebook.

4:50 PM — Get myself together and rush to Mass at the Catholic Center.

But stop to take this photo. It looks gorgeous out, and it was, but it was also FREAKING COLD. The wind hurt.

5:02 PM — Sneak into Mass a little bit late, but very happy I made it.

5:25 PM — Chat with a few people in the Catholic Center. Eat a banana, some cashews, and a few honey wheat pretzels (the BEST pretzels!).

5:35 PM — Leave to catch the T to Cambridge (again), this time for a workout with InnerCity Weightlifting! Start typing this post on my phone on the commute.

Christina (@foodietunes, Fit U ambassador, dietetics major, personal trainer, overall wonderful human) organized the event with ICW. Read her super cool post about ICW here.

InnerCity Weightlifting is a Boston organization that takes high-risk individuals – those who have been shot, done significant jail time, and/or grown up on a family income under $10k per year – and teaches them how to be personal trainers. They develop their students’ physical training skills as well as the social, academic, and networking support needed, which college students like us take for granted. In doing so, InnerCity Weightlifting makes a huge impact in the community they work with by decreasing street violence and creating a social change. In keeping their gym location a secret, they are able to provide a safe space for their students who have certain conflicts with others. – Christina for gofitu.com

How rad is that!? The trainers are ex-cons, which might seem sketchy, but it’s totally not. The guys who trained us are awesome dudes.

6:32 PM — Arrive slightly late (theme of the day/my life), but they hadn’t started yet. Christina takes me to the fridge filled with Hint water and tells me to grab one. Don’t have to tell me twice!

6:40 PM — We start with a dynamic warmup and then get into the workout. Our trainers took us through three circuits, three rounds each:

KB reverse lunges
pushups/negative pushups (← the negatives!!! holding at high plank, mid pushup, and chaturanga for 3-4 seconds each, repeat. HELLO.)
deadbugs (holding a resistance band on stretch, which made my arms shake, especially after the pushups)

KB deadlifts
single arm KB rows each arm
bear crawls (super slow, super controlled, with little sliders on our backs to prove our stability)

med ball slams
battle rope slams

The weighted parts were actually the easiest, because the weight and reps were relatively low, but all the bodyweight stuff was killer! Such a fun workout though!

I wear those socks to dance to help with sliding on the floor, but I forgot to change into normal socks later, so this is what had to happen.

thank you for this photo, Christina!

7:30 PM — The workout ends, we learn more about ICW, they give us more Hint waters and KIND bars, and I walk back to the T station to head home. Type some more of this post.

8:15 PM — Arrive back home and cook up some veggies for dinner. I sauté some onions and lacinto kale (I have a lot of kale right now because it was on sale at Whole Foods) in mustard, maple syrup, salt and pepper (← fave way to cook kale!).

8:35 PM — I had the veggies alongside leftover quinoa and chicken thighs with this Stubb’s rub.

During dinner I read a couple more blogs, check Facebook, upload the day’s photos, and keep typing this post.

9:15 PM — Decide that I want a sweet snack, so I have some Greek yogurt with cinnamon and raisins. Some of my friends are baby barfing at this right now (#hatersgonnahate on raisins).

10:25 PM — Somehow still typing this post? Wash up dishes, shower (I reeeeek), and do some more studying.

12:00 AM — Pray and hit the hay!

Hope you all have a fantastic Thursday!

ALSO fun news — my dear friend Emily from Beauty in Christ graciously invited me to be on her awesome podcast last week, so that episode is up now on her blog! Click here to check it out. And just read Emily’s blog/listen to her podcast in general. She is a breath of the freshest air.

So tell me:

One thing you are proud to have accomplished this week!

One thing you did and one thing you ate yesterday.

How do you like to cook kale (if you like kale)?

Do you like to take naps?

The Best Vacation Ever {Part 1}

Posted on July 13, 2016 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

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…I was wondering if after all these days you’d like to meet. To go over…EVERYTHING.

I couldn’t get it out of my head, I’m sorry. I’m done with that joke now.

But seriously, HELLO! I am no longer cruising through the deep blue sea, but I’m happy to be back to a routine. My family and our close friends were on the Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas last week for a fantastic vacation. That ship is a city on water, guys. A freaking masterpiece.

Without further ado, here’s part one of three (maybe four?) recaps of just the highlights of what I deem to have been the best vacation ever. Grab some popcorn if you so wish.

Friday, July 1st

Pop and I had a 9 pm flight that was delayed for three hours (guess that’s a lowlight, not a highlight).

We killed a little bit of that time by walking through the parking lot with our luggages. This was actually Pop’s idea! #PopMovesAndGrooves

Saturday, July 2nd

Madre and Ben picked us up at the Orlando airport at around 2 AM. I was half asleep and groggy, but Pop was basically sprinting out of the gate to find them. In my head: “Pop, 2 AM is NOT a time to have pep in your step.”

Breakfast at around 9:30.

quick cook steel cut oats with peach, banana, and nuts

sunny egg

a piece of “banana bread” (a strange but satisfying texture)

3 rounds of this circuit workout with a 36# bar. That Florida humidity makes me feel like a soggy vegetable.

Lunch before heading to Disney’s Blizzard Beach water park with Ben. He worked there last summer, so he got some free park pass perks, and I got to mooch off the benefits.

There was a 1.5-hour thunderstorm safety closure, so Ben and I were sitting out in pouring rain in our bathing suits for a while, because we were wet anyway (we also forgot towels because we’re geniuses). But we still managed to ride all the slides once they reopened!

Showered and dried myself with a single tank top.

Dinner at Crazy Buffet (pronounced cuh-RAZY, according to Ben) with good family friends! I ate one plate of real food, dessert second, and then another salad last. Needed to make sure I had room for dessert, ya know?

Sunday, July 3rd

Early wake-up to drive to Fort Lauderdale for Mass before boarding the ship.

Once we met up with our family friends, we boarded and booked it straight for the lunch buffet. We were a little excited for the cruise food.

The first of many. Lunches were usually all the veggies, some sort of curry with rice…

…and a dessert that I really did NOT need to eat.

Our tiny stateroom was cozy, and our balcony overlooked the “Boardwalk” area of the ship. So cool.

Of course, we had to explore this monster of a ship. I still don’t think I covered the whole entire thing over the course of a week.

Pop was walking on the track at this time, I think #PopMovesAndGrooves

Oh man, this is where I start feeling sad because I miss it.

We were served a three course meal for dinner every. single. night. It was decadent and so delicious. You would think that I would feel full and bloated during the trip, but nay! On the contrary (ew, okay I’ll stop talking like that), my stomach felt GREAT the whole vacation. And I don’t care about having a flat belly, but it was actually flatter than ever.

Know what that means?

I’m not lactose-intolerant (I had so much ice cream on the cruise).
My bloating/GI discomfort comes from stress and eating as quickly as I can during my busy day.

Will work on that. But back to this cruise food. Three courses for EACH PERSON (sometimes even four if we were feeling two appetizers, because it was all included ← dangerous). Night 1:

eggplant artichoke puff pastry tart

orange “mojo” sauce pork chop

carrot cake!

We also shared a lot of our food with one another, just so we could taste all the delicious flavors. Classy gluttons, I say.

I don’t remember what else we did that night, but I’m sure it was a blast.

p.s. when we walked through this “Royal Promenade” area, there was ~included~ pizza, sandwiches, water, coffee, tea, desserts, and other snacks all day #help

Monday, July 4th

Breakfasts at the “Windjammer Marketplace” consisted of oatmeal with some combo of eggs, bacon, corned beef hash, and/or yogurt with fruit.

topped with peanut butter later (yes, I did bring my own jar of Jif Natural)

First port — Nassau, Bahamas.

“what do we do with it?”

mannequin’s eyebrows impressively on fleek

view from the ship as we sailed away

We didn’t do too much in Nassau except some walking and a little bit of underwhelming beachin’. It was a beautiful day though, and the waters were so clear!

Back on the boat, we celebrated America with some free pre-lunch flag cake that greeted the masses in front of Windjammer’s doors (not tantalizing at all for hungry tourists waiting on line for a table).

‘Twas delicious cake, I must say.

Vegetables for lunch, please!

salad, roasted carrots and sweet potatoes, turkey burger with mushrooms and caramelized onions

The fitness center on the ship was great. I think I was most excited about the kettlebells, which I used in my workout on Monday. There were also TRX’s, but the fitness center lady reprimanded me for using it without a certified TRX instructor.

I forget exactly what I did on Monday, but I know it involved kettlebell swings, pushups, sumo squats, Russian twists, jump lunges, and BOSU ball stuff.

PSA: Stretch, por favor

Monday night was formal night! AKA the night Alison gets into something other than athletic clothes.

Fun fact: We went on our first cruise ever with Christie and Monica (pictured above) and their parents 12 years ago. Naturally, we did a then and now photo.

Everyone nailed it, but I’m WAY off.

Dinner that night was delicious, but not quite as good as the first night.

one of my favorite appetizers: “Roman Vignolo Salad” with arugula, edamame, green beans, tomatoes, prosciutto, artichokes, and parmesan

sole with a tomato caper sauce

butter almond ice cream

I believe we saw an acrobatics show that night— Royal Caribbean’s original “Blue Planet”. Very entertaining and impressive! Followed by a super late night comedy show, which made me laugh until my abs hurt.

Tuesday, July 5th

We were at sea all day, so we slept in before a sit-down breakfast to change it up a bit. We decided that we all liked the buffet more though (mostly because there were more options).

smoked salmon and herb egg white omelette

Ben, my uncle, and I gave the FlowRider a go later on. If you’ve never seen a Royal Caribbean commercial, the FlowRider is essentially a surfing simulator on the ship. There are two ways you can do it— boogie board on your stomach (easier) or surfboard on your feet (harder).

I don’t know this girl, but this is what it looks like.

A few comments about the FlowRider:

It’s a lot harder than it looks.
10-year-olds show me up.
Falling off doesn’t hurt, but being swooshed up to the top like a half-dead fish can be painful…

…and it did do some damage to my brother. Poor Ben dislocated his shoulder on his surfboard run.

I’ll spare the image for privacy reasons, but long story short: The doctor on board popped it back in (I contemplated popping it back in when he first told us about it, but…I’m not that dumb). He was given a sling to wear for a while, he lost a little bit of function (guess who cut his food the rest of the trip? :D), but he’s okay, thank God.

After all the excitement, I went to eat a late lunch by myself at Windjammer.

A few activities and maybe a nap led us to dinner.

Ben and I shared the caprese salad + the arancini for appetizer

pork tenderloin with provolone potatoes (*angels singing*) and vegetables

favorite dessert of the trip: bread and butter pudding a la mode ➔ it was like a cross between creme brûlée and bread pudding

While Madre and Pop were at the “Love and Marriage Game Show” at night, Ben and I decorated the stateroom for the ‘rents anniversary the next day. Ben was the brain behind the beauty of the setup!

When Madre and Pop came back late that night, they were so surprised and touched. Woohoo! Happy 25th to the lovely couple 🙂

Part 2 coming tomorrow! Holy toledo, this is quite an epic recap.

So tell me:

Have you ever been on a cruise?

Does your stomach feel better on vacation, even with more food?

What did you Americans do for Fourth of July?

Have you ever dislocated your shoulder?

What was the best thing you ate last week?

More content = more questions for you. Let’s chat, please; it’s been a while!

Current Mood(s)

Posted on June 13, 2016 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

It’s been a funky weekend.

My mood is currently a slurry of the following:

Upset, confused, uneasy, and heartbroken by the shootings (Christina Grimmie + mass shooting at Pulse) in Orlando this weekend.

Sometimes God allows terrible things to happen in your life and you don’t know why. But that doesn’t mean you should stop trusting Him.

— Christina Grimmie (@TheRealGrimmie) February 21, 2013

I’m having a hard time just typing this blog post, because I’m watching several videos, reading tweets/statuses/articles, and just grappling with the whole situation and with the state of the world. May God be merciful to all, and may He grant rest to the souls of those who died and console their loved ones.

Friends, keep loving more deeply every day. Reflect on your purpose in this world. I don’t mean to be preachy right now, but when it comes to life and death, it’s important to ask yourself: What if my life on earth ended today?

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[source]

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Enraged, saddened, yet awe-inspired by the powerful letter the Stanford rape victim read aloud to her attacker.

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Unsure if cutting down on dairy is helping my tummy troubles. I’m currently drinking Lactaid milk (surprisingly, it’s exceptionally tasty milk) and avoiding Greek yogurt and cheese. I think I feel better with less Greek yogurt in particular (*tear*).

the day before my mom picked up some Lactaid // carbs+pb isn’t the same without a glass o’ milk

leftover green banana pancakes + banana cream sauce + glass o’ Lactaid (← doesn’t have the same ring to it)

overnight oats made without Greek yogurt but with extra Lactaid milk, chia seeds, and half a scoop of vanilla protein powder — not bad!

classic banana egg white oats (video tutorial coming soon!)

baked banana bread oatmeal for this week’s breakfasts

I’m also unsure because I’m weak. I had a tiny bit of ice cream Saturday night with our leftover apple strudel from the farmers’ market 🙂 And I had a few cheesy jalapeño Popcorners yesterday.

I didn’t keel over or anything though, so it’s all good.

Another likely culprit is definitely stress. I don’t notice my stress, but I think my body/mind has objectively been stressed these past few weeks.

——————————

All that being said…

I’m ashamed and disappointed in myself. Honesty is the best policy. I feel ashamed that maybe my tummy troubles were actually coming from a few too many days of eating until I was stuffed, even if it was just a bunch of vegetables.

I have definitely not been binging by any means, but I do know that I sometimes stress eat and/or eat too quickly when I’m stressed. I was struck by the possibility that maybe my insides haven’t been cooperating because I just haven’t been too kind to them in regards to the volume I eat.

So I’ve been more aware of my stomach cues (without worrying about calories or anything), which (DUH) has been helping me feel more comfortable. I’m tempted to beat myself up about my recent eating habits, but I know that will just do me a disservice. Evaluate, learn, make the changes, and move on.

Somewhat off topic: Lunches these days have been all about eggs, which I find are easy on my stomach.

two egg omelet with greens and onions + cherry tomatoes + avocado toast

avocado toast with sunny egg and sriracha (among other things) for lunch on Saturday

delicious bowl of quinoa, roasted broccoli, sautéed greens, onions, cherry tomatoes, chorizo + sunny egg + sriracha added post-pic

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Thankful that my body can move and exercise. I always try to be, but I’ve had to especially remind myself to be thankful this weekend because of some recent body image issues that I’ll talk more about tomorrow.

Mom and I have been doing 7 minute workouts and Pilates together. So wonderful to move and groove with Madre.

Working at a rehabilitation hospital has also done wonders for my perspective on physical ability, movement, and health.

scene at lunch break

Saturday’s workout was a doozy! 4 rounds for time:

10 burpee tuck jumps
20 crazy Russian twists (10 each side, 15#)
30 side jump lunges
40 air squats with side leg lift
50 mountain climbers

HUSTLED on those last squats and mountain climbers when I saw that I could finish at 20 minutes

I did this yoga video yesterday, since everything was sore and my body had been craving good, organ-nourishing twists.

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Happy that I get to spend quality time with my parents on the weekends. We went out for sushi on Saturday night after Mass, followed by an evening walk.

Mom and Pop’s sashimi for two

cutest soy sauce dish

my order: “Soho roll” (tuna, salmon, yellowtail, avocado, rice, roe, wrapped in soybean paper) + eel cucumber roll

Ain’t nothing like gooooooood sushi.

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Excited for friends and family in their adventures and endeavors. It’s so cool to see loved ones explore the world, learn, grow, and allow God to work through them.

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So there’s a lot happening in the head and the heart right now. A lot of it is growing pain, I think, which is encouraging and comforting. God is good, always.

I’m sorry if this post seems like a big, negative smash on your Monday, but that’s not my intent. This is just a reminder to myself and to all who read this that we need to support and uplift one another. Joy, beauty, heroism, and love exist, and it starts with you.

mother-teresa-do-not-wait-for-leaders