With the holidays now over and the remainder of winter unfolding—sometimes intensely and other times gently, depending on your location—it's a perfect opportunity to turn inward. This is an ideal time to settle into your favorite chair or sofa with a cup of tea and contemplate. What about the last year did you treasure most? How do you foster more of that in this coming year? How did the holidays go for you? Are there moments and events that you would like to lean in on and b

In 2026, the Year of the Fire Horse acts as a powerful catalyst for embracing the process of letting go of what no longer serves yo u , moving beyond the shedding phase of 2025 into a period of dynamic, forward-moving action and personal transformation. With that in mind, it seems like an opportune moment to discuss the art of moving on and forging ahead. My first personal experience comes from shaking down our stuff, literally 16 garage sales, to move aboard a sailboat when

This summer, I was invited to teach yoga to what I assumed would be a small group of baseball players at Mission Bay High School, which is conveniently close to our home and, more significantly, Doug's alma mater. I became a certified yoga teacher in 2019 when I completed a 200 hour program with our dear Karina as our guide. Even though I mostly took the course for my own knowledge and quite frankly so that I wouldn't injure myself as I continued to do yoga in my later years,

In 1989, during my first year of sobriety, my husband at the time, Monte, was very driven to succeed. On the other hand, I was simply grateful to be clean and sober at 22. He started reading motivational books and during this journey, he encountered the concept of setting goals. Ok, let's do it. More to get this topic to pass, because quite frankly it overwhelmed me. So we sat down, jotted down a list of goals and tucked it away in our filing cabinet, back when we had those.

Each year, as we come together to celebrate Thanksgiving, my life presents a variety of settings, unfolding in both expected and unexpected ways. When I was a child, our cousins, aunt, and uncle would visit us from LA, and I cherish the memories of being together and gaining a broader perspective of my roots. I enjoyed spending time with the Nesses. Uncle Paul shared my dad's calm and easygoing demeanor, and both were intelligent, understated, and witty men. Fast forward to m

Brene Brown is one of my most cherished philosophers. Her words resonate deeply with me and inspire undeniable personal growth. Here is one of her many insightful quotes: “Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.” ―Brene Brown Well, if that's true then our lives are brimming over with innovation, creativity and change - because it has been the summer of vulnerability. When I reflect back to summer of 2025, I will smile and remember all of the feel

Have you really lived until you've been to a Savannah Banana Baseball game? I had no idea what was in store for us when Haley invited us along with a dozen of her baseball loving friends and family to the game. Think Harlem Globetrotters meet the Padres. Our initial task was to dash to the local thrift store to find some banana yellow outfits. Upon arriving at Petco Park, we merged into a crowd of yellow. It was my first experience of total neutrality at Petco Park. The usual

The days of leisurely schedules filled with ample strolling are behind us, and we've accelerated our pace to start our daily drive home. We both undeniably feel a strong pull towards home. We paused in Kansas for a night but didn't explore. We're currently in the marathon phase of our journey. We extended the slide for comfort, took a walk around the campground to stretch our legs, and then went to bed to prepare for another day of driving. Our next stop was one of our favori

Isn't it often when you're not overly excited about a place or event that it can unexpectedly surprise you and leave you amazed? This is how we felt as we neared Lincoln, Nebraska. No offense intended to anyone from there or who knows it well. It could have been partly because it was our final stop in week five of a six-week road trip or simply because we didn't know much about the town beforehand. The initial shoosh, shoosh, shoosh of sweeping was at the campsite itself. We'

...with Sioux Falls. Taylor and Zervan had just arrived in Fargo from Sioux Falls and told us what a must see it is and they were right. After enjoying our most luxurious campsite thus far, complete with a shiny new BBQ and concrete patio, we ventured out during our one day in Sioux City to see what all the fuss was about. While planning our day, we discovered two important things with the help of Google. First, a dog park where Pearl could enjoy some running, play, and sniff

We arrived at our campground to set up camp, only to learn that we missed the famous Potato Festival by one day! Our camp neighbors had come from miles around and were enjoying the afterglow of said festival. Goes to how, you never know! What we did know was that the next day we would go explore Fargo! As we rounded third in our trip, a two night stay is now our norm, which gives us one full day to explore then drag up and head on down the road. This is a good pace for us, as

How a seemingly random experience in 2011 would result in something 14 years later. We began our short term rental business in 2011 when...

And ended up being a beautiful place in it's own right. Haley didn't have to ask us twice if we wanted to go to a Savanah Banana Baseball...

'The trees..... we've never seen so many trees in our lives - literally countless', we exclaimed as we settled into our new campsite at...

...If it weren't for their winters and how much we'd miss our family. After a day of resting from being at Mackinac Island we decided to...

'Oh, if you're going to Michigan than seeing Mackinaw City is a must' said 9 out of 10 people we talked to while planning our...

It was our day to depart Buchanan, Michigan, and head up north to Traverse City. However, my new friends in Bucharest, Romania, had asked...

Buchanan, Michigan was our first destination, after 10 days of driving (minus a one day layover to see my Cousin Dana, Aunt Jean and...

It was mid-May, and I received an email from doTERRA that I'd been invited to tour the lavender fields in Bulgaria. We would land in...

It was mid-June as I wove my way through the curvy streets of the South side of La Jolla in our golf cart. It's a place where I've spent...