Bold & Bella

I once read in a book that what other people think about you is none of your business.  It took me a few reads of that line for it to really sink in.      It's none of my business?        It's none of my business.         It's none of my business? WHY is it none of my business? Because it's a thought in someone else's  head, and what happens in someone else's head has no impact on me whatsoever. The only opinion of me that matters is the one that I have. It's truly none of my business what goes on inside of a mind that is not my own and that mentality has been a game changer for me.  I have to confess: I like to be liked. I have met people who genuinely don't give AF about what anyone else thinks of them. In fact, I'm married to one. My husband happily goes about his life, doing and saying as he pleases, never pausing to even consider what someone else may thing, much less someone he...

Working from home has always been a dream of mine. I even got my Bachelor's in Entrepreneurship because I was going to own my own business, be my own boss, control my own destiny...you get it. Now, in this dream, I envisioned having a beautiful, clutter-free office space. It would be filled with inspirational quotes and pictures, have a cute little desktop, a printer, notebooks, fancy pens...can you tell I get excited about office supplies? Oh, and the window! It would have a tall, gorgeous window to let all the natural light in, and an over-sized chair next to it, where I could sit and do my research or organize my thoughts. Can you see it? More importantly, can you hear it? The silence.  It's a room. With a door. A room where no other humans, tiny or otherwise, would be allowed to enter, much less interrupt. Beautiful, isn't it? Well, now that my dream has come true and I actually am able to work from home, my reality is much less picturesque. Overnight, my entire...

Life is always a little uncertain, but never quite the way it's been in the last couple of weeks. A little over a week ago, I was having dinner with my husband. We had an impromptu date night to celebrate some good news when the TV screen in the bar flashed, "Breaking News: NBA to cancel the remainder of the season after tonight's games." ...umm what? The domino-effect of events that took place after that announcement was surreal, and today, a mere week and half later, people across the country are sitting in their homes, contemplating this new reality. Schools are going virtual, people are working from home, or are not working at all. Cities, Counties, and even entire states have been ordered to stay at home, and limit gathering in groups, or gathering at all. Seemingly overnight, the entire world changed. For some, drastic change is a scary thing, and even more so when it's attached to scary-sounding words like, "pandemic." As humans, it's ...

Marie Forleo must be my spirit animal because reading her book, Everything is Figureoutable , has felt a lot like reading my own diary. Her emphasis on walking your own path and honoring your own journey, rather than trying to squeeze yourself into the box of expectations put on you by society, social media and your mother, is so similar to my own way of living. Of course, I'd be lying to you if I told you that I've always been this way. It's almost impossible to avoid that phase when you are trying so very hard to be what you think you are expected to be. For me, it was right after college. I'd done everything I was supposed to do, including getting married, graduating and having a baby, all in that order. Even though I'd already accomplished more than my own parents at that age, I still felt like there was something I wasn't doing right. Most of you know that feeling, the deadline that screams "You should've accomplished X, Y, and Z by now and...

I'm a teacher. Anyone in the same profession can tell you that one of the quotes we see and hear the most is:  Failing to plan is planning to fail.  Preparation is key in the classroom. If you show up with half-baked lesson plans, the children will smell your lack of preparation, realize they outnumber you, and eat you alive. If you have well-thought-out plans, however, and you have all of your materials ready to go, things (usually) go smoothly.  The same is true for sticking to healthy eating. I know the two things seem unrelated, but stick with me here. If you're trying to make better food choices and your only plan is to depend on your so-far-unreliable willpower, the likelihood of you succeeding is slim to none. On the other hand, if you pre-plan and prepare your meals, you'll always have something on hand when you get hungry and you'll be more likely to turn down the donuts, cookies, and fun-sized candy bars waiting in the teachers' lounge.  T...

You know what the best part about being a kid is? Fearlessness. When my daughter was learning to walk, she would fall. All. The. Time. She'd take a few steps, lose her balance, fall face first, and of course cry her eyes out. Then she'd get up and try it again. When she got bold enough to try to run, it was like she was discovering our house for the first time. Her feet would go too fast for her little mind to keep up and she'd inevitably run into a wall or a table and fall flat on her butt. You would think that it would've taught her to slow it down, pay more attention. Nope. She'd get up and go full speed, again and again. As adults, we are very risk averse. If we were in my daughter's shoes, we'd only have to fall that one time. Our brains register pain and suffering as giant STOP signs and we do not proceed, much less get up and try again. As we grow up, we lose that fearlessness and replace it with extreme caution, bordering on perfectionism. We ...

Losing weight is probably the number one New Year's Resolution in the world. It's a great goal, but it's very vague. The issue with vague goals is that they hardly ever get accomplished. Since there is SO much involved in the process, it's easy to feel overwhelmed, not know where to start, and give up on the whole idea before you even really get started. Big goals need to be broken down into smaller, more manageable chunks. If you're curious about how to lose weight, here are 5 steps that make that giant goal seem more within reach: 1- Set realistic, measurable goals.  Start off by committing to something that both makes sense for your physical capabilities and fits into your schedule. When I first started working out, I committed to a program called T25, which promised to deliver an hour's worth of gym-time in just 25 minutes, 5 days a week. At the time, my workout schedule was sporadic at best, so less than 30 minutes a day during the workweek seemed...