I can’t tell you how excited I am to begin this journey as a blogger with you! 

I’ve been dreaming about this for so long, and the day is finally here! I’m so excited!

A little about my own story, I’m a midwest girl, born and raised in a family with six kids, and my mom and dad all of whom I adore.  I married my high school sweetheart, Troy, and we have 2 awesome young adult sons, Shane and Jake. We also have a wonderful rescue doggy “Kasey”! 

Like all of us, life had its share of ups and downs, but for the most part was pretty rewarding. I absolutely love being a mom. I have a part time job that I love at my church, and I focus most of my life on my kids, family and friends.

Then a chapter of life dealt our family some unexpected consequences,  and even tragedy. In the aftermath, I was overwhelmed with the heartache.  I can only speak from my own experience, but I knew I needed a positive diversion… I decided to make changes that would bring something new and fresh and joyful into my life. When you stop and pause in life and just look around and take some inventory, you ask yourself, “Why have I always done things this way? What would it look like if I tried something different?” 

I started with my health. I needed to drop some bad habits and add some good ones. So as I began to get healthy,  I felt encouraged to think of adding a few other things. For the first time in many years I began to think about fashion. 

For most of my adult life I had shopped the same set of clothing racks at the same two stores. If I did go in a mall, there were very few stores I would go in. It was as though for me, the lights were out and doors closed for 90% of the stores. They were for some other customer, but not me.

But now I was considering adding to my shopping repertoire. So I began to test the waters. I would go to a mall with the intent of just wandering into places I had never gone before. Jewelry stores, cosmetic stores, shoe stores, boutiques, and do you know what I found? People just like me shopped in those places all the time! Talk about liberating! I began to break out of my fashion formula and try a few new things. I had basically three pairs of shoes at any one time. Tennis shoes, a pair of Clarks and one set of sensible lower heels. This is not a bad thing, but to sustain the same styles and habits for years, well, I was ready to make some changes. So I began slowly adding to my wardrobe. I had lost some weight so I needed some new clothes anyway. I began to break out of my mold and try some new fashion. 

And then… I decided to try a new hairdo too! I had worn my hair long and pulled back with a barrette for over twenty years. Yep. So I went into Fantastic Sam’s, and asked a stylist to help me out with a new style. You know what? I liked it! Its kind of shocking at first when you have seen the same person in the mirror for 20 years, but the change was invigorating! What else could I try that was new?

So I’m a little bit of a chicken, but I thought, start with something easy. I joined a walking group. That’s easy… and good for me. That same group of ladies invited me to try a Yoga class. I had all these preconceived ideas about yoga and ending up doing the pretzel position and getting stuck as some kid walks by and Instagrams it. But this was a new day! So I gave it a shot. I liked it! And I didn’t have to do a pretzel position! I asked my son to take me kayaking, as I had never gone. It was amazing! At the end of the day I was both totally spent and totally filled with joy at the same time. He now is encouraging me to try dirt biking, and you know what? I am actually considering it!

My husband and I began looking around our home, we had had the same decor pretty much all of our lives. And we began to dream, what if we shook it up completely and went in a totally different direction? We have always had difficulty letting things go. But we began to drop those shackles and clear out the clutter in our home and in our lives. And you know what we found? You can breathe better! You can think better! And its just downright inspiring! 

So that is where I am today, on a wonderful adventure trying new things, new fashion, new lifestyle, new everything! My goal is to share these ideas with anyone interested, and we can encourage and inspire each other, and honestly just have a whole lot of fun doing it! There is no telling what may be next and that is an incredible feeling! Any rut I become cognizant of is fair game for me to put a crowbar to it! 

We have this window of time we get to live out the story of our lives. Its a privilege, and every single one of us can make it a great life today if we start taking steps in that direction. That is the path I am on. It doesn’t matter one single bit where you have been, where you are at, age, stage, mistakes made, today is a new day and you are worth it! The challenges in life will always come and go, but take time to step away from them occasionally and allow yourself the luxury of dreaming new dreams and ask yourself, “What is one step I can take to get me from here to there?” even if its a baby step, you will be surprised at how good it feels to breathe the air of new possibilities! 

Come along and join me! Lets make this chapter of your life “Your Favorite Chapter”!

Love Always,

Amy