Spinning through life

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been watching Miss USA since I was old enough to watch TV. I’m assuming if you’re reading this that you have as well. I had all of the pageant Barbies. In fact, the only Barbie Dolls that I deemed relevant enough to save were the pageant queens:   I found these ladies, during my last move! When I got into high school, I decided that I wanted to be a part of this mysterious world and entered my first pageant. It was a small local pageant that wasn’t a qualifier for anything. If you won, you were awarded a beautiful crown and sash and the ability to ride in parades and do appearances all around town. Without any coaching or idea of what I was doing, I placed first runner-up in that pageant!   I can’t tell you right now, nearing 20 years later, if I even thought I was going to or wanted to win when I entered. But placing first runner-up struck me in a way that I would NEVER have expected, and I can’t explain to this day! Loo...

Have you ever tested the water in your house for hardness or chemicals? I never have before, and I lived in two cities with probably the nasties tap water in the country – if you leave out Flint – New Orleans and Houston! My bathwater in Houston was green on the reg! Give me a break if that wasn’t full of some form of chemicals or biological bodies. So, upon moving to D.C. and our home in Alexandria, I was told that Virginia has some of the best tap water in the country. Regardless, I still bought a fancy shower filter for my hair and skin. Think what you must, but I’m high maintenance, and I own it! (And for the most part, Mark allows it. Lol.) Fast forward a few weeks. I begin to start looking uglier and uglier. No. Take that back. Fast forward one shower. It took me a few weeks to notice! My skin was getting dried out and cracked! My hair was dried and breaking. The color of it was actually changing. I immediately thought it was due to the much lower humidity and a need t...

Do you ever experience illness or “hangovers” the next day from what you eat? For years I struggled with low energy, digestive issues, reflux – severe reflux – along with probably a slew of other issues that I can’t even identify at this point when I was far too young to be dealing with those type of problems. But it was a way of life for me. I had acid reflux so severe when I was young it would wake me up as a child. During my late 20s, I began having esophageal spasms, where it feels like you’re having severe heart pains while eating and your food or beverage gets stuck in your esophagus. Yes, you read that right – stuck! I had to go see a specialist and get a scope and now I take a fun prescription drug that mainly old men in their late 60s take. Gag!   So, why do I share this gross story? Well, following this scoping expedition with my gastroenterologist – I wish I didn’t know what that term even was – I decided that was a wake-up call to look at my diet more closely....

So, I said I was going to start blogging when we were traveling regularly… when we were moving to D.C. to chronicle our new life… when I was on my weight loss journey… when I was pageant prepping… I never quite got there though. I love to write, but never sit down to do it for myself outside of work.   I’m the one constantly giving everyone unsolicited travel, fashion, makeup, restaurant, real estate, fitness and nutrition advice, but I’ve never sit down to capture it all. So, I’ve decided to do just that. Will this be sustainable? Will I do 4-5 posts and get busy with life and forget? Potentially, but let’s see what happens! Join me?