Cardinals and Courage

After I ran my first 5k, my love for the sport has only grown. In 2015 I ran my first half marathon, and in 2016 I ran my first 10k and full marathon. One of my best… or worst ideas, was signing up for my first marathon. Since the marathon is 26.2 miles, it was a goal that seemed crazy and potentially impossible. But, I decided to go big and enter the lottery for the 2016 New York City Marathon. Spoiler alert, on March 8, 2016 I got the email. The email that said, “Congratulations, you have been accepted to run the 2016 New York City Marathon!” That day will forever be etched in my mind. As this was my first marathon, I was clueless how to train. I had been working out and running consistently but was nervous about my ability to be able to finish the race. I started training as soon as I found out. By training, I don’t mean double digit miles. I started slow and worked my way up. In the midst of “training,” or at least what I was calling training, I moved to North Carolina. With this m...

After I began my journey of reducing my use of paper and plastic, I began realizing there are so many other things I can do to save Mother Earth. The things I have started focusing on and learning more about are clothing, makeup, how items that I buy are sourced/made, and the values of the companies that I support. I have a whole lot left to learn and will continue to broaden my areas of focus, but I have already learned so much. My first introduction into sustainable living, outside of reducing paper and plastic and my general knowledge, was via Amanda Scott of the @littlesouthenwife on Instagram. She is a Beautycounter consultant and has a blog https://littlesouthernlife.com/ . I’m not sure how I found her on Instagram, but I am so glad I did. She has been a huge resource for learning what chemicals are in our makeup items, cleaning products and so much more. As I am learning more about makeup, I began looking into Beautycounter and what they stand for. Their mission is to get saf...

Environmental responsibility is something that has become a passion of mine in recent years.  I continue to become more and more interested in the importance of being aware and intentional especially when it comes to the products that we buy and use. I cannot point to a specific moment that sparked my interest and realization of the importance of sustainability, being an educated consumer, and reducing my use of plastic. But I continue to be on a journey to reduce, reuse, recycle, and want to share my experiences along the way. I’m currently about a year into this journey, and I have really begun to understand and experience (global warming) and why Mother Earth needs us to be accountable to each other and save her. When I first started this journey, I wasn’t sure how it would go, but I have found that I truly love learning about the topic and sharing the insights I find along the way. The first place I started was with eliminating non-reusable items. One of my New Year resolutio...