Pieces of Home >>>

Little pieces from around the homefront lately. Below youll see my little hoopers. I cant believe I caught both of them sitting inside my hoops on the same day! So so cute and funny.

10 pm and Im just now about to go do my 2nd day of yoga.  Some days dont go the way we plan, so we have to bend accordingly.  I think Ill do a fairly short and slow cool down session of yoga.  Ease myself into relaxation for the night.  The next few days are already filled up with to do's... so this little bit will help.  I did get in a bit of hooping today.  More just working on some arm tricks, but Im slowly getting it.  Its funny how hooping tricks are, you can mess up 100 times and then all of a sudden it just clicks when your not thinking about it.  I love that moment.  I broke down and bought a polypro hoop today.  Ive been holding off b/c we are trying to save money right now, but its something that is super important to me, so I finally just went for it.  I cant wait to get it in the mail in a few weeks.  To me, its beats a gym membership.  -- I also got a few plants in the dirt today.  The 10 minutes I had my hands in the dirt felt sooooo good!  Got me even more excited about our garden.  

This month is going by soooo fast!  Ill try to do a post soon, but until then, my sponsorship spots for March are now open.  You can email me at violet_bella (at) hotmail (dot) com if you are interested in a spot.  

PEACE,

Laura

Mind and Body - Day One >>>

Day one of 30 Days Mind and Body is beautiful.  It is amazing how a little encouragement from others can do so much.  Knowing that this awesome group of girls who is now up to 24 of us... are all in this together.  Such a great feeling!  Today was day one, so its not too late to link up with us.  Read my post here for more info.  (And really you can link up anytime and extend it to any 30 days).  

Im feeling much better!  The sickies never fully made their way in!!!  Last night we went out to our friends house in Tarpley and had another genuinely amazing evening with them.  Their family has been so completely grounding and loving for us.  We feel like we are going home when we go out there.  The moment we drive into their driveway I feel all of my senses relax and rejuvenate at the same time.  All of my cares go away and I feel so very safe and uninhibited.  And then are welcomed with more love then Ive ever experienced from one family.  I feel so very lucky to have people like this in my life.  So... I had an awesome night of hooping my heart away with the girls while the boys played guitar on the porch, there was a love toast made with all of us in a circle, tree swing with twinkle lights and great hilarious and almost inappropriate conversations, lots of hugs and laughter.  My kind of night. 

And for my day one of the yoga challenge, I did my hour yoga session along with my dvd of my local yoga teacher.  Then I made another yummy green drink.  After I get all my work done today, I plan to turn on some tunes and hoop.  It feels soooo good to excitedly take care of my body.  I welcome you to join up with us!  The facebook group has been an amazing source of encouragement and welcoming.  Loving it!

PEACE,
Laura

30 Days Mind and Body Challenge >>>

 Im very excited to share this today.  My dear friend Betsy contacted me a few days ago about being a part of a 30 day yoga challenge with her and a few of our online friends.  We would love to extend this to anyone who is up for the challenge of doing a little bit of self love practicing over the next 30 days.  We will be keeping each other encouraged online on twitter and facebook.  See below to find out where and how.  

I currently practice yoga once a week, and have always wanted to make it a daily practice.  But it is very easy to come up with every excuse in the world why I cant.  I love the idea of having a group of girls with the same loving intentions to help keep me motivated.  Sometimes that is all we need.  And even though this is a self love challenge, I know Ill be helping my friends along the way too.  So many of us lead such busy lives, with little ones running around or very active businesses to run, its so easy to neglect our own bodies.  I myself, am one of those.  Just having Betsy send me that email has already motivated me!  

If you are someone who would love to participate in this but do not care for yoga, we are also welcoming other healthy activities as well, such as hooping or pilates.  Something that you feel personally resonates with you and your personal mind and body health.  I will be doing a split yoga/hooping challenge myself.  I will spend the first part warming up with some yummy yoga and then reving it up with some hooping. 

 Lets help each other!  Encourage each other.  This is not a competition, and is for anyone, any level of health or fitness, any level of knowledge of yoga.  You have to start somewhere.  Thank you so much Betsy for lighting this beautiful fire. 

 

Join us on twitter by using the hashtag #30daysmindandbody

Join our facebook group here

visit betsy's blog for a printable calendar to keep track and to read her story (and let her know what an awesome idea this is)

click on the 'add link' to link up with us below:

Feel free to add this button to your blog, just make sure it links back to one of our original posts about this.

PEACE,

Laura

Self Love Smoothie >>>

Today is Valentine's Day. All the people James works with think he is a crazy liar when he tells them his wife does not want anything for valentines day. Im honestly just really not a fan. I definitely think its a major over commercialized holiday, and we personally choose not to put too much recognition into it, and would much rather show that kind of love everyday, throughout the year. Im definitely not anti love!  So, for this Valentine's Day I decided to practice some self love, since it is Self Love Awareness Month.  I keep my fridge stocked with all of the yumminess to make awesome smoothies all the time... but, I let myself get lazy in actually making them most of the time.  So today, Im changing that.  I made one of the best smoothies Ive ever made too!  I love how smoothies are soooo versatile with whatever you happen to have on hand.  Its fun making them different everytime. 

Today I used coconut milk, raw organic coconut, orange juice, flaxseed, mineral water, grapes, dandelion, sunflower sprouts, spinach, frozen strawberries, banana and mango.  Yum!!!

Later today Ill be sharing with you a 30-day yoga challenge a dear friend of mine has set up.  There will be 4 or 5 bloggers who will be reaching out to anyone who want to joins us for a month long run of practicing yoga daily.  (you can insert anything you want besides yoga.  ill be doing a split yoga/hooping practice).  Ill share more details with you later on how to join us in this fun self love quest!

PEACE,

Laura