Weekend Update

Happy Monday - meh.  I was feeling sleepy and couldn't bring myself to get up and work out this morning, so I'll have more to do after work, but that's okay.

On Saturday of this past weekend, we celebrated Neil and Amber and their baby girl coming soon, Miss Gracelyn Rose.  It was a fun baby shower (or "sprinkle," as some would call it - a word that will always make me think of David Rose and one of my favorite episodes of Schitt's Creek).  Anyway, it was a co-ed shower, but we only got a group pic of the ladies.  I finally got to meet Greg and Beth, and it was great to see Jon and Kristin, Neil and Amber, April, and Audrey again!!

Friday night was thunderstorms and unexpected tornado siren excitement - always a jarring treat.  Then it was really cloudy and cold and windy outside at Haikey Creek Park that Saturday morning.  By Sunday, of course, the weather was super warm and springy! lol  #oklahomalife

Theo has food allergies, so these donuts were vegan and gluten free, and they were surprisingly tasty... I was impressed!

Kristin Renee hosted this shower.  Love her! ❤  I so admire her personal strength and her willingness to go out of her way to love and celebrate others in the midst of a really hard season.

I spent Saturday afternoon watching the Netflix documentary on the College Admissions Scandal - super interesting - while jazzing up this painting from 2012 with a 3D weave pattern effect.

This has just been sitting in my closet for over a year, so I figured it'd be good for a practice run on this pattern.  I like the look, but there are a few things I'll change on the next one.  I need a darker black and more of a scruffy, shadowy effect, and I need to leave a border around the edge and watch my lines more carefully (the one above my name is too thin). lol  

Saturday was also National Sibling Day, so I made this lovely collage for that from our 1995 Glamour Shots for Kids session.  If that place still existed, I would sooo pay to have Kyndal's pics taken there just for the fun of it. lol  Those pics are always funny to me (but we LOVED them at the time), and I like that our poses mirror each other here.  Also, please note that I'm wearing my rhinestone Jesus necklace, a favorite back in the day. lol

A mini strawberry shortcake pizookie (a new flavor option from BJs).  YUM!

In other exciting weekend news, my parents got a new little puppy.  Another mini Australian Shepherd, and Jace chose her and named her Oreo.  She's "his dog" as a reward for something, but she will live at Mom and Dad's house. lol  Anyway, it's a whole new world for her, and she's missing her mom and feeling a little terrified of all the kids so far.  I'm sure she'll settle in soon enough, and I'm hoping Reagan will be friendly and that they'll become pals!

Just a meme that made me laugh - it's so true for me.  I've been doing 90 minutes a day 5-6 days a week lately, but I typically break that up into several 10, 20, and 30 minute classes.  Today's stack is a 30-minute pop ride with Cody, 10-minute core strength with Rebecca, 10-minute barre with Ally, 20-minute glutes and legs strength with Robin, 10-minute yoga with Anna, and a 10-minute full body stretch with Robin... all fun!  Being able to stack the classes the night before has been really helpful in staying motivated.  Occasionally I'll do a 45 minute ride, but I definitely prefer the shorter ones and throwing them in a little along through the day. =)

Hamilton's Aaron Burr (Leslie Odom, Jr.) as a Princeton student debating Rory on Gilmore Girls!! What!?

The Miss K Facetime called to show me this mouthpiece thing from a new game they got. She's a funny one!  ...That's a game I could play one time only if I saw the plastic wrap being removed from the box and knew with certainty that I was the first one to use the mouthpiece. lol  Then count me out.

Okay, that's all for now, and it's almost lunch time so that worked out well!  Hope you have a wonderful week ahead!

Photo Friday - The Board!

My "Board of Empowerment" is basically done now - huzzah!!  I'm such a fan!  There are a few pics that are on the board twice because I underestimated the amount of space and collaged them and made them too small at first, then came back in with bigger ones.  I tried to watch for that and remove the smaller versions, but definitely missed a few.  So that's something I'll remedy over time.  But the overall effect is what I was going for, and it makes me very happy to see it full of people, places, memories, verses, and quotes that are inspiring or meaningful to me, celebrities and Peloton instructors and family and friends all included! ❤

The below pic was the day I started the process of cleaning the pictures off a couple weeks ago.  I love to reminisce, so this was mostly fun for me... but it was a PROCESS.  There were 20 years worth of layered photos on this board - we just kept stapling the new ones on top of the older ones.  At the point in the picture below, I had removed over 30 photos and only cleared a tiny little space. lol  Not to mention that each picture has 3-4 staples, so my fingernails are shot from the process of pulling them out.  (I figured out a little ways into it that my fingernails do it faster and hold on to the staples better than an actual staple puller, so that's what I did for the majority of the board.)

This was cute... and a pretty solid description. lol

Important advice...

On that note, I have an appointment set with a new counselor toward the end of this month.  It's been about five years since I've seen a counselor, and the last one turned out to be a negative experience because the counselor had unethical boundaries, so I haven't been in a big rush to get back into it.  But it's time.  This new woman also comes recommended by a friend, and I am hopeful that it will be a better fit.  I called to set it up at the end of February, but they were not able to work me in until late April.  I've been working on making a list of things I want to talk about... because it's natural for me to get to the counselor's office and then go blank and struggle to know where to start (always a challenge when you're trying to relay the most complex and layered parts of your story to a total stranger), or I'll struggle to think of anything really wrong in my life if I'm having a nice day and feeling okay with people right then.  It's very easy for me to sugarcoat everything and try to rush to find meaning in the hard stuff so I can tie a neat little bow on it and pretend all is well when I haven't honestly worked through my anger or grief or confusion or whatever else, and when I haven't really figured out how to move forward in a healthy way.  Denial and feigning happiness is not healthy, for the record. lol  So I'm feeling excited and hopeful about that appointment!  I want to press into the hard stuff so that I can become as healthy and whole and healed as possible... and so I can invest my time and energy wisely as I move forward!

That's all I've got for this Friday morning!

Hope you enjoy your weekend ahead!!

Family Business

I mentioned watching the movie Spotlight a couple weeks ago.  It details the true story of The Boston Globe's investigation of the widespread sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests... along with the great lengths that higher church officials went to to silence the victims and cover it up and keep it all very quiet.  The movie was well done and the cast was great - I recommend it.  The story itself was disturbing, and far too typical.  I started a righteous-anger-style post about it last week, then talked myself out of it and deleted it...  

Then I read a friend's Facebook post that made me rethink that choice.  She was discussing the latest drama with the Southern Baptist convention, saying she understands Beth Moore's decision to leave but is choosing to stay in it herself.  She said she feels hesitant to talk about any of the issues (like degrading women and mishandling sexual abuse) in their church leadership because it's really "family business" that should be handled internally, mentioning that it presents a poor witness for Christ when Christians are too confrontational or critical.  I have a lot of respect for her, and I understand her heart on that and know her intentions were pure.  Still, reading the phrase "family business" and seeing the way she used it really made me cringe...

That very same concept has been misused for years to silence victims and to protect abusers.  It's family business.  I see it regularly in the court system in domestic violence and sexual abuse cases - dysfunctional families where the dynamic is that it's really no one else's business -- to just "keep it in the family" and stay quiet about horrific crimes happening inside the home.  And in every single situation, the one who benefits and gains more power from that system is the abuser/criminal... and the one who is weakened and hurt more deeply is the victim.  Nothing about it is okay.

It's happening in the church more and more, and the root behind it and the fruit coming from it are toxic and damaging.

I have some close friends with fathers who are respected pastors, but the leadership they witnessed in their family home was ungodly, and in one case, flat out abusive.  Another woman I am close to spoke with her church leaders about the woman leading their children's ministry coming on to her husband (there was evidence for that and other similar inappropriate behavior).  Their ridiculous response was to encourage her to find forgiveness and repair her friendship with that other woman, who remains in a leadership position to this day.  Their family left that church, and rightly so.

I was very clear with the BattleCreek Church leaders about the dangerous false theology being spouted to vulnerable people seeking healing and counsel in the prayer ministry they boldly endorsed.  The leaders of that prayer ministry were wealthy tithers, and I was an outsider (no longer a member of that specific church), so my story was completely dismissed and unacknowledged, and that ministry continued to hurt others.  That entire ordeal seven years ago forever changed the way I view the church.

Way too many churches rally to protect pastors who have had affairs and cover them with grace and love, often while failing to hold them accountable or restructure their leadership roles or support the spouse (like this).

The Village Church badly mishandled things and distanced themselves and their main leadership from a family whose daughter was a victim of abuse by one of their leaders at a church camp (here).

The Christian-based Kanakuk camps (here) ignored multiple claims from parents, then silenced several others with nondisclosure agreements, all while still employing the popular children's leader who was grooming and sexually abusing over 25 boys during the decade he remained in a position of power there.

This widespread move by churches to protect their name, power, wealth, and reputation while failing to address blatant sin/abuse or to protect legitimate victims is more than cringey.  It is evil.  It is so far from the heart of God or the true church Jesus is building.

Kids are very trusting and precious, and church children are typically taught to trust and respect those in church leadership and authority.  I know I did -- I would have obeyed their every command, and the church always felt like a wonderful, safe place for me growing up.  I miss that feeling now, but at least I have the ability to process the brokenness and spiritual warfare behind all of this as an adult in my 30s.  I really cannot begin to imagine how much damage it would have done to my view of God, my relationship with Him, my own identity, and my relationship with the church for one of those trusted pastors or leaders to violate my heart and body in that way.  It makes me sick and sad that it has happened to so many children.  And it makes my blood boil that churches have repeatedly dismissed or deliberately silenced them.

Of course, there is also the situation with Paige Patterson defending a rapist and blaming the victim, the Ravi Zacharias sex scandal, plus John Crist and so many other prominent Christians using their positions of power to hurt and abuse others.  The church has responded with loads of grace and false humility for most of those men, but they've turned hard against Beth Moore for speaking up and confronting their abuses of power.  It's all tragic, surreal, exhausting, and terribly disheartening.  These church sex scandals tend to be extra shocking to people because they've been so well hidden for years and years.  As the victims' attorney said in Spotlight, "If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one."  In every case here, other church people knew what was happening and chose to remain silent and keep their distance from it.  Thus, evil triumphed and the victims suffered further. 

I believe it's highly important that we not hold a dismissive attitude toward dehumanizing sin with anyone in leadership, be it church or political or family.  Massive damage has been done by Christians pretending the R behind someone's name gives them a free pass, saying character doesn't really matter for politicians since they didn't sign up to be pastors.  The way powerful people treat others says a great deal about who they are and what matters most to them.  Character matters deeply.  It always has and always will.

Anyway, I don't have a neat little bow to tie this post up with.  I wish I did, but it's all very messy and contentious and surrounded with shame and secrecy and attempts to hide the truth.  Our enemy has made sure of that.  Still, it was important for me to say these things out loud.  I think lots of Christians with the best of intentions get caught up in the love and grace mindset, feeling like they would be out of line or being too judgmental if they acknowledge and confront clear abuses of power, believing the "family business" line of thought or thinking they should only focus on their own sins, and saying that Jesus just wanted us to love each other and stand united.  I have struggled with that sometimes too, wondering if I need to tone it all down and be quick to forgive when I read Jesus' prayer for church unity in John 17.  But that prayer applies to the true church.  Those who step into leadership with selfish ambitions are not a part of that group, and those who give in to temptations to manipulate and abuse others in order to seize and hold control, power, or wealth are clearly not living submitted to Jesus as Lord.  Our role is NOT to unite in minimizing, tolerating, and hiding that abuse to protect the church's name or political power position.  Let it burn if it must.  Our loyalty is to the name of Christ and the true family of God, and the church has a duty to protect victims of abuse and be a safe place for those who are hurting and vulnerable.  Part of that involves calling out the abusers and drawing clear lines of right and wrong.

Our misunderstanding and poor application of grace has done a lot of damage here.  Let's also remind ourselves that Jesus was the first to speak up and confront the religious leaders of His day whose hypocrisy and power moves were causing great damage to people seeking to get closer to God in the church.  These were popular, prominent, and well-respected leaders, so Jesus' disciples felt really awkward and asked if He understood that He had insulted and offended them.  That part always makes me laugh - they so didn't get who He was yet!  Jesus also made a huge scene and turned over tables when people viewed the church grounds as a great place to make some money rather than a place where it was important to honor God.  He was not silent and demure, and He didn't keep things quiet or call it family business and try to deal with it all internally without anyone outside the church noticing the drama.  He warned them very openly about wolves in sheep's clothing, and He encouraged His disciples to be shrewd.  He didn't mind causing division or separating the wheat from the chaff, and He is not honored by the church's cowardice and self-serving legal moves in these situations.

In closing, I guess I'll just say that it greatly comforts my heart to know how much Jesus loves and fiercely defends children, saying: "If anyone causes one of these little ones - those who believe in Me - to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone was hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea."  ~Mark 9:42

God is good and powerful and just.  He sees everything, and He gets the last word, and He does not take any of this lightly.  

Thank God for that!

Happy Easter + Phoning It In (Part 15)

"Jesus told her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.'" ~John 11:25

Happy Easter Sunday!! ❤

This post contains Easter pics, but it's also me throwing in lots of random pics from my phone so I can feel "caught up" here. =)  Starting with this... love this quote - feeling it more and more lately!

This early morning 45-minute Bike Bootcamp was my 1,000th workout on April 1st, so I threw on my Century shirt and a bit of makeup to get a celebratory pic.  Let's go, Peloton! =)

This was a bday gift drawing from my precious niece... she made a similar one for Mamaw, and I freaking LOVE that in both of them, she drew herself wearing a crown - yas, queen - I so want her to see herself that way and really know her worth!!   Not sure if mine is hair bows or mouse ears, but I'll take it either way! lol

A Schitt's Creek themed bday gift keychain from Rach - love it!

My Apple Watch has only freaked out like this a couple times.  The move and exercise rings would just spin and spin every time I opened it, so I kept getting notifications for new records and activity awards while sitting still at my desk in Creek County. lol This was on April 1st, so it seemed like a funny April Fools prank by them.

Our courthouse was built way back in 1914, and I randomly got curious one night and did a Google search for old pictures of it.  Pretty cool!

Downtown Sapulpa in 1925 (I think) - the courthouse is in the middle there.

Yesterday (4-3-21) was a family lunch at Olive Garden for Triston's 14th birthday!  Very crazy that two of my nephews will be teenagers this month... driving and high school graduations are right around the corner.  I love and adore them, and they have never been confused about that, and I'm happy to be a positive influence in their lives!

T-man got the iPhone 12 Pro as a birthday gift from Rach and Josh... he was super surprised and excited about it, and making me laugh trying to keep the screen really pristine and clean.  I took him to the AT&T store (well, both the Midwest City and the Choctaw store) after lunch to get a phone cover and exchange the mint green for the pacific blue phone, and Tyral was really awesome and helped set up his new phone.  Makes me happy to see him happy!

 

Last night, I joined my parents and Bill & Jill for dinner at Bob's Steakhouse, which was tasty and fun!  We chatted about all the latest drama and watched part of the Final Four games in March Madness (Go Baylor!!).  

Laura invited me to join her this morning for an outdoor church service at River Oaks.  It was lovely weather (minus one flinchy gnat attack), and it was really nice to be a part of group worship and be reminded of our hope in Christ!

*I was planning to have a quiet, movie-watching Easter Sunday, and I wasn't at all sad about that.  But I do feel very thankful that the only two friends who knew I was back in town today (Chet & Laura) both invited me to come and have lunch with their families!  YAY, friendship!! ❤

After church, we picked up Panera lunch and came to Susie's house where we ate outside on her back patio.  Yay for the strawberry poppyseed salad and broccoli cheddar soup!

We had some of Brett's leftover birthday cake + ice cream for dessert - yum!

 This bunny in a hammock by the window was super cute to me, so I had to snap a picture!

It was only decided late last night that I would join them, so I was surprised to see that Susie had made me a candy-filled Easter basket!  Very thoughtful! =)

Thankful for kind friends and lovely weather!  ...Also, wishing there was a button I could press to stop the Transitions lenses when I want them to just stay clear. lol

Finally, here's a couple attempted April Fools jokes by kids that made me laugh a lot!  Solid effort. lol

 

 

That's all for today.  Hope you've had a good weekend!!

Thankful Thursday #122

"They sang with praise and thanksgiving to the LORD: “For He is good; His faithful love to Israel endures forever.” Then all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD because the foundation of the LORD’s house had been laid."  ~Ezra 3:11

Today, I am thankful for:

1.  Catching up with Sarah Elizabeth over a four-hour lunch at Chick-Fil-A last Wednesday... and randomly running into Chet Lee + Teresa and Michael and Baylee there!! ❤

 

2. Building and sticking with good habits through the first three months of 2021 (intermittent fasting, working out 6 days a week, daily meditation, etc.)

 

3.  My active, athletic niece and nephews... all represented on this awesome wall.  Mom put a lot of thought and time and effort (and $$) into making their rooms a really fun space for them, and they all turned out great!  (I made the trip down to help her with C&J's room on Monday this week.)

4. Best. invitation. ever. ❤  Miss K went inside as I was about to leave, then popped back out and ran to my car door to hand me this post-it and tell me to please come to her first grade class event in a few weeks.  There are times I just wanna scream at how cute she is, and this was one of them! lol

5. I'm thankful that vaccines are widely available now.  I went back and forth for a bit, but I'm glad I decided to get it in the end.  I fully support everyone having the right to choose whether or not it's right for them, and I understand both the strong reservations and the strong relief/excitement many people are feeling about it.  I'm on the "you do you" page - I will love and support you either way!

6.  Being able to choose between several uplifting Peloton instructors and ride to great music and fun coaching!  (This one was Alex's "2000s ride" with lots of Kanye, Usher, Justin Timberlake, P. Diddy, etc. - yes, please - the whole playlist reminded me of Rach's burned CD collection back in the day!)

7. Cultivating resilience and soul care!

Happy Thursday and Happy 1st day of April, friends!!  (Be on guard for April fools jokes today.)  Hope it's a delightful month ahead for you!

March 2021

 QUOTE OF THE MONTH:

"When you were raised to be a peace keeper, your roar may be muted.  Give yourself permission to reclaim your voice.  Silence and smiles are not your only options in the face of disrespect... As you heal, you no longer feel the need to rearrange yourself to make others comfortable." ❤

~Dr. Thema

MARCH GRATITUDE LIST

• Seeing the fam in Tulsa during Spring Break week
• More restful days and time off work than usual
  
• Fun belated birthday gifts from several friends
  
• Lunch or dinner chats with Elizabeth, Sarah, Kristin F., Tiffany, and the Wilsons and Shoemakers
  
• Getting my first dose of the COVID vaccine
• A precious invite from the Miss K to her class's Author's Tea event
• My first jury duty experience
  
• Watching March Madness games with Mom and Dad (I'm thankful to have that and other sports back this year - I care about that more than I would've thought)
  

What was life-draining this month?

• Attempting 75 Hard on my own and falling short pretty quickly 
• Feeling unseen, underappreciated, and unheard as I'm working on speaking up more often - it's a process changing my own internal dialogue and the way others perceive and treat me
  
• Navigating boundary issues
• Seeing people I love hurt by the ripple effects of selfish choices made by others

What was life-giving this month?

• Slow Flow yoga classes + Meditation (Peloton)
• Continuing the strength training calendar
• Finding the "75 Easy" group on Facebook and having much more success with that (a modified version of 75 Hard + community support)
• Every time I felt truly seen and appreciated
  
• Finally dealing with the oil stains on my driveway
• Getting my first hot stone massage since the pandemic began
  
• A cute new haircut (photo below)
  
• Collecting inspiring photos and quotes
  
• Crying my way through the final episode of WandaVision
  
• My entire Gratitude List above! ❤

HAPPY LISTS

I Read:  Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (Amplified Bible)

I Listened To:  Two Audiobooks:  Getting Unstuck by Timothy Butler, Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, + the usual blogs and Facebook posts
The 10 podcasts mentioned in January!

I Watched:  Gilmore Girls, This Is Us, and Spotlight (a movie about corruption in the church that deserves its own post soon)

I Made:  Canva Design photos and quotes for my Board of Empowerment ❤

*This recap was inspired by Emily Freeman's The Next Right Thing Journal, and I'm writing one for each month of 2021!

Feeling Empowered

 Empowerment:  

• The process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights
• The state of being empowered:  the power, right, or authority to do something
• The capacity to take control of circumstances, exercise power, and achieve goals
• A process by which, individually and collectively, people are able to help themselves and others to maximize the quality of their lives
  
• The act of empowering someone or something:  the giving or delegation of power or authority

^^Yes, please, to all of the above!

I'm having so much fun collecting pictures and ideas for my "Empowerment board!"  Hopefully I can have them printed and put them up within the next couple weeks.  *I'm also thankful for the Canva design website where you can collage images and text and choose from several free templates and fonts.

Robin is my second-favorite Peloton instructor... she is fierce and fun and motivating.  She says this at the end of many of her classes, and I love every word!!! ❤

 

 

This verse is to help me stay on guard and remember the coming Kingdom... to remind me that I am redeemed and forgiven and a valued part of the Kingdom of Christ, where darkness no longer has any power over me!

Aditi is my favorite Peloton yoga instructor, and I love this quote by her!

This one may come across as arrogant, but it's meaningful for me, so I'm going with it.  I love the beginning of this poem by Lord Byron... the idea of being beautiful like a starry night and the line "all that's best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and her eyes."  I LOVE that.  The dark seasons and hard parts of our lives give us more depth and substance and make us more beautiful... and it makes the Light inside us shine that much brighter (like the stars).  That's possibly my fav pic of myself, and one that will hopefully "inspire me" to go with the brighter lipstick and curl my hair more often! lol

 

Tunde is my fav Peloton instructor for arms toning... ouch!  I love her story, as well - she's been through a great deal of loss and grief, but she found the inner strength to push forward and focus on health and strength training, and she lost over 80 pounds and got a job training and empowering others at Peloton!  She says some version of this... "It's a great day to..." at the end of each of her classes. =)

It's possible that I went with the cursive script fonts too often. lol  Anyway, I love this quote by Robin - a reminder that when my soul needs healing, I need to keep moving and not get stuck feeling sorry for myself!

Jess Sims is powerful and encouraging, always reminding you that it's okay to modify ("No ego, amigo!") and to keep trying and pushing forward because "you can do hard things!!"  That's been a motto for me since Ashley Campbell posted about it a few years back.  It's so important to keep a growth mindset - the idea that we can continually try new things and learn and grow and change - and this simple quote helps me with that!

Of course T-Swift is going on the board. lol  There are a thousand lyrics I considered, but when I saw this quote, I decided to go with it instead.  I want to care for my heart and live a life characterized by LOVE, joy, hope, and fullness, with or without a spouse!

I've been getting into more of Alex's classes lately - I really love his mindset and his story and how thankful he is to be a Peloton coach.  He's intense about taking responsibility for yourself, and I love what he says about there won't always be someone to clap for you, so clap for yourself and validate your own greatness! lol  He'll just start clapping after a hard climb and encourage others to do the same -- "Validate that!  Yes!!"  And I do.

This is the end of my favorite quote from Stasi, along with a photo of me with her at the Captivating retreat in Colorado.  Full quote: "Christianity is not a promise to enjoy a life without pain, nor to be given a shortcut through it. It is a promise that pain, sorrow, sin – ours and others – will not swallow us, destroy us, define us, or have the final word. Jesus has won the victory. And in Him, so have we!”

Love Lily James and this live Cinderella movie. Love and adore the simplicity of this quote/motto. ❤

CODY RIGSBY!! lol  He's still the favorite mostly because he's FUN -- he keeps the classes entertaining with funny stories and ridiculous dancing and opinionated commentary on life and pop culture, and he's positive and encouraging in a way that's endearing rather than overboard to me!  He ends every class with "Bye, Boo!" which is how the #BooCrew got it's name and why everyone calls him "Boo."  He's also good at reminding us to be fierce, fun, flirty, fabulous, etc.  Anyway, I'm gonna cut this one and make it two separate pics, and I'll make at least one more with a longer quote by him. =)

Love this one too.  The ultimate goal for me is not hitting a certain number on the scale or reaching a certain dress size.  The day-by-day goal is pursuing strength and health in every area of life - being a person who is strong, healthy, secure, and confident, inside and out!!  Yes, please!  I've made great progress in shifting my old quick-fix, weight-centered, shame-based mentality here, and I'm super thankful for that!!

Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts is another yoga and meditation instructor that I love... yay, Peloton!  She ends every class with the phrase, "May peace be with you," and that feels encouraging and hopeful! ❤

Hannah is a great Barre instructor, and she has some fun country rides, including one with all Shania songs!  She says this a lot, and I like it!

My favorite Biblical blessing verses:

All my hashtags + me with my XOXO Cody t-shirt, Legends of Fun water bottle, and #BooCrew headband! lol

YESSSSS to this quote!!  I love Christine's mellow energy and encouragement and the way she gets into the music.  Her Pentatonix ride was amazing!

Emma Lovewell, the "Crush Your Core" instructor and the only one to offer several Disney music rides... so great!  Here's some excellent advice from her + her Live, Learn, Love well sign-off that always makes me smile!

Ally's Whitney Houston ride and arms toning classes were awesome! 🔥  She ends all her classes doing the peace sign followed by the T-Swift heart (right pic) saying, "Peace and love, Peloton!  I'm Ally Love." ❤

Finally, my verse for 2021.  A fantastic reminder that love casts out fear, and that God created me to be powerful, loving, and emotionally stable!! ❤

That's all I've got for you today.  A little preview of some of the quotes/pics on my board... most of it will be pictures, but I wanted a few of these phrases thrown in there too!

Hope you're having a lovely Tuesday and feeling strong and healthy and empowered! ❤