This year has brought many blessings for myself, as well as many of you beautiful readers. I launched Bloom & Spark 3 years ago, with no idea what I was doing, only a desire to share my own health and wellness journey. My hope to inspire others while I learned, explored, and shared has grown slowly and steadily like the little engine that could. I have to remind myself every day that it took guts to put myself out there, share my story, and continue to show up as honestly as I can. Unfortunately, like so many others, I can get caught in the trap of comparison-itis. But in the spirit of seeing our lives as beautiful and perfect just as they are, I wanted to share with you some of my highlights from 2017.

Getting Engaged

My fiancé, Tim, and I have been together for 11 years!!! Say What!?!?! We met in college and had loads of things to do before throwing a really complicated and expensive wedding seemed like a good idea. I’m so glad we waited, and we are savoring every moment of being engaged before the big day in June 2018. (Isn’t he cute!)

Finally Stepping into Coaching

I read a journal entry of mine in 2015 where I wrote about how I wanted to help people somehow but I didn’t know how to start or what to do. Fast forward a few years, and I finally stepped into my role as a health and wellness coach this year, despite many doubts, and fears. My first couple of private clients I had in 2017 felt like divine soulmates, brought to be by the universe herself to show me that I have what it takes to make an impact on their lives. I am madly in love with my clients and the work that we do to bring more meaning to their lives. Nothing has brought my the type of joy and enthusiasm than working with these amazing women to help them find greater balance in mind, body, and spirit….oh and I’m just getting started!

Being Named Lululemon’s Teacher of the Month

I sort of hesitate to put this up here because it’s definitely an outer source of happiness for sure. Meaning that it involves extrenal recognition. I’m always talking about not placing serious meaning on ego driven happiness but in this case it’s a little different. Partnering with Lululemon was a dream come true, not becasue of the name and fancy yoga pants, but because the sense of community they create. Not only am I friends with so many of the ladies that work there (the Hamptons are a pretty small community) but the outreach and generosity that Lululemon shows for our comminity, is unmatched. I got to teach classes to fellow yoga-loving Hamptons locals in the most beautiful yoga space/art gallery, meet more people in my community, and they honestly throw some pretty rad parties too! Being around nice people is just..well really nice!

Traveling to Stockholm

One of the best, and most random ideas we’ve ever had. It’s not that I didn’t want to go to Stockholm, it’s just that it never really occurred to me as a place to travel to. I had a long list of places that would have come before Stockholm. But thanks to some extremely cheap flights, we booked a trip without hesitation. With no expectations we were set up to be blown away by the culture, architectural beauty, lovely people, and the MOST INCREDIBLE FOOD! I will forever recommend Stockholm as a must-see destination, and hope to return there someday. (I’m actually toally obsessed with Scandinavian culture now btw.)

Investing in Myself

I’m certain that more people should be doing this. I always thought investing in myself meant getting a mani/pedi every few months. HA! What I’ve really come to learn is that investing in yourself involves going out on a limb, learning something you never knew, taking a course or a training in something you’re interested in, and exploring hidden depths and heights to who you are as a person. I have begun to invest in myself in ways that would have freaked me out in the past, but I see no other investment as sound as investing in yourself. My best investments in the past have included a 200 hour yoga teacher training, Spirit Junkie Masterclass Level 1 & 2 with Gabby Bernstein (best investment ever, btw), B-school with Marie Forleo (highly recommend it to all my fellow boss-babes out there), Amanda Frances Life Coach Course, and finally this year the biggest investment of all… I finally hired my own coach!

This is poignant because I always thought I could do everything myself. If I just got enough books, watched enough free webinars, sighed up for all the freebies out there, that I would know what to do. Well that may be true but knowledge without strategy for implementation is like a wet match. I just invested in my second high level coach and every time I work with a coach I am taken to new heights in my business and personal growth. Moral: if you’re thinking about hiring a coach just do it. You’ll wish you did it sooner!