I am so excited to be partnering on this sponsored post with Workman Publishing on another special release by Flow Magazine. Flow is a magazine that takes its time, celebrating creativity, imperfection, and life’s little pleasures. In a time when other print media is focusing their energies on their digital properties, Flow Magazine is finding success by fully embracing the physical qualities of paper.
Creativity Takes Courage is the newest book released by the co-founders and creative directors of Flow Magazine, Irene Smit and Astrid Van der Hults. It is available now, and only $21.95!
It is a practical and hands-on guide to stretch your creative muscles and dare to focus on the pleasure of the process! The book is organized around a series of twelve “dares” that are intended to break you out of your usual habits and approach to creating by giving you a fresh perspective and leave your comfort zone. A few of the “dares” in the book are: dare to be quiet, dare to be mindful, dare to try something new, dare to be alone, and one that particularly stood out to me was number 9, dare to go offline.
For our big summer vacation this year, we decided to head back to Maine. Since we fly into Boston, we thought why not spend a few days in Boston again! It is such a fun city to explore. Since we did the freedom trail last time, we decided we wanted to explore a few spots we missed.
It was easiest to hop on and hop off the Old Town Trolley tours of Boston by Historic Tours of America. We have gone on several of their tours around the country, and we really have enjoyed them! You can get a day ticket and the running trolleys will pick and drop you off at all the major stops in the city all day long, and they come every 15 minutes. With limited time in the city, I’d highly suggest it! Especially with kids who can get tired out from all the walking.
We stopped off at the USS Constitution Museum. The kids loved exploring the old ship, and seeing all the old canons, and sleeping quarters of the soldiers. I just love how interested they are in history!
This post is sponsored by Zappos, thank you for supporting me and helping me share my passions, all opinions are my own.
Fitness and working out is a huge part of my life! I realize that other than occasionally on my day to day Instagram Stories, I don’t share much about my fitness journey. But, I think that is going to change! Truth be told, when I think of fitness bloggers or fitness influencers, I think of rock solid abs, perfectly shaped booty’s, hard core healthy eating, counting calories and macros. I just didn’t think I quite fit that mold. While I workout six days a week (I also like to eat!), I never felt like I was any kind of an authority to talk about it much since I didn’t have the six pack to go along with it, or some amazing before and after. But, fitness is something I love, and has benefitted me in so many ways, so I would love to share more about how I like to approach it!
I have talked a little bit about my fitness journey before, here, and here. But, I am always changing and evolving in what I enjoy doing, and I always love to try new things! Something that may be a little different for me is that I workout because I love how it makes me feel, and because I love my body! I’m not saying I wouldn’t want to change things about it, because I could go into a long list of things, but I have always tried to approach it from a gratitude standpoint and stay very positive and not go into what I don’t like, and appreciate what I do. And, that is the immense gratitude I have for a body that is healthy, alive, bore three children, and serving me well day after day. What more can I ask for? (Maybe some rock hard abs would be nice.. I kid!) Joking aside, I am truly SO grateful for this amazing body that allows me to do so much, I thank God every day for it. I exercise and try to eat a healthy diet to thank my body by keeping it fueled, strong, and healthy.
The one thing that has been a constant in my fitness journey is running. Brooks Running Shoes have always been on my top go-to shoes for running, and I have been using their running shoes for years and years! Their new Brooks Levitate 2 Running Shoes I ordered from Zappos (love their free shipping, returns, best customer service) is a new favorite! They are perfect for my treadmill workouts, as well as an outdoor run. A perfect neutral shoe that is both comfortable, durable, and lightweight with their new DNA AMP energized cushion system! (All so important!) I also grabbed the Brooks Greenlight Running Capris, that are the perfect thickness, suck you in, and don’t slip around or need to constantly be pulled up. The Brooks Array Short Sleeve workout top is also so comfortable, absorbent (I’m a sweater), as well as stylish with a cute split fabric detail in the back!
