My Fam

from left to right, Gabby, Madison, me, My Dad, My Mom, Aidan, Brendan and Conor

supporting my Dads team, Go Rapids!

I am a lucky girl with one big crazy family. I am the oldest of 6 kids, (pause for dramatic effect) yes 6! I am significantly older then all of my 5 siblings because they are actually my half-siblings (although i never ever think of them that way). I am so lucky to have such an entertaining and quirky family, I absolutely love visiting them (they live in Denver, CO) and I always leave completely loved and completely exhausted.

LA trip

Recently I went to LA to visit my Uncle and have some quality time with my family.As anyone who is in a loving family you cannot spend multiple days together without driving each other a little batty, and we are certainty no different. I would say though despite the arguments l it was a great trip. I was happy to come home to my little apartment all alone with no little kids around. As always after a few days I missed them so much I forgot they drove me crazy :)

the carlisles, my uncle steve, my aunt bobi and i at happy hour

my attempt at paddle boarding;it didnt go well 

our photo shoot at Gladstones, such tourists.

cousins, they may look sweet but they like to torture eachother

Be Amazing.

photos taken at Chambers

One thing that women in other generations cannot give us advice on is the horror of social media when it comes to dating. How terrible is Facebook  LinkedIn  twitter, blogs etc when you are going through a breakup?? Not only are you trying your very hardest to move on, or stay positive, or let it go...all great notions but not easy. But how in the hell are you supposed to do that when your X and his life are being thrown in your face (okay not your face but you can easily see it when you want to). What girl hasn't gone on an emotional downward spiral into Facebook analyzing every detail of their X's life?? only to feel a million times worse afterwards because lets face it men can simply go on with their lives as if nothing has happened and we are left with a big large gaping void. how they do it, i don't know because i am clearly female and while we are emotionally cutting they are grabbing beers with their boys talking about the game. must be nice. but if i can give a little advice here, block your X on Facebook and possibly anyone who might post anything about them. there is no need to make it harder on yourself and no one has the control to not look at their profile and get a glimpse into the life you are no longer apart of. it just isn't natural to be able to do see their life and they shouldn't be able to see yours, what is this the Truman Show? if you are going to break up in life you should break up online too. trust me.

side note, i am now in my post recovering break up phase and it is fab, it does get better. eventually. focus on yourself and do what you need to do to be happy!

for me my wolfies (and friends) were my saving grace, i am all about the girl power.

xo

cheek!

Hiking in Vail with my sisters. It was actually really challenging in the high altitude but we had a great time and were more then relieved when we finally made it to the top! I wish we lived closer to eachother (my family lives in Denver) so we could hang out all of the time! they are growing up so fast.... 

Foodemy

via

One thing that most women can relate on is their ever changing relationship with food. One day food is your best friend and the next your worst enemy and the worst is the days when food is your frenimy that you just cant stay way from.

My personal philosophy on food is this: you should listen to your body and feed it accordingly.

Sounds easy enough but we all know its not, because the fact is that food can be a very comforting substitute for many things. For instance right now my lack of a love life is making food my sort of boyfriend (NOT GOOD) so instead of coming home to cuddle with my bf I am coming home and cuddling with a brownie or a bowl of ice-cream. I AM BREAKING THAT HABIT NOW. because not only is the lack of a boyfriend dictating my life but in the end eating junk doesn't make me feel good long term (but ill admit its great in the moment).

Any good suggestions on what else could replace those nightly cuddle sessions instead of calories??

Cheek!

Al

happy birthday Gabby!!

 happiest of birthdays to my littlest sister Gabriella!! She is the sweetest, silliest, most fun person I know! She has the most infectious laugh and completely brightens up any room! She is 12 this year; and I am so proud of what a great person she is turning into.

good words for a bad day.

Just keep running, Just keep running ......

Pure Happiness at the finish line

Last weekend a few of my wolfies and I ran the Giants Race , it was my first run that I have ever done and I decided that the best idea would be to not train at all and just kind of wing it. I was really nervous beforehand because the longest I have ever run was 2 miles and that was usually a struggle, running just isn't my thing. Despite all of my trepidation I actually ran the ENTIRE 10k and finished in 1 hour and 11 min!! I was unbelievably proud that I pushed myself to do it and proved to myself (and everyone else) that I was capable! With all of that said- I don't think I will ever run a 10k again, maybe a 5k. I am still sore and it was 5 days ago. Two of my wolfies ran the 10k as well and then our champion wolfie ran the Half Marathon! She did great, and I was super impressed!

I am really glad that I did it, and even more glad that it is over with!

I would love to hear some challenging things that you have pushed yourself to do!!

cheek!

Al

Privacy Please

In this day and age of Facebook, twitter and Instagram it is pretty obvious that people in general are not very private. They display their entire lives for everyone and anyone to see (case and point blogging) and yet often  I hear friends or family who are very very active on all social media say they are private people. well come on now! are you really? i for one am not a private person i cannot keep anything to myself. i am an open book with my life with my emotions and with my opinions (sometimes to a fault) but sometimes i wonder if being so open and honest can be detrimental to myself, as if i am giving too much away and even more so how all of this social media is affecting everyone that very same way.

Have we thrown away the little mystery that each person should hold dear? Should we start learning to keep our mouths (including virtual mouths) shut before we ruin it?


al 

puppy therapy

Via

Via

if you are anything like me (a huge animal lover) you are instantly cheered up by cuddling or playing with a pup or a kitty. a great way to cheer yourself up from a breakup or hard day at work is to tend to your pet. this is obviously a big commitment and not to be taken lightly, its expensive and time consuming and sometimes a pain in the ass but in my opinion completely worth it. if you don't have the time or money offer to dog sit or volunteer at an animal shelter, i promise you, hanging out with some baby animals for the day will put everything into perspective.

is there anything else you have found that does the trick to cheer you up?? let me know!

cheek!

al