When The Lights Go Out

When the lights go out,
I lie awake;
Imagining you lying next to me
Holding my hand;
Holding me so tight against your body
That it's like you're afraid
That I'll float away
If you let go.

When the lights go out,
I lie awake
Imagining myself standing tall
Holding my head high
Holding myself so tight against the hand of the lord
That it's like I'm afraid
That I'll float away
If I let go.

The breaking up process for me and Beck has been almost as slow and painful as it was going into the relationship. It's hard to put a name on a transition that is so difficult. We have both felt the pain as we pulled apart, even though we both know deep in our souls that it was best for us in this moment in this life. I hadn't given myself enough time to heal from my marriage and the dissolution of my marriage, and he still needs to get a little more comfortable in his new skin and new life. We both have the type of personality that makes us think that we need to let go of the parts of ourselves that we love and totally dissolve ourselves into our partners when in relationship. We both saw that we needed to work on that part of ourselves that holds onto those things that we love doing independently in order to grow those roots a little deeper. We both needed the time apart to make sure that we really knew ourselves enough to not let those selves become a meshed up mess of something that didn't resemble either of us at the human level or the soul level.

Even knowing all of that, it's hard to tear your hearts apart. It was especially hard for me knowing what happened the last time I did this. Even with the deepest intention to stay friends, when you love someone that deeply, you have to separate completely in order to get to that friend level, and sometimes when you separate, you don't know if you will come back together, and that is scary. It's scary to think that someone who has been your everything won't be there by your side ever again. On some levels, it feels like death would be an easier option, not because you want to die, but because at least when someone dies, they're not there anymore living a life that you can see but aren't in any way involved in. You love them from afar and hope that they are well, but you don't get to have any say in their love or successes. You have no right to complain, because you chose this -  this separation - this loss. You chose this. Or maybe you didn't have any choice, and it's still so hard to accept the changes that are happening. You go with it because that's all you can do. You send love when you think about that other person. You open your heart to what is to come. That's all you can do. You accept where you are and know that you are on the right path and that there are amazing things ahead because God created us in his image, so why would he want anything but the best for us. His love is unconditional, so no matter what we've done or where we've been, his love is always there. There is no judgement in the eyes of my God. Only love lives there. I choose to live in his image. I choose to live with that same open hearted love. I choose to see the beauty everywhere that has been given to us by someone who knows and loves us more than we love ourselves sometimes.

When the lights come on
I know you're there
Lying next to me
Holding my hand
Looking into my eyes
and seeing
the light and love
that live there

When the lights come on
I know you're there
Walking with me in this life
Holding my hand
Looking into my eyes
so that I can see
the light and love
that live there

Put Your Big Girl Panties On

I know, I know! I said I would write…and I haven’t. I kind of disappeared there for a while, first from facebook, then from instagram, twitter, linkedin…social media was a lot to keep up and look for a job and accept the fact that I was re-entering a work force that I thought I had left behind. I said I would write, though, and here I am.

Some of you might remember in one of my last posts, I talked about joining the Dave Ramsey fan club. Well, I’m not sure there actually is a fan club, but I definitely became a follower, both of his podcast and his teachings. You might also remember that the year after my divorce, I spent the year spending money. I quit my incredibly flexible, well-paying engineering job and traveled to Thailand, Colorado, Vegas, Bonnaroo, the beach, and a host of other fabulous locations with some of my favorite people. I bought swim suits, purses, clothes, yoga teacher trainings, energy healing and lingerie, and I loved every minute of it. I bought away all of the pain and grief of my failed marriage. I spent money instead of spending time with my emotions. I didn’t realize I had emotions.

I spent the next year trying to figure out how to dig myself out of the financial hole I dug for myself. I worked one minimum wage job after the next, and with each one, I thought to myself that I could be doing something a little easier on my body (remember that engineering degree) and making way more money in less time. I made things work. I dug myself up to a point where I could at least see over the edge of the hole by baristing (is that a word??), babysitting, dogsitting, house sitting, helping a friend with her research company, teaching yoga and doing odd jobs where I could find them. I was finally to a point financially where I could breathe and not have to worry about a service fee hitting my checking account and putting me into overdraft. I could pay most of my bills without having to pick and choose which ones I would pay from month to month.

At some point in there, Beck exposed me to Dave Ramsey for the first time on one of our road trips. Mind you, the first time I heard that man speak, I felt rage bubble up in my world that had been so filled with rainbows and butterflies that there was hardly any room for the darkness that comes with an emotion like rage. He called someone stupid on the first show I heard. I immediately told Beck to turn that garbage off and listen to something nice. Come to find out, he did turn it off…but only until I fell asleep, which in the car didn’t take too long. I would wake up to hear that awful voice coming through the speakers. It wasn’t long before I heard something from it that made sense, though. He said things that my Gramps had tried and tried to instill in my life when I was growing up. He talked about not using credit cards and buying things solely on cash. He talked about saving money to buy what you want instead of giving yourself instant gratification at whatever cost the credit company decided to charge you. He also talked about digging yourself out of the financial hole that is debt. It wasn’t until he talked about managing God’s money that I finally started to buy in. At some point, I realized that I was the one turning the podcast on when we were in the car instead of Beck. I drank the Kool-Aid.

I started making a budget, without really sticking to it. The day I got the letter from my mortgage company, though, that I had skipped one too many payments (wasn’t I only one behind? I had lost track…) was the day I decided to take my life back.

One thing Dave talked about was that in order to dig yourself out of the hole that is debt, sometimes you need to get a bigger shovel. For most people, that means getting a part-time, low paying job to supplement their main income. For someone who was already working several part-time, low paying jobs, though, I knew exactly what that would look like. I just wasn’t ready to accept that it meant using the natural gifts that I had been given. God stuck with me, though, and gave me the gentle nudges I needed to ease my way back into engineering. I took small steps to embracing the fact that I had a brain again, and when I started explaining how engineering things worked on vacations and helping Beck with his engineering homework, I realized that I really did know how to do this stuff.

Now I’m going to let you in on something really crazy. Remember the post I wrote about being on the wrong path? I had a dream one night that I was driving down the interstate and suddenly had the feeling I was going the wrong direction even though there were no other cars around me. I drove over the grass in the median to get to the other side of the road only to drive a little ways before there were cars coming at me. I dodged all the cars and trucks, got myself turned around and was to the break in the median where I could get back to the other side when I woke up. The right side of the interstate was actually on the other side from where I originally started. My interpretation of this one was that even though I felt like engineering was not for me, I was really just on the wrong side of the interstate. I just had to get myself off that path and through a little craziness in order to find the right path, a path with purpose. Engineering has always been the right thing for me. I just needed to have a goal and get myself in the right spot, and like Dave Ramsey always tells people who call in, I needed to “put my big girl panties on and get a job.”

I started looking for jobs that were anything other than consulting. I knew that didn’t work for me. I thought with my broad experience that a city engineer position would be a good fit for me, but I also felt pulled toward a State or Federal job. One day when I was meditating on where I was meant to be, I got a phone call (literally in the middle of my meditation) from Erin at TDOT to set up an interview. I called her back to schedule it, and she asked if I could come in the next day. I hadn’t realized that the state worked that fast on anything! I agreed to come in the next day (Tuesday) for an interview not realizing what I was getting myself into. I didn’t have a suit to interview in. I hadn’t ever been to an interview where I didn’t wear a suit. I found my best dress and a cardigan and the only pair of heels I still own and drove to the interview. It was hot that day, and I’m always hot when I’m nervous anyway, so I ended up leaving my cardigan in the car and walking into the interview in my sleeveless dress thinking that I would never get the job because I was so under-dressed. I stopped in at the bathroom and walked in to the Materials and Tests Division of TDOT so nervous that I couldn’t even think straight.

I was greeted right inside the door by a super nice guy who was eager to please and eager to help when I asked where I was supposed to be going for my interview. He pointed down the hall to a waiting room. No one else talked to me while I walked down the hall, and I sat in the chairs under the sign that said to wait there for my interview. I could hear people at lunch behind a set of bookshelves playing cards and chatting about potato salad. A man I have come to know and love came out from behind the shelves after they finished the game and offered me some of the infamous potato salad, which I gracefully declined as I sat sweating (from nerves or heat, I’m not sure…probably both) in the chair that thankfully had high arms so that I could rest my arms on them and air myself out while I breathed through the nerves and waited to be called into the interview.

A nice woman (who I would soon find out was my future manager) walked by at one point and said that they would be ready in a minute and headed off down the hallway. Another woman (my future manager’s manager) and a man walked by at some point and went into the conference room before the first woman finally came by and told me they were ready. Right before I walked into the room, I felt a strange sense of calm. I walked in to a panel of three interviewers, which they explained in the first ten minutes is actually a requirement of all TDOT interviews. They also spent the majority of that ten minutes explaining what the actual job was going to entail. If you’ve never applied for a state job, you wouldn’t know that the postings are a little vague so that they can use the same posting for every position at that level that they have open. It was a little confusing but made way more sense after that first ten minutes. They then went on to explain that they were going to take turn asking questions, but they all had the same questions on their sheets that they asked of every candidate they interviewed and all three of them had to write responses to the questions on their sheets. Gotta love the standardization of the government!

At one point, one of the girls started out a sentence with “This is incredibly unprofessional, but…” and that was what won me over. The job description of teaching trainings and visiting concrete plants might have had something to do with it, too, but I just really had a good feeling about this one. I walked out of the interview with no expectations, and was shocked when I got the phone call that Friday with a tentative job offer, which I excitedly accepted. I could have gotten a higher paying job or one with a better title, but this one felt better than the others, and I have learned by now to go with my gut.

The first couple weeks were a dream. I walked into the first day and went straight into one of the classes that I will eventually be teaching. The second day on the job, I got to play with concrete while meeting some of the amazing people who work in Region 3 Materials and Tests. My manager talks to me and explains why she makes the decisions she makes. I have gotten to sit in on numerous meetings where I learn something new every time and sometimes even feel like I may be contributing something to a team of people who are working together for a common goal. I can’t say that I don’t have moments when I walk down the hall and think to myself that I can’t believe I’m in a cube farm again or staring at a computer screen again, but those thoughts are quickly replaced by gratitude for the amazing people I work with, the amazing team I’m part of, and the fun parts of my job. The paycheck helps, too, of course, and the fact that every time I sit down and look at my budget, I get to see the difference I’m making and that I’m going to make.

Maybe, just maybe, I needed that year of just getting by in order to help me realize that I could live on way less than I was making as an engineer so that I can “live and give like no one else” in the words of Dave Ramsey himself. I’ve become a better manager of God’s money, and I’m grateful that I’m now standing in the flow where I can allow it to flow through me a little easier. I’m also grateful that I put my big girl panties on and found some joy in a place where I never thought in a million years that I would find it. As always, I’m grateful for the lessons I’ve learned and the teachers who were there when I was ready for them. I’m also grateful for you and whatever role I’m playing in your journey as you’re playing your role in mine.

Much love,

Emily Rose

People I Love

I recently made a big decision to get back into the engineering world. What does that mean for you? I'm not so sure. I'm still goin
g to teach yoga. I'm still going to write. I'm pretty sure that it won't change your world in any drastic way.

What does this mean for me?? It means that I need to earn PDHs again to get my license back to active. It means that I need to plug myself back into a network that I removed myself from two years ago. It means meetings and luncheons and busyness. Oddly enough, I'm doing it all with a huge smile on my face. You see, I recently read a book that put everything into a little more perspective for me. It's called Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing by Jed McKenna. It put enlightenment into a totally different perspective for me, and made me realize that the things I thought I was looking for were actually there all along, and the things I thought I needed were not necessarily true. It made me question all of the things I was doing to find myself and my purpose and encouraged me to look at the world as a play where everyone was playing their roles. It made me realize that I stopped playing my role while I was trying to figure out what my role was.

The dream I had last week confirmed that for me. I dreamt that I was driving on the interstate and suddenly had the feeling I was going the wrong direction. I drove over the grass in the median to get to the other side only to drive a little ways before there were cars and trucks coming at me. I dodged all the cars and trucks, got myself turned around and was to the break in the median where I could get turned to the other side when I woke up. The right side of the interstate, though, was on the other side from where I originally started. I feel like this has something to do with me being in the engineering field before but for the wrong reasons. I took a detour off to a path that was going against the grain but one that I had to take in order to know the direction I needed to take to get on the right path.

When I was in engineering before, if someone were to ask me why I was an engineer, I would have said that growing up I was good at math and science, so Dad said that I would be a good engineer. I had no purpose in my engineering career. I was there because someone else told me it would be a good idea. That's one of the big reasons that I left engineering. I needed to figure out what it was that made me tick. I needed to know why I was here. I needed purpose.

I recently started meditating a lot more. I thought I was meditating before, but I started practicing yoga at The Ivy House in west Nashville and learned that the guided meditations and yoga practice that I had before was not really getting me where I needed to go. It wasn't getting me to my truth fast enough. I started praying for more clarity in my life. I started becoming more aware of the answers I was seeking. In an Awareness Yoga Immersion last month, I learned how to meditate and learned a particular style of meditation that ended with the questions, "Who am I? What do I want? What is my purpose?" The more I've meditated with those questions, the more I have become aware of what it is that I truly want. It's been stewing in the back of my mind for the last couple of years, but the Awareness Yoga has helped me really ground it and figure out the next step I need to take.

So, what I've known for a long time that I want is to help people. I just didn't know exactly how before. I can only help people through what I've been through. I can only teach the lessons I've learned. I've been through grief from death and grief from divorce, and I want to help people going through what I went through. I want to open a house similar to The Ivy House where people who have gotten a divorce or who have experienced the death of someone close to them can go to heal. I want to have on hand a financial advisor. I want to teach them the things I've learned through life experiences and yoga, and most of all, I want them to have a safe place to live and sleep where they can heal. So, what's stopping me from doing this? I need the space. What's stopping me from having the space? I made some poor financial decisions after my divorce. What am I doing now? I'm healing my financial life. I'm attending Financial Peace University. The next step is to get a job doing something I'm good at. What would that be?

I'm actually good at a lot of things. Something I've realized recently while helping Beck out with his homework is that I'm good at engineering. I actually get it. I'm not even embarrassed to say that I enjoy talking about it. I've come to find my love of engineering again. Pair that with my newfound purpose, and I'm ready to get back into the world of engineering again. So, what does this have to do with People I Love?

A couple of days after I came to the realization that I was ready to get back into engineering, my dad reached out to me and asked if I wanted to go to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) luncheon that day. His coworker wasn't able to attend, and I was going to be able to take his place. I didn't have any plans, and refer back to the first paragraph where I mentioned I need to get PDH's in order to get my license back to active status. Twenty-four to be exact. I need to get 24 hours of professional development in order to be able to work in the field of engineering again. This led me to say yes to my dad's offer to attend the ASCE lunch. As I drove to lunch, I had butterflies in my stomach. I hadn't seen most of these people in two years.

As I walked up to registration, my eyes focused in on the man standing just behind the registration table. Mike Kusch of Sherman Dixie was one of my favorite people in the industry, and he was standing there with the biggest grin on his face. That was the kind of greeting I needed to wipe the butterflies from my belly and send them flying out around me. I smiled as I hugged that amazing man, and then started to look around the room, meeting the eyes of several other people I loved. I had forgotten how many people I know and love in the engineering industry. These people I just left without so much as an explanation two years ago still lit up when they saw me.

I found out later that people at other tables were asking if it was me as if I was a local celebrity or something. This was the kind of greeting I wanted but never even thought about as I was figuring out how to get back into the field of engineering. These are the people I helped without asking anything in return and who would do the same for me. These are the people who make engineering fun. These are the people I love, and I was reminded last Thursday that they love me back. I'm so grateful to have more clarity in my life and for it to have led me back to these amazing people! I'm grateful I have the opportunity to continue to learn and grow, and I'm grateful that I get to meet new amazing people every day to add to this beautiful network of people. I'm also grateful for you for joining me on this amazing journey!

Love,
Emily Rose

NaNoWriMo, Yoga, Booch and Vacay

Wow! It's been a while since I wrote anything, and it's been a full month since I wrote 50,000 words with many others at NaNoWriMo.org. If you don't know what NaNoWriMo is, it's short for National Novel Writer's Month. It's a month (November to be exact) where writers and aspiring writers and maybe even non-writers set a goal to write 50k words of a novel. It can be toward a novel they've already started, a novel they've been planning to write or if you're like me, a novel you had no idea you wanted to write. They even have a word for people like me who go in with no clue and no plan. We're called "pantsers" as in we write by the seat of our pants. That's definitely what I did. I went in with no idea what I wanted to write or where to go with the book and somehow ended up with over 50k words. It may not surprise you that I am now wading through a crazy somewhat jumbled up mess of words and thoughts trying to figure out what I want to expand on and where I want everything to go. There's not exactly a flow to the book...

I have to say that I actually looked forward to sitting down at the computer and letting the words flow out of my fingers. It's not really surprising that this came on the heels of me seeing Liz Gilbert at Salon @ 615 and reading Big Magic. Now I just have to overcome the fear of someone else reading my book. It's amazing how much fear there is around that. What if people judge me?? What if people don't like it?? Even worse, what if no one cares?

I've gotten a little practice on not caring if people care through this blog. I want people to get something out of what I write, but if it's not part of their path, it's not my place to force it on them, right?  So here I am with almost 65k words at this point and no clue where to go from here. If you have any advice, I would love to hear from you!

Meanwhile, I have other news to share. I went through yet another yoga immersion weekend at The Ivy House in Nashville. It was an amazing and eye opening weekend, and I met some really amazing women in the process. I've spent much of December processing the yoga I absorbed over that weekend, and my favorite takeaway was a more regular yoga and meditation practice. I'm meditating at least an hour every day now, and practicing awareness yoga on top of that. Add that to my energy work, and I'm getting closer to my bliss every day.

Another thing I got out of that weekend is a new friend who makes Kombucha. I've had several friends who make it, and I've been curious for a while. This one just happened to hit me at the right time. So, I've become one of the many with a science project on my kitchen counter. 

I had my doubts when I took the first sip of my new Kombucha on Christmas Day. After all, I don't know the first thing about the things that are growing in that jar other than that it came from a long line of Boochers before me who passed down advice and a quick lesson on how to booch in my friend's kitchen. It ended up tasting pretty good, and I feel pretty good, too, though, so I think it was a success! If you want to try some or if you have some good recipes, please send them my way!

And finally, I hope you enjoyed your holiday season! I spent mine on the beach, and it was warmer than I expected it to be! We slept with the door open so that we could hear the waves crashing on the shore, ran on the boardwalk and enjoyed some amazing local food. We even got to see some horses on the beach which was amazingly beautiful!

We even took a little jaunt up the coast to Ocean Isle Beach where my family vacationed every year while I was growing up and down the coast to Charleston. It feels like home to be in that area! I think my favorite part of the whole trip was the traveling Christmas tree that Beck's mom gave us to take with since we wouldn't be home on Christmas to enjoy our real tree. If you haven't already seen the photos, you can check them out on my Instagram with #travelingchristmastree. 

I'm so grateful for this amazing trip and that I got to share it with one of my favorite travel buddies. 

It feels good to be home, though! I've already been back in the studio teaching and am offering free energy work and private yoga during the month of January, so reach out if you need some love this month!

Much love,

Emily Rose

Stay positive

With so many 1s in today's date, it feels like a good day to share this message. I have a lot of things I do to keep myself positive. A lot of them, you've probably seen before, but here they go.

1. Be grateful for what you have. Even if I don't necessarily feel it at the moment, just saying the words "I am grateful" totally changes my day. Sometimes I'm just grateful for my eyes or my breath. Being grateful for the smallest things can send me into a positive spiral.

2. Say a prayer. I pray to the Angels and ascended masters, which include God, Jesus, Buddha, Quan Yin and so many others. I prayed yesterday to help with my interactions with the adorable little one I was watching so that we could communicate better. It worked.

3. Do something luxurious for myself. Luxury can take on so many different forms. Some days, it's a pedicure. Some days it's just enjoying some quiet time on the patio. Other days, it's enjoying a conversation with a friend over coffee or a nice meal. Whatever it is, I know that if I do this occasionally, I feel more positive about everything else.

4. Avoid the drama. I'm not saying that this is a healthy choice all the time, but on the days that I'm feeling less than sunshiney, the worst thing I can do is get involved in someone else's drama.

5. Take a yoga or exercise class. This works. Every time. Period.

6. Play with a kid. I don't mean take a kiddo the playground and watch them play. I mean really play with them. When I'm around kids now, I have a tendency to listen a little more to my inner child. Tickle bugs come out, and my imagination runs wild. It frees me up in a way that not much else can.

7. Play in the sunshine. There are so many studies that show that sun helps people stay happy, and I am certainly no different.

8. Play in the rain. This is a little harder for me, but it does help on those days or weeks when I don't see the sun. I put on a pair of boots or old tennis shoes and head out to splash in the puddles.

Stay positive today loves!

Love,

Emily Rose

Why Won't They Just Say Thank You

I don't want your f*ing help! Just mind your own business!

I've been on both sides of this shout during my time here on earth, and it's incredibly frustrating for both people involved. As the "help"-er, you're just trying to help. Maybe a friend is going through a situation that you've been through before that you feel you can help them through by offering your advice, or maybe you see someone struggling to put together a puzzle that you can clearly see the solution to. Whatever it is, if they didn't ask for your help, maybe there's a reason for it.

On the other side, as the "help"-ee, maybe you're one of those people who learns best by experience. No matter how many times someone tells you how something works, if you don't see it for yourself, you don't believe it.

I've been chain watching "Orange is the New Black" over the last few weeks and finally finished it today. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, they flash back in each epsiode to one of the character's pasts. In this particular episode, they glashed back to a male character having a discussion with his wife who was leaving him. He was explaining how he had given up his opportunity to make it big in the music industry to stay home and take care of her and her baby. Her response was, "I didn't ask you to do that." So, while he thought he was making this grand, loving gesture and doing what he thought she wanted him to do, he was actually doing them both a disservice. He missed out on his big break and wondered why she didn't just say thank you, and she realized she didn't really love him and ended up leaving him for a man who was living his big break.

The moral of the story: don't ever do something because you think it was something the other person would want. If someone doesn't ask you for help, they're probably not going to thank you for whatever it is that you're doing.

This is something that's come up several times for me, and it now has me questioning again what areas in my life I'm doing things for other people and expecting thanks that never comes. Do I feel resentful toward people when I do things for them and don't get a thank you? If so, why am I doing these things in the first place? Is it for the gratification of that thank you or acknowledgement? Or is it out of the generosity of my heart? What expectations do I set on other people without expressing those expectations to them? Would they want to be my friend if they knew what my expectations are? Would they want my help? Would they want to help me?

Do you have any areas in your life where you're helping for the wrong reasons? How can you change that?

Much love,

Emily Rose

My New Gig

Y'all, every time I start to doubt...every...time...I am reminded that God, the Source, Universe - whatever you want to call it - has my back. It really is the source of everything good, all abundance flows to me through it. I don't know why I doubt when I know that this is true. I have been reminded over and over again, and will continue to be reminded every time I doubt. All I have to do is ask.

Oh, and by the way, I'm going to post some happy photos throughout this post today to make up for the sad photo I posted last week. I had so much feedback from people telling me how sad it made them to see the cryey face. I gave you no warning! People aren't used to the cryey face, because it usually only happens at home. I wanted y'all to see the real, though. I wanted you to know that you're not the only one who breaks down. It happens to all of us occasionally. It's the bounce back that really matters, though. What comes from those break downs is way more important than the break down itself.

I have a condo in Hendersonville that I have been renting out for the last couple years, just enough to cover the expenses of the condo. I had discussed the move-out date situation with the current tenants and they asked if they could stay another month. When it came time for them to pay the additional month's rent, I found out that two of the three tenants had already moved out and the third had decided to move out on the original end date for the lease. This fell within the 30 day notice period that was required by the lease, so I couldn't do anything about it. I didn't start to freak out immediately, but when the mortgage came due and I didn't have the rent money to pay it, I started to question. I learn something new with every tenant who I work with, and this time, I'm making the notice period 60 days to give me a little more leeway to get a new tenant in there. Since I'm also getting better at managing my budget, this will be the last time I have this problem, I'm sure. All that to say that I posted an ad for a new tenant and had five showings lined up within a day of posting the ad. I found an amazing tenant with a full time job and no roommates who will be moving in mid-August. We signed a lease yesterday and the deposit has been paid in full. It's super exciting!

In more exciting news, I started teaching a new class that's 5 miles from my house on Monday. It's at an amazing gym that offers yoga Monday thru Thursday and personal training most days. Summit Fitness + Sports Performance is a Cross Fit certified gym that has a yoga studio right next door. I'll be teaching anywhere from 2-5 classes each week there starting in August. My classes will be Monday, Tuesday and Friday at 6:30 pm, and we're going to look into adding morning classes over the next couple of weeks. If you haven't already, head over and "Like" their Facebook page, too, at www.facebook.com/summitfitnessandsportsperformance. It's just a couple guys pursuing their dreams just like me and you.

In case you're wondering, I haven't forgotten about Run❤️Yoga❤️Love. It's on the back burner for now. Once I get these changes under my belt, we're going to figure out how to resurrect our weekly runs. We may even do a beginners series starting in September. Keep your eyes peeled!

For now, though, there are already some amazing options for running in Nashville. I've committed to run all 12 of the Wednesday night runs with East Nasty, and you can keep up with them here: www.facebook.com/eastnasty.  I usually start with the slowest group and end up walking most of it. If you ever want to join me, reach out! Also, if you haven't heard about the Germantown Running Club, head on over to their page to read about their Tuesday night runs: www.facebook.com/germantownrunning. Nashville Running Company has runs through the week, too, with their East or West locations: http://www.nashvillerunning.com/weekly-runs/. Fleet Feet has some weekly runs posted on their website, too! http://www.fleetfeetnashville.com/events/weekly-runs. So many options! I hope to see you out on a run soon!

I'm so grateful for you and your continued support. Have I told you lately that I love you? I really do.

And the question for today is...What would it take for you to take a yoga class? Or schedule a private yoga session? Why haven't you tried it yet? What's keeping you from practicing with me? I would love to hear from you!

Much love,
Emily Rose