Snowy Adventures and My Secret Spot

It’s a brand new year folks (where does the time go?!) and so far, 2017 is going swimmingly! (Again, I know there are plenty of valid fears and disappointments out there over the state of politics and our world today, but I’m keen to keep this blog about positivity and finding happiness so am going

Mountains and Tall Trees and Bear Tracks, Oh My!

The Payne family is an outdoorsy people. I grew up in the country, in a house with a giant yard surrounded by woods, reading Ranger Rick magazine. I couldn’t see our nearest neighbor’s houses through the trees and there were no sidewalks for miles. My favorite hiking spot was (and probably still is) directly behind

Will You Accept This Rose?

You guys, it has been a fucking busy spring and summer. I have barely had enough time to breathe, let alone write! But I have been missing it, and all of you wonderful people who follow my adventures. Summer is my very favorite time of the year by far, but man, I do feel like

The Wild, Wild West

I realize I’ve gotten quite far behind in my blogging. And so many exciting things have happened in the past few weeks that I should have been writing about! But alas, life has gotten in the way. I’ve been too busy living life to write about it! But here I am, back at it once

A New Kind of Journey

“Saraswati, Senior Dharma Yoga instructor will bathe students in sound healing on the deepest levels while laying in Shavasana to the sound of the Crystal Alchemy Bowls & Gongs.” This was the description of the “sound journey” that I went to at my yoga studio a couple of weeks ago. I know, I know, it

Full Steam Ahead

Now, I know that many of you are probably not resolutions people, especially at this time of the year, when your New Year’s resolutions may or may not have fallen by the wayside. Personally though, I love them! I like having goals to achieve and I think they keep me from getting too complacent. Yes,

Goodwill to the People!

I was always a little bit of a quirky kid. I read a lot (I always got wayyyyy more stars on the school reading board than my peers, which I have my (bookworm) aunt Jenny to thank for – she was a big reading influence in my life), couldn’t get enough goofy camp songs and

Is Winter Over Yet?

Hello hello my beautiful readers! I hope you have been surviving winter. I have finally, at the beginning of March, begun to get the winter blues. My energy seems to have left me, I have started requiring more sleep, holing up watching more TV than usual, requiring copious amounts of caffeine to get me through

Striking a Balance

Today’s post is about finding balance in life. I have so many things that I want to accomplish in this moment in time that I’m having trouble figuring out how to do it all. I want to get fitter, improve my yoga and rock climbing, lap swim four days a week, keep up with my

My Time Is Mine

You guys, I am feeling so damn inspired lately! Since I’ve last written, I’ve done so many productive and cool things, and my self-esteem is shooting through the roof compared to what it was a month or two ago. If any of you are feeling blue or low or a little bit like you’ve gotten