I got my red dress on tonight...

Dress: Lotus (15% off online with code: MODA), Shoes: Jessica Simpson, Skincare: Rodan + Fields

Hola Mamacitas!

This dress may look familiar. I wore it a few weeks ago to a friend's engagement party. I posted a picture on social media (with my dapper manfriend) and started getting quite a few questions about where I got it from. I had to give the worst answer ever.

I bought the dress at Lotus. In.... wait for it........... 2010. UGH.

Over 5 years ago. Doesn't that friggin' suck; when you really like something and it's no longer available? One girl acted like she was legitimately pissed when I told her that, as if I shouldn't have worn it because she couldn't get it. << I was like... Uh???... my bad, I guess???>>

I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks.

I have been ridiculously busy, stretching myself to the point of breaking. I took a bit of a step back last week and decided to change some things up. I found that I had booked myself up every day of the week and I had less and less time for the people and things in my life that I love.

I work my corporate job Monday through Friday, was teaching Pilates EVERY single day of the week (most days at least 2-3 classes a day at different locations around the city before and/or after a full day of work),  teaching bootcamp here and there and starting to work my Rodan + Fields business. I wasn't giving myself any time to be spontaneous. I was missing out on date nights with my manfriend and girl's dinners with my friends. I was too tired to watch a movie, go to a Pure Barre class, call my brothers back at night, fold a load of laundry, or do anything at all that wasn't scheduled on a calendar.

Balance is not my forte. Clearly.

So, I have changed some things up.

I am still working in Corporate America, still teaching Pilates, and putting time and effort into growing my Rodan + Fields business, but some other things had to go. I am cutting down on my Pilates classes (private and corporate), no longer teaching bootcamp, giving myself a night off or two during the week, and making more time for my friends. I may even blog a bit more because I'll actually have a chance to wear some of the clothes in my closet. For about a year it's been gym clothes every day and every night. The other day I even said... "Man, these shoes hurt my damn feet." I hadn't been in heels for a full night in so long that my feet forgot how to handle them!!!!  Hold the fuk up. That is UNNNNN-acceptabe.

Sometimes you have to hit the "pause" button and evaluate where you are, what you're spending your time on, who you're spending it with, how you are feeling and take a bit of a mental and emotional inventory.

Busy is not something to be proud of. Balance is.

We have glorified busy SO much that we wear it as a badge of honor. We say it ALL of the time. Someone asks how you are, how you've been, what you've been up to, what you have planned, how your family is, why you haven't done something you said you were going to do... "Oh, I've been SO busy." We default to it. When we look at our lives and ask ourselves why we haven't done more of what would make us happy. Why haven't we gone back to school, seen an old friend, gone on a vacation, started exercising, been cooking healthier meals, called our family, read a good book... "I WISH I could, but I am SOOOO busy."

Sometimes busy is legit. Working and raising a family, taking care of a home, that's a lot of responsibility. Some things you can't get around doing; but every so often it's good to just step back...  take a moment and make sure that you are not SO busy living that you forget to make a life you love.

I don't want to look back on my years and realize they were mostly made up of calendar reminders and scheduled meetings. I want to go more places, eat great food, take more pictures, watch good movies, read great books, take walks and spend time with the people in my life that I love most.

Maybe you already have the balance thing down, and if you do... props to you. If you don't though... perhaps it would be worthwhile to take a look at how you spend your time and figure out how to fit in more of what makes you happy, because this one, beautiful life goes by in the blink of an eye.