Hey Mama.

Yes, I’m talking to you. I see you. I hear you.

You were at the gathering I was at last night. You were the one I dropped in on quick to drop something off. You’re my friend, acquaintance. Maybe I don’t know you, but you’re there, you’re always there, following along. This one is for you.

My, oh my, what a summer it has been. We’ve already hit mid-July, it’s hard to believe! This summer has been particularly fun + busy for me, which has been somewhat stressful and I’m so thankful for all of the experiences.

In 2021, I read a book called The Vivid Vision. It’s a fascinating book and the main idea is that you map out what your vision is for your business, life, etc. And then share it with everyone. This creates more energy around your dreams, making them more likely to come true!

That’s not the only reason I'm sharing this post, however. If you know me, you know that dreaming fires me up. I love chatting about it- so I'm going to share my dreams for Encompass with you!

After the twins were born, Matt took a whole month off of work. It was amazing. Matt works out of town and is gone for 9 days at a time, then home for 5 straight days. I couldn’t even imagine him being gone at all in that first month, so it worked out that he could take two trips off and be home with me. I think this made a HUGE difference for how our life as a family of 7 started out. Plus, the twins were happy and sleeping (yay!), so we did A LOT of beach days. Talk about dreamy. So we lounged in babies, had beach days, relaxed and enjoyed all the love from everyone until right after the 4th of July. It actually worked out perfectly too, because that week after the 4th, his company had some meetings up here, so he was working, just not on the road. It was the perfect transition week for me.

I found out we were having twins on December 16th. To say I was shocked may be an understatement

I’m having a really really good day over here and I am just relishing in it. You know those days that you get so many things checked off your check list and it’s only 11am? Yes, one of those days. I was just checking in with myself, like “hmm…maybe I should take a nap.” But, I’m not tired! Ahhh I love the second trimester. Instead, I sat down to write this blog…for the second time. I started it last week, and it was so good…and I didn’t save it. Gonezo. I was devastated, but I decided to put my computer down and the words would come to me another day in another way. Obviously that wasn’t the blog that was meant to get posted. Moving on.

Two weeks ago, Matt got let go from his job. Not enough hours for him, they said. It was a shock, as we didn’t see it coming in the slightest. But, I believe everything happens for a reason, and Matt always has a great attitude on life. Of course, we had to work through all of the emotions. Dang-that was so tiring. I have never realized how draining emotions can be. But, as we did, we now see this as an opportunity. And, as I look back over the past couple of weeks, it’s really interesting. Even though it hit hard, it’s what is meant for us, and new opportunities are opening up everywhere.

We went on a road trip this weekend, and on the way, I was thinking about my business, and I what I think are important values in my business. As I thought about them, it occurred to me that I want to share these, so that you also know where I stand on these things. I pick my care providers based on their values, and loving knowing them. I want you to be able to do the same to me. Here goes.

Have you heard of having a word of the year to focus on? This year, I chose growth. I actually did a blog on that, so if you want more details on what this is, check out that post here. It’s super interesting, because at the beginning of the year, I thought I would try it and see what happened. I wanted growth in many areas of life. I wanted to grow my business first and foremost, but also my relationship with Matt, I wanted to have another baby (grow him), and to become a better version of myself.

This blog post will be my most vulnerable post, by far. I am typing right now thinking that I probably won’t even post it, but I want to make it up in case I get the nerve to actually share this with the world. Ethan’s birth story. I want to back this up to round 1, with Ella.

Have you ever heard of a Self-Love Menu? I hadn't until a couple of weeks ago, but I love it! Basically, it's a menu of all of -or a few of- the things that you do to love yourself. I can't remember exactly where I saw it, but they recommended starting with a list of 10 things. In my head, I was like "Oh! That'll be easy!" Yeah, not so much. It was actually harder then I anticipated. 

Hey, Hey! It's been awhile! I lost my inspiration for a bit there. In my head, I have been blaming it on this pregnancy (Yes, I'm pregnant with #3!), but really it's been an internal battle. 

Facebook reminded me this morning that I announced the opening of Encompass Therapeutic Massage one year ago!! A lot has happened since I opened up shop. I moved to the UP, opened up a location here, and also travel back to Minnesota to serve my amazing client's out there once a month.

So I've done a post about who I am as a therapist (find that post here), but you may be wondering who I am as a person!

As you may know, every massage therapist is different. Each person has their own spin on what they like, what they do and how they do it. Two people could have the same exact training and do COMPLETELY different types of massage. So, who am I?