Live Free Creative Company (2024)

29/07/2024

We hopped to the island of Aegina on our way back to Athens, and the crystal clear water did not disappoint. 🇬🇷

In particular, we loved taking the 10-minute ferry to Moni island for the day which is uninhabited except for wild deer, goats, and peacocks! The shallow, sandy bay with umbrellas and beach bar felt like a perfect, seaside vacation.

Additional hits were the ancient temple of Aphaia, daughter of Zeus and Karma, who was worshipped exclusively on Aegina. Also seeing pistachio groves and eating fresh pistachio gelato (this island is famous for both.)

The past two weeks of travel have wildly exceeded my (already high) expectations. I love seeing the world and learning of other cultures— and I recognize it’s a huge logistical and financial privilege to do so. I head home with a wider angle lens on life and a very full heart. 💙

27/07/2024

A couple days in Hydra, Greece to relax was heaven on earth. We swam, ate, read, and slept all while in awe of the breathtaking beauty of the island.

The lack of land vehicles (only walking and donkeys are allowed for transport, plus water taxis to different beaches) invites a special slowness and quiet to the town. We would have loved a couple more days, which means we’ll have to plan to return, soon. 🇬🇷

25/07/2024

Thrilled to learn the art of Turkish marbling “Ebru” before leaving tomorrow! We saw some pieces of this gorgeous art on our first day in Istanbul, and were able to squeeze a workshop into our final afternoon after saying goodbye to the group. 💛

It was a lovely way to unwind— sitting learning and creating something new. I’m excited to practice again at home and maybe even share what I learned in a this fall!

Beyond making art, we also found special (tiny!) art in studio near Galata Tower. A local piece of original art is my very favorite souvenir and we stumbled upon this quiet studio by chance. ✨

Istanbul, it was love from the first night, and I will definitely return again someday soon. 🇹🇷❤️

24/07/2024

Back in bustling Istanbul for one final day of the group trip meant a mad dash to cross final must-do/eat/buy off the list. Some things included:

• tasting the indulgent San Sebastián cheesecake from next to the Galata Tower (omg it absolutely lives up to the hype!)
• shopping the Egyptian Spice Market for tea, Turkish delight, saffron, and other fresh herbs and spices
• meandering the narrow market streets to the Grand Bazaar to find rugs at
• a farewell dinner at the lovely rooftop during sunset

This entire trip was filled with unique and delightful adventures, activities, and new connections. I’m so grateful to all of the women who signed up for a trip across the world with a group of strangers who are now all lovely friends. Every single one was an asset to the dynamic that made this week absolutely incredible. 🇹🇷✨

23/07/2024

On our last day in Cappadocia we started slow with sleeping in, eating breakfast, then meeting in the garden for some movement and meditation.

In the afternoon we both climbed down into Özkonak Underground City, and up to the top of Ortarhisar Castle.

This region with its carved rock features, caves, and dwellings is so rich in history and unique. It’s been incredible to explore.

A quick stop to walk a (very swaying) footbridge over the Red River was beautiful, and a slow evening to wander the cute town were a perfect wind down of our time here. 🇹🇷

22/07/2024

We began the day with a sunrise hot air balloon flight over your fairy chimneys of Cappadocia, and I will be processing the wonder of it for a long time. 🎈✨🇹🇷

After exploring by air we visited the caves on the ground, seeing multi-thousand-year-old cave churches and villages.

Our Turkish rug knowledge expanded with a demonstration and informative workshop at a women’s co-op where we walked on dozens of carpets. Then onto a traditional ceramic workshop to see the potters and painters creating beautiful dishes by hand.

It was a full sunrise-to-sunset day with so many beautiful moments of gratitude, inspiration, and delight.

(And after a 4am alarm I am so excited to go to sleep!)

21/07/2024

Today we hopped a flight to Cappadocia in central Turkey where the landscape looks like another planet! ✨ This first view was magical (and had some instagram-worthy photo ops 😉).

After the short flight we visited a local winery for a tasting 🍇, sipped and snacked at a beautiful cafe, wandered both our lovely cave hotel and the small, walkable surrounding town. Happy to be here.

20/07/2024

Here’s what I recommend: travel with a group of delightful women. Old friends or new. Sisters or colleagues or classmates. What a joy it has been to wander Istanbul surrounded by open, kind, fun and empowered women. 💛

Today we toured beautiful Balat, earned certificates at a fantastic Ottoman cooking class at Michelin star (we’re all basically chefs now 😜), shopped Turkish handmade goods at the Grand Bazaar, relaxed with a traditional bath and massage at , then finished the evening with street food and ice cream in cool Karaköy.

We’re not even halfway through this trip and my cup feels full to overflowing with inspiration, joy, and gratitude. 😊

19/07/2024

Exploring Istanbul’s historic center is like traveling back in time thousands of years. ✨

We had an incredible day admiring and experiencing these wonders of architecture and culture.

Also eating, laughing, getting to know each other, and fully immersing ourselves in the delight of leaving responsibilities behind for a while and being somewhere new!

(I have been working on this trip for 6 months, and today felt like waking up in a dream. 🤩)

18/07/2024

Falling in love with Istanbul. 🇹🇷✨ There is something truly magical in the air here— this huge, ancient, bustling city is bursting with beauty, history, kindness, and mystery. I arrived a little early to prepare, and am excited to welcome travelers and begin exploring together!

17/07/2024

24 hours in Athens, Greece 💙

Highlights include:
• Early guided tour of the Acropolis to learn the history and mythologies of this incredible ancient site 🇬🇷
• wandering the pretty streets of Anatiofika
• ducking into vintage, art, and plant shops
• street food including & 😋
• the Acropolis Museum
• admiring cool street art that is basically everywhere
• wandering into the fabric district and finding some fun trims 👁️

11/07/2024

✨ Upcoming Retreat Launch✨ Dave and I have been bursting with excitement to launch our second co-ed adventure retreat! After a resounding success in Costa Rica last year, we have designed a fully adventurous “fit-cation” in Thailand for February 2025.

Suitable for couples, friends, singles, or small groups, this Thai Island vacation has the benefits of a tropical, Asian vacation and bonus programmed group fitness and recovery. 💪🏼😊

If you (like us) need a beach vacation to look forward to after the bustle of the holiday season, register to join us!!

The trip launches this Sunday. All info and Q&A are in the Thailand highlight! Let’s go to Thailand together!! 🇹🇭 🌴🤩✈️🍜🐠

21/06/2024

Swipe to see the “Before” and some steps along the way of turning this okay-sort-of-nice-but-boring bathroom into a more interesting and collected space that feels like home.

Break down of the process included:
• carefully removing the giant adhesive wall mirror
• repairing the sheetrock
• adding paintable beadboard wallpaper and wood trim to the walls
• laying thin brick tile, mortar, and thin set for the brick wall
• painting the rest of the walks and ceiling
• adding a brass mirror, light, and reclaimed hardware
• building floating shelves with antique brackets and reclaimed wood
• styling shelves with collected items from around the house
• gathering and framing/reframing some art from my travels and collections

About 2 years of dreaming then 3 weeks of messy work and I’m so happy to have this room complete. 🪄

(The primary bath is up next 🕺🏻)

14/05/2024

I spent last week in Grenoble, France with my middle son, visiting his best friend (who moved from Richmond last summer.) ☺️

We enjoyed a balance of exploring the sights, eating amazing food, and catching up on Mario World together…well that last one was less me and more the boys. 🍄

I love the openness that comes from traveling. Our brains become alert and attentive in ways they don’t maintain in our regular lives. When everything is new, nothing is filed into the background, and the rush of new sights, tastes, smells and experiences makes me feel very alive and present.

This trip built some bubbles of anticipation for the summertime and calendar of fun adventures we have planned— including discovering the wonders of Turkey with some incredible women!

Cheers to the beauty and abundance of connecting to other places and widening our vision. 💛

Photos in order:
1. On the banks of the Saône on a day-trip to Lyon
2. The famous Grenoble Téléphérique
3. French pasteries 🍓
4. Roses in the Jardín de Ville
5. Gorgeous ceiling of Basilica Notre Dame de Fourvière
6. Street Crêpes 👌🏻
7. Besties Mario Comp
8. Atelier Forma in Grenoble
9. Discovering Georgette Agutte at Museé de Grenoble
10. Looking up on a walk 😍

07/04/2024

Spring Break 2024 was a beautiful, last-second escape to the sunny South Florida beach. 🏖️

Two weeks ago and I were commiserating about being cold in Virginia, so we booked a quick four days in Pompano Beach to relax in the heat. ☀️ I brought Plum along and the three of us had a blast.

Since this trip was all about rejuvenating, we didn’t make plans— just swam and hung by the pool, read books and ordered smoothies. It was 💯 to stay in a beach-front resort so the sand and ocean were on-site, and we loved the cute little Lauderdale By The Sea town area for tacos and ice cream.

It was a good reminder that trips can be:
1. Quick
2. Last-minute
3. Unstructured/relaxed
And be amazing!

It was just what I needed to make it through this last few weeks of 50’s and into the warmer weather. 😊

19/03/2024

Happy Spring from my front walk!🌷🪻🌿🌼☀️🍄

Swipe to see how our little cottage is becoming more warm and welcoming with a few small additions:

🔨 Adding cedar shake shingles and cedar flower boxes to the windows warmed up the black/white exterior.
🪴 Moving our big terra cotta planters to the sidewalk creates a little welcome entrance.
🌷 Planting dozens of spring bulbs in between perennial shrubs along the front path has created a spring wonderland! ✨

In the two years we have lived here, the changes have mostly been small but mighty impactful. Little by little we’re making this house our own while also loving it all along the journey. 🫶

10/03/2024

A few favorite things in one frame:

🎶 Dave gave me a record player for my birthday last month and it’s been such a joy to play rich, analog music. (Currently on repeat: Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band)
🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛ These two floofs just turned three and I’m more enamored every day. They are cuddly, curious, and hillarious.
🖼️ My late grandfather painted this southwestern scene in 1970 and gave it to me before he passed. It reminds me of him, and my southwestern roots.
📚 After a decade of living in a storage box, I pulled out a bunch of older photo albums for my kids to be able to flip through casually (now that they’re past the book-destruction stage). It’s so fun to have a trip down our family memory lane on-demand, and is motivating me to pick up designing and ordering photo books where I left off in about 2012.😜

11/01/2024

2024 will be a year of creativity and curiosity for me, beginning with the long-anticipated launch of !

This new monthly workshop series is designed to foster creativity, confidence, and community through hands-on classes and deliberate creative practice.

For a decade prior to the pandemic, one favorite aspect of my work was teaching hands-on craft workshops across the country. I’m super excited to bring the energy of those in-person connections and group crafting back with RCC.

Share with and tag your local Richmond friends and become a founding member of RCC today! Let’s get creative this year! ✨

Learn more at

21/12/2023

Home for Christmas 💚 For the first time in a long time we are spending the holidays cozy at home with just our little crew. It has been fun to enjoy peeks of holiday joy scattered around my house this month. A few vignettes making me smile:

📚 Holiday picture books stacked by the colorful fireplace
🎄 handmade ornaments combined with special ones collected from family adventures around the world on our fluffy live tree
🌹 A Christmas arrangement in the kitchen with holiday cards going up on the cupboards, surrounding us with friends and family
✨ This cute minimalist corner with gold touches and favorite art
🌿 classic Pinnocchio found in Rome who is sweetly nestled in our jungle of houseplants

Tiny bursts of joy and magic (that balance out the typical family messes of everyday life 😜) 💫

What spots around your place feel especially cozy this season?

20/12/2023

Who wants to discover Turkey with me?! 🇹🇷

If you haven’t seen in my stories (or heard on the podcast) I am so excited to be hosting a women’s trip to Istanbul & Cappadocia in July, 2024!

Travel has always been my doorway to creativity, curiosity, empathy, and connection, and Turkey has been on my to-travel list for the last few years. It is a fabled and historic part of the world with vibrant culture (and delicious food 😋).

Swipe through to see all the details, and visit the link saved in the Turkey highlight to register! Feel fee to send me questions if you have them. I’m thrilled to gather together and explore with some of you this coming summer. ✈️

(Share with your favorite travel buddies and join me!)

18/12/2023

After taking a year off of home projects (while I finished my graduate degree 👩🏻‍🎓), I’m BACK BABY!! 😂🫶

Swipe for the before of Plum’s room, now designed and decorated to fit her 10-going-on-16 style. I gave myself two full days to go all-in on this transformation, and absolutely loved the process. DIY home projects are my **ZONE.

We’re excited for her to have a special space to continue to grow up, and a more finished place for guests to drop-in.

**When I was presenting on Postive Psychology to a women’s group a couple weeks ago, I asked each mom to reflect on what types of activities feel like “the zone” for them. That flow state where our challenge is met by a balance of personal skill is really fun, and really beneficial for us!

05/12/2023

The most wonderful festive sister-cousin weekend in NYC!

Highlights included:
🎈the (🫶)
🗽 spotting Lady Lib and riding lovely
🎄 Rockefeller tree and 5th Ave holiday decor (with a zillion other folks)
🎪the
🤩 (always)
🍕walking to Brooklyn for pizza at
✨ and the under the rainy lights
👯‍♀️ Christmas Spectacular
🎁 finding a couple perfect gifts in the cute boutiques in SoHo
🌒 and I watching our only-daughters giggle like the besties they are on our weekend sleepover at

I ❤️ NY

30/10/2023

Life Lately:

• A wonderfully whirlwind 24-hours in NYC with friends in which we ate and walked and ate and walked, etc. (Have you been to ? So cool!)

• 3 hours in the divine and delicious as part of aforementioned trip

• Reconnecting to classmates at the MAPP alumni summit

• Recording new episodes for the recently re-launched season of .happy.podcast 💛 (feel free to follow along there for regular podcast updates)

• Cackling with Dave at the live show in DC, then meeting her to ride an imaginary three-seat tandem 🚲

• fall things with kids, including a really big (semi-scary-but-also-charming) corn maze 🌽

• soaking up the beautiful fall vibes at while catching up with a friend on a neighborhood walk. Highly recommend a walk + talk to boost your mood anytime 💃🏻

19/10/2023

Season Six of the podcast begins today!! 🙂

After 5 years as Live Free Creative Podcast, I’m excited to invite you to tune into “Practically Happy”, the weekly show where I help you apply the science of well-being to your everyday life.

The show has a new name and new look, and keeps the same great focus on relatable, conversational topics that help you feel a little better every time you listen.

🎧 listen today as I kick-off season six and introduce Practically Happy! ⭐️

ps I also talk about my unplanned social media hiatus, and what I’m planting in my garden right now. 🫶

04/09/2023

Last night I saw that offered a free garden day on Labor Day, and Plum and I were game. 🌿🪷💚

I have come here often over the six years we’ve lived in Richmond, and every visit reminds me to slow down, tune in, notice small beauties, witness the diversity and majesty in nature. 🦋

Already excited to return again, soon.

If you’re local, have you visited the botanical garden lately? If not, what’s your favorite local greenhouse? 🪴

21/08/2023

One of my favorite gifts of going away for awhile is the fresh eyes when I come home.

This week I noticed so much loveliness in the simple moments of my days at home. I decided to capture a bit:

• messy game cabinet ready for family battles around the table
• Moroccon street art I framed and hung just days before I left and am finally really enjoying
• Fluffy floofs underfoot and everywhere
• late-summer veggies popping in the garden
• stacks and photos and trinkets and signs of life
• daily fresh eggs ten steps from my back door
• handfuls of wildflower seeds blooming into a jungle of beauty

Consider this an invitation to take a second look around your life for the magic you may have mistaken for the mundane. ✨

17/08/2023

Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me… ⛵️

We couldn’t wind down our trip without getting out on the ocean with . Beautiful views, delicious food, fun family water shenanigans (including my short-lives paddle board party trick 🙃), and such great memories.

15/08/2023

Our first visit to the stunning and other-worldly Rio Celeste will not be our last. 🤩🌿💧

12/08/2023

Wow. Stars aligned for us to witness one of natures wonders this week: the synchronized arrival of hundreds of Olive Riddley sea turtles on Ostional Beach.

I had read about this phenomenon— monthly mass nestings during rainy season (called “La arribada” or “the arrival”). Probably influenced by the dark nights before the new moon 🌚.

There is no way to describe the majesty of these mamas fighting their way slowly up the sand before dawn, digging deep holes with their fins, laying up to a hundred small, golf-ball-sized eggs, tamping the sand down with their bellies to secure the nest from vultures and roaming dogs, then slowly, slowly making their way back to the waves.

Such a beautiful, natural experience.

*Ostional is a wildlife refuge for the nesting turtles, and visits during the arribada are only with licensed, local guides who assure the safety and preservation of the turtles.*

08/08/2023

So far this trip is a beautiful mix of the exciting discovery of new places as well as enjoying old familiar favorites.

New: date night dinner at the gorgeous and exceptional 👌

Old: hiking to local Malanoche waterfall + swimming hole 🌿

New: mom/daughter mani-pedis at 🌸

Old: the most beautiful sunsets over the Pacific on Guiones beach ✨

Does your family have a place you love to return to over and over again?

Live Free Creative Company