Howdy Friends,

How are you? I've been a little lot MIA from the blog world lately because I've been working on a big huge project! I've poured my heart and soul into this endeavor for the the past few months, and I can't even begin to describe how excited I am to finally share it with the world!

A few months back, I told you guys about the continuing education workshops I was launching. I received such a great response to those, that I decided it was time to pursue my full dream of creating a barre certification!

This whole journey really began over 8 years ago when I first started teaching Pilates at Texas A&M. I had just fractured my sacrum from over training, and needed a lower impact exercise to keep me in shape. I tried Pilates, absolutely loved it, and got certified shortly after that. I continued teaching Pilates throughout college and grad school. Then, in 2011, I discovered barre! To say I was immediately hooked would be an understatement. I took classes all throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex trying to lean as much as I could about this exciting new format. After a couple of months of taking classes, I took my first barre certification and began teaching multiple classes per week.

I had been teaching group fitness classes for 4+ years at this point, but nothing made me as excited to teach as barre! I loved coming up with new choreography, refining my cueing skills, and seeing my students improve. I continued to take barre classes from other instructors, pursued 8 additional Pilates and barre certifications, and refined my craft. I sought to combine the fun factor and cardio elements that I loved from group fitness, the amazing lower body workout from barre, and the killer core strengthening abilities of Pilates to create my own barre format. My goal was to have my students leave class drenched in sweat, smiling, and feeling like they got a total body workout while having the time of their lives!

As I moved from Dallas to Florida State University, I was excited to bring barre to FSU. When I started to look into getting my instructors certified, I was disappointed to find that many of the barre certifications were either too expensive, not the up beat barre class we were looking for, or not offered in our area. I had students that I knew would make amazing barre instructors, but no way to get them certified.

After moving back to Austin, and diving into teaching barre 8+ times a week, I decided it was the perfect time to combine my love of barre and Pilates and my passion for mentoring other instructors into a power packed barre certification. Thus, PulsePointe barre was born!
My goal in creating PulsePointe barre was to offer a high quality, creative, and fun educational experience at an affordable price so everyone can have the opportunity to fall in love with teaching barre like I have!

PulsePointe barre is an innovative and challenging barre experience that seamlessly weaves together traditional muscle-sculpting barre choreography with exhilarating cardio segments to define and challenge the body in a whole new way. PulsePointe takes barre to the next level by matching each segment with upbeat music to motivate and energize your class from start to finish! By utilizing the unique PulsePointe barre class blueprint, you can mix and match the barre segments using your own creativity to deliver a rock solid class every time! 


After months and months of praying, working on educational material, getting approved by ACE & AFAA, developing a website, creating logos, etc. etc., I am beyond excited that it is finally time to start sharing PulsePointe barre with the world!

So what makes PulsePointe barre different from other barre certifications?

• PulsePointe barre strives to offer high quality certifications at an affordable price.
• No licensing fees.
• Every participant who completes the 8 hour primary instructor training course will receive 8 AFAA and .8 ACE CEU's, a comprehensive instructor manual with choreography snapshots, PulsePointe barre Class Blueprints, and a certificate of completion. 
• Learn how to use music to enhance your class, motivate your students, and take the fun factor to the next level!
• High energy cardio segments will take your class to the next level and give your students a cardiovascular and muscular strength & endurance workout all in one! 
• Easy to implement choreography and class blueprints will have you ready to teach challenging, well balanced, and creative classes in no time! We take the guesswork out of class planning while still allowing you to come up with your own choreography. 

For more information on PulsePointe barre, upcoming workshops, and video demonstrations of exercises, please visit our website at www.pulsepointebarre.com! If you think this is something your would like to bring to your facility, we are currently scheduling workshops for late summer and fall of 2015. Feel free to email us at info@pulsepointebarre.com

Throughout this process, I have received so much amazing support from my family, friends, and the online fitness community! I could not have done it without each and every one of you! I am so excited to see where this new journey takes me and to share the barre and Pilates love far and wide!


Linking up for Workout Wednesday and Wild Workout Wednesday!

For my barre lovers out there, what made you first fall in love with barre?

In health,

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Howdy Friends,

Happy Happy Thursday! This morning started out bright and early at 4:00 AM (my tiny human wanted to make sure I didn't miss my training run). I got up, fed Annabelle, and headed out on my run with the intention of climbing back in bed once I finished. However, after I got out of the shower, I was too awake and hungry to fall back asleep so I decided to do a little work instead (please Lord let her sleep later so I can nap!). It's really amazing what you can crank out at 5:30 AM in the morning when no one else is awake and only infomercials are on tv. :) Although there was nothing on TV, I did check a few of my favorite blogs, and came across this great list on Nutrition Nut On The Run. Minus Annabelle's monthly updates, I don't do many non health and fitness related posts, so I thought this might be fun.

Here it goes!

Making | my favorite oatmeal with egg whites, almond butter, cinnamon, and slice bananas

Cooking | anything and everything with pumpkin and yummy GF banana bread

Drinking | coffee! I stick to half-caff, but 4 AM feedings make you crave coffee.

Reading | Gina Harney’s “Build Up Your Blog”

Wanting | a facelift for the blog

Looking | forward to celebrating the holiday’s with Annabelle for the first time!

Playing | Florida Georgia Line’s new album.

Wasting | time worrying. It’s just the natural worry wart in me.

Wishing | I could see the leaves changing for Fall in Colorado

Enjoying | spending time every day with my sweet tiny human

Waiting | for the weekends when E is off and we all three get to hang out together

Liking | expirementing with workout videos for the blog like my Spartan Arms & Abs video.

Wondering | what Belle will be like at 1, 5, 10, 16, and 18. Yikes!

Loving | tiny baby giggles and gummy smiles.

Hoping | my training for the half marathon in December keeps going well

Marveling | at how quickly babies grow up. Slow down!

Needing | to check a few things off my to-do list I’ve been procrastinating on

Smelling | pumpkin spice candles

Wearing | spandex, spandex, and more spandex. Living in workout clothes is a definite bonus of the job.

Following | my fellow healthy living bloggers

Noticing | more core strength returning with each and every Pilates and Barre workout.

Knowing | life’s an adventure I can’t plan (well I’m trying to tell myself that until I stop fighting the urge to plan out everything).

Thinking | about the future (hence the previous note about trying to relax my overzealous planning gene)

Feeling | thankful and oh so blessed

Bookmarking | parenting advice on Pinterest

Opening | a new chapter of life as a mom and fitness professional

Giggling | because Annabelle makes the funniest faces!

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It's Monday Again!

Woah, I sweat I need some kind of device to slow down time. This weekend went by way to fast. Saturday was spent celebrating Annabelle in Houston with some of the most amazing friends a girl could ask for! I don't have enough time to do a shower recap justice right now, but I promise you'll get the full download later in the week. It was an absolutely beautiful event!

For now, I want to leave you with a little Monday #INSPIRATION in honor of @IDEAFIT's #springintoactionmarch photo challenge.

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I hope you all have a great Monday and a wonderful week!

In health,

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Howdy Friends!

Long time, no talk. These past few months have been crazy! Crazy in a great way, but crazy none the less. So much has happened, I don't even know where to begin, but I'll try to give you the gist of it as briefly as possible.

In early December, an amazing job opportunity came open for E at the University of Texas' Athletic Department. He went back and forth about whether or not he should leave school to pursue the job, but in the end, it was just too amazing of an opportunity to pass up. Although Texas has always been A&M's biggest rival, he decided to set aside the past rivalry and go for the dream job! I don't think he will be wearing burnt orange anytime soon, but we are definitely learning to support our fellow Texans. :)



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E got offered the job on December 22nd, and started on January 28th. If you remember, we purchased a house in Florida since we thought we would be there for at least 4 years. I am learning to never trust E when it comes to how long he says we will be staying some where. ;) Since we had the house to deal with, and I wanted to wrap things up at my job, E went ahead and moved to Austin while I stayed behind in Tallahassee. It gave me an extra few weeks to wrap things up and say goodbye to some truly amazing people!




It was incredibly tough to say goodbye! There were definitely a few days that I woke up with puffy eyes from tears. E flew back to pick me up in Tally on February 21st. We packed up most of the house and the movers came the morning of the 22nd. Moving is tough  work!


The movers finished up around 2:00pm and my crazy husband thought it would be a great idea to try to drive all the way to Texas on the same day. We made it to about Louisiana when things got really interesting. Our alternator went out and a Pep Boys in Slidel saved the day. We lucked out and they were actually open at 7:30pm on a Friday night!


They fixed the alternator and we were on our merry way. We finally made it to College Station at around 3:00am. We woke up on Saturday morning and headed to Austin. Leave it to E to get us to a sporting event the day after we arrive. We soaked up the Texas sun at a UT baseball game on Sunday.



It felt absolutely amazing outside. It was the perfect way to welcome me back to Texas. We also explored our new neighborhood with a walk with this little man. We've so missed him while he's been at Grandma and Grandpa camp.



I am completely loving Austin. There is a Central Market and Whole Foods within 2 miles of my house along with more fitness studios and healthy restaurants then I know what to do with! Exploring has been a blast. I have so much fun stuff to share with you guys! I'm still working on figuring out the whole job situation, but hopefully that will come with time. :) I'm trying not to be my normal stressball self about it.....trying.

Check back in tomorrow for my first fitness review - Barre3. This studio is so cute, and I love the class. It is definitely a unique take on barre.

What is your favorite part about moving to a new city?

What makes you the most anxious?

In health,

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Howdy!

How are you this morning? I hope everyone had a Marvelous Monday and is ready for a Terrific Tuesday!

Yesterday was pretty low-key for me. My IT band was a little tight from my 8 mile run on Sunday, so I stretched it out with a nice yoga class at noon. In the afternoon, I taught a strength training class and loved every minute of it. It was so nice to get back in the groove of teaching! In between yoga and pump, I finished some work in the office.

When I got home from work, I put on my Betty Crocker Apron and made cupcakes for my boss' birthday. These fall under the Fabulous, not Fit, category! :)

For everyone who is following the 21 day challenge, how is it going? If you haven't tried out any of the videos yet, I would highly recommend this one. This 28 minute series focuses on opening up the hips and leaves your entire lower body feeling fabulous!



Lately, I have been day dreaming more and more about one day (probably in the very very distant future) opening my very own yoga studio. I would love to have a little place of my own to share my passion for fitness, yoga, and healthy eating with others. I want it to be a place where women can come not only to take classes, but to explore other aspects of health and wellness as well.

My dream yoga studio would include:

• A temperature controlled yoga studio so I can offer hot and regular yoga classes.
• A kitchen so we can hold healthy cooking seminars and make healthy snacks to share in the studio.
• A separate studio for cardio and strength classes.
• The ability to hold kids classes so we can share the benefits of exercise with our kids.
• A location close to running and walking trails so we can go on group runs and hold training programs such as marathon or half marathon training.
• Close to a park would be nice as well so we can do yoga outdoors when the weather is nice!
• A relaxing and inviting lounge where participants can enjoy each others company before and after class.
• A small pool so we can offer outdoor water aerobics classes in the summer.
• I would love for it to be in one of those older restored houses. This idea is thanks to my friend Mal, who is going to help me make this dream come true!
• Overall, I want the studio to be somewhere people will come to enjoy themselves and accomplish their health and fitness goals in a friendly and motivating environment.

I have always thought this would be a fun thing to do one day, but lately I just can't get it off my mind, so I wanted to share my dreams with you. I guess if I'm going to dream, I should dream big! :)


One day when I grow up, I will have my own yoga studio! I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!

Q's and A's
What do you want to be/do when you grow up?
Do you have a dream business you would like to own?
Can you think of anything else my yoga studio needs? I'm open for any new ideas!

In health,

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