So we all know the dangers of UV rays and tanning beds, right? OK, good. Apply sun screen and stay safe, please!

However, that doesn't mean you have to give up getting a radiant glow. If you want to be tan for your next vacay, big event or just everyday life, spray tans are a great option.
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As someone who gets spray tans regularly (just because it is a nice confidence boost and makes me feel good), I'm here to tell you all of my past mistakes and tips I've learned to get the best spray tan you possibly can.

We have yet to see how mainstream this lavender trend is actually going to become, but it was quite the talk after Alice + Olivia stuck lavender in their models' hair for New York Fashion Week. I personally hope this is something that will take off because it's so fun. Last year, everyone (including me—guilty!) was coloring their hair lavender, but this is an easy way to play with the shade in a less permanent way.
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If you love the smell, try sticking real lavender from your local farmer's market in your hair for relaxation all day long. Or you can buy fake sprigs from a craft store to start DIY-ing your own creations.

Similarly to pearls, get ready to start sticking crystals all over your locks as well. There is no stopping the glitz this spring, and you can opt for tiny jewels to stick all over your hair or bobby pins, and you can also shop for big, sparkly hair clips. It's like everyone gets to wear wedding styles this year, no matter what the occasion is.

Proteins:
Protein makes you feel full longer. If you eat a meal with little protein, you’ll feel hungry again pretty quickly, and it can be discouraging. But you don’t have to eat a huge steak to get enough protein. You can find it in cheese, nuts, seeds, spinach, eggs, avocados, broccoli, hummus, lentils—the list goes on and on! Mindful eating means taking note of how hungry you feel and eating enough protein to satisfy that hunger in a way that will last.

Carbohydrates:
Carbohydrates are not your enemy. But, it is important to pay attention to how you feel when you eat them. If you eat a lot of carbs in one sitting, it can cause your blood sugar to spike, and when it drops back down, you can feel lethargic and maybe even irritable. By spreading your carbohydrate intake throughout your day and always pairing it with a protein, you can help your body regulate your blood sugar more effectively and feel more alert all day long.

Fats:
Fats also help slow carbohydrates down so they don’t instantly turn into sugar in your bloodstream. Fats are important for energy, and it’s especially important to eat the right kinds of fats for your brain. For better concentration and memory, try to incorporate foods like salmon, avocados, nuts, seeds and olive oil.

While nutritionists can recommend average nutrient intake percentages for a population, those might not be entirely accurate for your body and what you need. If you don’t enjoy calculating and counting every single gram you eat, you can just start with the recommended guidelines and make adjustments based on how you feel each day. If you are groggy and sluggish mid-day, look at how many carbohydrates you had in your lunch and see if you want to change anything about your lunch tomorrow. Here’s how to read nutrition labels so you can better keep track and know what you are eating.

Serving Sizes
Serving sizes can be confusing if you don’t know what an ounce of that food looks like. Instead, look at “Servings Per Container” and divide that container into however many portions it says. Now you know that the nutrition facts on the label will be accurate for every portion you have separated out.

Calories
The number of calories per serving doesn’t mean that’s how many calories you should eat at a time. It’s just telling you how many are in that particular food. If you are eating a package of nuts as a snack, and you are not eating anything else with it, you may need a couple of packages to eat as many calories as you want for that snack. It’s not wrong to eat multiple servings! Focus on what your body needs.

Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are broken down by dietary fiber and sugar. To feel fuller longer and to have a clear mind and avoid getting foggy, choose carbohydrates, such as wild rice, that have more dietary fiber and less sugar.

Vitamins
You need a variety of vitamins in your day, so check the percentages and make sure you are getting lots of different nutrients. Vitamin C is great, but it is possible to have too much Vitamin C and neglect Vitamin A. Calcium and iron are important for strength and to avoid injuries, so make sure you get enough of those each day as well. An easy trick is to try eating a vegetable of every color each day.

Pro Tip: You can search for a nutrient calculator online to find out how much protein, carbohydrates and fats you should be eating in a day for your specific needs.

​You are the best expert of you, and you get to make all of the final decisions for your body. Do your research, get all of the info that you can and then decide how you want to divide up your nutrition each day.

One of the most effective things you can do is keep a log of your moods, how your skin looks, how your hair feels, your water intake and your energy levels. While your fitness goals are important, how you feel each day is so much more important. It’s easy to lose weight by dramatically cutting calories, but that can leave you feeling irritable with low energy, and it’s ultimately not worth it. Take care of yourself and think about how the choices you make will affect your health in the long run. And never forget that you are enough, just the way you are.

Pro Tip: Sit down to eat as often as you can. Allow yourself the full meal experience to taste all of your food. You will feel more satisfied, and your body will digest your food easier so you don’t have an upset stomach later.

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This post is a collaboration with my creative friend, Nicolette Martin. Shout out to her for these photos! Check out her handmade ceramics and jewelry @undrarkc.

And here's how to check your groceries at the door:
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Most food subscription boxes will allow you to choose a delivery day and time frame that works best for you. Since Imperfect Foods’ items come from local grocery stores and farms in your regional area, the day of the week your box is delivered depends on your specific zip code. But you still get to choose a window of time for it to arrive.

Your grocery items will be packaged as intuitively as possible, with any freezer items in specially insulated sacks and refrigerator items tucked in with ice packs. Bonus: You can reuse the insulation and ice packs in kids’ lunch boxes, on road trips or in your own lunches at work.
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With sustainability being a primary focus for these companies, most of the items are recyclable. Imperfect Foods has an option for you to leave unwanted boxes and ice packs on your porch for your delivery person to pick up when they drop off your next box, and Sun Basket provides detailed instructions on how you can recycle each item yourself.

Tip: Try to avoid leaving your boxes overnight. You can always log in to your account and choose to skip a delivery if you realize you won’t be home.

​Depending on what you order, you may need some of your own supplies. When you select your meals, think about what you will need to cook the food in and if any other kitchen utensils would be helpful. Have them ready to go so you don’t have to make any last-minute trips to the store, defeating the purpose of getting your box delivered.

Look over the prep times and cook times to ensure you won’t be rushed, and have fun. If the meals are foods you would enjoy reheated, you could do all of your cooking the day you get the box to meal prep for your week, or you can just store the ingredients to the other meals in your fridge and cook them throughout the week.

Tip: If you have a babysitter who likes to cook, you could set out the instructions and ingredients for them to have something fun to do with your kids—it beats ordering pizza again!

​If you’re a little less-experienced in the kitchen, meal kits are great for learning. Read the instructions carefully before you get started so you don’t feel frazzled while the heat is up high, and take your time. Gobble is great for beginners because all of the meals are prepped for you and can be cooked in 15 minutes with just one skillet. If you want to learn how to do more plant-based cooking for your health and the environment, Purple Carrot makes it easy to enjoy delicious meals and not even miss the meat.

If you are a more seasoned chef, feel free to take your own spin on the recipes and add some extra flavor or swap out ingredients to make it perfect for your palate. If you know what you want to make and have your own recipes already, Imperfect Foods is a nice choice because you select all of the individual ingredients yourself. You can help eliminate food waste, use organic, high-quality ingredients and save money all at the same time—without leaving your house.

Tip: Place used dishes and pans in the sink with soapy water as you cook so they can start soaking for easy clean-up when you are done.

Imperfect Foods: Most Customizable
You choose how much to spend based on what you add to your cart.
Shipping is $5 or free if you spend $60 on your box.

Purple Carrot: All Plant-Based
Box price is based on how many meals and how many servings you order.
Meals cost $10-$12 per serving. Shipping is free.

Sun Basket: Farm Fresh + Organic
Box price is based on how many meals and how many servings you order.
Meals cost $11-$13 per serving. Shipping is $6.

Gobble: Fast + Easy Cooking
Box price is based on how many meals and how many servings you order.
Meals cost $12 per serving. Shipping is $7.

Tip: Try out a few different boxes. You can pause your subscription for the first one while you try a second one. Just remember to cancel the accounts you don’t want anymore.

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Sleeping is hard! It can be so difficult to unwind and tell our brains to calm down when we're ready. While there are lots of over-the-counter medications that can help, you can also turn to nature. Essential oils are derived from plants that have been used as medicine for years and years.

You can either add about 10 drops to a room diffuser, or you can make your own pillow spray with a dark glass bottle and your preferred combination or oils, water and witch hazel.
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In order to choose the right essential oils for your best sleep, think about what is causing you to lie there unable to drift off. Maybe you're feeling anxious. Maybe you can't stop thinking about work and what you need to get done.
Whatever it is, there's an essential oil for that!

Bergamot
Bergamot is a unique citrus oil that has been found to act as an anti-depressant, which can help with anxiety. It can also provide physical relief if you have nausea or pain from your anxiety or other reasons.

Vetiver
Vitever has a grassy smell similar to lemongrass. It has a calming effect, and being earthy, it is very grounding as well. It can help ease both anxiety and feelings of anger.

Jasmine
Jasmine is another anti-depressant and sedative. It has a sweet, floral scent that is very nice in the spring or even to trick your brain into feeling like the weather is warmer outside than it really is!

So many veggie burgers are packed full of starches and are way higher in caloric content than I actually want. If I'm replacing meat with a vegetarian option, I want to make sure I'm still getting good nutrition and am eating something that is helping my body, not hurting it.

While I'm a vegetarian primarily for the animals and environmental impact, there are also tons of health benefits to eating less meat—if you replace it with good things!

My favorite burger replacement is by Beyond Meat. The big draw to this product is that it has 20 grams of protein per patty and only 5 grams of carbohydrates. If you avoid eating veggie burgers on a bun because you feel like you're already overloading on carbs with the patty alone, Beyond Burger is for you!
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(P.S. My personal reason to avoid too many carbs in one sitting is not for dieting; it's all about how it makes me feel! If I have a ton of carbs at once, my blood sugar can spike and then crash, leaving me lethargic after eating.)

One of my awesome yoga teacher friends got me hooked on Imperfect Foods, and I'm so glad she did! I barely ever go to the grocery store now, unless I need something super specific (like the ingredients for these burgers!), but I usually just see what is available to order each week and plan my meals that way.

Imperfect Foods gets its produce from local farmers and is stuff that has been rejected by grocery stores for super silly reasons like the shape or size. Sometimes companies change their packaging and stores can't sell the old products, and other times the the expiration date is just a little bit sooner than stores are comfortable with because they don't know if they will sell out of all of their other inventory in time. Either way, it's all perfectly good food that would go to waste! I love getting cheaper products and knowing I'm making a difference for local farmers and the environment.
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If you want to check out Imperfect Foods and get $10 off your first box, use my link to sign up!

This is where you get to be creative and pick the flavors you prefer in a burger. But, if you want to try something new, here is one of my favorite topping combinations. I love this smoked gouda from Aldi, so if you use anything from this list, try the sliced cheese!
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I didn't have a lot of veggies in my fridge when I made these burgers, but if you want to add lettuce, tomatoes avocados or onions, I think they would go really well with these flavors too.

The package says to let the patties thaw in the fridge if you had them frozen, but I just took them straight out of the freezer and cooked them without any problems! I used a silicone cover to hold in the heat for the first half of cooking to make sure it cooked all the way through, and it worked great!

1. Cover a medium-sized skillet in cooking olive oil (or whatever you prefer to cook with).
2. Turn the heat on your stove to medium and add the Beyond Burgers to the skillet.
3. Cover until you hear quite a bit of sizzling and popping (1-2 minutes minutes).
4. Lift the cover and flip the burgers. Cover again for about 1-2 minutes.
5. Remove cover and continue to cook the burgers, flipping every once in a while to check for charring.
6. Once the outside of the patties is a little bit charred and crispy, they are done. The insides may still look pink, but remember that it's not real meat, so it's just for the aesthetic. They are perfectly safe to eat!
7. Scoop each patty onto a bun and add your toppings. Enjoy!

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I can be pretty picky when it comes to meat alternatives, and wow do these vegan barbecue jackfruit tacos hit all of the marks for me! While you can find packaged barbecue jackfruit in a lot of grocery stores, I don't think those have a very good flavor, so it's best to make it yourself with your favorite barbecue sauce.

​You don't need a lot of supplies to make these, and they are such a crowd-pleaser. I used 4 cans to make a big batch for my family's Thanksgiving last year (we usually do enchiladas and other Mexican foods for Thanksgiving), and the whole table of meat-eaters loved it and said it tasted and looked just like pulled pork.

• Canned green jackfruit
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Barbecue sauce
• Taco shells or street taco tortillas
• Your choice of taco toppings

​For my barbecue jackfruit, I prefer to use Zarda's Ghost Sauce. I think the spicy flavor is perfect for tacos, and I like to add jalapeños as a topping, so they go great together. If you like the flavor of ghost peppers but don't want it as spicy, you could try Zarda's Lil' Ghost Sauce that is more sweet than heat.

Zarda's sauces are available at both Lenexa and Blue Springs Zarda restaurant locations, your local grocery store, and at Made in KC stores and online.

​You can make these tacos entirely vegan, or they can be vegetarian if you choose to add sour cream or cheese.

Have you cooked with jackfruit before? What are your favorite vegan recipes? Let me know in the comments!

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If you have ever been interested in going through a yoga teacher training, here is everything you need to know about the process! Becoming certified as a yoga instructor doesn't necessarily mean you have to teach yoga. Many people do it to deepen their own yoga practices and for the personal growth that comes along with it.

The Yoga Alliance works to make sure that no matter where you choose to pursue your certification, you learn all of the basic fundamentals and are set up for success. For more information on the Yoga Alliance and what it means to become a RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher), visit this link.

While there is consistency among training fundamentals, there are so many different teaching styles. I recommend taking several classes at the studios you are considering and choose the program at the place you most enjoy. The way their instructors teach will be how you learn to teach as well.

You will also need to consider the time commitment and what works best for your schedule. Some places spread out the 200 hours of training over several months so you only go to training once or twice a week. Other places condense the process into just a couple of months with longer training sessions multiple times a week.

For me, I knew I didn't have much going on during the fall, so I took the months of October and November to knock it all out. It was definitely the only thing I could think about during those two months, but I liked it that way because everything I learned was always fresh in my mind, and I felt fully immersed in the training. You may be different. If have more things you juggle throughout the week, you might opt to spread out your process so you don't have to put your life on hold. It's totally up to you!

The 200 hours of training are a culmination of the time spent in the actual training facility along with outside classes and homework assignments. Here is everything I had to do in my training:

• Attend all training sessions and make up for any missed.
• Take classes at the studio and at other studios to get a feel for different teaching styles.
• Read two books and write book reports on each.
• Write reflections throughout the training on various topics.
• Complete a service project with a group of fellow trainees.
• Craft yoga sequences, playlists and themes.
• Take two written exams.

We covered so much more in training than I ever expected. While a huge chunk of our time was spent on posture breakdowns, anatomy and physiology lessons, memorizing a basic sequence, breath work, meditation and practice teaching, we also spent a lot of time working on our personal development.

​A big part of studying yoga is finding your why. Yoga is a challenging exercise that takes mental focus and patience alongside the physical work. You have to be ready to look deep inside and find the things that are holding you back and let them go. We talked a lot about our inner critics and the lies we tell ourselves on a daily basis. Each of us came up with a phrase to combat the lie, and we repeated it often.

For me, the lie I told myself was that I was stuck and couldn't get better. My biggest challenge was giving myself credit for the work I was doing and being proud of myself. By the end of the training, I was able to confidently say, "I am proud." And to this day, I really mean it.

Through teacher training, I learned to view myself differently. I started valuing myself more. I became more in-tune with my strong suits and how to use them effectively. I pondered my deeper purpose and what unique message I have to share with the world. I slowly became kinder to myself and also to others.

I know a lot of people feel like they have to be really, really good at yoga to be certified as an instructor. I worried about that too and often struggled with comparing myself to the other people in my training. The truth is that your physical ability matters very little.

You learn the proper alignment during the training, and you'll go through the sequence so much while other trainees are practice teaching that you will be saying posture cues in your sleep.

You don't need to be able to touch your toes or balance on your hands to teach yoga. You just need to know how to keep your students safe and get them in the right positions. 

I had no idea how to do a chaturanga correctly when training started, and I found out that nobody really does until they are told! Everyone in my training group was all over the place, and one day it clicked for all of us, and we never went back to our old habits. You'll gain the muscle memory throughout the process and see so much growth.

The only thing you need prior to the training is a positive attitude and willingness to put yourself out there. You'll also need to be coachable and let yourself make mistakes. You'll get tons of feedback, but your training leaders just want you to thrive and be the best you can be. You will have to talk in front of a group, and you'll have to get comfortable with touching people you don't know very well. But by the end of the training, you will have a new circle of friends and some major respect for yourself and everything you did.

I'd love to answer any specific questions you have about going through teacher training! Leave a comment here or reach out to me via Instagram.

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A question I get a lot as a yoga instructor is, "How do I get my internal critic to shut up?" It's a question I had myself at the beginning of my yoga practice and something I still have to make a conscious effort toward.

Your internal critic is the voice in your head telling you that you are doing it wrong. It tells you that you aren't flexible enough and makes you question why didn't you wear your high-waisted leggings today because now all you can think about is how your stomach looks in the mirror. It tells you that everyone in the gym is looking at you and that you shouldn't go to group classes because you aren't as good as everyone else there.

Your internal critic is a mean, nasty voice that you shouldn't listen to. But that can be really hard if you have gone years and years of your life allowing it to have full reign over your thoughts.

Most people workout for the purpose of self-care. We want our bodies to be healthy, and there are tons of mental benefits to working out such as reduced stress and better sleep. But, we are working against ourselves if we spend the whole workout criticizing our bodies or feeling frustrated about what we can't do yet.

Here are 3 tips for drowning out the critic and having a more positive mindset during your workout.

Mirrors are useful for checking out form and making sure we are in good alignment so we don't injure our knees, lower back, etc. But they aren't always our friend. If you feel like it's too hard to watch yourself in the mirror without mentally tearing yourself down, try working out away from mirrors for a little while.

​Focus your thoughts on how you feel on the inside and less on how you look on the outside. Think about the muscles you are working. Imagine them getting stronger. Picture your blood pumping to your heart and all of the stress chemicals you are releasing. Focus on your breathing. Exhale on the work and inhale as you release. Think about softening your jaw. With all of these internal things to think about, you won't even have time to consider what you look like while you are doing it.

If your only goal is something huge that is going to take you a while, it's easy to get discouraged and let your internal critic rant about how you aren't even close yet. Try setting a few smaller goals that you can hit quickly so you are regularly cheering yourself on and celebrating a milestone.

At the beginning of each workout, decide one thing you want to accomplish, and pick something that you know is possible. When you do that thing, give yourself a compliment, no matter how small it is. The more you focus on what you can do, the more you will feel like you can do even more. My yoga teachers always tell me to add "yet" to a phrase when feel discouraged.

For example: "I can't do hurdler's pose yet. But, I can do crow pose now, and that's something I had to work hard for. I will get hurdler's eventually."

Working out with a friend is great for so many reasons. First, they can act as an accountability partner. You will be more likely to actually get out of bed on a Saturday morning because you have brunch plans after your workout. And you'll feel better and be kinder to yourself if you are sticking to your commitments.

Second, they can encourage you and help you stay positive when your internal critic starts to take over your thoughts. It can be tough to pull ourselves out of a downward spiral, so we need friends to remind us of all of the things we are doing well. Find someone who you can trust to be honest with. It won't work if you don't share with them how you are feeling. Tell them the negative thoughts and let them build you back up. You might be surprised to learn that other people see you so much stronger than you give yourself credit for!

​If you don't have someone like that in your life right now, make that one of your first goals. You don't have to be in this battle alone. Challenge yourself to open up a little more to the people you regularly talk to and give them a chance to get closer to you. An acquaintance is just a best friend waiting to happen.