Monthly Archives: September 2015

Hi ya’ll….

Just a little Tuesday inspiration!

Do you guys just ever wake up and think… Ok.. I need to shake it off (Thanks Tay! ) and get up again (on the right side?!)

That’s what happened to me this morning!

I’m in a bit of a funk because we are trying to get super healthy here in this fam… but healthy I mean like clean up shop!  We are a pretty healthy family but my family history and genetics are a bit wonky… so every now and then we do a bit of a deep clean if you will.  So right now we are doing the Whole 30, and ya’ll I’m just not gonna lie, it’s hard!  I wake up for the first few days and I’m a total grumplestiltskin… BUT you do just have to pull yourself together and wake back up on the right side.

Remembering all the things I’m grateful for and all the amazing people I have in my life help me turn my mood around… always!  I’m a big believer too in feeding the soul!

So here’s some fun for you today…

 

 

It’s true my friends!  What fuels your heart and soul?!

What are you going to do today that brings your heart peace and makes you happy?!

  • September 23, 2015 - 4:24 am

    Katie - Just wanna say – I love you and YOU make me happy!!!
    xoxoReplyCancel

    • September 23, 2015 - 11:40 am

      brooketuckerphoto@gmail.com - I Love YOU!!!!ReplyCancel

HI!!!

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

This one felt short and sweet for us!

Tuck came home on Friday and we just enjoyed a few moments together before picking up our little man from pre-school! (who was exhausted to say the very least!)

Friday was one of those funny nights because Linc was just soo incredibly tired that there was nothing at all he wasn’t overly emotional about!  Linc… do you want to go home and watch a movie?!  NOOOOO… I want to go home and watch a movie… but I don’t want to watch a movie!  I want mommy to take me out of my car seat, no I want daddy to take me out of my car seat, nto you daddy… I want mommy… mommy don’t touch me!

It’s one of those nights where we just all have to laugh because it’s just craziness and you feel so bad because you know your kiddo is exhausted, yet at the same time you want to strangle them because they make no sense and there is just no winning or no peace until they are fast asleep!

Saturday I spent the day shooting a wedding while the boys had a pretty epic “boy day” as well call them at our house!  HIGH FIVES FOR BOY DAYS!

These days are pretty cherished around here and I love that my two best boys get to spend quality time together one on one.  They were able to go get a few errands done together and then spend a great time outside enjoying the nice weather.  They played in the dirt, played some baseball and were even able to go for a great bike ride!  They were having such a blast, Tuck said that they didn’t even notice the dinner hour creeping up on them!

Yesterday we spent the time celebrating a special 3 year old in the morning/afternoon and then came home to just plain rest as a family!  Linc watched a movie and Tuck and I tried desperately to rest on the couch with him and possibly carve in a nap or two!  We hoped, we always hope, but naps just aren’t Linc’s thing!

As always… here are some fun little things learned and events that happened over the week!!

  • 9 round!  So I joined 9 round and if you haven’ t heard of it, you should absolutely go online and start researching!  OR I can just tell ya!  9 Round in a nutshell is a kick boxing style circuit workout!  OK…. so maybe I’ll just give you a little back ground info here!

A bit of information you might not know about me!  I LOVE boxing!  I actually love anything to do with kickboxing, martial arts, MMA… anything of the sort!  My dad was a golden gloves and he fought with Sweat Pea Whitaker.  I think that’s one of the reasons I am so overly obsessed (still) with the TV shows Alias (heck yea Sydney Bristow) and Burn Notice (Fiona).  Those female characters are seriously bad-ass but also super feminine too.  Anyway… that’s beside the point.

When Tuck was deployed, I actually signed up at a gym, like a legit boxing gym.  I was serious about learning how to box and fight the right way.  This wasn’t a workout for me, I wanted to learn to box and I was ready to take it seriously to the point where I was going to learn and then actually fight…in a ring with another opponent!~  I’m betting that shocks some of you that know me well.  Sadly, the day I was supposed to start, the gym owner had some challenges and the gym is now no longer in operation.

A year and some change later, 9 round has found it’s way into my life!  It’s not boxing and there are no rings and I won’t be scheduled to fight anyone… but the workout is still there!  A super satisfying workout!  It’s quick (30 minutes), it’s empowering and it’s sweaty!  I say it’s sweaty because oddly enough, I usually don’t sweat, not even when I run but at 9 round I sweat so much I drip!

You come in when you want (as long as it’s 30 minutes before closing) and you join in at a circuit that is open.  There is always a trainer ready to motivate you and trust me… they will!  The circuits are nothing complicated or crazy!  Some have bags and some don’t!  Some require you to use your own body weight and some require you to wrap your hands and use your gloves.  I will tell you, for me… there is nothing like the sound of that bag being hit!  I leave feeling totally lighter than when I left;  I leave smiling and laughing and also feeling like I could totally kick some ass!  And that speed bag… oh that speed bag, it’s like the most beautifully challenging dance I have ever been asked to dance!

Ok so enough about 9 round… go check it out if you are interested in learning some more!  The first workout is on the house!!

 

  • Reese!  Ok so I love Women’s Health magazine!  I don’t get a lot magazines but the two I always get and will always pick up:  Clean Eating Mag and Women’s Health!  This month on the cover of Women’s Health is my girl forever and ever Reese Witherspoon!  I just adore her, always have and always will!  No matter what magazine it is, if she is gracing the cover or has a feature article, I will always pick it up!  She’s beautiful and she’s smart!  This article specifically talks about the 5 most important characteristics you should have if you want to be a game changer in your own life (at least that is how I personally read it).  The cover says ” own your power) but when I read this specific article, to me it speaks more about depth of character and personal growth.  Some of the traits she talks about are qualities that I feel I haven’t really even thought about or really come to know the real truth about until now in my 30′ (more specifically what she says about support and grit).  It’s an amazing article, which of course it wouldn’t be anything short of with Reese as the subject!  If you see it on your next trip to the supermarket or to Target, pick up a copy, or give her article a peek while you wait!

 

  • Bath bombs!  GUYS… last year I went to Disney and they had this store where I bought bath bombs and they were amazing…until I forgot about them.  I went on with my merry life forgetting all about the amazing world of luxury baths, until I saw them again at Target!  Hallelujah for Target!  Can we all just applaud how amazing Target is and agree that their hashtag target does it again is really so appropriate!  I bought lavender ice cream scoops in the bath section and ya’ll…. I’m absolutely in love!  Yesterday, I was able to sneak upstairs and enjoy a whole 30 minutes of blissful lavender bath time soaking all to myself and it was heaven!  Seriously friends, I think you all need this in your life!

So that’s all I have for you right now on this dreary Monday!  It’s kind of a weird Monday here in Virginia Beach… I hope your weather is much better than ours.  Although, I guess I should throw the caveat out there that it all depends on where you are in VB… right now I’m sitting under a very weird rain cloud… one minute it’s pouring, the next it’s a black kind of sunny.  What’s odd is that here in VB… you could live across the street and not be under the same rain cloud I am under!  It could be all blue skies for you!

So what’s it like for you today?

It’s no secret that I have a deep love for the ocean and the sand.  Last time I wrote in this series, I spoke about how as far back as I can remember one of my very first memories, true memories was riding the waves on the nose of my mom or dad’s surfboards into the shore.

Both my parents surfed, both my parents were sponsored and both of them created a sense of freedom for me when I am out in the ocean!  We lived down at the beach and we were always down there no matter what the weather would bring us.  We were there in the winter, bundled up but in our bare feet enjoying the cold sand.  We were surfing in the summers (at 2 years old I was always in the safety of my parents arms or sitting on the nose of their boards.)  The ocean has always been my home away from home and that is why my own husband, although the mountains will always call his name, knows that I can never be too far away from the surf!

It’s also no secret that I have a deep love for leather! I wear leather cuffs that are big and thick.  I have a leather camera strap around my neck that my thoughtful husband searched for and gifted to me!  Almost all the holidays, you will find the go to gift will be something of a leather nature and there is a absolutely a reason for this!

You see, growing up… I can remember a time that my brother gifted me his own leather cuff that he made at summer camp… I think!  I actually can’t even remember the story to be honest, because that’s how little I was.  Maybe, my mom made it for my brother.. either way, it was a small brown cuff with ZAC carved into the leather.  I wore it for as long as I can remember.  I still had it until just a few years ago when my mom and I passed it on to my niece.

My mom created our love for leather… it all began with her!

My mom always had such wonderful leather pieces.  She had these incredible bags that she crafted herself.  They were ornate with delicate florals and patterns that she had engraved (I’m not even sure if that’s the word to describe it, but that sure is what it looked like!) herself.

She collected unique leather treasures from all her travels around the world: bags and bracelets of all kinds.  She had belts from Mexico and Europe that she has passed on to me that I still wear to this day.  These little bits of my mom and her incredible experiences and parts of her life that hold stories and adventures now live on to carry more stories and more adventures that I will hopefully pass down one day.

This is why I love leather so much!  It’s not just because it’s amazing…because let’s be honest, leather in my opinion is amazing as a fashion piece!  I absolutely get that from my mom!  She wears a lot of leather and I love that about her.

I love leather because it’s just classic.  I’m sure that’s not a word maybe that’s described leather a lot or some would want to choose to describe it!

To me, it’s a legacy piece.  It’s been a legacy piece in my life and in my family between mother and daughter especially!

Leather holds so much love!  It carries stories and traditions that have been passed down from one generation to the next and hopefully will continue to do so.

Leather gets better with age.  Leather gets better the more you put it to the test!  

The more wear and tear it goes through the softer it becomes!  

Leather can be unconditional in many ways and that is how I chose to see it and why I love it so much.

This is why I chose to use it in my business as a piece of my branding, my new branding that is set to reveal in October!

Leather represents love to me;  unconditional love!  The more time you put into it, the more you test it and wear it, the softer and more comfortable it becomes!

In so many ways this is just like marriage and just like family!  The more we support our family, the more we spend time with our families and pour into our families;  the more loved and strengthened our family becomes!  Our bonds become comfortable and known.  It becomes trusted and respected.

When passed on from generation to generation, legacy pieces carries our stories… and so our family memories will do the same!

To me… leather is love, just like family is love and a priced possession I want to cherish and pass down through all generations.

Do you have certain pieces like this in YOUR family?

Photo credit:  Elizabeth Friske Photography