On an ordinary Wednesday, our 6yo son Theo came home from school with a stomach ache. We thought maybe it was a virus or something he ate that didn’t agree with him. I did all the things you do at home to treat an upset stomach — bland diet, rest, lots of checking in. Theo went to bed feeling okay, but the stomach ache persisted. It woke him in the night, and in the morning it was worse.

His stomach hurt more and now he had a fever, was hunching over, the right side of his belly was tender, and it seemed increasingly tough for him to walk and use the bathroom. Luckily, my husband Sam knew early on that something wasn’t right and wondered about his appendix. We took him to Urgent Care, who then referred us to a pediatric ER, and before we knew it, we found ourselves in the same children’s hospital where Theo had surgery to put in ear tubes almost three years earlier during one of the most challenging times in our life.

We watched helplessly through an ultrasound, IV insertion, blood work, and MRI as our little boy grew pale and struggled in pain without understanding what was happening to him.

It all felt too familiar.

For the last couple weeks, I've been heads down grinding away at my Illustrator Essentials course (launching July 10th). As you know, I'm a huge advocate of balance in life and business, but even I can acknowledge that there's a time to hustle when things just need to get done. That said, I've found one thing is my saving grace when the deadlines and creative block come calling.

As creative folks and small business owners, we love what we do. As a result, it's hard to separate our work from our life, making it so easy to think that each to-do is make-or-break for our brands and any hiccups are the end of the world. When we're frustrated or blocked creatively, we spend hours banging our heads against a wall and trying to muscle through. But there's a better way.

I'm so pleased to finally share my branding and website work for Fertilust! Between its encouraging and playful feel to all of the symbolic depth behind this beautiful brand, it's one I can't wait to pull back the curtain on. So without further ado, I give you the Fertilust brand!

Last week I had the pleasure of joining Lauren of Elle & Company to chat about the importance of brand guidelines (you can tune into the webinar replay if you missed us live), and had an absolute blast! Anywho, to kick off the conversation Lauren asked me a few questions, the last of which was “what's one thing most people don't know about you?”

My answer for that, friends, was that I absolutely love hot yoga. This is something that people who don't know me personally might not be aware of, but the pursuit of wellness is a big deal in my world. The folks tuning into the webinar mentioned they really liked hearing about my yoga journey, so I thought I'd take some time here to dig in deeper.

I dabbled in yoga a few years back, but didn't seriously commit to my practice until around the time that I started my business. The studio I now belong to in West Chester specializes in Ghosh and Bikram hatha yoga (it's around 100 degrees in these classes), and I cannot get enough! Today I'm actually wrapping up the studio's February challenge of 30 practices in 28 days, and though it's been a huge commitment I'm feeling stronger than ever!

As I reflect on the impact consistently practicing yoga has had on me (beyond physical strength) in the last year, I realize it's taught me aton about myself and balancing my work with life. Today I'm excited to share these insights with you in the hopes they'll bring new perspective to your own journey in life and business.