Life Updates 2021

Where we’ve been…

Hey friends, it’s been a minute. When I first started this blog back in 2019, it was exclusively about food + cooking. Since then, I got married, launched a yoga brand called Studio Layla with my husband Chris, spent four months living on a tropical island, and adopted 2 rescue dogs. It’s safe to say a lot has changed in the last couple of years. Never mind the fact that we’ve all lived through a pandemic.

While I still love cooking + aspire to write a cookbook one day, life has been pulling me in a different direction these last couple of years, and I thought it was time to update my blog to reflect that.

Where we’re going…

I will continue to share recipes from time to time. I will also share more behind the scenes of what’s going on at Studio Layla and what it’s really like running your own business. I still enjoy making cooking videos, but with a business, two part-time jobs, and a couple of other projects I’m working on (I’ll share more about those later), sometimes it’s hard to find the time to breathe, let alone develop and record recipes.

Studio Layla

I’m so thrilled to be able to share Studio Layla with the world. It is 100% my dream project and business! So far, we’ve created a collection of eco-friendly cork yoga mats, but we have lots of new products in production. It’s a very exciting time, and I’m so grateful that I get to work with my husband on this.

Since we started Studio Layla, my attention has been more focused on yoga. I’ve been going beyond the yoga poses (or yoga asana) and diving into the deeper teachings and philosophy of yoga. I’ve started a blog to go along with the Studio Layla website… based on yoga, meditation, and mindfulness. I’ll be writing more over there and while trying to maintain more of a presence here too.

Where you can find me…

I normally share my “life updates” over on Instagram, but I realised a lot of the time I’ve been spending on Instagram could have been better spent. At the end of the day, we don’t own these platforms. You can lose access to them at any time. That actually happened to me; I lost access to my Instagram for about 6 months last year. I’ll still be appearing on Insta – I still love it, but I’m just more conscious about where I’m spending my time.

I hope to spend more time writing for my own websites, newsletters, and over on YouTube, which I think are better long term investments for creators.

What are you working on?

A lot of people have been asking me this question! I realise that based on Instagram, it may look like I spend all my time on the beach or practising yoga. Since I left teaching, I’ve mostly been writing. It’s been a very welcome change. I also do social media management for several clients. I loved teaching kids; I miss my students very much, but I’m happy to be spending more time writing. It’s also nice to have more energy for recording projects. You can find my full list of current projects on my about page.

Final thoughts

My biggest problem in the online world is consistency. I’m generally not one for routine. I like life to be an adventure. The last few years, I’ve constantly been moving, not like every month, but I find myself in a different place every few months. I’m grateful, but I need to get better at maintaining consistency with each move.

The advice from literally everyone ever is “niche down”. Well, I’m doing the complete opposite right now. I’m going after whatever brings me joy, so you can expect a bit of a mix of topics over the next few months as I find my way again.

Thank you for reading my rants. A gal is lucky to have friends like you.

xo