I used to teach at least one class a month to over 20 students at a time and still got nervous before each one. 

Apparently I have tiny veins and have had IVs and blood draws from super gross places like the side of my wrist or the back of my hand. Not great. I also bruise like a peach.

I love Ender so much that sometimes I cry about it.

I want a whole lot more tattoos. Not sure if I'll get them, but I want 'em.

A weird pet peeve of mine is when people use "healthy" to describe food. What does that mean? Low fat? Low carb? Organic? Meatless? Vegan? Everyone is so different that it's hard to slap a "healthy" label on almost anything (maybe not veggies, but who knows).

I'm absolutely obsessed with this presidential election on so many levels. How did we got here, and how Trump can be so attractive to so many? The feminist in me is furious. And yet, the side of me who occasionally watches The Bachelorette is looking forward to the next debate with an enthusiasm usually reserved for trashy reality TV. Sometimes I laugh (really hard), and sometimes I want to cry. I usually keep my candidates to myself, but this time I want you to know that #ImWithHer.

What are some things I may not know about you?

Thank you Florastor® Daily Probiotics for sponsoring this post. Visit your local retailer to pick up your bottle of Florastor® Daily Probiotics to supplement your active lifestyle!

Now that we're mostly settled in California, I thought I'd take some time to write about the ways I try to balance the stress of a major life change (like moving across the country) with my health and overall wellness. When life throws you curveballs it can be hard to keep up with your daily habits and routines, so I always try to focus on a few simple goals:

• Make time to move every day.

The first thing I did when I got to California was sign up for a month of barre classes--I used to go to barre six or seven days a week in Charlotte but then stopped going once my membership expired. I like that the workouts are similar no matter your location, so making time to work out (and doing it in a familiar way) has been really helpful, especially when I'm feeling overwhelmed or homesick. I always feel better when I make time to work out, and I'm always annoyed when I let myself forget that!

• If you can't make it to the gym, take a walk!

We were on the road for six and a half days, and we never drove less than 8 hours a day, so the last thing I wanted to do when I got to a quiet and cozy hotel room was work out. Bringing a dog with us on a cross-country road trip was great because we had to make time every day to take him on a walk, and once we made it to our new neighborhood he continued to push us to get out, get some exercise, and meet new people. We've already found a couple great trails/walking paths that I'm excited to add to our routine!

• Focus on your food.

I also think it's important to give yourself some grace when things are crazy and just do your best--for me that usually means focusing on my diet instead of activity level. If I can eat clean, whole foods most of the time and get lots of water, I obviously feel better than I do when I'm eating junk just because it's convenient.

• Supplement your diet.

This is where Florastor® Daily Probiotics comes in--it's a vegetarian, gluten-free probiotic that helps your body naturally absorb water and nutrients while strengthening your digestive balance and supporting a healthy immune system. It comes in a capsule that doesn't need to be refrigerated, so you can bring it with you everywhere, even on a cross-country road trip.

Thanks for reading! We've moved so much that I think it gets a little easier each time. What do you do to take control of your health and routines when things get hectic?

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

So much of fall for me is in the rain--those damp, chilly mornings that are so specific to October and November. It's nostalgic and cozy, like a warm caramel latte in the early morning before homeroom at Roanoke Catholic School; or a soft plaid scarf wrapped around your shoulders at a Hampden-Sydney football tailgate.

The past few days here in the Bay Area have been drizzly and grey and while I think that's a bit unusual for Silicon Valley, it somehow made me feel more at home here than I have felt since we moved almost four weeks ago.

Having our friends visit last week was so fun. We were essentially hosting houseguests, but it was also a vacation because we don't really wake up every morning feeling like we live here. I would tiptoe over boxes and clutter in the dining room to boil water on the stove for coffee in the French press because I still didn't know where the Chemex filters were. I re-wore the same two or three sweaters in the evenings because the rest of my fall wardrobe is still packed away in a box, shoved temporarily into a closet.

We explored Sonoma and Napa, spent a day in San Francisco, visited Sausalito, and hiked among the redwoods and Muir Beach. We drove two hours south to see Monterey and visit Carmel-by-the-Sea by way of 17 Mile Drive, which was like stepping into a different world. Huge waves crashed onto rocks and wild ocean wind whipped around us as we stood on the edge of almost every vista along the way, taking it all in.

A lot of California feels like stepping into a different world.

The time difference, the palm trees, the weather. How out of place you feel when you forget your reusable bags at the grocery store. The way it feels on a Sunday at 8:00 or 9:00PM when you want to call your brother because you played phone tag all weekend, but you aren't sure if it's too late. Trading the Atlantic for the Pacific, and having it so much closer to you than the former ever was. And how odd it is to replace places like NoDa and South End with Palo Alto and Menlo Park.

But then the rain came, and I stood on a sidewalk in San Francisco with one of my best friends in the world. We were soaked through our jackets and the shopping bag we carried started to fall apart, yet we couldn't help but laugh as not one, but two Uber drivers struggled to find us. San Francisco is a city that I have been to often, but it feels new to me every time, and as I raised my hand to hail a taxi I couldn't believe that all of the places we had been in the past week were part of my new life.

We rode to The Mission and found our husbands at the bar of a cozy little taco spot we had decided on for dinner, and after a round of drinks we sat tucked away at a corner table to enjoy one last dinner together before the trip was over.

On the way home we dropped Tina and Michael off at the airport to catch a redeye back to the East Coast, and it was then that I felt less like a vacationer and more like a host. We dragged bags out of the trunk and hugged once more until the holidays; and then it was back to our house, just me and Rob.

I peeled my wet clothes off and got into bed; with the chilly California night drifting in through our open window.

And it rained some more.