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Challenge: WHO Are You?

SAHM and Beyond

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Being a SAHM (Stay At Home Mom) is an amazing (and exhausting) experience. We are everything from CEO to janitor, accountant to counselor, creative director to chauffeur. However, that's not all we are. We, the collective SAHMs of the world, come from all sorts of backgrounds. We share many passions, but also have our own unique desires beyond mom life. Here's a closer look at this SAHM.

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My name is Halley, born the year the comet came 'round, 1986, and named for its namesake, Edmund Halley. In addition to being a proud SAHM, I am also a yoga teacher, major dog lover, travel enthusiast, and aspiring entrepreneur (mysahmlife.com).

Selfie on a rainy day

SAHM selfie

Yoga Teacher

I can always remember being curious about yoga, taking a class here and there, but never really making anything of it. However, thanks to a difficult pregnancy in 2012/2013, I finally started embracing all yoga had to offer. Initially I focused on my own practice, which was almost exclusively at home, but took the plunge in 2015 to get my teaching certification. I haven't looked back :)

Since then I've taught many styles: vinyasa, yinyasa, yin, partner, and kids, hosted several workshops, and am only getting started. Currently I teach vinyasa three times a week at a studio, monthly at my son's school, and host workshops as desired.

Teaching everyone can be so rewarding, and I find it hard to pick a favorite type of student. Kids are so much fun, and bring their own energy. Beginners discovering and falling in love with yoga for the first time have their own infectious passion, and seasoned yogis always have their own wisdom to share. I love teaching so much that you can often hear me "yoga nerding out" in my classes - by that I mean seeing other people succeed thrills me, and doing so in my classes is one of the greatest feelings I get!

Yoga teachers can find it difficult to maintain their own personal practice, so I try to combat that with regular participation in the Instagram yoga community. I have made many friends that celebrate where I am, how far I've come, as well as encourage continued growth in my practice. The supportive nature of this community cannot be overstated, at least in my experience.

I actually post so many yoga pictures and videos that I've decided to keep my personal account ( @halleymarieyoga ) separate from my professional account ( @my_sahm_life ).

playing in crow pose

playing in crow pose at home

playing around before class.

playing around before class.


The #YogaTravelGame is a recent creation of mine that I hope takes off as "the new craze," because it would be AWESOME to see everyone "yoga-ing" all over the place!

Yoga Travel Game

#YogaTravelGame

Must Love Dogs

The only thing that could rival my love for yoga (and my family) is my love for dogs! I honestly can't remember a time when I wasn't obsessed. Recently our family got a new puppy, an Australian Shepherd named Charlie Claire. She is as smart as she is beautiful, just look at that face :)

The best part about Aussies (Australian Shepherds) is they are highly trainable, which means I am combining two of my biggest passions: DOG + YOGA= DOGA! This journey is sure to be full of successes, fails, and plenty of laughs.

Charlie still a young pup
Charlie still a young Australian Shepherd pup

no sleep, but totally in love <3

Our first pic together - no sleep, but totally in love <3settling in togethersettling in together

Travel Enthusiast

I love to travel! Growing up, my parents and I drove all over the country. My mom is an expert vacation planner, and we took a nice vacation nearly every year! That's not to say the destination was always Disneyland, but vacations were always made to be the best they could. We explored local sights, ate at famous places, and lounged when we wanted.

Travel has always been a part of my life, and I didn't realize this wasn't the case for everyone. Traveling can be done on a budget, but even on a budget the costs quickly add up. I've met many people that see travel as "wasting" money, and that's perfectly fine for them. However I find I completely agree with the quote, "travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer." I may not get to travel as much as I like, but I treasure every trip I'm lucky to take.

Cheering on the Sooners in Memorial Stadium.

Cheering on the Sooners in Memorial Stadium.

We celebrated his 3rd birthday in Portland, OR. He's using a birthday gift to look out the hotel window.

We celebrated his 3rd birthday in Portland, OR. He is using a birthday gift to look out the hotel window.


Aspiring Entrepreneur

I married my high school sweetheart when we were 22. He is our primary breadwinner, and his career has taken us all around the country. I've moved around my entire life, so this wasn't a huge deal for me. It was however a deal breaker to employers; at least where long term career paths are concerned. Who wants to hire someone that could up and move? Instead, I held administrative jobs here and there; all the while trying to find my professional purpose in life.

Married my high school sweetheart on Friday the 13th (6/13/2008)

Married my high school sweetheart on Friday the 13th (6/13/2008) | photo by amazing Keith Cephus

My mom got me a book a while back that walked people through steps to create and manifest their dreams. I did not finish the book, but I did craft my own mission statement. Yes, a mission statement for my life:

My Mission Statement

To pursue my passions with zeal by continually advancing my knowledge of a healthy and happy life via training and certifications, specializing in yoga, enabling me to teach others in ways that are most beneficial to them and encourage their own pursuit of a healthy, happy life.

Finding Blogging

While living in Pittsburgh I decided to try my hand at blogging, and loved it! However, my husband's dream job called, so we packed up and moved cross-country to Washington state. It was wonderful and devastating all at the same time. I tried to hold onto my old blog, but all of my contacts (and content) were based out of Pittsburgh. I reluctantly gave it up.

The blogging bug never left, so I decided to give it another go. MySAHMLife.com launched in January of this year, and aims to help make the everyday easier specifically in the areas of organization, planning, health (with a yoga emphasis), learning to be eco-friendly, mutli-gen living, & mom life. MSL's focus leading up to the Mom2.0 conference has been to build a solid foundation.

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Speaking of the conference; this will be my first time attending! I cannot wait to get there, listen to all the speakers that I can, network with people and bloggers I already admire - even make friends with some of them!

Clearly I'm excited about the conference itself, then I found out Kristen Bell is going to be the keynote! YAY! In fact, wrapping this up so I can go buy sloth everything, so she'll be my friend ;)

Thank you TODAY show for partnering with Mom 2.0! It's so exciting to have opportunities as a mom that both encourage entrepreneurship, as well as family life.

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