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Trying to curate my kid’s lives less

Being in control is a very comfortable place for me. It’s the reason why I schedule everything in my calendar, set agendas, make itineraries, and lists for work, family, home, and travel. It makes me good at a lot of things, have good intentions, but also intolerable at times. And I know my controlling tendencies makes me curate my daughters lives. They interpret it as me being a strict mom.

My oldest daughter has been fencing for the last two years. It’s important to me the girls do a sport to be active, work as a team and individual, and get the experience working with a coach. She doesn’t like to run so I started bringing her to try sports like archery and fencing. She thought fencing was fun. I liked fencing because in my research it wasn’t a popular sport for girls so not too competitive and many good colleges have fencing teams. Yes, she was 9 and I was already thinking about college. We were at a great club, had a fantastic coach, met great friends, she was on the path to being a great fencer. This summer she told me she wanted to stop fencing because she didn’t like getting hit all the time. I was upset and at first, told her she had to finish out the year. After some thought, I let her stop at the end of the summer because I had to support her feeling of not liking to be hit. This turned our lives upside down because we spent most of the time at fencing lessons, classes, competitions.

I love my daughters but I’m an Asian mom with controlling tendencies so parenting doesn’t come easy. This experience really made me think about how much of my own intention I have in my daughter’s lives. I was looking ahead 10 years and wanted them to find a sport now that would help them get into college. I am a work in progress and this was a learning experience. Now, I really just want them to find something they are passionate about. Now they are both playing tennis and horse-back riding. These sports might not help them get into college but they love doing it. They read books about horses and like to follow the professional tennis players. Even though it’s uncomfortable to have a little less control in their lives, I love to see them happy, and want them to feel like I support them even when they don’t follow the path I want for them.

Chrissy xo

Summer Vacation in New Hampshire

Blog, Travel

Our summer vacation this year was in New Hampshire. This was the first time my family spent time in New Hampshire and it was a fun nature-filled vacation.

The first two days of the vacation, my sister’s family joined us and we went to Story Land. Our favorite ride was the Splash Battle ride where everyone on the ride or watching the ride gets soaked.

Girls also loved the Polar Coaster.

Then we went to the Omni Mount Washington Resort. It’s a beautiful resort in the middle of Mount Washington.

It was a great hotel with lots of kids activities. One day the girls had their faces painted.

There are stables on the resort so the girls looked forward to horse-back riding.

The girls were so excited to do two trail rides and ride a different horse each time.

We fished but didn’t caught anything.

One day we went cross country mountain biking. This was the first time the girls and I rode on mountain trails. We passed waterfalls on the way.

After the mountain biking, we ate lunch at the clubhouse and this was the view. Gorgeous.

One day we took the Cog train to the top of Mount Washington.

It was 80 degrees at the bottom of the mountain and 50 degrees at the top. We enjoyed the beautiful views and hot chocolates at the summit.

This was a fantastic way to see the mountain landscape and learn the history of the railway and area.

We went to the Bretton Woods Adventure Center and the girls did archery.

The girls also rock climbed. It was their first time and loved it.

The mountains in New Hampshire were so beautiful and I loved that there are so many outdoor activities to do. Our days were filled with outdoor adventures, in the evening we roasted s’mores by the fire pit, and fell asleep quickly tired from the sun and fun.

Cheers to family time and adventures,
Chrissy xo

Tea for One

Blog, Health

I like to drink tea. It’s not a daily ritual for me but I enjoy the taste of a hot cup of herbal water and drinking different herbal mixes helps me achieve Dr. Terry Wahls’ protocol of consuming 200 different plant species in a year. Corinne Trang is a holistic health and nutrition counselor and a purveyor of top quality whole leaf tea. I have followed Corinne for a long time because of her simple healthy lifestyle and knowledge of tea so was really looking forward to my “Tea for One” private tea session with her.

The “Tea for One” session was in the tea room of Corinne’s house in High Falls, NY in the Hudson Valley. We drank five different whole leaf teas prepared in the traditional Chinese gong fu method. The teas were chosen based on tea experience, in my case very novice, and we drank them in order of least to highest oxidation. As the tea becomes more oxidized the flavor is more bold. Corinne steeped the tea for seconds in a Gaiwan, a porcelain cup with a lid for steeping teas, then pour a cup for each of us. We drank intentionally slurping to cool the tea. This ritual of steeping and slurping was repeated for a single tea four times, each time the flavor was stronger because the tea leaves were opening up. After 4+ steeps, Corinne would move onto the next tea. I found the gong fu practice of steeping and slurping each of the teas so calming and being served the tea in this way so grand. I can see why this is a form of active meditation.

Corinne is beautiful soul and having her serve tea in a traditional Chinese method while sharing her knowledge was an amazing experience. I left this “Tea for One” session with a calmness that rarely happens in my life and drove one and a half hours home in silence and present with just my thoughts. With so many demands in our lives, making time for self-care is necessary for good health and restoration.

Chrissy xo

Moms of Health: Chrissy Jee

Blog, Moms of Health

I am a health coach empowering busy moms to create space for health. I help moms make micro-changes in their day and intentionally schedule time to let their bodies rest, give it the nourishment it needs, and reduce stress.

Website: chrissyjee.com
Instagram: instagram.com/chrissyjee

What is your morning routine?
I wake up at 6am. I spend at least 30 minutes in the bathroom. My bowel movements are regular so my day starts with a poop (apologize if TMI), then brush teeth and wash my face. I’ll drink a glass of room-temperature water with a squeeze of lemon and sprinkle of salt to hydrate my body. 6:45am I’m making breakfast and packing lunch for my daughters and myself. I prefer hot breakfast so I make eggs, bacon, hash brown potatoes, mashed sweet potato, sautéed greens. Packed lunch is either leftovers or prosciutto and crackers. 7:15am I wake my daughters up and we all get dressed and ready for the day. 8:10am I drop the girls off at school, we eat breakfast in the car, and head to Crossfit or yoga for an hour of exercise. Then I’ll head home, shower, and start my work day.

What is a favorite recipe you make for your children?
Umami Roast Chicken from Nom Nom Paleo. It’s super simple to make. I marinate the chicken the night before then put it in the oven an hour before I want to eat dinner. I serve it with roasted, steamed, or stir-fried vegetables. My daughters love this chicken.

Share one change you made in your life that made the most impact on your health.
Paying attention to how my lifestyle effects my overall health. I started to be mindful of how I felt physically and mentally, how much sleep did I get and did I feel rested when I woke up, how did I feel after eating and how different foods effect that, was I anxious, how often I had bowel movements. Once I started doing this, my health changed. I started to make time for my health and make micro-changes in my diet, sleep, exercise, relationships, and how I managed stress to feel good.

What is a favorite purchase that costs less then $100?
B.LXR from Beekeeper’s Naturals. Caffeine makes me feel very anxious so drinking coffee and matcha are not options for me. But I have a lot on my plate, clients, project deadlines, so when I need an energy boost, mental clarity, and focus I use B.LXR. It’s an all-natural, caffeine-free, and made from three brain-boosting ingredients: Royal jelly, Ginkgo biloba, Bacopa monnieri. And it works.

How to Have a Minimalist Lifestyle

Blog, Health

A minimalist lifestyle, where the goal is to do and have less, is still a work in progress for me. My desire to accomplish the most out of my day and life many times leaves me with an unreasonable to-do list and lots of stress trying to complete it. As someone who has maximized every minute in a day, having a successful career, experiencing new things, pleasing others, providing a great life for my kids, I can confirm this desire to accomplish so much has given me a constant level of stress and taken some of the joy out of these experiences. My health has suffered from this consistent stress and now I have to be very mindful to control it. One of the best ways I’ve found to control stress is by incorporating a minimalist lifestyle into my busy life.

Here is how:

Do Less. Focus on the “Hell Yes”. I can easily fill my day with things to do. Chores around the house, grocery shopping and preparing food, getting together with friends, work projects. Many days these things happen right after each other and at the end of the day I’ve checked all the boxes, feel exhausted and stressed out. As a busy mom, I have lots of hats to wear, but I focus on the “Hell Yes”, the things that really matter to me as a woman, mom, wife, friend. My list of “Hell Yes” are a clean and organized home, preparing and eating nutrient-rich meals for family, time with my MVP (most valuable people), good sleep, work that helps people. When I’m able to do less and focus my time, I’m able to concentrate on doing a great job on the things that matter the most to me.

Have Less. Be Less Distracted. When we have less things and less things to do, our day, mind, and life don’t have unnecessary distractions.

Space for Joy. We all want to be happy and live a fulfilled life. My biggest regret being so busy is being too tired, busy, stressed, anxious to enjoy it.

I still have busy days. But I focus my time on the things that matter the most and that means I don’t make every social event, don’t choose to work on every exciting project, don’t have a perfectly styled house. And that’s totally and completely ok.

Chrissy xo

Eat for Your Health

Blog, Health

The food we eat has a direct impact on our health. Each bite we put in our mouth can support our health. Here is how:

Fuel for our body to feel good
Food provides our organs and systems the information and ingredients to work properly. Nutrient and mineral rich foods gives our body functions the information to grow, develop and maintain. When our bodies are being nourished properly, we physically and mentally perform at our best, we feel good and have energy to do the things we want to do, we feel happy. To get a great source of nutrients and minerals eat a big variety of vegetables, grass-fed and pastured meat, wild fish, healthy fats like olive oil and avocados, good carbs that won’t spike your blood sugar like vegetables and nuts.

Medicine – to maintain, prevent, and treat disease
When we provide our body too much food or the wrong food, we become overweight, undernourished, and at risk for diseases and conditions like arthritis, diabetes, and heart disease. We fuel our body with nutrient and mineral dense foods to maintain and prevent disease. When we start to or become sick, it’s important we provide our body the necessary support by drinking lots of bone broth because it’s anti-inflammatory and heals a damaged gut, the root of many diseases.

Supporting our emotional and mental health
Sharing a meal brings us together with our favorite people. Surrounding ourselves with close relationships gives us a long and fulfilled life by supporting our emotional and mental health. This intimate community pushes us to be our best self, picks us up when we are down, helps us to stay accountable and build resilience.

I’m all about efficiencies in my life so grab a healthy meal with a VIP in your life to support both your physical and emotional health.

Chrissy xo