What does the Amaya Papaya logo mean?

As we take time to reflect on the importance of Mothering, I would like to share with you my inspiration for the Amaya Papaya name and logo. AMAYA PAPAYA is a TERM OF ENDEARMENT FOR MY DEAREST DAUGHTER (and best business partner ever) Amaya.

When I was pregnant with Amaya I dreaded the thought of getting STRETCH MARKS!! It was not until 2 days before I gave birth that the first stretch mark appeared, from that moment on they spread like wild fire! I was devastated (or so I thought, vain I know).

Once Amaya was born my favorite song to sing to her was MY GIRL by the Temptations. The first line was so true..."I got SUNSHINE on a cloudy day".... Amaya was truly my SUNSHINE in the mist of anything that I was going through as a new mom.

When Amaya began to speak she would ask me about the boo boo's on my belly. I would tell her that they were not boo boo's at all. I began telling her that the stretch marks where SUN RAYS that I was blessed with when she was inside my belly.

As I began to think of a logo for Amaya Papaya, I thought that nothing would be more fitting than the SUNSHINE to represent Amaya and every other child that a parent has been blessed with. If you took the sunshine in our logo and turned it sideways where the sun rays are facing down it would appear as if it were a mama's belly with sun rays beaming from it.  Isn't that beautiful and so true! 

Ask Amaya....she will tell you how she put the SUNSHINE on mommy's belly! If your ever at Amaya Papaya and you hear the song "My Girl" playing please excuse me if I get a bit teary eyed. After all it's "our song" and it reminds me of my forever blessing.....MY GIRL. 

I am ever grateful to have been chosen to be her mommy. I come from a long line of amazing women and I look forward to watching Amaya become an amazing woman as well. 

Now with the addition of my new mission and movement, Bomb Mom, I hope to inspired and support other moms to be their greatest self.  Bomb Mom grew out of my daily interaction with mothers at Amaya Papaya.  Through those moms I see a need for a motherhood empowerment movement that will address the mental health of mom, her need for non-judgemental bonds with other moms and overall support for her on her journey as a mom. 

Happy Mother's Day Bomb Moms! 

I am a Mother Runner....I am!

This week I began running.........again. Consistency with running has become a great challenge that I must get over. For the past year I have started running again ....over and over and over again.

I love running. No, not in the way that I love Disney but, I do love running. Ok, it's more of a love hate thing, but once I'm consistent the benefits far outweigh the hate. Running gives me peace. This is the time I'm able to meditate and pray clearly with no distractions. I've never been good at praying. I'm sort of like Dori from finding Nemo when I pray. I start praying about one thing and then....oh! Running is great for my self diagnosed ADD. I can concentrate on going forward, listen to my music or nature and pray without ceasing for as long as I run. Winning! 

In 2014 I ran my first and only 1/2 marathon. It was a Disney race of course!

I was even featured on the Drink Chia blog during my training. I've run many 5K's and have discovered that 10K's are my sweet spot! A 10K is 6.2 miles. This distance gives me a bit more of a challenge than a 5K yet prevents me from trying to kill myself by trying to run 13.1 miles.  Don't get me wrong, I love the challenge of the 1/2 marathon however, as a mom and a business owner I barely have time to shower let alone train enough to get that mileage in.  I do have this crazy idea that I'd like to run the Walt Disney World Full Marathon in 2017 or 2018. Crazy. I know. I'm going to do it! 

I've found that being signed up for races is key for me to be motivated to run. This year so far I have run a 5K to support Autism. I was excited to sign up for this race as it included a medal also known as "bling" to the runner community.

Bling, is also a good motivator for me to run. It gives me something to remind me of my accomplishment. I am also signed up for my one Disney race of the year.  The Star Wars Dark Side 10K is sure to be a fun race! While I'm not a Star Wars fan, I am a Disney crazy lady. I'm trying to brush up on my Star Wars history by watching movies before the race. I'm planning to run as C3P0. 

If you are looking for stress relief I encourage you to start walking/running. It's a great way to relax and be healthy. If you would like to join me in my next race on April 9, I am giving away a FREE race registration this week on my Facebook page! If you miss the contest you can register for the 2nd Annual Live, Work, Move Seminole 5K online at https://www.facebook.com/events/801749953268303/

Be sure to join the Amaya Papaya team! 

Please pray for my running consistency 😜.  

Vision Board Planning for 2016

When I was a counselor one of the coolest things I did with my clients was to have them create vision boards. A vision board is a really simple craft project that helps you to reflect on goals you may have or things you may want to manifest in life. To create a vision board you gather pictures, single words or quotes that you would like to adhear to a board.

When I was in the preparation phase for Amaya Papaya I created a huge double sided vision board. The board helped me to organize my ideas about various play areas and the type of toys I wanted to have at my facility. This really helped me in establishing my vision for Amaya Papaya as a creative play space called a playlounge that mostly offered kid powered & classic toys. 

5 Benefits of a Vision Board

• Helps you to visualize your goals
• Helps you to set your intentions
• Helps you to gain inspiration 
• Help you to stay accountability
• It works!

Creating a vision board is simple and only requires a few simple items that you most likely have sitting around your home. Gather the items below, set your intention and start creating!

Materials needed
Blank piece of card stock or poster board (8x10 or larger)
Glue
Scissors
Various Magazines

To create a vision board follow these simple steps
1.) Set your intention, think about your goals and the things you want to manifest in your life.  


2.) Cut out pictures and words from magazines that related to your goals or things that you want to manifest in your life.

3.) Organize the cut outs how you would like to have them on your board.

4.) Glue the cut outs to your board


Putting your vision board to work


Once your board is created you can share it with your friends or keep it to yourself.   Ideas of sharing with friends are posting a photo of your board to social media and explaining your board in a post.  You can meet up with a friend or friends to discuss your goals and intentions. Talking about your goals can often times be therapeutic and help keep you accountable.  If you should decide to keep your board to yourself,  keep it in a place where you can see it and reflect on it often. The more you are reminded of your goals and have them organized the better it is to achieve them.  You can add items to your board over time if you would like or create a new board for various aspects of your life.

Join me on Sunday January 10 at 2:30pm or Wednesday January 20 at 3pm for a Vison Board Session for the Bomb Mom! At this session you will visualize your goals through guided meditation, set your intentions through a Bomb Mom discussion with Amaya Papaya's Mom, gain inspiration from other Bomb Moms, create a network for accountability and have fun! 

Running on E

Hello all. I'm back! I've taken a little break from my full social media sharing as I did not know how to express my feelings regarding the last few weeks.  For months I've been back and forth to the Dr. trying to figure out why I've not been feeling well.  I've had LOTS of blood drawn and have been poked in places that I never want to have poked again.  Last week I got a call from my Dr's. office who delivered some great news. The most recent test that they did came back normal! Awesome.  I'm relieved.  Now can I get back to my normally scheduled life? Not so fast! For the past year I've slowly gone from the girl that ran a 1/2 marathon to a girl that is afraid to run a block from home in fear of passing out.  A new normal is called for.  My body is talking to me and I need to listen.

Over the past few years I've not taken care of myself as I should.  Sound familiar?  Moms, why do we do this to ourselves?  I've allowed stress to get the best of me. When I should have said no, I smiled and said yes not knowing that saying yes so much would cause my health to slowly decline.  I've learned that sugars do not agree with my body, so the weekend binge of cupcakes while I'm working birthday parties are not a smart idea for me. Not eating enough, yep……….not eating enough causes my blood sugar to have crazy internal disco parties.  And for once my husband is right (joking), not drinking enough water has caused me on several occasions to be dehydrated, which I'm sure disguised itself as some other phantom of illness that I felt I had to endure.

Over the past few months I've made some changes to my diet, I've started a regimen of medication and vitamins that make me feel a heck of a lot better and I'm going to bed way earlier than I did in the past. Fibroids, cyst, anemia and no gall bladder are my frienenemies. As of right now we will need to live cohesively with one another. I will either complain or take care of us and move forward.  I have been stuck in this medical mystery mess for the past year.   I need to listen to what my body is telling me and stop trying to "figure out" what the deal is.  I've started strength training over the past few weeks and I'll begin running (ok…walking) again this week.   I've had to end a few friendships and limit my level of involvement in some organizations I belong to.   Running on E is no longer acceptable. 

Today

    So, I admit it, I'm a slacker. I let the toilet paper run out at AP for the 2nd time in the past two months. I'm also out of socks for my customers to purchase. I have no black ink in my printer, so printing  waivers or a sign in sheet today for that matter was out of the question. 

     The reason for this madness: I'm lazy. I barely have time to tie my own shoes.....actually I don't tie my shoes, I just slide my feet into the shoe and tuck the excess string. I'm tired. I've not had much time off from work. Or maybe. There are some crazy health issues that have been plaguing me for the past 5 months now that prevent me from doing everything I used to do so quickly. Grrrrrr. And oh yeah, I'm hiring again.  

   Whatever the reason, today I discovered how easy ordering supplies online is. Toilet paper and ink should be in tomorrow via a truck! I find peace in knowing that I am organized when in comes to the important stuff like remembering my customers names, keeping track of birthday parties, being super OCD in planning my schedule months in advance and I sanitize my place like a F-ing lunatic. Did I mention, my kid got all A's on her report card? I must be doing a little something right. 

Signed, 

The not so perfect business owner.