teach.run.pray.

On Thursday, my sister, Paige, and I took a road trip to Washington, D.C. to visit our cousin, April (April was in my last Yellowstone post), and my friend, Casha. It was a long drive in heavy traffic from South Carolina to Maryland. Though, we all had a little too much fun, the conversations and interactions I had on this trip struck several chords in my heart. 1. I would never want to live in D.C. I'm more of a small town girl than I once thought. The traffic is awful and the cost of living is absolutely absurd.  2. I LOVE    D.C. at the same time, because it is a city of diversity and culture. When you walk into Costco, it isn't bursting at the rim with white people. It's a mixed pot of every cultural background. It's truly a rainbow of humans living together in one place, and in my eyes, that is beautiful. The only way to make it more beautiful would be to say, it's truly a rainbow of humans living together in peace, unfortunately, that isn't the reality

December 2015, my cousin, April, and I registered for the Yellowstone Half Marathon. Little did I know, I'd end up running it alone (April is a vivacious soul and broke her foot a few weeks into training. We won't get into the details of how she did that). However, I had two of the BEST cheerleaders to tackle this adventure with. It seemed as though June 8th (our departure date) would never get here. But, let me tell you, it got here right when it was needed most - the first day of my summer vacation (teacher friends, you know what I'm talking about).  Matt and I flew out of Charlotte, NC and met up with April in Denver, CO. When we landed in Bozeman, MT, we got the keys to the rental car and the most breathtaking trip of our lives officially started. I knew it was going to be one for the books when my phone couldn't pick up service (Sprint must not have towers in MT and WY. Also, it cut me off from social media, & it was great!), and we walked out of the airpor

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, my family lived in a double wide trailer with an above ground pool on my grandpa's land in the heart of Georgia - Juliette, Georgia, "Home of Fried Green Tomatoes," the epitome of redneck. I grew up with an alcoholic father, who loved me and took care of me, but had an addiction. He was an iron worker and made decent money but spent it irresponsibly. When he was sober and not in jail, I called him Daddy Rabbit. When he stumbled home drunk in the middle of the night and started yelling and throwing my mom around, I called him King David. My home environment was less than desirable. So, undesirable, friends weren't allowed to stay over because, let's face it, it wasn't safe. My mom, my brother, and I never knew when we'd have to hide silently in my bedroom closet until dad passed out, so we could safely sneak out of the house to my great grandmother's. What's sad, looking back as an adult, I thought that's wha

Jen is a sweet friend of mine and has been following my blog. After she read my last post, Run. Pray. - America , I received a text that read, "I was thinking we should do downtown, so that we can pass out sticky notes." When I read the text, I WAS STOKED!! For the past few weeks, we have been meeting up for breakfast on Friday mornings. Our meetings are always refreshing, enjoyable, and full of deep conversation. This morning, we met for breakfast and took a stroll down Main Street handing out happy notes to every person we passed.  The notes had random messages written on them. "You are loved." "You MATTER." "Stand proud in your own skin!" "You are worthy." "You are beautiful." "You light up the world." "You are amazing." "Let your soul shine." What hurt my heart was how apprehensive people were when we walked up to them. They gazed at us with such confusion and question. It hurt because e

The Yellowstone post is coming soon, but I really wanted to share my running experience from last Saturday, because it made my heart happy.  It is no secret that the world is in utter chaos. For the past week, I've done my best to cut ties with the media. My heart was bleeding in pain after last week's events. The media, yes social media as well, is constantly shoving negativity down our throats. Last week, I let the media win and allowed it to fill my head and my heart with "the funk." I couldn't get all the violence and hate out of my brain. It was driving me nuts, and I needed to fight back.  I was raking my brain for ways to show my understanding and my love to EVERYONE. How could I impact my local neighborhood? One thought was to carry a stack of post-it notes and a pen with me, walk around downtown or in different areas of Greenville, and pass out notes that said, "I'm sorry. I love you," to every single person I encountered. Unfortunatel

In 2009, I was finishing up graduate school and searching for an adventure to occupy my last free summer. A friend told me about an organization, Bike and Build, and after researching it and realizing it would be the last summer I could participate, due to my age, I signed up. The goal: spend the summer cycling across America to raise money and awareness for affordable housing.  I failed.  A month and a half prior to leaving, I fell (learning to clip in) and fractured my scaphoid bone. It didn't heal in time for the trip. In retrospect, the universe was on my side, and I'm thankful for the change of plans. Instead of pedaling across the country, I pedaled my way from Richmond, VA to Philadelphia, PA - 750 miles in two weeks. It was truly a life changing experience. So, what does this have to do with running? The organization introduced me to some inspiring individuals and one of them introduced me to Team in Training.  Shortly after arriving home, I signed up with Team in

This is my first attempt at blogging, so bare with me as I venture through the process. I'm Nadia and decided to do this as my way of processing life and a way of reflection. I'm not the only human on the planet that stumbles along trying to find themselves every few years or months or weeks. A dear college friend once said, "You aren't complicated. You just have layers like an onion." Well, this blog is my way of digging into my onion layers and trying to make sense of them all.  I have three primary focuses here: teaching, running, and praying. I have so much passion for all of them, and all three of those passions encircle my life. As a teacher, I'm always trying to learn more, teach better, love harder, and balance it with my personal life. As a runner, I'm always trying to improve my form, strength, and speed, but I also depend on it as my therapy and outlet. Running keeps me off the anti-anxiety and anti-depressant drugs. As a person who prays, I&#