Rachel Van Kluyve is the mama behind the beautiful Crate and Cottage, her platform for all things home design and DIY. She’s a stay at home mom turned mompreneur, and in this episode we chat about how she manages it all – not only is she a mama to two boys, two dogs and four cats, she’s a wife, she runs a real estate business in addition to Crate and Cottage, she just built her first Air BnB, AND she homeschools her kids. Oh, and she is launching a book in March. Just a few things on her plate! We chat about how she still finds quiet time for herself, how she manages her schedule so it works for their whole family, and how building this platform helped her work through the challenges of postpartum by sharing, one day at a time.

Find the full show notes at www.momcamplife.com/podcast 

Alison Tedford is a mom, a freelance writer and content marketer. We talk about how she transitioned from her government job into the full-time entrepreneurial life, but one of the most incredible things about Alison is a condition she lives with every single day. Alison is diagnosed with a connective tissue disorder which causes her joints to dislocate from the slightest movement, and has her living with chronic pain. She shares how her condition impacts her daily life, and the adaptations she has had to make for activities as simple as putting a jug of milk in the fridge. What's truly amazing about Alison is the awesome humour she brings to any situation, and how she has learned self-compassion in the face of her struggles. She is an awesome mama and an awesome human and I hope you find her as inspiring as I do. 

My guest today is Louise Green, founder of Big Fit Girl. Louise has made it her life’s work to change the narrative and idealistic standards of fitness culture. We talk about plus-size fitness and the barriers that exist in society, the body positivity movement, and how it’s almost always our mind that holds us back and not our bodies when it comes to fitness and physical activity. Louise shares how she helps women overcome the mental barriers of starting physical activity, including through her new Big Fit Girl app. We talk about motherhood and entrepreneurship, and how (or if) she finds balance. She is an inspiration and she is changing the conversation when it comes to fitness ideals. It’s a fascinating chat and I can’t wait for you to hear it.

Go to www.momcamplife.com/bigfitgirl for the full show notes and Louise's bio.

Moms helping moms. Moms creating community. Moms who met on Instagram and became friends in real life. This is what today's episode is all about. This one is a bit different, because my guests were right in front of me, sitting around our coffee table. I even had a candle burning, so this is as close to "around the campfire" as we've been so far. Christina and Carolyn are sisters and the founders of The MomBabes, a community for moms to feel connected, and to gain the confidence to show up as your best self. It was such a joy to sit down and chat with these mamas that have become my friends after connecting on social media. They're awesome, they're inspiring, and you're going to love them. 

See the full show notes at www.momcamplife.com/podcast

How do you chart a course for your own life? Today we have turn by turn directions in the palm of our hands, helping us navigate to a destination. What happens when we begin to travel over the sea? The sea presents a constantly shifting, changing, and unpredictable environment. This is like life. It doesn’t stagnate. In order to arrive safely, successfully, and swiftly we need to chart a course. We need to create an intentional plan to arrive. In today's episode, author Jess Carey shares pragmatic ideas about how we can approach the journey of life and chart a course to success and happiness.

Jessica's bio:

Jessica Carey is the author of Chart a Course - Taking a Journey With God at the Helm, which reached #1 in New Releases for Religious Studies in the first week on Amazon. She and her husband Alex have moved more than eight times across over 11,000 miles in the past decade, including a stint internationally. From acting in New York to running a business overseas, she has consistently stepped into the unknown. Navigating the transitions life presented developed into some practical tactics to continually seek God’s direction.  Jessica is currently a student at Hillsong Leadership College, pursuing a certificate of pastoral ministry. Her life is marked by building family, faith, church, and community. She lives in Phoenix with her two beautiful kids, husband Alex, Goldendoodle Pearl, and bearded dragon Percy. Her food weakness is chips and salsa.

Mabel's Labels literally created their own industry, changing the lives of moms everywhere. They created their personalized, innovative, dishwasher and laundry-safe labels so that all that stuff didn't go missing as frequently.

But what's the story behind the labels? In today's episode I chat with Julie Cole, Co-founder of Mabel's Labels. Back when her son was diagnosed with autism at the age of three, Julie, her sister and two friends decided to dive into the world of entrepreneurship. She left her law career and balanced her schedule between creating a resource team for her son (he's now in second year university) and building what would become an incredibly successful business. Julie is a mom of six and a total inspiration as someone who gets things done while not taking like too seriously. She has awesome mom wisdom AND entrepreneur wisdom to share, and does just that throughout this chat.

Allie Casazza is known as “The Life Minimalist,” and is passionate about helping moms declutter their homes and their lives. She’s a mom of four kids and has figured out rhythms and routines to make like simpler and more flexible. Her family lives a life of simplicity while still living a life of total abundance.

She shares simple ways to think about home maintenance, schedules, and routines. By attaching tasks to “anchor events,” like brushing your teeth, laundry or making coffee, you make your task list more of a habit than a chore.

You’re going to love Allie. She’s totally open, direct and personable. She’s real and honest with what works and what she struggles with. This is an awesome chat and Allie shares so much helpful advice that can be implemented in your life right now.

“What takes up our space takes up our time.” — Allie Casazza

BONUS: How awesome is this?! Allie has created a resource just for our listeners! Go to https://alliecasazza.com/momcamp to get started.

This has been a big year. Truth be told it didn’t feel big for most of the time, because I was doing things I truly enjoyed, but when I take a moment to stop and look back, a LOT happened this year. In addition to momming, wifing, working a full-time job and the daily activities of running this platform, I planned and hosted the first ever Mom Camp: The Camp, and the following week I launched the Mom Camp: Around the Campfire podcast. In hindsight that was a bit ambitious, but I was working with the time off from work that I had and that was what worked for me.

I think it’s important to do two things at the end of any major event or time period, i.e. the end of a year. First, I think we should take time to acknowledge the good work we did and the accomplishments we had. So often we blow past this step on to the next step, task or obligation. Second, it’s important to reflect on the lessons you learned along the way. And that’s what I am sharing in this episode of Around the Campfire. Enjoy!

Have you ever felt stuck in a negativity spiral? Falling victim to stress and overwhelm? Busy seasons like the holidays can bring a mixed bag of emotions, obligations and pressures. There's a feeling that it's supposed to be the "most wonderful time of the year," so how do we turn this around? In today's episode, I share three things that have helped me flip my mindset in challenging situations, taking what could be a negative and making it into a positive. Easy little mind tricks that help put things in perspective, and that can get you out of the negativity muck and into a more open and grateful state of mind. A little holiday magic, if you will. Enjoy! 

If you've had kids, chances are that once in a while a sneeze, a jump or a cough might cause you to get a bit nervous. You know what I'm talking about. But did you know that you can actually take steps to stop those moments?

Kim Vopni is known as the Vagina Coach. She is a pelvic health specialist and she helps women improve their pelvic floor health. Before I discovered Kim I had NO idea that you could in fact do something to improve the situation. Turns out I didn't even know how to do a proper kegel! Spoiler alert - it's not while sitting at a red light.

This episode could literally be life-changing for someone living with those little leaks, or even full blown incontinence. Okay, so more so Kim's work could be life-changing, but this episode is awesome. This is important information and it's a fascinating conversation.