Hayley Rissler

read time: 1:25 Hi Reader, Let’s talk about hooks... a part of writing that makes me want to crawl under a rock. 😅 I’ve been helping a client update her program and last night I was writing a lesson on hooks. And ugh. Hooks have always been hard for me because it feels like SO MUCH PRESSURE on one sentence. Like, if I don’t get it right, everything else is doomed. (Dramatic? Maybe. But accurate.) And as I was thinking about hooks, I had a flashback to the night I met my husband. It was...

read time: 1:25 Hi Reader, One year ago on March 5th, I laced up my running shoes and took my first steps back into something that had always been a part of me. I was one year postpartum. I’d spent the month before going on walks, intentionally moving my body, building up the habit. And on that day, I decided - okay, I think I can start moving a little faster. Fast forward a year, and I’ve run 613 miles. (Which, by the way, is about the distance from me in Chicago to Memphis. WHAT.) But...

read time: 2:03 Hi Reader, I usually email on Tuesdays, but yesterday got hijacked. My day was a whirlwind of Facebook notifications. See, making friends as a mom (and, let’s be real, in this political climate) isn’t easy. So, after almost four years of living in my little Illinois town, I decided to put myself out there. I posted anonymously in a local Facebook group, saying I was looking for friends. I included a few fun facts about myself, hit “Post,” and expected maybe a couple...

read time: 2:02 Hi Reader, When my brother pushed me to sign up for a Spartan Sprint 5K with him, I knew I’d struggle with some of the obstacles. I’m a distance runner, so endurance? No problem. But upper body strength? Erm... I've hit *skip* in my workout app for the past several weeks. 😂 Instead, I spent my time on the Spartan website, sizing up what I’d be up against. One obstacle that caught my eye? The Atlas Carry - a challenge where you lift a 75lb stone, carry it around a flagpole, and...

read time: 1:48 Hi Reader, One Arizona morning in 2018, I sat in my car, one year postpartum, and had a full-blown identity crisis. "Who even am I? What do I even like?" All I could come up with was Pokémon, Diet Coke, and the Midwest. 😂 At the time, I had a home renovation blog... but deep down, it didn’t feel like me. My husband did most of the projects, and my idea of "decorating" was hoping Hobby Lobby had something cute in their weekly ad. 🤷♀️ Turns out, it wasn’t just postpartum fog....

read time: 1:29 Hi Reader, Sunday evening, I took my 4 year old to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. She'd been looking forward to it for a week - Mommy, when is the birthday party?? every day. for like, weeks. We walked in, ready to see all her friends from daycare… but something was off. No party table, no decorations, no familiar faces. That’s when I checked the invite again. The party had been on Saturday. We had completely missed it. 😩 Cue the mom guilt. My daughter’s eyes welled up...

read time: 1:27 Hi Reader, It was mid-2020 when we decided to use our tax return to paint our house. Mid-morning, I needed the crew to move their truck so I could leave, so, barefoot, I tiptoed across my driveway to find the crew. I heard something that sounded like running water and when I turned the corner, I saw a crew member with his back facing me... Peeing. on. my. house. Reader... I was mortified. HE was mortified. While I awkwardly dodged out of sight, he quickly and awkwardly...

read time: 1:44 Hi Reader, Last week, we celebrated a big milestone: Poppy’s one-year “rescue-versary.” 🎉 It’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year since my sweet pup was rescued from the streets of Aruba. She didn't join our family until April, but I felt this day deserved a celebration nonetheless! Naturally, I went all out (ahem). She wore a party hat, devoured doggy ice cream, and got more treats than she knew what to do with. It got me thinking about why we love celebrations so much. I...

read time: 1:40 Hiya Reader, Over the weekend, I said goodbye to a piece of my family’s history: a piano that had been with us for over 50 years. This wasn’t just any piano. It was the piano I learned on as a kid, taking lessons for over a decade. It held so many memories - long practice sessions memorizing pieces like Children's Corner by Debussy and Wedding Day at Troldhaugen by Grieg. But recently, I realized it was time to let go. Sentimental value aside, the piano wasn’t serving my...

read time: 2:20 Hiya Reader, Last night, December 22nd, 2024, at about 10:12 PM, I realized I never ordered 2 out of 3 of my daughter's primary Christmas presents. 😭 We’re spending Christmas with family in Arizona this year and I’d felt so ahead of the game after ordering 90% of my presents on Cyber Monday. But with the craziness of online shopping, switching between apps to find the best prices, and juggling a million other things, two big presents somehow got lost in the shuffle. Plus, I’d...