How Makeoverslife came to be...

After college, I decided to move to Fayetteville, Arkansas
from my home town in Ohio.
I ended up finding a space to rent on the Downtown Fayetteville Square. I opened a clothing store.I named the store A-Line. It was a resale shop.
It did amazing beyond my wildest expectations. I saved a lot of money. A year and a half later, I sold A Line to a friend of mine's mom. It is still in business today. :)))
With the money I saved, I refurbished the space and opened a new store with new clothes.I named it "The Source'. I went to New York  every 10 weeks and brought the New York City style and attitude down South. It was a huge success. The entire store was full price for the first month, 25 % off the following two weeks, 50 % off weeks 6 and 8, 75 % off weeks 9 and 10, and everything $20 and under the last 3 days before I hit NYC again. I cleaned out the store every season. I had customers shopping with me at every price point.

What I learned was that there is a direct connection between appearance and the way we feel about ourselves.
When we look our best, we are more productive and we lead each day with confidence.
To have a successful dressing and makeup experience our task begins in having an organized closet and beauty routine.
Our clothes must fit well, our hair and nails groomed, and learn to shop for what we need at a price within our budgets. Having said all this, it then becomes more natural to curb our shopping habits from going awry.

Getting dressed each day from a closet full of clothes we love to wear is amazing versus trying to get dressed from a closet full of 'maybes'.

 Next door in the same building to my store, a restaurant went out of business.
I always loved everything about the restaurant business-the stainless steel equipment, the white tablecloths, prep time, a busy night when the restaurant is packed full and jazz is playing softly in the background, the wine cabinet, the bar, people having a really great time.
So I threw caution to the wind and went for it. I bought all the equipment from the bank for $5000.00 and opened Tangos Restaurant in June 1995.
The words hand painted in bright colors on the window said, 'good food. good company'.
I had great success with it. Tangos was open for breakfast, lunch and dinner 7 days a week. 

Sunday nights I closed so that I could clean the entire place from top to bottom.
The food was 'continental fusion'. I changed the menu every 3 months.
But the cuts of meat were always the same...3 steaks, 2 chicken dishes, 3 pastas, duck, lamb, and seafood.
I organized the kitchen like a well oiled machine. I kept track of all the food cost and the cash coming in. 

My customers included The Tyson family of Tyson Chicken, Alice Walton from WalMart's family, and JB Hunt had a special hook where he hung his hat at Tangos.
These big companies all had their headquarters in Northwest Arkansas.
I loved my job even though I worked 100+ hours a week.
When it was time to sit down and write out my recipes for the Makeoverslife program, I was amazed how many I had committed to memory. They flowed out onto my computer like a river.
They are dear to my heart, tried, true and tested delicious.

A few months after I opened Tangos, my mother came and helped me buy the 22,000 square foot building that housed the restaurant and clothing store.
The building also had 4 large condos on the 3rd floor.

I moved in to one of them, rented out 2, and turned the 4the one into a bed and breakfast. I called local businesses to find clients.

Shortly after I opened the clothing store, a woman walked in and introduced me to a meditation course.
We talked for a couple of hours and the journey inward began for me.
I took Lia's course for 9 days; 9 hours each day and $2000.00.
It shifted my entire life in a new perspective.
I learned to clear my mind and organize my emotional closet sort to speak.
It is now 17 years later and I still use the tools she taught me on a daily basis.

Last year, my daughter, Isabella went into the hospital. It turns out that she had a genetic tumor attached to one of the main veins coming from her heart.
The tumor turned out to be benign and very rare.
The meditation exercises kept my faith strong like nothing else ever could have.
I know that anything life throws at me, I will be the person with grace, fierce passion, faith, and strength.
It's not what happens to you in this life that counts, it's how you handle it that determines the outcome.
I operate from a centered perspective.

In 2000, I moved back to Ohio after the birth of my daughter. I wanted to be near my entire family to raise my children. Arkansas is now a distant warm and fond memory and the lessons I learned there gave way to create the Makeoverslife program. I wrote it in 2003 and have helped hundreds of families organize their lives and get back to basics.

The fitness portion of the Makeoverslife program was inspired out of need.
After I gave birth to my daughter, the weight was just not coming off. So I started to walk with her outside while she napped for about an hour and a half.
The weight started melting off. My body got stronger. I began to run part of my route.
That was 11 years ago. I now run on a regular basis.
Not too much as I have done in the past. My route is about 2 1/2 miles and that is plenty for me. 

Yoga was a natural progression. I love the silence in physical meditation aka yoga.
I did not prefer to go to a class or use a DVD.
So I learned many poses and created my own routines that are now part of the Makeoverslife  fitness program.
I do yoga throughout the day. A few poses in the morning, some in the evening and a few times a week I take my time and do a full hour.
I love living in a healthy body.
Another part is that my children keep me active with swimming, tennis, bike riding and other fun activities. 

Life in action is all about balance.
We all work so hard to build a life...career, partner, family, a home, cooking, and activities.

Maintaing  what we worked so hard to achieve is the key.