Happy Sunday, friends! We're back after a few weeks away due to traveling and a boat load of extra work. It feels good to be at home this weekend, and although we've worked most of it, we've been able to take a bit more of break than we've been able to over the past couple of weeks. With the launch of Gal Meets Glam Collection in a little over a month, there are a million and one things still left to do. For me, this month was a focus on energy and longevity as it's been long hours and 7 day workweeks, so I've put a big focus on health so that I can feel my best and get all my work done, so that's where my Sunday Series originated from today! Thomas always loves looking for cool new tech toys, so he's excited to write all about a new drone, Laura found a podcast that she's constantly inspired by and Margaret shares a beautiful poem about growth. And as always, we hope you share something new you discovered this week or were inspired by in the comments section below!
Julia – I love sugar and I've always known that I probably eat way too much of it on a daily basis, but I sort of loved living in denial. That is until recently when I was really tired of being tired. I eat healthy and try to give my body the proper nutrients it needs, but I didn't understand why I always sort of felt off. I found Kelly LeVeque after someone posted about her on Instagram. I took a deep dive into her account and ended up buying her book, Body Love. One of the core focuses around it is how sugar really affects us. A sugar imbalance can throw off our whole system. She comes from a science background and worked in cancer research and genetics before becoming a nutritionist. Her book is filled with lots of other incredibly useful knowledge and tools (like how to turn off your hunger hormones by giving your body the right amount of fat, fiber, greens and protein) along with recipes, tips for traveling and more. I really connected with this book, I felt like it spoke to me. I'm not someone who follows along diets or trends, I really just try and do what's best for my body and listen to what makes it feel good. I love to eat and I've never limited myself in terms of what I can or can't have. Kelly's whole philosophy is around this, but with the notion that what we choose should make us feel great (because food is fuel), so be mindful and aware of the nutrients and making sure we're giving our body what it needs. I've been creating some of the smoothies recipes from Body Love in the morning and they're not only delicious but I feel amazing and so energized. I also really like how easy they are to make (and you can make them anywhere) as long as you know the four main ingredients- protein, greens, fiber and fat.
Thomas – Drones for photography and videography are pretty damn cool. In the last couple of years, thanks to DJI, they've become incredibly accessible for professional, semi-professional and hobbyists that just want to play with something cool. The technology in these things and the size are breaking down important customer pain points like ease of use, portability and image quality. I've debated, in my head, dozens of times whether I should add a drone to take with us to add to our repertoire of images. What has long held me back is that a drone, no matter how small, will always be a secondary tool for creating amazing content. That means in addition to all my camera gear I have to lug around a drone and it's controller, extra battery and chargers. The friends I have with drones say they hardly ever use them. Also, 4-5 years ago, only a handful of first movers were using drones, back then it was so new that no matter the quality of video or image, it was cool and interesting to mix in to normal content, but now it's much more common and just having a drone doesn't make you more unique.
I decided last summer to rent a drone from my favorite camera rental service, Parachut, to bring with us to France. We had dreams of renting a vintage car with video captured of Julia driving through the winding Provence roads or along the French Riviera. I used it a total of 5 times and nearly hit trees on every use. I was too scared to really put it to the test. While these drones are supposed to have advanced sensors to avoid collision they are hardly what you'd expect given how they are marketed.
But this week, Skydio a new entrant in the drone space, announced a completely autonomous drone that they've been in development on for 4 years and it looks pretty incredible. Even if you will never be in the market for a drone, this is still worth watching the video of. It's 13 cameras act as sensors to create a visual map of the surroundings then software inside does some pretty interesting things on top of that, which are way beyond my ability to explain. You can read more about the technology here. It's expertise is really in the autonomy, let's say you want to record yourself mountain biking, you can set it to follow, lead, side profile, orbit or act as a tripod and it will do it all for you. While the video quality doesn't look quite like what you can get on DJI drones these features are so advanced that they will carve out a nice place in the market for people that really need that autonomy. My prediction, Amazon buys Skydio in a few years in order to really make a push into autonomous drone package delivery.
Laura – When I stumble upon or am introduced to the name of someone successful I Google anything and everything about them to hear more of how they got to where they are in their careers. I recently finished a great episode on one of my favorite podcasts, How I Built This with Guy Raz about a serial entrepreneur, Marcia Kilgore. Have you listened to it yet? She is so intelligent and inspiring, her story is unbelievable. I love this podcast series for many reasons: 1) each interview puts a personality and voice to the name of a big brand we've heard tossed around in daily conversation 2) there's a connection and a passion in their discussions that really shines through even as I'm just listening through my car speakers en route to work and 3) I love how Guy Raz taps into their minds so listeners can hear their thought process, their approaches to life and the business world. Marcia Kilgore's interview is now at the top of my list along with Sara Blakely. She started out with only $300 to her name and spent every penny of it towards a gym membership because working out was a passion of hers. Low and behold, exercise was the start of her first personal business. That's not one of the five businesses she has successfully grown, however, she is well known for changing the beauty industry one brand at a time. She is the Founder of Bliss, Soap & Glory, FitFlop, Beauty Pie, and a recent one called Soaper Duper. I don't want to give away too much so definitely check out the podcast episode and this great interview!
Margaret – Although we're still a couple of weeks away from the first day of spring, which falls on March 20th, the weather has warmed up in Charleston and spring flowers are blooming. There's something beautiful about recognizing a new season or month (hello, March), and all of the changes the time of year brings along. Seasons remind me about the dynamic ebb and flow of life. Change is inevitable, and it is in our best interest to embrace it, or at the very least, be open to it. In one of the first Gal Meets Glam Collection Previews Julia shares her thoughts on change and writes, "If I've learned anything in the past seven years since starting Gal Meets Glam, it's that we can be whatever we want to be. So often, we limit ourselves by what we think we are or what others think we should be. We are humans and we're allowed to grow and develop and change. And do it again. And again. It's part of life and what makes it so beautiful. That's one of the reasons I had the courage to pursue this passion." This week I came across this poem, which ties into this very idea of what it means to develop and step into who we're meant to be. I hope it serves as a reminder in a season full of flowers that, we too, are both blooming and becoming:
becoming
there is something
beginning to poke its head
through the soil
that has been becoming
all through the long cold winter
but is just now
finally ready to show itself
to burst into the fullness
of all that it was meant to be
now free from the comfort
and confines of the rich dark soil
the struggle to become has ended
it stretches out its arms
to touch the life-giving sunlight
dancing in the fullness
of the intent of its maker
finally free to be
all it was dreamt to be
- by Jim Branch
The post The Sunday Series Vol. 14 appeared first on Gal Meets Glam.
Original Content: The Sunday Series Vol. 14
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