SPEAK YOUR TRUTH + SHARE YOUR HEART || RECENT FEATURES

One of the things that fires our souls up most is empowering others to chase their dreams, pursue their best selves, embrace grace, and cultivate a meaningful life. Over the past couple of months, we have been given really sweet opportunities to share our stories + hearts through a couple different avenues and we wanted to share those with you all! Liz was invited to be a guest speaker for the Creative Hub Conference back in July and Ty was interviewed as a guest on the Selfish Podcast that went live in late September. Opportunities like these feel so vulnerable but also like dreams come true. We are all about cultivating legacies of beauty + love and sharing our lives like this is a such a special way to be able to live that out. We're grateful for the chance to let people hear our stories, speak our truths, and share our hearts. 

We hope that these features are encouragements to whoever listens. We hope you feel inspired to dream big, give yourself grace, and to know that whatever season you find yourself in that it has purpose + worth. We love you all and are thankful to connect with y'all in ways beyond pretty dresses + weddings. What a gift! If you listen, we truly hope you enjoy!

PS: We're linking a bonus podcast feature! Our bestie, Kelsey Malicote, was interviewed as a guest on the Misses Ambiotious podcast and her interview is right in line with what we shared as well. Kels's soul is fired up by the same things ours are + we have no doubt you'll be uplifted by her words as well!

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SELFISH PODCAST || "TWIRLING" WITH TY MCBRAYER

https://selfishthepodcast.com/selfish/1-3-twirling

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CREATIVE HUB CONFERENCE || DISCOVERING YOUR GIFTS + LEARNING TO THRIVE IN THEM WTH LIZ COX

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MISSES AMBITIOUS PODCAST || TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR BIZ, BEING WHO YOU ARE, AND MAKING SCARY CHANGES WITH KELSEY MALICOTE

https://www.missesambitious.com/podcast/2017/10/10/episode-56-taking-control-of-your-biz-being-who-you-are-and-making-scary-changes-with-kelsey-malicote

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Again, we are so grateful for these opportunities. We count them as great blessings in our lives and sweet reminders of God's faithfulness to us. After the three of us attended the Making Things Happen Conference (read about our experience HERE) we were each so fired up to encourage women to cultivate meaningful legacies alongside us. We are in awe that the Lord would give us opportunities within the year of attending MTH to do just that. We are so thankful + hopeful/excited about what the future holds if He continues to allow us this joy. We shall see! If nothing else though, we are honored to speak our truths + share our hearts with y'all through these three different opportunities. We hope even just one person is encouraged. We love y'all big time. Xo!

If you have any questions, comments, etc. for any of us, I will leave our contact info below:

TY: ty@twirllexington.com

LIZ: liz@twirllexington.com

KELSEY: info@themalicotes.com

BRIDAL MARKET 101 + TRAVELING TIPS FOR FWTFL

BRIDAL MARKET 101

So it's that time of year again for bridal market.. whaaaaat?! The six months between markets always FLIES by but really, it feels like we were JUST in NYC for April market. Goodness! Anyway, Ty & I are flying out to NYC tonight to shop till we drop and visit with some of our favorite gals in the industry. Market is always such a whirlwind of a weekend but certainly some of our favorite weekends out of the year.

Of course we understand the madness of market but we realize that all of you probably have no clue what all really happens during "bridal market" and so we thought we'd pull back the curtain a little for you and fill you in on what all we do while we're up in NYC. 

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MARKET APPOINTMENTS

This is the main reason we go to market. Market appointments are the times that we meet with our designers and pick out the gowns we want to buy for YOU. That's right, every sample that calls Twirl "home" is bought with YOU in mind. The samples are not on loan or just given to us for free. I think this is something that a lot of people don't realize. We make steep investments for our beloved brides so that they have the most beautifully curated collection of gowns imaginable when they shop here at Twirl. We take the buying process very seriously and do our very best to invest in pieces that we think will meet the needs & desires of our brides in the best way. We're in the business of cultivating legacies of beauty & love and buying the right gowns for our precious brides is a huge factor that plays into that.

* NOTE: The dresses we order at this market (October) will not be in the store until the Spring time (earliest delivery would be late February all the way through late March/early April). So if you're a summer 2018 bride & see something you love from market, sadly there is a very small likelihood you'd be able to get it in time for your wedding. If you're a Fall 2018 or later bride, the dresses you're seeing from this market could totally be YOUR DRESS! Yay!!

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NETWORKNG + COLLABORATIONS

Market is always a great time to meet up with other store owners and talk shop/life/dreams, etc. We always try to get dinner with some of our friends while we're up there. It's the only chance we have to see most of them throughout the year so it's certainly always a highlight for us to catch up with our industry friends. Talk about women empowerment! We are always so uplifted + encouraged after our time with our fellow bridal shop sisters.

We also have done several styled shoots + collaborations during our market trips. It's been so fun to do some out-of-the-box shoots with the gorgeous sights of New York as our playground. We always exhausted after shoot days but the images we create, as well as the memories, are worth it EVERY TIME. This market trip we are having our bestie, Kelsey Malicote, tag along again and we're going to do some fun branding shoots this market. We're really excited!

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WORK HARD, PLAY HARD

Market may appear to be a very glamorous time but let us assure you, it is HARD WORK. We are exhausted in ways we never knew possible after long days of travel + appointments. But we are firm believers in the "work hard, play hard" mentality and never want to waste a trip to New York on strictly business only. We love to catch a show when we can, treat ourselves to good food + drinks, an occasional spa day, and of course every October The Knot hosts an incredible Gala at the New York Public Library for wedding industry vendors. We get to pretend to be Cinderella going to the ball + it's always a big ole time! 

Be sure to tag along on all the fun with us this weekend through Instagram & our hashtag #twirlgirlstakeNYC :) We'll share all the pretty dresses + all the shenanigans we get ourselves into.

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And for those that have been following along on our FASTER WAY TO FAT LOSS journey we are going to share our tips + tricks for traveling while doing the program:

1. Ask your amazing trainer for exercises that are easy to do while traveling + DO THEM.

2. While traveling, try to fast + drink lots of water. This helps with bloating on the plane!

3. Keep up with intermittent fasting as your #1 priority.

4. Second priority is calories. Don't go way over on those but enjoy the food + drinks that you want. #gracenotperfection #balance

5. Do your best to break your fast with a good protein meal.

So yeah, we'll be doing our best to stick to those while traveling this weekend. We'll let you know how it goes but thankfully we have each other to hold ourselves accountable!

We hope you'll tag along with us through Instagram while we're in NYC + share your thoughts with us while we shop so we can bring home all the best goodies for y'all!

Grateful for y'all! Have a fantastic weekend. If you go to Keeneland and "Twirl Girl" is racing, make an extra bet for us! ;)

XOXO,

LIZ + TY

FASTER WAY TO FAT LOSS || WEEK TWO UPDATES

FASTER WAY TO FAT LOSS || WEEK TWO UPDATES

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CHEERS TO MAKING IT 1/3 OF THE WAY THROUGH, SISTERS!

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We are officially two weeks into our second round of Faster Way to Fat Loss, so we just wanted to give a quick update and let you know how it’s going!

TY:

I am SO happy I decided to continue on the program!  I have felt more much more in control of understanding exactly what I need to do to make the program work for me.  I have officially lost 2.5 inches on my problem area, my lovely mama muffin top.  I went shopping and felt so much more confident in trying on more fitted shirts than ever before. 

What is working for me?  Planning ahead! I have found that the days that I really buckle down and plan out what my meals are and stick to them I have much more success in staying in check.  I’ve had days where I was tired and just tried to wing it and it hasn’t worked out so well.  On the days I plan ahead I can fit wine and the occasional cookie into my macros!  One day this week I packed a lunch with a taco bowl with ground turkey, cauliflower rice, black beans and salsa AND knew we were eating out at Fazoli’s (my daughter’s favorite).  My macros were perfect with what I planned to eat and I stuck with it!  Yay! 

What is not working for me?  Trying to put too much pressure on myself to make it to the gym later in the day.  If I have too much on my plate (most days) I will most likely back out of going to work out.  If I take the pressure off and either do the at-home workout before I leave the house or schedule a Sweat class before I go to work so I have less of a chance to let the world get the best of me and back out.

I am traveling this weekend, so that is going to be challenging.  I plan to keep the intermittent fasting portion up and do the best I can on food and do a full 24 fast when we get back to give my body a chance to digest all the yummy food I eat and get back on track!

LIZ:

I haven’t felt this good in a LONG time! Even though I’m currently fighting a sinus infection I still feel like I have more energy than I have in a long time. I have no doubt that’s due in large part to healthy eating and working out. I have felt such a sense of accomplishment, which has generated confidence in a whole new light.

What is working for me? Doing my work outs before work because after work is my time to crash + relax. Plus, working out before work stirs a sense of productivity that carries me throughout my work day.. even if walking up and down the stairs in a little more painful thanks to a tough cycle class, ha! Also, it’s been helpful to think through my meals ahead of time and log them into My Fitness Pal at the beginning of the day or even the night before so I know what kind of wiggle room I have or lack thereof.

What is not working for me? Lack of meal prep. I’m not a big cook in the first place so the idea of meal prepping has always seemed like dreadful process to me. However, I attempted to meal prep the first week and it was super helpful! The following week (this week) I didn’t meal prep much and it’s been a little more of a struggle to feel in control. I think partially too it’s been hard because I’ve been sick and haven’t had much of an appetite because of that so the idea of meal prepping has just been exhausting/pointless to me. I will say though, on Wednesday I made Velveeta whole grain Mac-n-cheese that fit perfectly into my macros and I was the HAPPIEST camper in the world. Mac-n-cheese is my GO-TO comfort food so it felt like such a victory to be able to eat that and not screw with my macros. One more reason I LOVE this program! So much food freedom!!

I haven’t done new measurements or stepped on the scale for about a week so I’m not too sure where I land right now with my measurements + weight. However, I will say that when Ty and I were shopping yesterday for clothes for a branding shoot we’re doing in two weeks I fit into a pair of jeans that were 2 sizes down from what I most recently fit into and I bought a shirt in an extra small and I haven’t seen those size tags in a LONG TIME! If those items are made in vanity sizes I don’t want to know, ha! ;) I really don’t want this whole thing to be about the numbers on the scale but I will say that fitting into those clothes felt really encouraging and made me feel more comfortable in my own skin, which is definitely a goal for me through my journey through FWTFL.

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So I’d say for both us, we’re feeling really good after tackling week two of round two and are ready to take on week three! We leave for New York next Friday for bridal market and we’ll be sharing our experiences with traveling on the program. We know it’ll definitely have its challenges but we’ve got each other to power through which is going to be super helpful! Community is everything, y’all.

We hope y’all have a wonderful weekend + enjoy this GORGEOUS Fall weather!

Xo, Ty + Liz