Meet Naomi

Hi! We would like to introduce ourselves. We're Naomi and Sarah, a dynamic mother and daughter duo who are almost always together. We would like to invite you to join us on our adventures and to begin, I would like you to get to know us better - and understand a bit of our "Real Gilmore Girls" history. 

Meet: Naomi

Chef Naomi

Thank you for taking the time to get to know us better by reading our history. 

My name is Naomi and I'm Sarah's Mom. I'm 30 years old, already twice divorced, with an Associates of Arts Degree and am currently a Holistic Health Coach, and Blogger at my other website NaomisNutritionNook.com - and I am an advocate for the Non-GMO movement. I am very curious, and always interested in researching and learning new things, and value keeping an open mind! Some of my favorite pursuits are: knowledge, learning new things (anything from language learning, to how to knit). My favorite past times (other than blogging) include organic gardening, sunbathing on the beach, traveling, and exploring the world with my daughter, language learning, history, antiques, classic films, and enjoying anything related to fine arts!

I was raised in the Midwest and my family moved around a lot when I was a kid. I was born in North Dakota. I have two older brothers whom are 4 years and 7 years my senior. 

Me (on the bottom left) and my two brothers - with our cousins in South Dakota.

We lived in South Dakota (Winner and Sturgis) from age 1-7,  then because of my Dad's changing jobs (He was an Accountant and a Frito Lay Route Sales Man) we moved from there to Wyoming (Gillette). I really enjoyed growing up in Wyoming, the kids were great, we lived in the country and in town. It was nice to go out to the mountains on the weekends for family camping trips - the nature is amazing. The winters were cold, and I remember one year the snow drifts came all the way up to our windows (about 6 ft) of our house - suffice it to say when we had "Snow Days" off for school, we really earned them!

I finished out elementary school in Wyoming and entered middle school there, which I really loathed! Thankfully, despite the bullies and jerks that I encountered I had a 'safe place' in my pursuit and love of art and music. Ever since I was little I was surrounded by music in my house - both of my parents were singers, and we always had a piano in the house that my parents taught me how to play. 

Piano Recital - Age 15

I loved those times when I could just absorb myself in my art or music in school and at home. I was also involved in sports most of the time, I joined the volleyball team in Jr. High - and I was really enjoyed it! I remember one game I served almost the whole game, 12 (15 to win) straight points with no volley from the other team!

To be honest, ever since Jr. High and the bullying incidents, along with my wearing glasses and having a gap in my two front teeth, I always struggled with low self esteem or not 'fitting in'. As I aged, thankfully, my pursuit of music and art helped give me a platform to express myself and be happy in my own skin. (Oh, and braces and contacts, really helped that, too.) 

For my 9th Grade year we moved to Wichita, KS, because my Father felt "called to the ministry". So, we all followed him as he became the new Area Director for Child Evangelism Fellowship. I started in a new private Christian school, which was very small - and had limited access to Art classes, which I missed. But, I do remember that because of their more challenging environment, my grades went up exponentially and I started getting A's and B's in all my classes, and really gained an interest more in the Biological Sciences!

10th Grade Class Photo

After two years at the private school, and Dad changing his job again from the Area Director to an Accountant at Lear Jet. I finished out High School at a public school which was 5x the size of the private school! I didn't get on their volleyball team, and I remember feeling pretty bummed about it. But, thankfully, they had a wonderful music and art program that I became really absorbed into! By my Junior year I was dead set on pursuing a degree in Graphic Design. A local community college came to our choir practice one day, and the kids in the Broadway style choir came to perform, and talk about their music program. I am so glad that they came, because I found exactly the program I was looking for. After I auditioned for All-State Choir my senior year (and did not make it) my choir director DID recommend me to perform in the All-City choir (Which was just as fun). 

After I graduated High School, I auditioned for the vocal scholarship program via Cowley County Community College in El Dorado, KS. I was so thrilled to get selected for the full ride scholarship, and really had some of my best two years there - performing for the program and enjoying school! 

 

Freshman year in college Renaissance outfit for the Madrigal singing group I participated in Dec. 2001 - 

1st Christmas 2002 with my ex (Sarah's Dad) when we first started dating.

During my 2nd year in college, I met and started dating a fellow art student - and well, in no delicate terms - along came my pride and joy (Sarah).

I was being irresponsible with my classes the rest of the semester, and lost my scholarship and decided to try the married route/stay at home Mom routine. Well, life got a bit rocky from there, including a divorce. I went back to finish my Associates Program in 2005, and graduated. 

I'm now a single mom, and pursuing the things I love, and really focusing on being an entrepreneur and great Mother, striving to give my daughter opportunities I didn't have.

Through many trials and errors and going through trials and tribulations, trying to go back to school to finish a Biology Degree, and many things in between. I finally discovered a program (7 years later) that fit in with my interests in natural health, cancer prevention, Alzheimer's prevention, and obesity prevention! I joined the Holistic Health Coaching program through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (online) - and really enjoyed the program! The more I studied about natural health, and disease prevention via school, documentaries, books, magazines, online I ended up naturally slowly transitioning our diet to a mostly vegetarian (plant-based) and even vegan way of eating. 

Now I am a Nutritional Consultant/Holistic Health Coach - and really love the versatility of this profession. Helping people, is really where my heart lies, and empowering them with useful information that can save their lives, or even just clear up their health issues is such a gift that I don't take lightly!

 I'm honored to help others, and honored to be a strong mother for my daughter! and I hope to give her the tools to be a loving, kind, generous, and independent woman when she is out on her own, pursing her own interests (so far) art, fashion design, all things anime, and her love of animals and the outdoors!

Sarah on her bike 2012

Aside from my interest in health and nutrition I am also a home schooling mother. This didn't happen overnight, exactly. I always had Sarah in Daycare, Preschool, and elementary school, up until 2nd grade - when she was having trouble in school with her behavior. Over time I finally put two and two together, via my personal research (and knowing her father struggled with a bit of the same thing) I realized she has a bit of Asperger's (A form of autism, that is high functioning, but usually has a hard time socially - and she has toe walked ever since she was little - I blame the ridiculous immunization schedule, along with her Dad's genes). So anyway - I finally realized that she needed more one on one attention, and for me to be in a more stable situation to give her the attention she needed.

We moved from the Seattle Area to Southern California in Fall 2011 with my best friend, Joe. I enrolled her into an online program via K12.com. The program was individually based on their speed, but, for Sarah it was too fast paced - and we only ended up fighting and arguing more than getting any real learning accomplished. So, the teacher we were working with, recommended some other options, including informing us about unschooling! 

That began our journey into unschooling, and now our journey into slow world schooling! That is basically a synopsis of me and my life so far. Thank you for reading such a long story! I appreciate your interest in our story. Sarah's story is up next on the blog - so stay tuned to Meet Sarah.

"Between every two trees is a door to a new life." ~ John Muir

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