Be Well Studio LLC

04/14/2026

It’s been one month since I released my book… and honestly, I’m still taking it all in. 📚

When I first put it out, I didn’t know what to expect. But seeing people check it out, support it, and even just take a look has meant more than I can put into words.

If you’ve been thinking about it but haven’t grabbed your copy yet—this is your sign 👀

👉 https://amzn.to/47XylZA

And if you’ve already read it… I’d LOVE to hear what you think. Your feedback and reviews truly make a difference 🙏

Thank you for being part of this journey with me ❤️

Strong Enough to Endure: An endurance memoir–on the trail and in life

03/30/2026

One of the hardest parts of writing my book—and the very reason hiring an editor was so important—was having someone help me keep my story on track. As a writer, everything feels essential. Every memory carries weight. Every race feels like it shaped you.

But it’s an editor’s job to ask the harder question: does it move the story forward?

My book includes stories from countless races and competitions—but not all of them made the final cut. Some were trimmed for clarity. Some for pacing. And some, though meaningful to me, simply didn’t serve the larger arc of the story.

Check out my blog where I posted a story cut from my book on my latest blog post.
https://www.bewellstudiolagrande.com/blog

03/26/2026

Some days as an entrepreneur you wish someone else would just make the decisions for you.

Every day you’re deciding:
How to spend your money.
How to run your business.
What’s best for your clients.
What’s best for you.
What’s actually sustainable long-term.

After reflecting a bit, here are the 4 best decisions/purchases I’ve made for my business in the last 18 months.

1. Buying a MacBook

This one sounds simple, but it made a bigger difference than I expected.

I used a PC my entire professional life. The last time I touched a Mac was in high school when I edited the school newspaper.

But switching streamlined so many things—especially marketing and content creation. My phone and computer now work seamlessly together. No more emailing myself photos just to get them from my phone to my computer.

And being able to send texts from my computer with an actual keyboard? Amazing.

Bonus: I bought the laptop and immediately started using it to write my book. I’m pretty sure liking the computer so much helped me stay consistent with writing.

2. Moving to online scheduling

If you run a business that operates by appointment, here’s my advice:

Let go of the control and move to online scheduling.

I know a lot of professionals are hesitant to do this, but it is absolutely worth it.

I’ve used Square, Vagaro, and now Acuity. Acuity has been the best for building out my availability exactly how I want it.

Now I just send people a scheduling link instead of going back and forth with appointment times. It also keeps a card on file, so if someone no-shows, they’re automatically charged.

Zero regrets.

3. Eliminating tips

In January 2025, I stopped accepting tips and adjusted my prices instead.

Honestly, I had no idea how grateful people would be for this change—even with the price increase.

We live in a time where we’re tipping for everything. The moment that pushed me over the edge was when I was in Portland at a restaurant where I ordered at the counter, picked up my own food, grabbed my own silverware and drink—and the payment screen still asked for a tip.

In that moment I realized I couldn’t complain about tipping culture and still accept tips myself.

So I stopped.

Now I simply charge what I want to make and skip the tipping option completely. No awkward phone-handing moment. No pressure for clients.

And if someone questions it, I remind them:
You don’t tip your chiropractor or your physical therapist… why would you tip me?

4. Buying a washing machine for the office

This one might be the most ridiculous—and the most life-changing.

For 17 years I carried a bag of laundry home every night. Before bed I’d wash the sheets. In the morning I’d move them to the dryer while making coffee.

Every. Single. Day.

Until about a month ago when I thought… why am I still doing this?

So I bought a ductless, all-in-one washer/dryer that plugs into a regular outlet. All I needed was a plumber to install it.

Now the laundry stays at work.
I leave work at work.
And I don’t haul sheets home anymore.

Add in online scheduling and I’m calling it five stars

03/19/2026

Tomorrow is the day.

I saved this last recommendation because it’s my genre—a running memoir—and it’s the one that gave me the final push to just write the damn book.

To the Gorge by Emily Halnon


Emily weaves together her story as a runner with the story of losing her mom to cancer. The miles and the grief unfold side by side. The training, the landscape, the physical endurance—it all becomes a container for processing loss.

It hit very close to home for me.

As much as I didn’t want Armando’s cancer to be what my book was about, his story shaped me. It influenced my decisions. It changed how I moved through the world. Reading Emily’s words helped me understand that you can write about running and still tell the deeper truth underneath it.

Her bravery, her honesty, her journey—it all inspired me more than I can say.

This is my final book recommendation in the countdown.

Tomorrow, Strong Enough to Endure is out in the world. If you feel inclined, I hope you’ll order a copy—or simply share my post so someone else who needs it can see it.

Thank you for being here for this. 🖤

03/18/2026

2 Days.

I’m not a huge Stephen King fan. Not for any reason other than it’s just not my usual genre. I’ve read a couple of his novels, and of course I’ve seen several movies based on his books.

But this one?

So good.

If you are a writer, read this book.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

The memoir portion at the beginning is genuinely fun. Learning about his childhood, the rejections, the persistence, and how he got started—it’s encouraging in the most grounded way. No magic formula. Just writing. A lot of it.

But the advice in the second half of the book? Clear. Direct. Practical.

His core advice is this:
“Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.”

Meaning:

The first draft is for you.
The story belongs entirely to you until you know what it is and get it right.

Write with the door closed so you’re not distracted. So you’re not self-conscious. So no one’s premature criticism derails the story you’re trying to tell.

After it’s finished—after you’ve done your own revisions—then you open the door. Then you invite feedback.

When I was writing my book, I could hear him in my head:
Don’t let anyone read it until you’re done.

That advice protected the early, fragile version of my story. It gave me permission to write honestly before worrying about how it would be received.

Two days until Strong Enough to Endure is out in the world. 📚

03/18/2026

3 Days!

I just recently read The Let Them Theory. I know—I’m late to the party.

A client recommended it to me because it helped her navigate some family “stuff” she was struggling with. And I remember thinking, man… maybe I need to read that too.

Turns out, I did.

The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins

The concept is simple, but not easy:
Let them.

Let them misunderstand you.
Let them judge you.
Let them make their own choices.
Let them have their opinions.

And then—let me.

Let me choose how I respond.
Let me protect my peace.
Let me stop trying to control what isn’t mine to control.

In this book, Mel Robbins explores how much energy we waste trying to manage other people’s behavior, emotions, and expectations. She reframes personal power as the ability to release control over others and take responsibility for our own actions instead. The message is about boundaries, self-trust, and emotional freedom.

It’s practical. It’s direct. And depending on where you are in life, it might hit exactly when you need it.

Three days until Strong Enough to Endure is out in the world. 📚

03/16/2026

4 Days!

My Day 4 book recommendation has a story behind it.

I first found Chloe’s essay, The Red Zone, and immediately became obsessed with her writing. Then I took a writing workshop with her—loved it. Later, I enrolled in an MFA program, which I did enjoy. But timing matters. I withdrew, knowing Armando was going to pass away very soon—he died two months after I left. And if I’m being honest, the program didn’t quite fit the kind of writing I’m drawn to.

But I remembered something Chloe told me: You don’t have to go to school to write a book.

The Red Zone: A Love Story by Chloe Caldwell

I binge-read this book in the bathtub. (I finally had to get out to finish it because I was going to freeze.)

This vulnerable memoir centers on Chloe’s experience with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) in her thirties. She chronicles the anxiety, rage, confusion, and emotional whiplash she feels each month, and her search to understand what is happening in her body and mind. As she researches PMDD, attends a “Break the Cycle” conference, and tracks her symptoms, she also navigates a new relationship with a single father, Tony.

The “red zone” becomes both literal and metaphorical—the hormonal window that disrupts her mental health, her sense of self, and her relationships. The love story in this book is not just about her partner. It is about learning to live inside her own body. It is about self-acceptance, balance, and naming what so many women experience but rarely speak about openly.

It is intimate. It is searching. It allows contradiction on the page. And that kind of honesty gave me courage.

Four days until Strong Enough to Endure is out in the world. 📚

03/15/2026

If you're late to following along, I’m posting a book recommendation from my bookshelf to count down the release of my memoir, Strong Enough to Endure.

Today is Day 5—just 5 days until my book is ready for you to order.

And today I think is my favorite recommendation. Maybe? I don’t know. If you know me personally, you know I hate the “favorite” question. It gives me anxiety to choose.

But, You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith is truly something special.

This book is a beautifully crafted memoir about the unraveling of a marriage and the rebuilding of a life. Maggie writes in short, lyrical chapters that feel like poetry and confession braided together. It’s honest. It’s vulnerable. It’s sharp in places and tender in others.

She examines identity, motherhood, betrayal, art, and what it means to tell the truth about your own life—even when that truth is uncomfortable.

As someone who wrote a memoir, I deeply respect how creatively this is structured. It doesn’t follow a traditional narrative arc. It feels intentional, reflective, and artful.

So maybe it’s not my favorite.
But it’s definitely one that stayed with me.

Day 4 tomorrow. 📚

03/14/2026

6 days until my book releases!

Day 6: Forever Strong by

Moving back to my roots—health and fitness—this one is high on my recommendation list.

What I love about it:

• It’s practical for every age. She breaks down what you should be thinking about in terms of health, muscle, and nutrition in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond.
• It’s direct and actionable.
• It reframes the conversation.

One of the biggest takeaways? Her argument that we don’t have an obesity problem—we have a muscle loss problem.

Forever Strong lays out Dr. Lyon’s approach to metabolic health, centering muscle as the key organ of longevity. She explains how prioritizing protein, resistance training, and metabolic health can improve energy, body composition, and long-term disease prevention. The book blends science with clear steps you can implement right away.

Whether you’re just starting your fitness journey or have been in it for years, this one is empowering.

Day 5 tomorrow. 💪📚

03/14/2026

7 days until my book releases! Today's share... Heavy: An American Memoir by

This was a required read for me while I was in school.

I opened it prepared to take notes.

Instead, I became completely unable to leave it.

The only problem? I had a four-hour run I needed to get outside for. So I downloaded the audiobook so I could keep “reading” while I ran.

And what I learned was this: the audio is 100% the way to go.

Kiese was meant to read this book to you. The memoir is written as a letter to his mother, and hearing him narrate it adds a layer of intimacy, pain, humor, and humanity that is hard to capture on the page alone.

Heavy is a deeply personal memoir about growing up Black in Mississippi, about weight—physical and emotional—about complicated love between mother and son, about addiction, trauma, and truth-telling. It examines how secrets shape us and what it costs to finally tell them.

It is honest in a way that feels almost unbearable at times. And yet, it is beautiful.

This book stayed with me long after that four-hour run.

Day 6 tomorrow. 📚

03/12/2026

8 days until my book releases!

Day 8: Rough House by Tina Ontiveros

Another local author. ❤️

I attended one of Tina’s readings at Eastern Oregon University and was immediately drawn to her writing.

One of the reasons? The bravery.

It takes courage to write a memoir knowing that some of the “characters”—aka family—could read it and have complicated feelings about it. To tell the truth as you experienced it, while also holding the complexity of the people you love, is no small thing.

Rough House is a memoir told in essays that explore Tina’s upbringing in a working-class family in eastern Oregon. She writes about girlhood, violence, tenderness, religion, class, and identity with sharp honesty and lyrical precision. The book wrestles with what it means to come from a place—and people—you both love and struggle to understand.

It’s gritty and thoughtful. Personal and universal at the same time.

As someone who just wrote a memoir myself, I have so much respect for this kind of storytelling.

Day 7 tomorrow. 📚

03/11/2026

9 days until my book releases!

I know some of you have followed me for recipes.
Some for nutrition advice.
Many for running.
Some of you know me personally.

Well…this week you’re getting book recs. 📚

Day 9: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

This book made me giggle a lot. It’s always fascinating to get an inside look into a professional’s life—especially when that professional is a therapist.

It’s insightful without being heavy, deeply human, and surprisingly funny. It reminds you that no matter how put-together someone seems, we’re all just figuring it out. Stories and her personal experience in therapy, weaving together vulnerability, humor, heartbreak, and growth. You get to see the humanity behind the title “therapist”—the doubts, blind spots, and messy emotions we all share.

It’s insightful without being heavy, deeply human, and surprisingly funny. It reminds you that no matter how put together someone seems, we’re all just figuring it out.

Day 8 tomorrow. 💛