hey there!
I'm a serial entrepreneur, magazine publisher, photographer, writer and founder of my namesake magazine Monica Edwards, all about The Art of Seasonal Living.
You're likely to find me anywhere around the world with a laptop and my camera. If I'm not there I'm likely exploring somewhere interesting or meeting someone new. All while keeping it slow and intentional with a close eye to the people and the seasons around me.
It didn’t start here. It never does, does it? My today is a result of the weaving and learning and growing of my 5 decades doing this thing called life.
In 1999, I opened my 2nd business and first Day Spa outside of Atlanta with a focus on wellness. I followed suit with a second location a few years later and continued a journey toward creating a relaxing environment for total body wellness.
In addition to traditional spa treatments, we also offered nutritional consulting, yoga and pilates as well as home care including essential oils, vitamins, supplements, cleanses, skin and body care products, in addition to bath robes, cozy pjs, bedding, and other nurturing bath and bed essentials.
At the root of my spa journey was a deep desire to help people raise their baseline of healthy living—to find ways to enjoy and live life to the full, free of pain and without harsh medications and their side effects.
time line...
2004: A Segway into the Magazine World
While operating my spas, I created my first magazine, Lifestyles Magazine, in the Atlanta area in 2004. This venture explored all things life and style in this area South of Atlanta where I lived. I would go on to expand the magazine to a 6 county region and create 2 other other magazine titles along the way. I ran this magazine until selling in 2019 after the death of my first husband, Butch, to cancer.
2017: A Study in Health Along the Way
During Butch’s fight with cancer, I dove deeper into all things natural in the health world. I would spend years prior and 2 years after in dedicated study to alternative, functional and naturopathic health modalities.
My search was wrapped in how to not only combat cancer, but also how to naturally heal our bodies from all sorts of ailments. The ultimate goal was understanding the body and how it healed itself. What our bodies really need in terms of food, nutrients, movement and stress management to yield a vibrant life that allows us to live long, healthy lives.
2021: A Joining of 2 Worlds
During this time of study I uncovered much more. I had always been fascinated by the effects of the seasons on our bodies and found this even more alluring during this time. I would go on to explore this aspect of healthy living as it related to our eating, skin and body care, and emotional and spiritual wellness. I would learn about the ages old practices and habits of people that we, today, look past in our busy modern society.
I saw that in combination with a healthy eating and movement routine, we are better served with a resonance to the seasons. It would start by simply paying attention to the seasons. Noticing their subtle entrance and exit through each year. This would require being present. Present to the time, places, and people around us.
Seasonal Living, as it is called, had locked in my fascination. The idea of living in sync with the seasons felt in tune with nature’s cycles and the way our life should be lived. It brought interest and intrigue to each passing month as I watched more closely the subtle shifts in not only temperature and color, but also leaves, and budding and growth and decay; in the sounds of the birds or the quietness of Autumn and then Winter.
I learned that we were meant to echo these transitions and in doing so cured our bodies and strengthened our relationships further. I saw how it allowed me to be more healthy, more aware of my own needs, more attentive to the people around me, and more connected to my own life cycles—aware that I too would move through seasons of life many times until eventually my final winter would come.
With this knowledge, I am able to live more fully alive each day. More in tune with my path in this life. More attentive to the people closest people. I live by the seasons with the seasons—experiencing them to the full as best I can.
Enter 2023: The Birth of The Art of Seasonal Living
My love for the wellness aspect of the spa world combined with my creative drive in the magazine world, coupled with my unquenchable thirst for learning, growth and exploration brought me to the launch of this name-sake magazine in late 2023.
I chose to keep it my name sake as it will journey with me. Changing each season in nature and through the seasons of my life. This is my life project.
I hope to bring this awareness and art of living with the seasons, called Seasonal Living to your understanding that you too, may experience a greater depth of living your one life. This journey will be full of ways to easily incorporate this practice into your own life. From eating, activities, home decor, wellness and even seasonal travel.
I hope you will join me for seasons to come as we explore together.