The Blossom Dream was created with one goal in mind:

To bring the beauty of God’s nature into inside spaces.

Sofia Meyen

Sofia grew up in Home Acres, California (the country-est part of Ventura County).

She dreamed of riding horses and raising cows - while feeding and caring for "less-glamorous" goats, sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks, rabbits, dogs, and cats.

A great love for ballet during her teenage years led to a career teaching fitness classes (water, step, and slide). This morphed into personal training and fitness program management.

After completing graduate studies in German and economics, she worked for the Royal Saudi Family in Riyadh, teaching fitness and preparing meals for princesses suffering from type 2 diabetes.

She next worked for Norwegian Cruise Lines, then Cunard Cruise Lines, teaching classes, leading group fitness walks at ports of call, and managing the on-board fitness centers.

Following these adventures, Sofia applied for the opportunity to teach English in Japan through the Japanese embassy in Los Angeles. She was accepted and lived in Nara, Japan for 3 years, teaching high school English, tutoring German, and teaching aerobics and step classes for a few different fitness centers in the evenings.

She then founded and managed a yoga studio on the beach in Hermosa Beach, California. She married and gave birth to two children; she and her husband decided to sell the studio in order to focus on raising them. (Teaching a few classes a week at the nearby Yogaworks proved far less stressful than running a studio!)

Sofia also changed careers so she could negotiate loan modifications for homeowners at risk of losing their homes during the subprime mortgage crisis.

In 2020, Sofia decided to offer "Free Yoga in the Park" three times a week at a neighborhood park across the street from their home. This continued for fourteen months and allowed friends and neighbors to exercise while studios and gyms were closed down and/or going through bankruptcies. People who would never have considered trying yoga showed up. Many developed quite a bit of strength and flexibility in a short period. It became a wonderful way to learn, bond, and relieve stress through difficult times.

In 2021, the family moved to Atenas, Costa Rica, where they ran a small home church out of their home every Sunday.

Two and a half years later, in August of 2023, the family moved to Braga, Northern Portugal - where, among other things, piano, guitar, and opera singing classes for the children were plentiful and well-taught.

They also craved the exploration of a new culture, language, and geography, which Portugal provided in spades!

This move also placed them much closer to Germany's Black Forest, where Sofia's in-laws lived. In addition, relatives on her mother's side still reside primarily in Munich, making visits in all directions much more practical.

Many readers will recognize the saying, "You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl."

If you then substitute "California" for "country," you've pretty much summed up Sofia's "neighborly" philosophy: Always bring new neighbors a pie, and let them know they have friendly neighbors who are happy to help out.

Her ultimate dream is: To rescue all the animals! No, really.