I’m Back!

My goodness! It’s been far too long!

What, you ask, have we been up to the past two years?? Here’s a quick rundown…

• family drama with a capital D! With the help of several trained professionals to help us navigate our new road, we’ve come out (hopefully) stronger and with some tools to help us continue to stretch and grow.
• directly related to my first bullet point….My oldest kiddo is now identifying as non-binary. I’m going to spare you a wordy explanation, assuming you can google it. But for us, the most obvious difference is the name change. I won’t lie, it’s so, so hard to give up the precious name you chose for your first born. It’s a loss, there’s no other way to put it (atleast for me), but we have grown, if not to love it, then to accept it. (therapists are very useful people!)
• My parents lived with us for several months last year. It was supposed to be 3-4 weeks, but….life happens. Things with their new house finally worked themselves out and they moved roughly two hours away. Having two extra people and three extra cats in our house was both fun and crazy at the same time!
• Of course there’s been COVID. Do I really need to say much more? For us this means all kids home, doing some sort of virtual school and Nick teaching from home. There’s a lot of together time…A.LOT.OF.TOGETHER.TIME. But, knock on whatever wood you have around, we’ve all remained healthy, so there’s that.
• A few months ago, my dad was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Obviously this has been a devastating diagnosis as there is no cure. It’s always fatal. The only unknown is the timing. We are trying to make the most of our time. Getting out to see my parents as often as we can. We’ve also planned a beach trip for early May to really soak up some quality family time. I won’t sugar coat it…ALS sucks. Knowing what’s ahead sucks. It’s sad, sad, sad (and it sucks). full stop.

So, yes, there’s been stuff. Of course everyone has stuff. But I’ve missed this place and want to be here as much as I can.

I’m going to narrow my focus a bit, putting my blogging energy towards the things I enjoy the most. I’m not sure exactly what that will look like yet, but I’m thinking the monthly book reviews, fashion stuff (like Stitch Fix, etc.) and gift guides. I love putting together gift guides…it’s the best sort of online window shopping. 🙂 I’m going to try and keep it real though. There may be weeks with several blog posts and then weeks with nothing. So, thanks, in advance, for sticking around and for welcoming me back. xoxoxo