Hello there, hustlers!

It’s been a hot minute. Last time we met, I wrote you a big, mushy letter about how much this project means to me. Moreover, how much it means that you care to read the words that come pouring out of my messy brain.

Even more, how I was SO proud of myself for sticking with this for an entire year. And then…I disappeared for months on end. oh. Cool!

Honestly. That is so classic of me. To make a joyfully weepy comeback. Announce that I’m ready to rock. On the brink of something brilliant. Full steam ahead, watch out world! To be the most motivated I’ve ever felt about something, and then take a break.

I am, if anything, consistent in my belief that sometimes the best thing a person can do is take a step back.

I wish there was a more “impressive” reason for my unplanned hiatus. But if I’m being completely honest here, lately life has really been hootin’ and hollerin’ and properly whooping my ass. Aggressively so.

As someone who prefers to take things slow in a world that moves pretty fast, I try to remind myself it’s a gift and privilege to be busy. Like wow—I have people who want to spend time with me? Wonderful. I have opportunities to go cool places? Let’s go. I can do cool things? Amazing.

At the same time, I try to give myself grace. Because even the extraordinary parts of life can be exhausting. What a conundrum it is to be a person sometimes.

Since we last met, my life has been a logistical nightmare. That being said…the JOY has been off the fucking rails. My calendar’s been bursting at the seams, yes. But my soul has been saturated with sparkles. A couple sniffles too, but mostly sparkles.

I’ll spare you all the details, but some highlights from the last few months include:

• Helping my oldest/only brother move across the country via the ultimate sibling roadtrip
• Hosting my family in some capacity, since…March?!
• Hugging my best friend (hi Jenn!) for the first time all year
• Attending the Harry Styles residency at Madison Square Garden because disco IS NOT dead
• Witnessing so many sunsets from my favorite spot in NYC that I literally lost count
• 2 family weddings in the same weekend (as fun as it sounds)
• Teaching my dog how to play soccer with me in the backyard
• Eating junk food + giggling the night away with my best Brooklyn buds
• Accidentally growing perfect little pumpkins in our garden
• Impulse-buying a ticket to go see Harry AGAIN
• He really is a gift to the universe
• Money is fake, Harry Styles is forever
• Dancing so hard at that concert I was sore for a few days after
• Some truly healing experiences 🥲

There’s probably more, but alas: I still have a point to eventually get to. Busyness. Blessings. Unmentioned bullshit aside, I made it through. All that miraculous stuff almost made me forget how stressful it is to be a person right now.

Almost. Not sure how y’all have been feeling, but I’ve been overwhelmed lately. It’s hard out here, team. But this blog is meant to remind folks to look for the joy in it all.

To quote the prophet Pitbull, “This for everybody going through tough times. Believe me, been there, done that.” Mr. Worldwide is CORRECT, “Every day above ground is a great day, remember that.”

Essentially, it seems like I was super excited to celebrate a year of this blog. Then a bunch of shit happened, I blinked a few times, and now we’re well into the “-ber” months. Historically, the coziest time for my sappy little soul. I’m one sentimental son of a bitch, I tell ya.

There’s been a lot going on. Let’s just say I haven’t exactly had the spare brain cells required to put all my thoughts onto paper and eventually onto this website. To get back in the swing of things, I decided to read my entire blog over in its entirety.

Turns out, there’s some work from a year ago that I’m really proud of. Looking back, I didn’t gas it up enough. Back then, I was much more timid about this whole thing. I was a baby blog, after all. Now, I’d say I’m an adolescent blog. Or maybe just a toddler blog? Still figuring that out, I guess.

I’ve never shared this, but it’s incredibly obvious. My goal has always been to publish one blog per month. I’ve written about it before—how creativity is quite literally catching lightning in a bottle. Sometimes, unfortunately, life is so insane that you don’t even have time to notice it’s storming.

If the last few months are any indication of how the rest of my year’s gonna go…well. Honey, there’s a big storm coming!! It’s a good thing I LOVE the rain. and I especially live for the lightning.

So. I’m going to be completely transparent here when I say: I’m officially switching up how we do things around here. My new model will be something like this: I’m going to write whenever I feel like it 🥰

As any conversation you might have with me typically goes, that means this shit is about to become 100% unpredictable. Probably for the both of us. YEE HAW!

If I get inspired to write about literally anything between now and New Year’s…well. I’ll be back real soon. As of recent, I’ve been experiencing a tsunami of creative clarity. That’s kinda freaking me out. In the BEST way?

But! If I disappear again for awhile…I encourage you to just go read my old blog posts from a year ago, bestie. That’s last Halloween, Thanksgiving, and December.

The beauty of writing things down (regardless of who its for) is that you can revisit words any time. Re-reading them gave me the warmest, fuzzy turtleneck kinda feeling. It’s safe to say we could all use a little more of that these days. And as I like to remind myself: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

As you hopefully have caught on by now, I like to keep things light around here. It’s all in the name. The stories and thoughts you read here are meant to cheer ya on along the way. Gentle reminders to keep it simple, silly!

In terms of the holidays, which can be a tough time for a lot of us, why re-invent the wheel? Especially when the wheel is well-crafted. And the crafter of the wheel is a lot more confident than she was this time last year.

Wheel metaphors aside, I’d like to take it slow with you, humble reader. Not put too much pressure on things between us. I think I accidentally did that thing again—where I girlboss too hard. Then get so caught up in trying to make something the best it can be, that I lose sight of my original vision.

Let’s just have fun with it. See where it goes. In my 29 years of experience as a human being, that method has always led to the most beautiful, fulfilling things life has to offer me. So. Let’s see what happens!

Cheers, no fears.

-Olivia