It’s been awhile around here. At the beginning of the year I swapped my Instagram handle and shook off the “influencer” title I’ve carried for nearly eight years. While at surface level this was a rather insignificant change, it’s one that’s made a tremendous difference in my day to day life and honestly, it’s felt great.

Lately I’ve been making an effort to be more present – to slow down, to relax and to reconnect. I’ve been catching up with old friends, making new travel plans and choosing to pick up a book instead of aimlessly scrolling through Instagram – after the go go go pace I’d gotten so used to, I’ve been learning how to have more choice in my actions beyond the obligation of a to do list and an always present feeling of never having enough time each day.

Taking the pressure off of writing and creating content has been rather restorative for me – while I’ve always loved writing, it became disheartening to have it feel like a chore, and I decided to experiment with a simple rule: I’d only write if I wanted to. And I haven’t wanted to (no offense).

There have been several blog posts I’ve began writing in my head – from an Australia travel guide, to wanting to rave about how much I love my air purifier – but when I’ve gone to actually sit down at my laptop and make it happen, it was no longer appealing. Yet here we are and I’m on an early morning flight to Mexico, writing this post in the Notes app on my phone and the words are flowing just like they used to.

So what’s new around here? 

• With all of my newly found chill time, I’ve been reading a ton and just finished The Great Alone, Rabbit, Bitter Orange, There There, All These Beautiful Strangers, If You See Me Don’t Say Hi and Small Fry. If you’ve read anything recently you’ve really loved, or have some all-time favorites, I’d love to hear about ’em!
• I turned 31 a little over a week ago. While 30 didn’t feel like much of a big deal, turning 31 really feels like I’m in it with my thirties with the novelty factor gone, but I love it. I asked my fellow thirty-somethings on Instagram last week to weigh in on why your thirties are better than your twenties and got SO MANY amazing responses, stay tuned for more there in a coming post. Every year has just gotten better and better and I have a really good feeling about this one.
• Callie had a bit of a health scare that freaked me out (I probably cried more in that two week span than I have in the past two years) but she’s now almost fully healed from her two surgeries (6 teeth + a tumor removed!) and back to her usual self with great follow up test results.
• I’m about ten years too late here but I signed up for Classpass and have been using it to mix up my workout routine and get myself off the plateau I was feeling from just doing Soulcycle for awhile. It’s been a lot of fun to try new workouts with friends, and feels good to feel sore again and work out areas that need a little extra attention.
• Travel has remained a top priority for me in 2019 and have been to Charleston, Florida, Lake Tahoe and Sayulita so far this year, with trips to Ecuador and Spain on the horizon. Scheming up a few more trips for this year (including at least one solo trip) and I’m excited to continue to explore new places and see where the year takes me.
• I’ve been in New York for nearly 8 months now which has flown by but also been really incredible for me both personally and professionally. Very grateful that the move happened when it did and love being in a bigger city than San Francisco (but happy that I get to go back often for work!) and am really feeling like I’ve found my groove here.

On the blogging front I’m continuing with the write when you want to mentality and am starting to feel the itch creep back in, so expect a few more updates around here than you’ve seen in recent months. Thanks always for sticking with me, xx.