Me + Mom photobomb, in Francesca’s apartment on Friday afternoon.
So there you go: That was the single longest time I have stepped away from this website in ten years. It wasn’t because I wanted to; trust me – it just turns out that separating from one’s spouse while simultaneously trying to sell a house, pack a house, find a house, and expand one’s career is a bit of a time-suck.
Here is what I did between Thursday and today (Sunday), while I was (mostly) away from the Internet:
Hung out with my mom, who flew out because of a phone conversation that ended with me planting my forehead on the kitchen floor (which she could not see) and wailing like someone was ripping out my heart (which she could most certainly hear). My parents are not “jump to the rescue when our daughter needs us” types, generally speaking…but it turns out that when I really, really, really need them? They show up. The very next morning.
Painted floorboards and grouted tiles and replaced can lights and stood on a lot of ladders to put allllll the finishing touches on the house. Sidenote: Did you know that having three animals and two children in one’s house makes it very, very hard to keep said house pristine and show-able at virtually all times? There has been much driving-around-the-neighborhood-and-hiding-in-various-restaurants-while-people-tour-our-home. On the bright side, I discovered a really very excellent little Mexican place with $4 burritos. And right this very moment I’m sitting in Cheesecake Factory because an open house is going on, and Cheesecake Factory is GREAT.
Hosted my NYC friend Anna (pictured above), who is selling her own house and thus the best possible houseguest to have while my house is on the market, as she actually staged the loft bed where she slept before departing (thank you Anna).
Percolated a bunch on exactly what kinds of services I’m offering to brands in order to get this new business of mine off the ground, and decided that the plan is to work on retainer with brands that want the ability to get in constant, ongoing content on a tight timeframe, without the hassle of finding someone to create content whenever the need arises (which is theoretically all the time). Still percolating, but going in a good direction (and one that I’m excited about), I think. This part of my life feels sort of like a happy heart attack, if you can picture that.
Flew to Los Angeles, where my mom and I stayed overnight at Francesca’s apartment and I tried very, very, very hard to obey all of the dictums that come along with staying in your friend’s very adorable and pristine place, including NO BAGS ON TABLES (she is so weird about bags on tables).
Acquired a pair of Iro boots that Francesca found on TheRealReal and that turned out (sadly for her, but very happily for me) to be a hair too small for her. Yeeee.
Went out (!) with my friends Naia and Paige, and made all sorts of noises about going home right after dinner, and then allowed myself to be convinced to stay out until ELEVEN (what).
Toured several potential houses in the school districts that we’re interested in. And cried in only one! (It was so bad. Tears weren’t optional.)
Drove past 1,354,692 signs warning about earthquakes, fires, and the possibility that the entire state may fall into the ocean any day now, and plied my mother with cheddar cheese biscuits to keep her from panicking. (We are not moving to any scary fire-y mountains; don’t worry).
Mayyyybe – maybe maybe maybe – found the perrrrrfect place, assuming all goes well. It’s on my IG and in my IG stories, if you’re interested.
Returned home to a pool party with Alisa and Erin and their families. Ate Costco potato salad and hamburgers and ice cream cake, and hid on my front porch for awhile, swinging in a hammock all alone while the sun set, thinking about how I am going to miss this life of ours so, so very much.
