Long time no chat (almost a year!). As I sit here sipping my candy cane lane tea (you must try, btw...) snuggled up in a blanket, fuzzy socks, and listening to Christmas music, I am frankly stumped as to where I should begin with this post! I have been contemplating my return to the blogesphere for a while now, and I figured that even if I didn't know exactly where to begin, having a rather rambly and unorganized post was a better start than nothing! Progress not perfection, my friends. If I continued to wait for the perfect topic or opportunity to post, I probably would never return. So here I am in all of my scattered glory!
Ok. So this isn't me, but how awesome is this pic? I kind of wish it was me.
Here I am! A little less hipster and a tad more J.Crew :) This is an old pic, but I honestly have not taken any pics with me in them as of late!
My choice to step away from this blog was exactly that, a choice. I truly loved chatting with you all here. I didn't simply lose interest in the platform, but rather had a bit of a social media meltdown. I noticed that essentially all of my unscheduled time was spent blogging, scanning Facebook, perusing twitter, and reading other blogs. I found myself becoming increasingly more interested in what other people were doing instead of what was going on in my own life. Don't get me wrong- all ya'll people out there surely had some cool sh*t going on! I acknowledge that we are a society that has the advantage (and disadvantage!) of being constantly connected through social media, cell phones, ipads, text messages, and emails. As someone who grew up with the original apple computer (green typing, black background.. can I get a whoop, whoop!) , the technological advances our society has made are super cool! However, I feel that there can be a darker side to this constant connection. We forget how to just BE with nothing to distract us. We forget to really appreciate what is going on in our own lives and how much WE already have. We forget to do what we want to do and not what we think we SHOULD do. We forget that we are good enough even though we don't do all the "cool stuff" that other people do. We forget that we are beautiful even though we don't think we look as awesome as someone else does in their instagram photo. We forget that just because we post pictures of everything we do to social media, does not mean we need to have a new outfit for every event! When I say we, I clearly mean me. I am guilty of checking out of my own life because what is going on in someone else's seems cooler. Don't be scared, my friends. I am not a psycho stalker, I promise. I simply wanted to challenge myself to live my own life without being so preoccupied with what others were doing. So, I made the decision to stop the blog, deactivate my Facebook account, and limit the amount of time I spent reading other blogs. Honestly, this was one of the best decisions I could have made. I learned a lot about myself and how to be present in my own life.
With all that said, I think that social media is an amazing tool. It helps us to connect, reconnect, network, learn, grow, inspire, and share. That's why I'm back. I got what I needed out of my hiatus. I learned, and I feel that I can move forward with a slightly different perspective.
If you read my blog before, I don't plan on changing the format or conversation. It will remain a mish mash of lifestyle, healthy (ish) recipes, inspirational goodies of all kinds, and random musings, all sprinkled with a dash of humor and honesty. Sound good? Great, I'll take your silence as a yes. :)
Here is a cliff's notes version of what my life has been like over the past year. I am probably the happiest and healthiest I have ever been. I am in the midst of wedding planning. Thankfully, I have a wonderful fiance who wants to be involved in the planning process (umm, ya pretty amazing!) and a group of wonderful, detail oriented women by my side ,because I just did not inherit the attention to detail gene! FYI...wedding planning requires lots of ATTENTION TO DETAIL... wahhh. I am still practicing yoga, which I truly fall more in love with everyday- well, yoga and my fiance :) . I realized that I LOVE a good burger (rare!), and I wonder what I did without these juicy wonders all these years. Sorry, Mr. cow. My adopted furry son Toby is still the apple of my eye, despite his idiosyncrasies. Everyday he reminds how to love unconditionally, live simply, be ok with saying no, be myself (good, bad, and ugly), rest, snuggle, and drink lots of water.
I am still happily residing in Jersey City with PJ, where I am surrounded by great friends, restaurants, and a killer view of NYC (which also includes great friends and restaurants, but without the view) . Speaking of friends, some of my closest have had babies or are pregnant, which is beautiful and weird all at the same time! As for me, I still screw up sometimes and do stupid stuff, but I am striving to embrace imperfection. I am right where I'm supposed to be. That my friends is me in a nutshell (sometimes a very nutty shell :)... sorry couldn't resist!).
I look forward to reconnecting with all of you!
xoxo
Sarah
Beautiful Live well, Love much Laugh often life is so short.
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