Hello! My boss always says that I sound like an answering machine when I greet him in the morning like that. Hello! And he’s not wrong, I definitely do have that vibe.

Um, hi. I don’t really know where to start, so I’m just going to dive into where my thoughts are at right now. The amount of times that I’ve either thought about opening WordPress or actively opened it is way more than I would have predicted. This is not even the first time that I’ve opened a new post and thought about potentially writing something. Last we spoke, it was July, and it was very obvious that I was losing steam, and rather than trying to say that out loud, I just kind of ceased and desisted. Which, like? Given the way 2022 went? Not surprising.

Things that have happened between then and now:

• I wore a lot of cute bathing suits, and I really started to figure out accepting my body. I wear cropped sweaters all the time now, and I really don’t care. Kenzie Brenna said something along the lines of, “They already know you’re fat. Stop hiding it.” And honestly? That changed my life.
• I saw Josh Groban, Harry Styles, Panic! at the Disco, and Greta van Fleet, and I have a lot of thoughts about all of them. Josh Groban was fine. It was definitely not my favorite time I’ve seen him by a long shot, but it was still a lot of fun. Panic! was–well. I mean, I hate the new album. Like, well and truly hate it. The beginning was fun, I sat down through the middle while he played new stuff, and then the end was fun! Greta was also fairly standard concert fun. I would have liked a seat rather than the floor, but ya girl bought floor tickets for some reason, so there we were. And I don’t even really know where to begin with Harry. I wrote a post on Insta about it, saved a highlight on my page, and I’m still not sure how to talk about it. That also changed my life.
• Not only did I do a lot of yoga, but I started my 300 hour yoga teacher training! I hate this comparison, but it’s the only one I’ve been able to figure out so far–it’s like graduate school for yoga. It’s not necessary, but I’ll be 500 hour certified at the end of it, and I’ve always wanted to do it, so I’m really excited to be here.
• I got two new tattoos–the kings of Argonath & Earendil’s ship. I’m only linking one of them because I haven’t shared the other one officially yet because it’s part of a much larger piece.
• I hosted the first annual Alsym Energy BBQ–hell yeah, baby, we came out of stealth mode, I can finally tell y’all where I work!!!–and it was a roaring success.
• I moved upstairs and took over the entire second floor of my house. With my brother & sister moved out of the house and the cost of housing absolutely through the atmosphere and me not making enough to live on my own, I finally took the plunge, moved upstairs, and made it fully my own. That came with its fair share of not great stuff, but we worked through it, and I now have a massive bedroom, a living room with a green sofa and that’s got a spare bed in it, an entire wall of Harry artwork, a freaking TV, yellow and sunflowers literally everywhere, and honestly? A pretty fantastic space.
• I went to California to finally meet my best friend’s baby! I went out last year for her baby shower–and to meet her for the first time–and this year was all about his first birthday! We went to the Jurassic Park exhibit in San Diego, walked through a fairground that’d been turned into a winter wonderland light show, absolutely smashed it at archery, had so much damn good food, and started planning her trip out here in September.
• I didn’t read a lot, and I didn’t read 100 books for the year for the first time in a long time, but I did do a lot of healing with my relationship with reading. I stopped tracking my reading every day, stopped pressuring myself to read a certain amount or even just a certain book, and just allowed myself to exist. It’d become something I wasn’t enjoying, and it took a while to get back to that.
• I also didn’t write a lot. At least, not until the new year, during which I wrote several thousand words over those two weird short weeks, and I really hope it continues because my goal for 2023 is to finish the first large section of Andrew’s book.
• I continued to love my cats more than they want, but as much as they deserve.

It’s been a time. There have been a lot of ups and a lot of downs, but, thankfully, I’ve done a lot more laughing than I have crying. And I don’t know what this post is. There is a 0% chance that I return to what I was doing before, posting 4-5 times a week. Okay, I guess not 0% because anything is possible, and, over time, I might feel like returning to that, but right now, that’s 100% not where I’m at. If I had to guess, I’d say that I think I’m at least good for monthly wrap-ups again, and I kind of miss those weekly check-ins. I don’t think I’m here for TTTs or reviews or discussion posts yet, though I would like to get back to at least one or two of those. (I’m not even going to pretend, I have no interest in TTTs.)

Or this could be nothing. I don’t want to come on here and make any false promises, so I’m trying to be honest and say that, since about mid-December, I’ve been thinking about being on here again, and though I haven’t even touched my bookstagram in months and don’t really have the urge to right now, I have been getting the itch to write on here. Writing creatively is starting to take a turn for the better again, and writing this post has felt really good. I want to be on here, I think. Not intensely, and only semi-regularly, but I do. I miss it here. I miss the community. I miss the atmosphere. I miss the vibes.

What I don’t miss is the pressure, and I’m going to do my damndest not to put myself under so much of it again. I’ve had enough of it in the last two months to last me a lifetime.

Okay, so, potential things to look forward to:

• Probably, for right now, just a weekly commitment from me that’ll consist of Wednesday check-ins because I really enjoyed that format, and I think it’ll help me to get into a better routine of reading more regularly without actually creating a TBR because that doesn’t sound fun right now.
• Almost definitely a monthly wrap-up that’s going to look a little different than they used to, but not a whole ton.
• No matter what, travel blogs in May because I’m going to Scotland where I will be spending most of my time in the Highlands, a solid portion of my time on the Isle of Skye, and barely two days in Edinburgh because, chaotically, I’m seeing Harry Styles again.
• Maybe the return of some light discussions and reviews? I do have a post in my drafts where I intended to write a full series review of Soulbound, and that still sounds like something I want to do.

Other than that, hello! Tell me things. What’s been going on in your lives? What’s a post that you’re excited about right now that you want me to read? How are you?