frozen spaghetti – Frozen Spaghetti

Rumor on the street is that blogging is making a comeback.

I suppose it makes sense. For most of us bloggers, (Frozen Spaghetti started in 2011), we started a long time ago in a way that appeased an early ambition for a side hustle. As Instagram grew and gave the impression of a blogger interface with a shorter, less expectant time frame, I know for me, at least – I came to LOOOOOVE how easy IG made it to get to the point.

I had a major pause in posting here on WordPress.

Where a picture of a Horse Ear on Frozen Spaghetti made me sit for multiple nights – even coming back to the post years later – trying to capture my draw to the horse ear, Instagram gave me permission to simply post a picture of the ear with whatever I felt in that very moment. “Do you hear what I hear?” and people who wanted to would get the point.

No uploading, arranging, bolding and emphasizing needed. Maybe a heart emoji… but even that came later.

As aforementioned ambition for a side hustle grew into actual side hustle grew into hey-yo this is my profession, a lot of those early blog loving content creators had to trade their storytelling in “to the man”. I think the cup of tea & foggy morning approach to writing on WordPress became the long lost best friend to those for whom the visual arts, sound entertainment and quick byte culture proved itself capable of being quite time-consuming, frustrating and – well, expensive as they require a whole new assembly line for a product that needs to sell the actual product.

As a blogger who doesn’t even ask you to “chip in a dollar” to “buy me a cup of coffee” to “show your appreciation for the work”, I will tell you an artful blog (who eats the $99 for you to read my nonsense ad free) is the still IG picture post in a world full of “Grandma’s Best Thanksgiving Stuffing Ever this FALL FAVORITE BEST did I say BEST already it’s Thanksgiving and this is my FAVORITE BEST STUFFING EVER, I LOVE Grandma! Best. Stuffing. #Thanksgiving” .

Was that obnoxious? Good. I thought so.

As a person who loves a good reel, my most popular reels in terms of views and shares have been off content I have taken on the fly, mixed in a minute and shared with pretty must little to no thought other than whatever comes from the core of the operation: my inspo.

The ones I tried to do? Ugh. Gross. Made me stop doing it.

Why do I bring this up? Well, primarily because one of my closest friends is passionate about this – so, she naturally inspires me to, at minimum, reflect.

Keyword: Inspires.

So here is my reflection. Reels, Blogs, Posts, Sound, Pin.

How about we all agree marketing is best when inspired?

(Or Is that too Emily in Paris of me?)

It takes talent to write an artful blog. It takes strategy to write a successful one.

But both take inspiration.

Heart. Patience. And People.

My blog was for me. But now it’s also, in a way, for you.

179 people get an email in their inbox when I hit the blue “Publish” button, and – you know what? That’s kinda cool.

And, real quick, going back to what I said about not having a donate button. For me? I don’t want YOUR money.

I want a publishing house and a Netflix deal and maybe a ride at Disney.

And then I want those people to go get all the money for me. hahaha :)

I don’t need you to buy me a cup of coffee (though I will let you take me out to lunch) when I need my writing to buy me a house. <SO TRUE>

“What you can offer now?”, you ask?

What matters to me?

A: Your listening ear. Your attendance.

Sharing a post or writing a review or inviting somebody to a class.

I for sure get SO much encouragement chatting with your relaxed self after an experience stretching, listening, sharing or singing along.

You can start with a comment on this here blog post. I got TWO the other day and THANK YOU Alyssa & Anonymous. Made my freaking day.

Every single part of my evolution thus far in my life has been off of my distinct belief that you cannot be wrong unless you’re trying to be right, that what comes natural to you should be what you spend your time doing and – lastly – above all costs, take care of your heart & treat with respect your power to form an opinion and…

well…

That if I ask for a fish, I won’t get a serpent.

Live your life according to your values, know who you are, and stay true to what you truly want.

The rest will unfold exactly as it should, which will partly be unforeseen & surprising.

Live inspired. Reel or Blog. Church or Studio. Hike or Kayak. Whatever. Just live your life.

And maybe, while you’re at it, enjoy Grandma’s Favorite Stuffing and make the Best Thanksgiving Ever come to life.

When people say “pretty much the same” in response to the question “how is married life?” or “what is it like to be married?” I understand what that means. For me, however, I am married (for the second time in my life) and my answer to this question is really super freaking simple:

Good.

It’s good to be married.

When David and I first started dating (when we first started falling in love, actually – as undeniably these were simultaneous), I wrote a song called “I Choose You”.

The premise of the song is also really super simple: I wish you would tell me you love and never will leave me BUT I’m grown enough to realize a) you may be figuring that out still and b) you might choose to leave so – in the meantime – I will meditate on the fact that (no matter what the future holds) you choose me now and – *more importantly to those early days in relationships* I choose you now, equally.

Married life is good because it is the trustworthy fruition of that early “freedom to discover”. We are married not because I asked him to promise me something or led him to trust me first while he figured it out. Or because I unabashedly threw myself at the chance of love and acceptance without the mission critical work of loving and accepting myself in order to *then* throw myself at love.

We are married because not only did we choose each other to get to know, we chose to continually choose each other and get to know each other.

I chose to continue to choose David even when my most critical thoughts are present.

I chose to continue to choose David because he is so handsome and makes me laugh and allows me my me-ness when I clean, don’t clean, cook, don’t cook, and watch Avengers movies. He allows me to ask for “what happens next” equal to how he allows himself to not get annoyed, pat my leg and say “just watch.”

We navigated getting to know each other with equal parts curiosity and self containment. We were both interested and selfish. Both open minded and aware of our root values. Both. And. Both. And.

This is Union. This is Yoga. This is Marriage.

Being married is good. :)