Look at me, can’t you see, all I want to be is free from a world that hurts me. — Ciao Bella! Hi, My Beautiful Friends! I’m unsure why that particular greeting came out, but I’m rolling with it. I’m in the mood (and a somewhat manic mental state) for an annual ‘About Me’ update. I hope you are too! A wise man once said that when it comes to your writing, repeat the format readers respond to most, and more importantly, have fun.

I’m a picker, I’m a grinner, I’m a lover, and I’m a sinner. I play my music in the sun. — Hello! Buongiorno Bellezza! Guten Tag! Buenos Noches! I can’t think of a better way to introduce myself than to tell you what I’m wearing, the last ten songs I listened to on Spotify, what I had for dinner tonight, and what I did right before I ate that delectable dinner. Bare feet, fitted purple joggers, a soft…

I Love You, I’m Sorry, Please Forgive Me, Thank You, and F*ck You. — Dear Dr. Jekyll, I listened to our wedding song tonight. Do you remember it? “I can hear her heartbeat from a thousand miles Yeah, the heaven’s open every time she smiles And when I come to her that’s where I belong Yeah, I’m running to her like a river’s song She give me…

Six-Word Photo Story Challenge — Studying The Rest of My Life. On Monday morning, this was me savoring a large Peet’s dark roast Coffee and diligently studying for my National Phlebotomy exam. As I watched people walk in, spin in circles around me, and the morning sunlight hit my steaming cup of coffee just right; I thought, “It’s been a long…

Six Word Photo Story Challenge: Freestyle — Sometimes, life takes your breath away. Sometimes, life takes your breath away in a beautiful way. And sometimes, it feels like ‘there’s a steel knife in my windpipe,’ as Marshal Mathers would say. On the morning I snapped this picture, I was sluggishly on my way to drop the kids off at school and zoom down…

November Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Happiness” — Find Soul-Stirring Beauty in Black Days It was raining cats and dogs as soon as we arrived at the pumpkin patch last month. For months, my friends and I elaborately planned to bring the kids out to the pumpkin patch to pick out our uniquely shaped Halloween squashes and take some long-awaited dives into the corn…

November Six Word Photo Story Photo Challenge: “Happiness” — Let’s eat cake by the ocean. I am (monkishly) aware of the sexual innuendo about ‘eating cake by the ocean.’ And as much as I love writing about (and having) sex — not today, my friends, not today. This picture presents my coffee shop jam session set up, where I meet with my dad on Sunday…

I’m thoroughly thrilled with myself for coming up with this title while sitting in traffic on a Friday night. Since my divorce (and even slightly before that), I learned to listen to my rhythms again and slowly fade out everyone else’s noise. I’ve always wanted to be a writer — wait, I am a writer. While living with my parents, I paid off debt and saved up what I had left to move…

Three years, six months, and two days is all it took for me to heal my heart and stand next to the man who crushed it and clobbered it without flinching. I surprised my daughter on her first day of school and was overwhelmed with unapologetic authenticity as I stood beside my ex-husband while we sent her off on a new adventure this year. When it comes to my ex and married life, I tend to split myself into four categories: who I…