164 days.

It’s been precisely 164 days since I’ve last written to you. Phew. That’s a long stretch for a prolific gal like me. And yet, makes sense.

In the past 164 days, I…

• Went to Portugal to study the simple miracle of water retention at one of my favorite places on Earth.

• Got pregnant right afterwards during a mini road trip through the glory of Northern New Mexico and Souther Colorado.

  

  The day we conceived, we picked thistle and sunflowers all along the roadside. :)

• Endured a full 12 weeks of nearly 24/7 morning sickness. (That photo’s way less cute.)

• Wrestled with endless feelings of uselessness. No matter that I’m growing an entire human in my meek miraculous body. I CAN’T EVEN GO IN THE KITCHEN WITHOUT WANTING TO GAG, LET ALONE MAKE MYSELF A BOWL OF CEREAL.

• Surrendered to letting Seann do everything for me. I mean, he was practically wiping my ass for a little while there. #dadtraining

• Got the nudge that despite finally landing in the village, we needed to move. Closer to family. Closer to close friends.

• Found a total dream house in a small crunchy town in Northern California.

• Went to a wedding, danced my pants off, and landed myself in the ER for intensive vaginal bleeding.

• Followed orders to not lift more than 10 pounds for two whole months.

• Hired packers & movers to do our move for us.

• Settled into our new home, and my corresponding magical creative studio – the very first space I’ve ever had that’s solely dedicated to my work.

• Started writing my next book. Gulp. (No, but actually… I’m devoted to feeling good while I write this book. Radical, I know. But writing ReBloom so often felt like pulling teeth. I’m just not willing to feel like shit again doing the thing I love the most. Flow over force is my motto with this new book. It’s working. I feel the way I felt while writing Secret Bad Girl as I scribble away these days. It’s making me very excited.)

• Had the most fun ever running the CEO Coven, and wrapped up working with 6 incredible clients.

• Decided I’m going all in on writing in this next season of my career.

• Waffled between total excitement & extreme anxiety over that undeniable decision.

• Sat my sore ass* at my altar almost every morning anyway. Wrote the stories that wanted to be written. Shared a few of ‘em with my closest friends, only to be met with, “yes. this. thank goddddd you’re writing like this. keep going.”

*Note: there are so many things they don’t tell you about pregnancy. One of which being, you will be sore in places you never knew possible. Like the center of your left ass cheek anytime you sit for more than 33 minutes.

**Also note: don’t get chewable prenatals. Come week 3, they’re basically a sick joke. Pun intended. Nothing worse than gnawing 2 chalky centimeter-wide gag-inducing vitamins nightly when you can hardly eat food. Lucky me, I bought those babies IN BULK.

Okay, I’m resisting the temptation to send you a lil shitty-first-draft snippet in this hello-from-the-void email. But soon. I hope I can make you laugh and feel more human.

Shit’s wild out there. Laughter is necessary.

Big love, brave humans.

xo,
Rachael