Hello again!

It’s been nearly a year since my last blog post, and I’ve really been wanting to start blogging again. But first, I thought I’d talk a tiny bit about why it’s been so long.

Over the course of the last year, I’ve started and then given up on many blog posts. As I’ve said — I’ve wanted to blog but, in all honesty, I just haven’t felt inspired. For those of you who’ve followed my blog since the beginning, you’ve seen it transition from a personal style/cruelty-free beauty and lifestyle blog to a place where I talk about animal rights and being vegan. Having said that, I’ve struggled with exactly what I want this blog to be. I didn’t want it to be made up of all kinds of random posts, but I also didn’t want it to be too one-dimensional.  And I wanted to make sure that I was being 100% authentically me — and not necessarily what other people might like.

Even though I’ve thought about blogging again, with everything that’s been going on in the world, I haven’t been sure when the right time to start up again was. But I think now may be as good a time as any. First, though, here are just a few updates since a year ago:

– Over the last year and a half, Lucille, my 16-year-old cat (you’ll see her featured in a lot of my blog posts!), has had a lot of health issues. First, she has asthma that’s been a struggle to get under control. For a while it seemed like everything we did to try to help did nothing; but we have her on what seems to be the right dose of her medication now. She also had digestive issues and she really struggled to eat for quite a while. But, thankfully, she seems to be in a much better place right now; and I’m happy to say that her appetite has been great!

– I started a new job last October. It’s not where I pictured myself, and it’s definitely not what I want to be doing long-term, but it’s been good and it works for me right now. I’m also considered an essential worker, so I’ve been working throughout this whole pandemic. I’ve just been trying to stay safe and keep my family safe.

– I’ve also struggled and, in all honesty, sometimes continue to struggle with my mental health. Some days are better or worse than others, but I do what I can to be in a good place most days. I may start sharing some blog posts on mental health, but I’m not too sure at the moment. It feels very personal to me, so I’ll have to think a little bit longer about that.

– I should probably also state the obvious (just in case), that I’m absolutely still vegan and believe in animal rights. I’ve been vegan for almost two and a half years and I still believe it’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. Every single day, I try to live as cruelty free and ethically as I can; and I’ve really worked at also including the environment in that. I want to make sure that I try to have as little negative impact on animals and the environment as I can.

To sum up this blog post, I’m going to start blogging again. But, at the moment, I’m not too sure exactly when (soon!) or how often it will be. I’m also not too sure of the exact direction this blog is going, but I have an idea. It could be much of the same, but I know it will always be based on my interests, which are: veganism, thrifting, simple living, animals rights, nature…and more things like that.

Thank you to those of you who’ve stuck around this past year! I hope to interact again with you soon!