I Run Like A Girl

Hello blog! It’s been a whopping 6 months since my last post. I have a lot to catch you up on, but first I want to talk about why I took such a long hiatus from blogging…

The main reason for my break was that I was starting to feel some burnout from the blog. I started this blog in 2016, so it had been years of taking pictures throughout the week, constantly thinking about content, and of course, writing. Don’t get me wrong, for 95% of the posts over the years, I WANTED to sit down and write and this was NOT a burden, but as I started to feel like this was becoming a chore, I knew it was time to take a break.

Along with that, life got SO busy over the last few months (more on that below), although I think that was more of an excuse. Over the years, no matter how busy life got, I always made time to write. I think this burnout factor was the underlying reason for my hiatus.

Moreover, I’m at a point where I value privacy more these days. When I started this blog in my early 20s and had no readers, I wrote about every emotion and detail of my life – I truly put my heart out on this blog. Over the last few years, I’ve become very aware of how powerful the internet is. Sometimes, I think how crazy it is that I have so much of my personal life out for the public, and as I think about the future, I do value having a little more privacy for me and my family.

I don’t want to sound dismissive to anyone who has read my blog over the years. Truly, I am so grateful for this outlet to share my life with you guys, but I just wanted to be honest about my thought process.

Lastly, as I’ve gotten older, my life is way less interesting than before. When I used to blog every week, I could hardly keep up with all the fun activities going on. Now, my life is pretty boring (in the best way). I work, I eat, and I catch up on errands in between…that’s your 30s for you! I am genuinely enjoying this stage of my life, but truthfully, it demands fewer updates for the blog.

So what does this mean for I Run Like A Girl? It’s certainly not over! Here I am, 6 months later, missing this blog a lot and feeling compelled to write. Taking a break has made me come back with excitement, but I will probably need to approach this blog differently than when I started it 9 years ago. I likely won’t be able to keep up with my weekly cadence, but my plan is to continue sharing as I stockpile content, which may be every few weeks or even months, please bear with me! Trust me, I can’t stay away for too long. 🙂

As far as the privacy concern goes…I don’t have a perfect answer for that, but after reflecting during this hiatus, I realized it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. I don’t think removing myself from the internet completely is the answer as I missed the joys of sharing.

So with that out of the way…let’s catch up on the last 6 months! Buckle up.

The absolute highlight was getting married to Joe! Our wedding was the perfect day. We had a small, simple, intimate outdoor “garden-themed” wedding in the Bay Area. As cheesy as it sounds, it was one of the happiest days of my life and worth all the work leading up to it. The best part was celebrating with our family and closest friends. I’ll never forget this day. ❤

We did a mini-moon after the wedding at Disney Land. I had a work trip at the Disney Resort the week after my wedding, so we decided to make the most of it and spend a few days at the park. Ever since visiting Disney World in Orlando during our cross-country RV trip, theme parks have been one of our favorite activities. TBD on our official honeymoon!

The following months were a blur. I was constantly on the road for work, bringing me to conferences across the country — Los Angeles, New York City, Las Vegas, San Diego…I thought traveling for work would be stressful, but I’ve enjoyed this part of my job tremendously. I feel so grateful that my career is in a good spot with many things ahead of me.

In between work, we were knee-deep in planning and logistics as we made a pretty big life change…

WE MOVED TO NORTH CAROLINA!!! During the holidays, we packed our life belongings and hit the road. We drove our truck, a U-Haul trailer, and our two cats across the country over 7 days. It was exhausting, but here we are!

There were a lot of reasons for the move, but the main ones were lifestyle change, cost of living, and being closer to my family on the East Coast. I was living in San Francisco for 7 years and New York City for 6 years before that, and we were SO ready for a slower pace of life and for more space. I couldn’t be happier with this move. It’s been two months in North Carolina, and I haven’t looked back once. We are loving our new home, the space, and the suburb vibes.

My last few months have been spent unpacking, getting settled, and buying furniture like a madwoman. Luckily, I’ve really enjoyed this home decorating project. It was comical how empty our home was at first (we lived in a 500-square-foot apartment in SF!). Our home started out like this…

…and turned to this! When I say this is all I did the last 2 months, I mean it.

While I’ve been focusing inside of our house, Joe has been focused on the outside. He’s living his gardener’s dream and spending a lot of time getting the garden ready for Spring. How lucky am I to marry someone who loves yard work. 🙂 Another reason our home has become my oasis.

Until next time, friends! Gosh I missed this.