Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth.

[Citrine by the Stones Rosary Tassel earrings + Wonder Woman cuff + Diane von Furstenberg belt + Free People shorts + Nightcap cardigan + Sam Edelman boots + Kara Ross stingray ring.]

I remember the first day I moved to Saratoga Springs, New York. Talk about a leap of faith.

Tanned, freewheeling, sand still in my shoes, and none the wiser, I parked my car with Florida plates in front of my new little carriage house on a day when brown leaves were scratching across the pavement and a cold gray socked us in. I was eager—unflappable, really. I didn’t know a soul, but it didn’t matter.

I’d been tucking away the insane stress of moving to a place I’d never been, for a challenging job in a new industry—and oh, who am I kidding—for a guy I was just getting to know. Rob didn’t mince words back then, but he never actually told me he was glad I was chasing him 1,000 miles to NY. If anything, I’m willful.

So I jumped. My hair fell out in clumps for the first few months. I adjusted. I crashed and burned a few times. But it paid off. What a handful of years it’s been.

And with that, I’m headed South again. Correction: we’re headed South again.

[“There be greener pastures!”]

Alas, Richmond, it is! You didn’t think I could be down there again and not cave in to a move? As Rob says, “You’ve put in your time” in the Northeast. Now I transplant him onto my turf. And the real beauty in this? I haven’t lived in VA for so long, we’re discovering it together—from scratch.

No more self-imposed exile for me. I’m going closer to family. Closer to my friends. Closer to the things that gave me the strength to come up here in the first place, and which, if I’m being honest, I could use right now more than anything.

Is the weepy wistfulness of previous posts making sense, now? Although we hadn’t quite hit the decision point, we were getting to the point of being kicked off the pot were we not to make a movement. I’ve been trembling in moments of silence for months now. It’s here and I’m ready to breathe again.

Lots of goodbyes peppering the massive stress of the last few weeks. I wanted to get up on the slopes and look out over the mountain again, so we trotted up there in a cloud of gnats. This is happening more as I get older: longer, more deliberate farewells to things. I always thought this behavior was reserved for little ones who wish goodnight to the moon and kiss stuffed rabbits goodbye on their way out the door. Lately, I say goodbye to everything.

Goodbye, road. Goodbye, fox. Goodbye, eyelash. Goodbye, deli. Goodbye, Battenkill. Goodbye, noisy turkey I hear in the night.

[Behold the continued beauty of Citrine by the Stones—the Wonder Woman cuff, seen above, and my favorite earrings of all time, the Rosary Tassel Earrings, all courtesy CBTS.]

Oh, but I cannot wait! And do you know what this means? As my best bud who lives in RIC texted me the other night: “Nungamonious, me heads goin to explode with location ideas for your blog photoshoots!” Ha! That’s certainly one bonus. Also, I’m reinvigorated. Inspired. I want to share this new place with you every step of the way.

And I’m leaving off something—50% of this equation. Roberto is taking a leap of faith of his own: he’s leaving construction and making the passion he’s nurtured on this blog his career. He’ll be in Oregon for a few months this Fall to work the wine harvest! It’s funny the looks I get when I reveal this bit of information. As if us being apart will somehow cause a species of bird to drop from the sky without warning. Go big or go home, right? I’ll be learning as much about his time out there through the blog as you will.

I’m so insanely proud (and jealous) of him. That, my friends, is what you call chasing your dreams.

Cheers!

-Carey