Having anxieties means stress for me is an almost everyday occurrence in some way. Never at these levels. My mom was a buffer a lot of times. She would shield me from stressors in the form of people & things. I don't have that protection now and stressors are more apparent. It's a new world for me to adjust to and I'm not doing so well.

I had a really good conversation at dinner yesterday that got me thinking about what it really means to slowly form destructive patterns, how to recognize them, and more importantly how to stop them before they get out of control. I got to thinking about this month. It'll be a month now since my world changed.

This is me. Giving family and friends all the permission to be happy and to smile again. Keep talking about all the memories and keep my mom in your heart. I promise you I'll be ok. I'm doing really well right now. No need to call with sadness in your heart. No need to write with sadness. No feeling sorry for me.

I woke up this Monday morning with a weight lifted off my shoulders and a sense of staying present. For so much of my life, I stuck my nose in a planner and moved like a robot. Was it a routine? Or was I coping? Hiding from my problems by burying myself in “work” & people. I've never been more willing to just stay in the now. Be spontaneous as some would tell me. Living a little.

Guess I should talk about where I've been right? Well let's start with the fact that I really wasn't taking care of myself this past month and I paid for it with a cold (that thankfully wasn't COVID) but then turned into a million other things which made recovery seem like it was in a distant future.

Today I celebrate 37 times around the sun. Another full rotation filled with so much love, life, family & being. This next rotation will be about patience, understanding, learning & acceptance of things I cannot change.

The calm before… more calm. Usually, around this time, I'm out of the country getting ready to celebrate my birthday (it's tomorrow) with some flair. This year we decided to stay home and not even more so I'm asking for a pretty calm day. A cozy day. Maybe some dinner. But if I didn't do anything tomorrow I'd be just fine.

The most challenging part of this whole experience is grasping every day without someone you love so deeply. A simple walk for coffee easily becomes a little more important when you remember some people didn't get to do that today. You start to cherish even the small things. The mundane means more.

That's the sign of a very good weekend. Distraction was the name of the game and I went swinging with a trip to 5th Ave to see holiday decorations. Last weekend Armand and I had one day (it rained the next) to grab as much content down there as possible. We walked along 6th ave. first to see the decor around Radio City Music Hall. After that we went to 5th ave. proper and I got to see the Sak’s window and went to Lotte New York Palace to see the 2nd most famous Christmas tree in New York!

You're seeing the face of a woman who is on cloud nine. You wouldn't know it just by looking but this version of Ally took a pretty huge step in her life. I owe no one an explanation but I felt like sharing in case others may end up here and wanted some insight or an opinion on it. Even yesterday I got a few DMs about it.

Hey Guys & Dolls!

So I realize I never got around to really talking about what happened during the Holiday season last year. There was A LOT. Let’s get into that briefly as well as how my birthday was

It’s been a long long month but we are back with more black creators to feature and follow! If you don’t remember this is a monthly post I’ll write that features black creators who I think you would love to follow and why!