“wanderlust consumed her;
foreign hearts
and exotic minds
compelled her.
she had a gypsy soul
and a vibrant hope
for the unknown”

— d. marie

If you would have told me in 2015, when I was crying myself to sleep at night from the stress of starting a business, that 2016 would take me to Colorado, New York, and California - I would have laughed. Then promptly sunk back into a dark corner for my nightly cry.

Fortunately, I made it through the wilderness. It's funny how beautifully things can come together, and I'd like to to take a moment to express gratitude for my journey.

This past year I have been working hard - like really hard - to bring Light Garden to life. It's been a whirlwind of emotions, research (um, wtf is an LLC?), and late nights alone in my basement glued to the computer. I had miles to cover and only two feet to get there. When I felt the hint of a self-doubt freakout, I would heed my friend Scott's words, "the journey is the way, hippy". And those simple words changed everything.

So... do I have it all figured out now? Nope. Am I living the lavish life of 'solopreneurship'. Not quite. But I'm getting there. And I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful I can say YES (aka my hard earned Light Garden dollars can say yes) after a year of no's to moments that scream 'TREAT YO SELF'!

So what does this have to do with San Francisco? SO GLAD YOU ASKED.

This brings me to part two of this post that is taking me way too long to write. I had a few weeks in between weddings this June and decided to 'treat myself' and volunteer with my long time friend Valerie aka Iceman, at an AWESOME adult summer camp called Camp Grounded - https://campgrounded.org/

My experience at camp is an entire blogpost in itself, but in short I found new depths of myself and made new friendships that I hope to nurture for years to come. One of those friendships being with the baddest, raddest guy I've met in a while, Jesse aka Little Fish.

After camp we kept in touch and decided to bring our friendship to Little Fish's home town of San Francisco, California. We laughed and played and skipped around the Bay area for days eating all the noms and making all the frans. I left that trip feeling full of life and gratitude that this journey to self employment has given me the freedom to say YES!

Little Fish - I cannot thank you enough for inviting me into your home and being such a gracious host. I had SO much fun and I appreciate everything you did for us. One day I hope to return the favor and show you the magic of Michigan. Until then, SQUAWK!

All the love,

Meadow