Woohoo, today I’m 32! Time flies when you’re having fun, right?!

I’m starting off 32 in a good place — I feel like I’m finally who I want to be and all the pieces of the puzzle I’d searched for are here.

Looking back over the last few years, Saturn Return was a difficult time for me, full of a lot of upheavals in rapid succession that seemed never-ending at the time. What I didn’t realize was that I had to shed a lot of my old life in order to make room for my new one. The one I dreamed of but was afraid to go after. What I learned during that time is that sometimes you just have to let go and embrace the unknown. There IS a safety net, you just can’t see it. There ARE people watching out for you.

At 29, my life started to feel right again. I married Joey, and with him came a 2 for 1 special — Rocky, my big-eared sidekick who I grew attached to very quickly. Joey, being an amazing handyman, fixed up the wacky but very old Bavarian-themed house I’d bought the year before with my brother and helped make it feel more like home. As 29 came to a close, I moved onto some new agency positions (oh, the stories I have!), made some new friends and really started focusing on where I wanted to be with my career.

30 just flowed. I worked on dozens of new and exciting freelance design projects, got into an agency I’d been dreaming about for years and blogged five days a week, even if that meant getting up at 5 am. 30 was a pivotal year for me. My big, far-fetched dream had always been to teach a blogging strategy workshop with a heavy dose of branding. Gala and I had thrown around the idea of doing one together while traveling the world but weren’t quite sure how to make it a reality. Then, we met up with Kat (who was a long-time client of mine) and over a five day vacation in Vegas last February, dove headfirst into the idea of The Blogcademy. In August, one month before I turned 31, we launched. I was scared to death. Completely and totally. But then, the first workshop sold out in under a week.

31 was all about solidifying my dreams and letting go of everything else in my life that wasn’t working. I was finally breaking into working on more editorial design jobs and doing more branding work for fashion and beauty brands. After doing one too many sports campaigns and one too many production-based jobs, I was doing what I’d prepared for 5 years to do.

And, I was finally able to travel the world doing what I loved — teaching women bloggers how to take their brands and voices to the next level. 31 was the year that everything finally clicked. Behind the scenes, I finally had ideas for my first digital products and my new business started to take shape and become a reality. I experienced a lot of growing pains but finally felt like a legit adult (most days).

So, here I am. 32. I’ve learned to push aside a lot of fears by just surrounding myself with good people and going for what I want, even if my stomach is in knots some days. After returning from nearly three weeks on the road, I know that I am capable of living without perfectly defined routines. In less than 10 days, I’ll be launching my new business. And now I can say that life is great and mean it.

A week of celebrating in the Greek Islands was pretty awesome but tonight, I’ll be keeping it low key, heading out to our neighborhood bar for a drink with Joey.

Another year down…and I’m ready to start this one out right.

Photo: Shell De Mar, taken in Santorini, Greece.