Welcome. If you’ve found your way here, I’m glad. It took me a while to find my way here myself — for years, I was a closeted writer who talked about starting a blog, wanted to begin her own writing in earnest, dreamed about doing it, but never actually started. This is my beginning. I am a meditator, an insatiable creative, a seeker of deep beauty. I am a teacher, a writer, a goof, an introvert, a dancer.

For some time I have felt a desire to share that which is beautiful but also deeply meaningful, in this weirdly wonderful world of the interwebs. I confess, I love a well-designed [fill in the blank…shoe, yummy Instagram interior, etc] as much as the next lifestyle blog-loving, OOTD scrolling, fashion-thirsty female. But I want much, much more than that. In fact, the reason I’m here is to go in search of and write about what it means to cultivate a beautiful life, from surface to depth, inside and outside. I’m driven by a belief that “beauty” need not be synonymous with “shallow,” and that a penchant for beauty and a spirit of substance are not mutually exclusive. And I have a sense that there are others out there hungry for beauty + brains + backbone. So if that’s you, hi. I love kindred spirits.

This photo was taken in Big Sur, one of my favorite magical places in one of my favorite states. It makes me think of this quote from Kurt Vonnegut (find it in the excellent Tools of Titans): “I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.” This blog, and my work as a writer, is like the wide open expanse of this ocean. As always - even though I feel fucking scared much of the time -  I’m driven by a curiosity and quest for beauty and growth. I hope you’ll join me on the journey.

~ Jessica

{Heads up, if you use my links here to read these wonderful things, which I would whole-heartedly recommend regardless, Amazon throws a few pennies my way. It's called affiliate marketing, and it's a way bloggers like myself can turn their writing into a job. If you do that -- thanks. If you'd rather just head to Amazon and buy the regular way, no offense taken. Here's the fine print Amazon needs you to read: “We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.” }