Happy New Year! I am so honored to have had you all here this year, it has been quite the creative year, filled with large dreams and accomplishments. It’s also been colored with grief.
As we enter 2016, I am leaning on my family more than ever. I’ve said that before, and somewhere in the middle, where work plays in and friends congregate and creative dreams manifest, my ability to lean on my sweet family has diminished. I lost my way. I took on unnecessary weight and bottled up tension and past traumas. Unbeknownst to me, I cut myself deeper, while living louder and freer then ever before. I read headlines and let them seep too deep in my soul. At times, I felt crippled by events. Too often; “I’m doing what I can do to help” did not suffice for my being.
I soon realized that this creative wheel I’ve been on needs to stop along the way on occasion. I realized that there is no sense in being anxiety ridden of tensions in a world much greater than me. I can’t fight off each and every ignorant punk, but I can raise the most amazing, feminist, and sensitive little people. I’m really good at being a mother. I can release good out and really let the nature of what I am doing and who I am around, drive me. I can choose joy and keep choosing it. I can raise awareness for topics of importance and live a meaningful life, while connecting with people on things of a deeper nature….
Stepping back allows us to heal, recuperate, rejoice, love, and live. There’s no sense of pushing a machine that has had one foot on the break, begging the driver to stop. In truth, this last week of holiday chaos and magic has been pretty amazing. I’ve been tending to all things that I’ve forgotten in the quest of a career and creation. And though 2015 has done so many amazing things for my work and family, my person is depleted. It doesn’t need to be.
With that, I’ll see you back here in February. The site will have a fresh face, mama bear will have a fresh perspective. All of the editorials I worked on outside of this space will have a new home with more words. Most importantly, my little family here in Brooklyn would have had some much needed mostly digital-free time, in which we just choose to be in the now. If you want to follow along for bits and pieces, there’s always instagram.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! You all have been so good to my family and I! Even though we are strangers, I feel this deep connection to all of you, my readers. My friends.
30+ Posts from 2015 to get you through February:
Motherhood (Essays):
My Brooklyn| Their Brooklyn
Why To Mother With Style
Selfishly Titled: Me
On Noticing Greatness
On Being A Feminist Mother
Editorials:
Sisterhood
O.N.A
Lost In Chinatown
Style Your Smile
Spring Things
Byr Clogs
Petria Lenehan
Travel:
A Few Days In West Palm Beach
Miami Moments
A Video From A Day In Texas
Spring Break In Miami
Traveling Memories
Hair:
Combing Through
The Transition
Braided Headwrap Tutorial
Portraits
Style:
Lets Talk Curves
Darker Tones
Transition Your Summer Staples
A Few Fall Essentials
The Beauty of a New Bra
Features:
DIY Holiday Floral Crown
Socks + Clogs With Ace & Jig
A Favorite Fall Meal
Brother Vellies
A FEED Supper!
Taste Buds Travel
Hugs and love and well wishes for a beautiful 2016,
LaTonya
(Top image by Rich Gilligan)
You have such a beautiful soul, and I have so enjoyed your thoughts, essays and posts this year. May your 2016 be full of happiness and blessings. I will see you back here in Febuary. 🙂
Thank you so much for reading, Anne! See you next year!
What a lovely post. You seem to have such a beautiful spirit and soul. Many blessings and well wish for you and your family for the coming year. Enjoy your time off recharging. I'll be back here to read in February.
Big hugs mama! Such a beautiful post. Happy New Year to you and your beautiful family xo!
have a good break, mama. thank you, always, for your perspective. <3
I can't remember how I came across this blog but the instant I did, I also bookmarked it and have since checked it every few days for the past year. I have truly enjoyed your fresh perspective. I also want to tell you an embarrassing story that has a point to it. Last year I began dating a new guy and he was shorter than me. Gasp. I hated it. I hated it more than the rationale person would (but I absolutely LOVED him). I felt so torn between this life I portray: a career driven multi-racial confident feminist and the feelings I had inside: people would judge his height, I would feel big and fat around him, we didn’t look good together. An internal fight ensued between being authentic to my genuine feelings of love for this man or pass him by because I simply couldn’t handle what others would think of me dating this short, balding, glasses wearing white guy. Objectively it sounds silly, I hate myself for caring, but I really did. Then one day you posted a photo of your family, a crazy mix of looks and styles, and all I could think was how lovely it looked. I was both jealous that you had the confidence to be with someone who stereotypically you may not be paired with and inspired to care less about what others think. To wear my clogs and mumu and roll around in bed with a guy who wasn’t hot to anyone but me. So the point is, in a way, just by being yourself and sharing your life you have in fact inspired me and many others I am sure. So please don’t be so hard on yourself. You are doing more than you already know. Thank you.