08/31/2026
Hey! šš» I think itās time for an updated āget to know me.ā
Not because Iām new here.
But because Iām realizing Iām not really the same person I was the last time I made one of these.
For most of my adult life, Iāve been able to tell you exactly who I was based on what I was doing.
When my daughter was born, I became a stay-at-home mom.
And for years, that was my world.
My husband worked 55+ hours a week for YEARS to provide for our family so I could be home with our kids.
He worked.
I mommed.
And that was justā¦ life.
Then around 2018, I started using social media as a way to bring in some extra income for our family. Nothing crazy.
Just a stay-at-home mom trying to find my purpose. And somehowā¦ that little side hustle started turning into an actual business.
In 2019, I opened my first small storefront. About 18 months later, I took a HUGE leap and relocated into a much bigger space. We were open for ONE MONTH.
Then COVID shut us down.
I had just taken on a bigger space, bigger expenses and bigger responsibilitiesā¦ and suddenly we couldnāt even open our doors.
But believe it or notā¦ that ended up being the best year in business we ever had.
People ordered.
They shared our stuff.
They told their friends about us.
They supported us through one of the weirdest times any of us had ever experienced.
The business exploded and I was so freaking proud of what we built.
But over the years it became exhausting.
The economy changed. Business changed. People started spending differently. Expenses kept climbing.
And after years of living in constant go-modeā¦ I was completely burned out.
There was another huge part of my identity during all of this, too.
Coach Tori.
I coached softball for 9 years.
Nine years of practices, lineups, tournaments, so much planning, happy parents, miserable parents (not my team, of course), dirt-covered summers and worrying about other peopleās kids like they were my ownā¦ well they were! š«¶š»
By last year, my husband and I both knew something needed to change.
It was time to slow down.
Time to breathe.
So in 2025, I closed my store.
He stopped spending his entire life at work.
And for almost a year, we just lived a little smaller.
More time at home.
More time together.
More time being with our kids.
More normal evenings.
More breathing room.
Then this July, after 9 years, I officially stopped coaching softball. Suddenly, another huge piece of my identity was gone.
But now, thereās suddenly a little more time.
And maybe itās the fact that Iām getting closer to 40, but Iāve been thinking about life differently lately.
Iām watching my kids become these actual little humans with their own lives, personalities, friendships and dreams.
And Iāve found myself looking backward more than I ever have before.
Maybe itās finally slowing down enough to actually THINK about all of it. Iām pretty sure this is it!
But I am so unbelievably grateful for the life happening right in front of me.
For my husband.
For our kids.
For normal nights at home.
For sitting in the stands.
For conversations in the car.
For my dogs laying next to me.
For all of the completely ordinary moments I probably wouldāve rushed through a few years ago.
So while we are over here trying to figure out how not to go into full burn-out again and live a little more simpler lifeā¦ Iām also trying really hard not to wish away a single day of THIS.
Iām somewhere between who I used to be and whoever Iām becoming next.
And lately, instead of rushing to figure her outā¦
Iām trying to just be here. š¤
