Happy Saturday! A lot has been changing recently, so it feels like a good time to catch up, yes? 🙂 

Firstly, I moved to Los Angeles about a month ago! I was excited to move, but as the date grew closer, I got a little nervous and wondered if it was the right decision. I had a pretty comfortable life in Orange County — I knew where everything was, I was familiar with my neighbors, and there wasn’t really anything “wrong” about where I was living. But Orange County didn’t inspire me. It felt dull to my senses. It was almost too comfortable — the type of place you might want to retire or go to for a weekend vacation just to relax. Now that I’ve lived in LA for over a month, I am SO glad that I decided to make the trek up here. It’s probably too soon to say, but I think it’s exactly what I needed.

I think LA gets a bad rap for being fake, overly busy, and rude — ha! At least, those are some of the stereotypes I’ve heard over the years. My experience here so far has been almost entirely opposite. I love LA! The people I’ve encountered — from passerbys to shop owners — have been friendly and warm. I also love the vibe of the city. It feels like a lot of people here have their own creative dreams or pursuits; it makes me feel like we’re all in this thang together. #cheesy. The eccentricity of LA makes me love it, too. The fact that someone could be dancing at a crosswalk while listening to their iPod — yet hardly get any confused stares — is something I adore. And there’s so much more color and good food here, too! I’m relishing all these new brunch spots. 😉 I moved to an area called Los Feliz, which has lots of cute restaurants and boutiques — it feels like the perfect fit for me. 🙂

Oh! And a random fact about LA that I think is pretty neat? They banned plastic carry-out bags because they’re bad for the environment. Instead, they encourage people to bring their own reusable bags or be charged 10 cents for a paper bag. Most people bring reusable bags. It’s a small change, but I think it breeds more of an environmental mindset, which is awesome.

I will add, though, that the move took a bit of a toll on me for the first couple weeks. I turned into some sort of Turbo Bitch at first (mainly to Paul…sorry Paul!) and hardly left my house because I didn’t know where anything was and I felt a little overwhelmed and stressed. I realized it’s hard for me when I don’t feel like I have a “home.” That concept was always distorted for me growing up, so moving to new places brings back some negative emotions, I think.

Speaking of negative emotions, I talked to my dad earlier this month — a looong talk that I’ve been needing to do for years. Actually, around October of last year, I started seeing a therapist because I noticed that I had insecurities and negative thought patterns that would play out in certain relationships of mine. I wanted to get to the bottom of them and find strategies to fix them. I honestly think most people should go to therapy, if only because it will help you see why you do the things you do. That’s pretty interesting and useful knowledge, right?

Well, anyways, my therapist was convinced that a lot of the insecurities I had were due to my relationship with my dad over the past ten or so years. In an effort to make things right, my dad and I hashed it out at park one afternoon. During our conversation, there was a lot of anger, sadness, frustration, and tears on both ends, but I think we made progress and I am so glad I finally did it. My dad is a big guy (he’s 6’5″!) and can be very intense. I can only think of one other time in my life that I’ve really seen him cry, but watching him open up to me gave me a lot of hope for our relationship. I also feel like I’ve bottled a lot of my emotions and it was liberating to finally let them breath. I’m looking forward to a fresh start together.

Moving on…this morning I dropped Monja off at a “doggy bootcamp” of sorts. It sounds a lot more cute than it actually is. 😉 For the first year of Monja’s life, he was the sweetest dog to strangers and other animals. Now, he’s somewhat of a menace. He growls and barks at other dogs and people and is very, very protective when on a leash. I know his behavior is escalating and I wanted to make things right, so I sought a trainer that will hopefully be able to help. I get to pick up Monja later today and the trainer and I will debrief about what I need to change. I’m confident that the issue is me and not my dog, so I’m eager to learn better ways to discipline him and treat him the way an “alpha dog” would. I’ll let you know how it goes! 🙂

Last “big” update? I decided to go dairy-free this week. I have gotten occasional breakouts pretty much all my life and now that I’m 25, it’s tiring to sometimes feel like a puberty-stricken teenager. I wanted to see if quitting dairy would help, so I’ve been cold turkey since Tuesday and I’d definitely say I’m seeing results. I’m going to keep trying this diet for at least a couple more weeks, but I’ll be sharing the low-down with you soon!

An entire post where I didn’t talk once about my business? Amazing! 😉 Until next time, friends! Thanks for being here. 🙂

xx Melyssa

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p.s. Have you joined the #TNCLovesSpring Instagram Challenge? There’s still a week left to go — plenty of time to hop in! Details here. 500 tagged photos and counting…you all ROCK! 🙂