Hello! It’s been a minute since I last wrote. Big news – we had our baby girl. She was born in August of 2022 and has changed my life; almost all the cliches about having a child are true. I had no idea what to expect, and for most of my pregnancy, I had trouble reconciling that I was growing a human in my body and that this human would one day be walking around, communicating, and developing her personality that I get to enjoy being part of each day. It’s added another level of purpose and love to my life that I didn’t know was possible.
So, while I’m feeling nostalgic as this year comes to an end, here’s a little bit of life lately:
Life lately is hearing uneven little footsteps around the house. It’s watching her walk. And fall. And get up. Waddle. Fall. Unfazed while getting up again.
It is putting the toilet paper up high so little hands can’t grab it, pull it down, and then put it all in the toilet.
Life lately is wanting to spend time and catch up with friends, but longing to spend one-on-one time with my daughter as much as I can.
It’s navigating the future and how I want my life to look.
It’s finding myself returning again to old hobbies like writing, graphic design, and brand strategy, and feeling more like myself – but with renewed focus.
Life lately is my husband and I working on our marriage and connecting with each other more intentionally, because we’re both obsessed with our baby, but somehow need to make time for just each other – and not at the end of the day when we’re tired and just want to binge-watch old seasons of Survivor (maybe this show speaks to how we’re feeling on the inside though).
Life lately is the bedtime routine, singing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and “Baby Beluga” each night, and still getting words mixed up because my brain struggles to function sometimes.
It is celebrating the ordinary – brushing teeth together, playing, dancing, singing, cooking, big hugs, and big kisses (my daughter likes to kiss with her mouth wide open like she’s yawning, and ready to give you all her love in that moment).
Life lately is park days, where we can sit and point out trees and leaves and people-watch until our fearless girl is ready to play, going down the slide headfirst and riding the swings as long as possible.
Life lately is commuting an hour or more to work each way, and finding podcasts I can listen to on the drive that energize me and make me feel excited about what I am capable of doing professionally in 2024.
It is about finding ways to capture and record every moment possible, because I already feel like it’s going by too fast and I’ve forgotten too much.
Life lately is feeling like my daughter has always been in my life, the way she is now, and realizing that just a year ago she couldn’t crawl yet and was just learning to laugh. That laugh is my favorite sound in the world.
Life lately is weekends filled with friends and family.
Life lately is understanding grief, and remembering those that have passed on from this Earth in 2023.
Life lately is about sharing space, as my daughter takes over our home with her shoes, socks, cups, food, and toys – little pieces of her in each space.
It’s realizing the amount of things I can “get done” in a day is limited as I seek to “balance” work, motherhood, and daily living with my own goals and desires.
Life lately is traveling on trips rather than vacations (although, the way I’ve traveled – was it ever a vacation?).
Life lately is an abounding curiosity about what comes next.
As I put away the Christmas decorations because, for some reason, I’m unusually excited to move into 2024, I got a tug of sadness putting away the bird ornaments that my daughter pointed out every day. But the hard and great thing about life is the change it inevitably brings. As old seasons become time capsules, the new seasons bring with them new challenges and also new opportunities.
This is my first and last post of 2023, but I’ll be seeing you more often in 2024.
Lots and lots of love to you and yours, and a wish from me to you for a very Joyful and Happy New Year.
We took the Amtrak Coast Starlight from Los Angeles to Seattle with our 10-week-old — and it became one of our most memorable family trips. In this story episode, Maddie shares the behind-the-scenes moments and what surprised her most about slow travel by train.
The books my daughter has loved from baby through toddler—and a few new additions that help with the emotional chaos of being three.
A kinder reset inspired by The Gap and the Gain: write 3 gains, 3 intentions, and 1 memory each night (pen + journal, no screens). Plus: the 2018 sunrise commitment that reminded me I can be consistent—and the “one non-negotiable” mindset that helped me start again.
If your camera roll is overflowing but you rarely look back, this episode is for you. I’m Maddie from Love, Maddily, and in Episode 1 I’m sharing why this podcast exists, what I tried (private Instagram + Chatbooks), and the shift toward keeping what matters—without living behind a screen.
Big news – we had our baby, Eden. She was born in late August of 2022 and has changed my life; almost all the cliches about having a child are true. I had no idea what to expect, and for most of my pregnancy, I had trouble reconciling that I was growing a human in my body and that this human would one day be walking around, communicating, and developing her personality that I get to enjoy being part of each day. It’s added another level of purpose and love to my life that I didn’t know was possible.
Just when we think that we’ve had enough change for a time, and we start getting a bit comfortable, we just dive right into creating something new: WE’RE HAVING A BABY GIRL! I’m halfway through this pregnancy and it has gone by so fast and has been filled with many differences between what I was expecting vs. reality...
While darkness can have a psychologically negative effect, light, in contrast, has a psychologically positive effect. We need light to survive. I’ve realized that not only physical light in our lives is needed, but also the light that comes through faith, hope, love/charity, and – perhaps above all – gratitude.
In a very unexpected turn of events, we have moved… back to Los Angeles. Not only did we move back to Los Angeles, but we are living literally a mile from the house I grew up in, in Redondo Beach.
If you had told me six months ago that we would be here, I would have said you’re crazy. But now I just know we’re crazy.
“You shouldn't be afraid to fail. Most people take the easy way and they take things they know they can do because they're afraid to fail. If you fail, you try again. If you fail at the same thing 3 or 4 times, then you say maybe I'm not going to do that, but at least you tried and you know.” — David Kleinman
I’ve been thinking of the move to Utah a lot recently – how I went from really struggling, to finding peace – and how that experience has helped me during this last year of the “new normal” and all the things we weren’t expecting in 2020.
At first, it was at least an adventure, something different. Soon though, I began to feel confused, purposeless, and, despite being newly married and with some friends around, ultimately very alone.
As you may know, if you’ve been here before, Matt and I got married June 24, 2017 in Nashville, TN. What you may not know is how it started.
Matt and I met at a transition point in both of our lives…
I realized this is my third cross country move. Each time has been very different, especially as the years go on and we get in bigger places, our stuff just seems to expand.
Here’s some things to keep in mind when moving, and action items post-move to make you feel more at home sooner.
In the middle of a pandemic, long-distance relationships are a little more common – whether with a partner, family or friends. I hope the list below will be fun activities to do with anyone you care about – maybe even if you’re stuck to the house or if you’re just looking at the other person through a screen like this (hopefully not asleep)…
The very same day I started my new job, I also received my MBA yearbook in the mail and was in tears looking through the sweet notes and nice memories. It felt right to look back at my last semester of my MBA holistically.
Hello!
What a strange time to be making an appearance I guess, over a year later. I set this blog aside as I focused on grad school and other things that needed to take priority in my life. Since I graduated with my MBA in April, I’ve had an unanticipated amount of time to reflect – not only on this blog, but also just going through past photos and memories. What a beautiful thing it is to remember…
I keep telling myself: at the end of the day, the most important thing is that we’re married. And we have our friends and family there, and there’s just not anything else we really need…
This should really be titled: "How to throw the Best Bachelorette Party there ever was and ever will be" but that might be a little too long of a title. That's what my friends did for me though.
Planning the wedding took a lot of work. If I could go back in time, I think I would hire a full-time planner because it might have saved some money in the long-run and a lot of stress. At the same time, I wouldn’t have changed a thing.
Female friendship in early motherhood can feel thin—even when you’re surrounded by people. Maddie shares why connection changes after kids, what’s helped her build real support (text threads, Marco Polo, evolving community), and permission slips for creating deeper friendships in your season. If you’re starting from scratch, you’ll leave with small, practical next steps.