I was born on March 29, 1995 in Sioux City, Iowa.
In the years since, I’ve grown red hair, earned lots of freckles, spent most of my days in Colorado, sprouted from a nuclear family of five, and have developed a longstanding love of pigs, writing, sweets, baseball, and sunshine.




Over my lifetime, now 25 years, almost on the dot, I’ve done a lot of living, with plenty more to go. A lot of my boxes have been ticked—a college degree, professional career, marriage; while many are still awaiting a check mark—a home, a dog, a full passport.
I’m lucky. I lead a full life, and have always known privilege and love. I’ve learned so much, and hope and pray that I will continue to do so as I keep collecting years and memories and lessons.
My Top 25 Life Takeaways

1. Compassion and empathy are two of the most important values you could ever possess. Care about others. Consider more than your own experience. Act with kindness, without ever having to go through a struggle yourself. Be an advocate and an ally without being asked. This is how you can be both a good person and the best version of yourself.
2. If you learn how to communicate effectively, you will eliminate so many hardships and struggles and will have a powerful foundation for working through a vast network of challenges.
3. Don’t settle for less than what you deserve; know when to walk away from toxic friendships, jobs, and situations that cause more stress than they’re worth. The right people will find their way into your life.
4. Caring about how you look and present yourself to the world is not vanity. It’s just another way to express yourself and your identity. Your worth is not tied to your appearance, but you have the power and choice to feel your best.
5. Your spouse should 100000% be your best friend.

6. Read, a lot. And read what you like, not what you think you should enjoy.
7. Challenges in your formative years build character. (Just ask my dad.) Tough coaches, bad grades, awkward situations, friendship conflicts. Challenges in your adult years require solutions. Your character has been built, now use it to better your situation.
8. Your passions are your superpower. Pursue what you love, and don’t be ashamed.
9. If you are in a long-term relationship, you and your partner will evolve. That’s just a part of life and aging: you’ll become different people. If you want to spend your lives together, you’ll have to evolve together as well, and make your relationship work for who you are now, rather than who you used to be. You have to choose your partner, every day.
10. Build healthy habits even when you think you don’t need them. A garbage diet and no exercise isn’t sustainable, even when you can’t imagine weighing more than 110 lbs.
11. When someone has wronged you, it is so much harder to react with kindness and understanding. However, it’s probably the right thing to do. If you decide to put someone in their place, there’s a high chance that the gratification will feel strong at first but will slowly morph into regret in the long run.
12. Women are not rehabilitation centers for damaged men.
13. Critical thinking is one of the most important skills to have. Dig deeper, look at the sources, ask the tough questions. And never, ever, absolutely ever, watch Fox News.
14. There are a LOT of opinions on love. Here’s my quick take: when you find the real deal, it’s worth it. But keep in mind, just because you’re with your soulmate doesn’t mean there won’t be hardships, lapses of judgement, conflict, or tough calls. However, loving someone enough means making choices every single day to keep going and work through them.
15. Kindness isn’t a weakness, and neither is being the quiet one in the room.

16. In a marriage, throw away phrases like 50/50. First of all, it should be more like 100/100. Second, it’s not realistic or possible to be working at top, full capacity all the time. You go through things, periods, moods, events that effect your spousing ability and there are inevitable things where the effort is unequal and your partner has to pick up the slack, and vice versa. There is a give and take and an understanding of a working relationship, and that sometimes, there is a disparity. It won’t last forever, but there will be those lulls.
17. Build bridges, not walls. Go on adventures, travel, meet new people, learn new perspectives.
18. If you grew up thinking that you “weren’t like other girls,” preferred to hang out with guys (“it’s less drama”), or that girls were snakes, throw that mentality out the window. It’s internalized misogyny and isn’t true. Letting go of that harmful thinking will open you up to new relationships and bonds and is one of the best gifts you can give yourself.
19. Love who you love and be who you are.
20. Even when you truly love your job and what you do, work really still can feel like work. It’s okay to question capitalism, your role, and the values associated with “hard work.”
21. You aren’t the protagonist in everyone’s story, and that’s okay.
22. Practice the art of building yourself up without tearing anyone else down.

23. Change is a big-ass, unstoppable part of life. It’s okay to be uncomfortable with it at first, but long-term resistance will cause major issues. Opening up yourself to new opportunities and adventures will add a little something special to your life.
24. Talk to yourself the way you talk to others. Encourage, congratulate, and remember that you deserve grace, too.
25. You don’t have to completely and totally love yourself before you love another person. With the right partner by your side, you can help each other grow, see your potential, and work toward healing, while also feeling deserving of love.
Cheers to 25

If you have any advice to give, I’m all ears. Thank you to everyone who makes my life so sweet—my cup overflows, my heart is full, my soul is happy. Cheers to the next chapter of my life.

Happy (slightly early) birthday, and this is great!
Thank you so much!!
An early happy birthday to you!! 🥰 Your baby pics are so cute! You really stand out with your very light hair! Your other family members don’t seems to that hair color. Beautiful pieces of advice (I really like the one about Fox News! 😂)! I hope you enjoy your special day!
Thank you!!! You are so sweet and kind. I’m the only redhead in my whole family, so definitely the one who stuck out growing up. 🙂 Lol, I almost didn’t include the “faux” news part because I didn’t want to offend anyone, but I’m glad I kept it. Thank you so much for reading and for your thoughtful feedback! 🙂
Awww! That’s sweet of you! 🥰 The only redhead in your whole family? Awww! That definitely makes you special! I’m glad you added the Fox News part! That definitely gave me good laugh! 😁
Ahh, to be (happy birthday) 25 years toung. Only thing to add is, don’t take anything for granted. *by the way, your grandma had red hair. Hugs
Thanks, Butch! That’s a great addition. And oh yes, who could forget Grandma’s beautiful color? I should’ve noted immediate family. Thanks for reading!
Happy almost birthday my friend! Just celebrated mine yesterday (28 for me)!! Hopefully social distancing doesn’t put a damper on your special day.
The baby Savannah pics are the best!! Happy birthday girl, I loved 10 and 12!
Thank you Rosie!!!
Some great advice here! These are some great reflections on your life so far, with many lessons to come. Happy birthday!
Thank you very much!
Happy Birthday and congrats on such a wonderful, inspiring post. My favourite is, “Talk to yourself the way you talk to others. Encourage, congratulate, and remember that you deserve grace, too.” We’d never speak to others the way we put ourselves down, we need to remember that we are worthy too. Thank you for the reminder xx
Thank you! That’s been a tough lesson to learn, but it’s something I try to work on every day. Thanks for reading and for leaving such a thoughtful comment! xx
Happy belated birthday! Welcome to the 25 club!! This post was really lovely and I love your pictures. I hope you were able to enjoy your day ♥
Thank you so much! <3
you’re welcome love ♥