FINALLY. My first blog post. I’ve been tossing around the idea of starting a blog for several years now, but today I’m cutting the red tape; I’m taking the plunge! So welcome.

I’m Alyssa, and yes, my handsome hubby is also a redhead, as will be our son Bennett, who will be 5 months on Christmas day. That’s a whole lotta ginger love, I know. We own a lot of sunscreen.

I started this blog for several reasons, one being the obvious fact that I’m a writer. My degree is in journalism and creative writing. Poetry has been a huge creative and emotional outlet for me, ever since I wrote a poem following 9/11 and shared it over the loud speaker in the 7th grade. That simple moment was pivotal in my life. That was the first time I didn’t write for just myself. I was trying to relate.

That has come full circle, and this is why I’m here, doing this, right now, at this point in my life. The goal of this blog is to relate, whether it be with a person, an idea, a question, an answer, a discovery, a frustration, a struggle, a victory, a failure, a comment, a photo, a thought, anything. As I’ve gotten older and since I’ve become a wife and mother, I’ve realized the power of relating. I relate to my mom on the daily (love you mom); I relate to my husband Stuart; I relate to my girlfriends; and I relate to complete strangers, people I will never physically meet, and sometimes, that connection, big or small, just makes me feel good inside to know…I’m not alone.

And I’m pretty average. I’m not famous or rich; I haven’t traveled the world or studied abroad; I’m not overly talented or a YouTube sensation; I haven’t climbed any mountains or jumped out of any planes. As normal as I feel that I am, I have wondered if my thoughts are…out there. I’ve wondered: Am I crazy? Is it just me? Anybody else out there? And I’ve since learned: Yes, I’m a little nutty. No, it’s not just me. Yup, they’re out there. 

Hence, the creation of this blog. This blog connects me to you and you to me. We’ll talk about anything and everything from real food, cloth diapers, and conscious parenting, to bizarre dreams from the night before, monumental encounters at the grocery store, and why I’ve rewatched the tv show Brothers & Sisters at least 7 times over. I can’t wait to share my thoughts with you, in their nuttiness and in their normalcy. All that matters to me is that we can relate.