Hi hi, nice to meet you! If you’re a fellow creative soul, then you’ll feel right at home here. 

I started my blog in 2017 after my husband John and I got married in Boston, Massachusetts! My husband and I met on Tinder and quickly connected on the things we were most passionate about: art, travel, animals, and not taking ourselves too seriously.

At the time, I was passionate about learning how to cook and bake different things and I thought it would be fun to blog about it. As a child, I always loved to create — whether it was art or writing — and this was a great way for me to connect with the things that made me happy. It was also how I started to learn photography. I became passionate about learning how to photograph food in interesting and creative ways. We visited a few different countries during our honeymoon as well and a blog was the perfect way to capture our adventures. I found my love for writing about food and travel and thus my blog and Instagram personality was born!

Shortly after we got married, we moved to Bangkok, Thailand for John to pursue his PhD research on Thai music. It was the most transformative two years of my life. While there, I lived the digital nomad life: consulting on social media strategy for tech companies, freelancing, and even dabbling in voice acting!

We lived in Thailand for 2 years and while there, we explored South East Asia, China, Japan, and Nepal. One of my favorite things that we did was rent a car and drive all around Thailand. We volunteered at dog rescues and adopted 3 Thai street dogs of our own. My travel blogging and YouTubing turned into a full-scale videography and photography business and we started Forrestal Creative. We worked with international dance choreographers and world-renowned fitness studios. Our work has been displayed at JOOX Music Festival and ClassPass! It was fun managing our own little creative agency for a bit, but I definitely missed the stability of working for a company. It was a fantastic experience being on my own and freelancing and I wouldn’t trade that experience for the world!

While living in Thailand, we learned that we had a passion for animals, sustainability, and food. I wanted nothing more than to grow my own food and become as self-sufficient as possible. When we moved home to the States, we put our house in Boston up for sale and made our dreams come true by buying a 6-acre farm in western New Jersey in December of 2019. 

Shortly after moving back to the States, we learned we were pregnant with baby Archer. My pregnancy was filled with the normal ups and downs of a pregnancy but overall I loved being pregnant! I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes in my 2nd trimester and managed the diabetes through diet and insulin. I was induced at 39 weeks and had a wonderful birth experience. Archer was born at 9:41pm on June 3rd, 2020 and a new chapter of my life exploded open. Despite all the challenges of new motherhood, I found a creative fire of myself that had been laid dormant for years. I became unapologetic in my interests and passions and leaned into what made me truly happy. I saw an opportunity in the podcasting world to talk about the uncomfortable topics of motherhood and started my podcast, The New Mamas Podcast.

Professionally, I joined the Webex marketing team as the Influencer Marketing lead working with a lot of my former coworkers from a previous tech company. My decade long experience in working in social media for Fortune 500 companies and my experience as a creator and influencer has helped me craft the strategy for how Webex works with influencers to tell the brand story. I love my job and feel lucky to be part of a great team!

I hope that my blog will become a source of inspiration for you! I hope my blog inspires you to take that leap of faith: whether it’s moving overseas, starting a blog, or pursuing your creative endeavors. I believe that learning is a lifelong journey and that you’re never too old to pick up a new interest or make a big change in your life! I believe in living fearlessly with passion and curiousity!

If you haven’t said hello yet, slide into my DMs on Instagram or send me an email — I’d love to meet you! ♥

Thanks for reading!

Let’s connect on Instagram!