Welcome to the Inner Circle
This is where the veil lifts.
Here you’ll find personal reflections, behind-the-scenes chaos, and deep dives into the writing life—grief, growth, creativity, and all the messy magic in between. Some posts are heavy, some are silly, and some are just me figuring things out in real time.
Blog categories
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Photo Friday: Framing Their Future
Jessie & Ryan’s engagement photos at Frederick Meijer Garden (2020)—and honestly, this might be one of my favorite concepts we’ve ever pulled off together. They laid down, intertwined, and immediately started goofing around, turning their hands into a little frame like they were directing their own movie. It’s… Read More
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Ten Hours, Two Toddlers, and Emotional Support Pickles
We rotate holidays with Dave’s family in Kansas City, Missouri. Thanksgiving one year, Christmas the next. The kind of arrangement that sounds reasonable until you’re loading toddlers into car seats and committing to ten hours on the interstate. This year, nobody had Christmas off, so we rescheduled for… Read More
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Speak My Spell, Damn It: When Your Love Language Goes Unheard 🤗
Let’s talk about love languages.Not in a cutesy, Pinterest-quiz kind of way—but in the real, raw, why-does-this-hurt-so-much way. The idea is simple: everyone gives and receives love differently.Dr. Gary Chapman’s book The 5 Love Languages spells them out: Most of us have a top one or two that… Read More
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Music Monday: Analysis of Psycho Path
Some songs aren’t meant to be gentle.Some songs exist to look you dead in the eye and refuse to apologize. Before we get into it, here’s how this post works. These lyrics are read without context—no backstory, no personal history, no explanation of who or what inspired them.… Read More
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Movie Monday: Review of Across the Universe
When Love, War, and Beatles Lyrics Collide in One Long Fever Dream Across the Universe isn’t a movie so much as a metamorphosis—a visual mixtape stitched with rebellion, longing, and the kind of psychedelic symbolism that makes you wonder if someone spiked your popcorn.It’s the rare musical that… Read More
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Skin Deep, Nerves Loud
Some habits leave evidence. Mine lived on my skin. The Arms I Kept Covered In middle school and high school, I picked at my arms relentlessly. With focus. With repetition. With the kind of precision anxiety teaches over time. Part of it had a name: keratosis pilaris.Keratosis pilaris… Read More