From the Inbox: These are select letters I’ve sent to my email list — shared here as a slow-growing archive of thoughts, seasons, and transitions. If you would like to receive all future letters, join here.

Hello friend,

Wow, I started typing this email yesterday and I'm so glad my thoughts never completed themselves because do I have a grand update to share!

I'm not going to bury the lead I'm just going to shout it out: I'm going to France for the summer!

I just booked my flight 30 minutes ago and I'm still trying to integrate this new information into my body, which is currently shaking and in disbelief!

What's crazy is I don't know where to start to tell you how this came together and why it's so kismet – but let me try!

First of all, you know I started diving all the way into the French lifestyle, and that I've decided that my next era of life was going to be French inspired. While in our email world, it's only been a week, the actual timeline of this new life ambition has been week's in the making. I looked up language classes, saved all the French recipes, and pinned all the French outfits, this was going to be me in my new apartment. I was all in with this idea.

Then I spent weeks applying for jobs, making myself a little bit crazy, getting really really excited about some and seemingly missing out on all the opportunities I thought I'd have. It felt like nothing was connecting. Yesterday I woke up to two more job rejections and instantly felt a thought come to me: maybe the next vision for my life isn't a No, but a Not Just Yet.

So I entertained the idea of escaping for the summer. Perhaps London? It does keep calling me. I looked into Trusted Housesitters (which if you don't know about this site, it's basically people looking for petsitters to stay in their home while they travel - you don't get paid BUT you get to stay in a place for free, which is great if you coordinate it to travel to some dream destinations!). I found a few cat sitting jobs in London that I thought maybe that could work! And I could fill the gaps between sits with Airbnb or cheap hotels.

I posted on Threads and said “Welp, after a few months of actively pursuing next steps of my life and it not working out I'm back to thinking an international summer is the answer. England keeps calling me, but I wouldn't mind a little south of France action either. Obviously, this is the most sane thing a girl could do, right??”

And someone named Lucille that I don't know replied and said “Do it! Go to Nice and have a fabulous time. I would.” and I jokingly replied telling her if I end up in Nice this summer, I'm cheersing in her honor and sending her the happiest good vibes possible because that would be a dream!

Then before bed I said out loud “Okay Universe, if you want me to pivot and go to Europe this summer, then I'm going to need a cheap flight deal to pop up in the next week." (Preferably around $350 but I knew that was a stretch lol).

I woke up to not one. not two. but THREE flight deals to Europe!!! I'm not even kidding, I never get that many in a row like that, this is a company I've followed for yearsssss and that's never happened.

It felt like a sign. I looked up where the flights where to and guess what was on that list? Nice, France!!!! Okay Lucille, did we manifest this?!!

Please note: “Your summer vacation plans just got made for you.” and “Heads up, peak summer fares this low come around ALMOST NEVER.” (Emphasis mine, of course, because !!!!!!!!!)

Immediately I messaged my dear friend Amel who lives in South France and asked her how far she was from Nice – and we got to chatting and before I knew it she was telling me how I'm welcome to stay with her and that she's quitting her job in June and we could adventure to all these places nearby and also maybe even sneak away to some last minute cheap destinations, the Alps, Spain, Paris, London. Are you kidding me?!

Amel is a friend I met through Hanson, we share the same heart for Do. Go. Being. and chasing adventure and living our one wild and precious life out loud. And we've talked about adventuring together before. I can't believe that the way this is playing out is so kismet!

Before I knew it I was pressing Book Now and now my flights are confirmed! I booked for 2.5 months, with the hopes/intention that I'm going to be able to jet set from France to other locations (Like England!). I leave June 30th, which is hilarious because July 1st was my self-imposed hard deadline for leaving my parents house.

Part of me feels like this trip is too long, my friend is going to get sick of me, how am I going to afford this. But also I know that's the part of my nervous system that is dysregulated and trying to keep me ‘safe’ and not necessarily coming from a place of truth. My friend did invite me and nothing in here is me taking advantage of that. Plus, she's happy to go do her own thing (and same for me!) so I think it's going to be a good balance of friend time and solo introspection. And I'm still going to be working, so it's not like my income suddenly disappears. I can do this!

But HOLY. FREAKING. HECK.

Yesterday when I was writing this email to you I felt frustrated, “I said I had a feeling I'd have some epic news to share with you in the next newsletter!” and then I felt like a failure because I didn't. I literally waited weeks to type it because I was sure I'd have some good news. I thought I'd be telling you about my new dream apartment (which I'm not giving up on yet because she's wicked cute). BUT. Rather than sending a "ugh, I can't believe nothing has changed yet!" email, I paused. Stepped away. Mostly out of frustration of not wanting to sound like a scratchy broken record. And now here we are 24 hours later and I actually do have the most epic news to share!

How incredible is that?!?!

My friend is so excited to show me places near her and we're going to have so many bread, olives, cheese and wine sunsets overlooking the water and my gosh, I simply cannot wait!

I think I'll use this time to revive my online presence and who knows – maybe something magical and unexpected will come from it! (Ahem, more income, especially passive, would be greattttt).

One real fear that I have though: What if I fall so deep in love with this life that I never want to come home? 😬 You're gonna have to drag me back, kicking and screaming, and well, I'm not sure you'll be able to if we reach that point!

When I told one of my besties about this she reminded me of a friend that she had who went abroad, ended up meeting her husband, and now lives internationally! It could totally be me too 🤗 you never know!

I know it's an IMMENSE privilege to even have this option. I don't take that lightly. It sounds idyllic on the outside but of course will still have it's challenges. I'm going to have to be mindful of how I spend my money and any solo navigating could be tough not knowing the language. But I know this is going to grow me in new deeply beautiful ways that leave a long lasting impression deep in my soul. I will definitely not be the same girl landing in Boston in September, that's for sure.

The only question is, what comes after that?

I still have dreams to have my own space (I really wanted to tell you about my dream apartment, which was thiiiiiissss close to working out in a really mind-blowing way!), to cook my own meals and root myself into a community. Will it look like what I intended before I left, or will I pivot to something different?

It probably feels insane to most people (I get it, I feel insane too lol), but also, how often will I have this opportunity? The jobs and apartments will still be there when I get back. One thing I told myself is that if I get to the age of 80, will I regret not digging my heels in the ground, finding a corporate job and apartment? No. I would regret not taking the chance to slow travel with a dear friend.

The fact that I put this thought out into the universe, mostly as a joke, and less than 24 hours later it all fell into place is WILD to me. That's how these things should feel. Easy and effortless. That's how I know this is the right answer, even if it's not what someone else would choose for their life, this is my one wild and precious life and I want to live it.

I also find it funny that I was in my little corner of RI just dreaming up making a French life for myself in Massachusetts lol perfectly content!!! and the universe was like, no bestie, we can do this better.

And I don't know, I still have a feeling about one of the jobs that didn't work out. It wasn't a no. It was a ‘we justttt hired someone’ situation, and I made friends (as much as a girl can) with the hiring manager, and I told her to keep me in mind if something came up and well, I don't know, I can't help but feel like I might come home to a job offer. That feels presumptuous to say, I don't mean it that way, just that this door in particular doesn't feel closed all the way, ya know?

I can hear you thinking ‘this girl is nuts!’ but when I tell you this hiring manager sent me an email a day later with a job posting she saw on Facebook that might be a good fit for me, I'm telling you, I have a good feeling.

So here's to life and the pursuit of adventure! It feels nice to finally have a day sans tears.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go try to convince my body that we're not dying – lol, I swear my nervous system is so dramatic at times.

By the way, this was the PS I left you with last week:

Il faut vivre, indeed. 🥂✨

PS - In perfect timing as these things go, I'm stepping on a plane tomorrow 5/1 to Portland to clear out storage! This definitely makes this interesting since I planned to ship myself those apartment essentials but now I need to figure out what I'm doing with them for the summer. Stay tuned to find out how this goes!

This email was sent to subscribers on April 30, 2025.

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Babe, wake up! I manifested a French Girl summer in France! 🌞