I promised that today would be the day that I shared my big life news with you all. It’s news I have been uncontrollably hinting it for the last month and a half…but I couldn’t fully come out with it until I had every last detail squared away. I didn’t want to jinx it!

Well, all my ducks are certainly lined up and ready to go, so here goes nothin’…

I’m moving back to Los Angeles!

Yep, cue the Coconut Records song I’ve been obsessed with since I moved from Italy back to California in 2011…

That’s right, this west coast gal is headed home! L.A. is the place that makes me happiest and makes me feel the most alive. I am my truest self when I am near the ocean, my family, my closest friends, my favorite yoga studios, and year round sunshine (a.k.a when I can actually go outside between the months of November and April). I will also be closer to everyone I work with on TBV, which is becoming more and more of a must with all the exciting new projects we have going on.

I know what your next question is – what about grad school?! Didn’t I move to NYC to pursue an MFA in Creative Writing?!

I certainly did, and I am about three weeks away from finishing my first year of the two-year program. I have had an incredible experience in the program, have met some amazing people and have most definitely learned a lot about the craft of fiction and writing a novel.

But you’ve probably noticed that over the last several months my talk of novel writing has been dwindling as more and more has been happening with TBV. I find it more of a struggle to write fiction and meet my deadlines for class because all I ever want to do is brainstorm all things TBV, learn more about health and nutrition, answer all of your questions and connect with all of you.

All of this, combined with some little things going on in my personal life, have brought me to the decision that I need to focus on TBV full time and allow myself to become fully immersed in the health world (getting my health coaching certification from IIN, too!). This was a terrifying, albeit exciting, decision for me, because I have spent my whole life thinking that I was going to grow up and be a novelist. All I wanted to do was write novels – hence my decision to jump directly from my undergraduate degree to a Master’s program.

Also, I have basically never made the decision to not finish something I have started. I always plug through it, no matter what, even if it is no longer serving me in the way that it once was.

When I was in L.A. for my spring break about a month ago, I was trying to tell one of my best friends that I felt like I should just finish the program and then allow myself to get fully immersed in TBV… and she looked at me and said, “You’re going to finish that program if your life depends on it, even though you’re not going to be happy doing it and you’re going to be living in the future waiting for it to be done.”

Her words really struck a chord with me. It has become incredibly clear to me what I am most passionate about right now, and trying to force something else is A) making me feel unnecessarily guilty, B) overwhelming, C) going against what my heart is pulling me toward.

I am pretty darn spontaneous in every other aspect of my life, and when I am passionate about something I am very passionate. Sometimes you just have to take a look at your life plans, realize how much you have changed along the way, and let your heart take you where it wants to go.

So that is what I am doing.

My heart is taking me back to California.

And I am happy, thrilled, terrified, shocked and astounded about it.

And I’m OK with that.

More details to come – but I couldn’t wait another moment to tell you! Thoughts?!