Well hellooooo there Fabbies!
*whispers* …Is this thing on? 🫣
OMG it’s been forever and ever since I’ve written a blog post. I actually only wrote 2 blog posts the entire year last year. Ya’ll that is terrible! Do people still even read blogs anymore for real? (I definitely do!) We clearly have soooo much to catch up on, as so so much has changed since I’ve last posted. But before I get into one of my long-winded life updates (if you’ve been following this blog for years then you know I love a good long-winded picture-filled Life Update blog post), I just wanted to get into what brought me back to Fabandravenous.com in the first place.
This upcoming May, I would have had this blog for 9 years. NINE. YEARS. Y’all, that’s like the majority of my kids’ lives. That’s a big chunk of MY life!! That’s a lot of years to continue doing anything. I have definitely neglected my blog over the past few years, and that is mainly because I had been focused on so much other stuff that I neglected some of the things that actually meant something to me. Ya’ll I turned 40 back in November and didn’t even blog about it!! I did however, write 40 things I’ve learned in 40 years on my Facebook Page, and I’ll bring those things over to this blog and post that next week!
Whew ya’ll life has been lifing so please forgive me! But this blog has also kind of served as an online visual diary and recipe-keeper for me over the years, even as I became more inconsistent over the last few years. It’s so cool (and sometimes cringey) to go back and read old blog posts and see what I was up to at different times in my life and what my different subject matter used to be. (I’ve been blogging so long that I have a blog post discussing when to take the pacifier away! Zé was a huge fan of the pacifier, so that blog post was centered around her at that time.) So crazy to even think I’ve been blogging since my kids were toddlers!
While I have been more inconsistent with my blog posts over the last few years, I did try to update you guys along the way with whatever I had going on at the time. And honey even more has changed since we’ve last spoken! A whole lot.
Okay where to start:
First off, we moved! I am still currently living in Mexico, however as of a few weeks ago, we moved across country to a city called Acapulco! It is a large beautiful beach city where the temperature is pretty much hot all year round. (It reminds me of Miami in a way). Many tourists travel to this city for vacations and water excursions.
As of the beginning of March we have been in Mexico for a total of FOUR YEARS now. 4! That’s kind of insane when you really think about it. I mean am I Mexican now or what?! But really, how did four years go by so quickly? And also, how did I even end up here? (Well, I actually told that story a few years ago when we first moved to Mexico, which you can read about here.) It definitely wasn’t a plan to be in Mexico for any finite period of time honestly. Years ago me and my kids’ dad decided it was time for a change of scenery, err countries, and so we moved to Mexico. Fast forward almost 4 years later, however, we have been separated for the last year and a half, and are in the process of getting a divorce.
*Record screeches*
Yes. You read that right. Life has moved us on…from each other. The simplest and most direct reason as to why we are no longer together and have not been for awhile is that we are simply no longer aligned. We met 16 years ago, and over time, our needs, ideologies, and values changed. So either you are growing together, or you’re growing apart…
This last year since we split has been challenging, healing, and fruitful. I slick need to check my passport because I’m feeling like a whole new bitch on the low. But really though! I have felt every emotion. I have cried many nights. I have died and come back to life many times it felt during this past year. Most importantly I have learned so much, especially about myself. Some lessons came harder than others. And for that I am eternally grateful.
I joke about feeling like a whole new bitch but that’s because I mean, that’s kinda true. I am a new era in my life. I am in a brand new city where I know zero people. I am single (and have been for over a year) for the first time in like a gazillion years. (cue the movie, Eat Pray Love), and I have just an entire different frame of mind and a level of self-awareness that I had never have had before.
I have to tell you: I love it here.
This new era is fresh and exciting, and I mean a bit uncomfortable if we’re being honest because everything is so…unfamiliar. And if there’s one thing I know, is that whenever we are a little uncomfortable, we are growing honey! So I’m ready for it all! Truly! So much happened in 2022 that I still haven’t shared on this blog (but if you follow me on social media then you’ve already been keeping up with my life anyway), including me going to Dallas for the beginning of summer last year and staying with my sister Tamika while Zé and Vito went to Detroit to stay with their dad for a month. (Which was the longest they have ever been away from me and omg that will have to be for a blog post on another day on my emotions and having to process that), including finally launching a brand that I had the idea for back in 2014, CozēV. Waiting 8 years for something to come to fruition has been one of the best feelings ever. I had run into so many issues with manufacturers, taking financial losses amongst other things along the way with trying to get CozēV off the ground, (which is how my other brands Raven Collection and Zodiac Fabbies were born). The fact that we are approaching the one year mark with that business makes me so happy! I still have sooooo much more I want to do with this brand! Today I actually released all new (cozy hehe) products which I am super excited about!
I also wrote a Guide to a 3-Day Detox in the form of a digital .pdf almost a year ago, and so much more.
By the way, I am doing my 3-day monthly detox starting February 28th, so when this post goes live, my detox will be over and I will be celebrating with a sandwich of some sort fa sho! But during the detox I eat only fruits and veggies, and drink only water, tea, or fresh juice and smoothies. If you need a guide to help you with recipes, grocery lists, and what to eat, you can purchase my Detox Guide here at www.zodiacfabbies.com. It’s just $5 and such an easy and helpful guide to learning about detoxing, the benefits and much more.
Like I said, it’s been so much going on in my life, and the best therapy for me has always been creating something, (Hello Detox Book! Hello CozēV!) running, and meditation, all of which I still do. On my most saddest days however, I found that I could do neither of those things. I definitely went through some tough and dark times throughout from the latter part of 2021 and all of last year. During that time I had been living in Mexico alone and raising Zé and Vito, because due to unforeseen circumstances their dad had to reside in the States. I know for social media I show all the “pretty” parts and highlight reels of my life, but honey ya girl had plenty of moments where emotionally, I was strugglingggg. Whew. But that was then. (And okay fine of course I have my moments present day). But currently today, at (almost newly) 40 years old, I am emotionally happy and at peace, and have been for several months consistently. That also explains why I only blogged two times the entire year last year. I was truly quietly and privately piecing myself back together after a huge life-altering shift and change in my life. Looking back at last year it all seems quite dramatic, but I am happy to say that I am on the other side.
So with me being this brand new healed bitch, and with me living in a brand new (Mexican) city, I wanted to share more of what I experience on my blog this year. Blogging was my first official creative online venture (I started my first blog back in 2011), and it feels nice and very nostalgic to write and share with my supporters again. I actually enjoy writing and think I’m pretty damn good at it. People from all over the world have continued to find my blog somehow, mainly thanks to many of my older posts being on Pinterest, where people love to search for fashion tips and recipes.
I have always loved sharing pieces of of my life with the world, so much so that I started a YouTube page back in 2016. I would vlog (video blog) my life at home as a mom of 2 young kids living in Arizona, including taking them to their small part-time preschool regularly, running errands, traveling, and everything else in between. Those videos are now private because many of them have copyright strikes from using copyrighted music, but I did really enjoy vlogging and sharing different occasions with you guys. Because of that, I have decided to return to YouTube! When I found out we were definitely moving to Acapulco (where I’m living currently), I knew that I wanted to share that experience with my audience, and what better way to do that than making YouTube videos again. I actually spend more time watching YouTube (interviews, documentaries, other people’s vlogs) than I do watching actual television these days, so I may as while add my own content to the site as well! I am also hugely inspired by one of my absolute favorite YouTubers, Peyton Charles, whom I watch religiously! She vlogs her daily life living in Texas. She is hilarious, gorgeous, witty, fly as hell and just so fun to watch. I truly feel like she is a friend in my head as we are the same age, she’s from Memphis (and we somehow have never met!) Watching her vlogs really inspired me to start sharing more of my life on video as well, so shoutout to Peyton! Go follow and subscribe to her channel and catch those vibes.
I also think it will be neat for you guys to see me running errands and such in Mexico, where I have to speak Spanish (okay sometimes it’s more like Spanglish-Spanish and English mixed) daily and navigate life in a foreign country, as well as homeschool my kids, cook plant-based meals and snacks, run my businesses, and everything else in between. Eventually sometime in the distant future I will move back to the States after everything is sorted with our new state of existence, but until then I am continuing to sort myself out, nurture and love myself while I embrace not only this new decade that I’m in (still can’t believe that I’m 40 omg), and continue enjoying Mexico. I of course make trips back to the States to visit friends and family throughout the year whenever possible, but wow my life is just so completely different now, and I plan to share it all with you guys, both here on my blog and on my YouTube channel. If you haven’t already go subscribe to my channel over there so you can be among the first to know when I drop my first Vlog episode! I already started filming footage from the day we moved out of San Miguel de Allende and traveled here. I am seriously so excited to be in such a creative space again and more than ready to share more of myself with yall. I don’t have everything figured out, I learn many things on the fly, and healing is a lifelong journey. However during these last few years I have greatly strengthened my relationship with God, so I know exactly who I belong to. 🙂
Cheers to a brand new year, a brand new city, and being a brand new bitch!
Fab & Ravenous: My Lifestyle Blog 