I've been thinking a lot about what blogging means for me. Last year was my first full calendar year in my role at work - managing editor of AARP's blog - which was an intense ride with emotional ups & downs. I jumped in head first (the only way I know how) and emerged on the other side with huge successes, lessons learned and slightly less sanity. I'm proud of the work I did, but that crazy focus and intensity on the work blog took me away from blogging, oddly enough. At least, the kind of blogging that made me fall in love with blogging to begin with.

When I started blogging it was about food I made. I never really wanted to write about restaurants, but then I found myself writing about restaurants for Borderstan. And then City Eats! And I loved every minute of it. By the end of 2012, between work, a relationship, friendships and the ending of said relationship I didn't have much energy left...for anything. A 30 day break from writing ended up being a 90 day break from writing which left me feeling stifled and outlet-less. (Is that a word?) So now I'm thinking about what will get me excited about writing again. I'll continue to write about restaurants and recipes, food feeds the soul after all, but I'm going to start sharing other things too. I'm positively obsessed with the topic of women in business (a close, personal issue at the moment), I'm having fun with make up and beauty products and sharing all this crazy information I'm absorbing just seems like fun.

So I'm switching things up. If you follow me on Twitter, you know I'm a multidimensional person with plenty of interests - I'm simply going to make sure my blog reflects who I am now! If you come for the food stuff, stay for the rest for a little while. I hope you'll find it interesting! And now, here's some cool shit I read this week:

Pappy Van Winkle shipments arrived in DC a few weeks ago reigniting cries of passion for the stuff (myself included). Bourbon is totally having a moment, but how long will it last?

Brag alert! I was featured in Refinery29's round-up of local ladies, our New Year's resolutions and how we're keeping them. I'm in good company too, with friends like Nikki Rappaport and Meg Biram up in the mix! How are you guys doing on your resolutions?

Thought Catalog can be a tich whiny for me, but sometimes there's a hit-the-nail-on-the-head post that has me screaming, "YES!!!" at my computer screen. It would be great if (some) men would stop being giant pussies, indeed! Cause no, seriously, you're kinda gross.

Did you know Chinese food take out boxes unfold into plates? No dishes #ftw.

And finally, In honor of February, the month of love, here's the best six minutes of YouTube watching you'll do all week! Have a fabulous weekend guys! [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTLySbGoMX0]

Photo: carpe nocturn via Tumblr