Now

It’s been said that “someday is made up of a thousand tiny nows.” Here are some of the “nows” happening in my world:

As of AUGUST 2026

Woah is all I can say. At my last update, just a few months ago, I was moonlighting as a food trucker, living near my hometown in the NW Chi ‘burbs, and had just found out I was becoming a first-time aunt…but now:

We headed down south to the land of The Pines and we’re living in the stunning (and sweltering) Sandhills region of North Carolina!

My hubby took an amazing chef gig leading special events at one of the premier golf resorts in the country. He gets to golf PGA-level courses for $5 and will be hosting the U.S. Open in 2029, so it’s about as close to a dream job as he could get…and in a weird twist of fate, he gets to run their big beautiful beast of a food truck sometimes!

My job is portable, and very serendipitously based about an hour north in Durham near the Duke campus, so I’m just closer to the action now – still working with some pretty incredible clients and educators to design and deliver custom executive leadership programs.

We rented out our house back home to free us up for a quick move, and we’re renting a super cute little cottage walking distance from our local smalltown Main Street in an adorable, vibrant railroad town. Coming as a surprise to no one, I already raised my hand to get involved with our downtown revitalization efforts!

Yes…that means we also sold the food trailer we owned (and loved) for less than a year. It was an extremely tough call, but the right one.

Food trucking has a mythical reputation as being a path to freedom – but it can also be a quick bust if you’re not careful.

The deck is stacked against food truckers with surging food & fuel costs, hefty vendor fees, confusing and costly state/county/local compliance regulations, etc.

It’s not for the faint of heart, and we knew that going in, but living it gave us a whole other level of insight and mad respect for the food truckers out there grinding away.

We kept The Chef’s Playground, LLC, added NC as a state where we can legally operate, and we’re kicking around ideas for what we could do with our biz out here, so stay tuned…really bright (or bad) ideas welcome, the weirder the better!

I officially got promoted from proud Big Sister™ to the Fun Aunt® when my nephew & future lifelong best bud joined us earthside this summer. I seriously can’t wait to teach this kid the fine arts of good-natured pranks, harmless mischief, & spontaneous shenanigans – my specialties.

We now live less than 10 mins away from him and his parents, who are family but also happen to be two of our best friends. I’ve never lived in the same zip code as my brother as adults, so getting to do day-to-day life together so close by has been awesome. Plus, I adore his wife, still not sure why she married him, but so glad she did!

Two weeks after we moved, I threw myself the worst surprise welcome party ever and had appendicitis.

Zero stars, do not recommend!!!

It was among the most painful experiences of my life, but after emergency surgery, good drugs, and a couple weeks of recovery – I was on the mend.

Family and friends also rallied to cheer me up, which was kinda mean because it hurt to laugh. I got a one-of-a-kind balloon bouquet with the “zero” as a tribute to the # of appendixes I now have, my very own plush appendix and “Just Here for the Drama” sticker to commemorate this horrific experience, and a ridiculously punny care package because I have 99 problems – but an appendix ain’t one…anymore.

Now that I’m back on the upswing, I’m scouting ways to keep myself entertained & out of trouble, get involved in my community, make new friends, and go on local adventures. So far, I…

• Took a stained glass workshop at ARTworks studio and made a garden gnome plant stake – very on brand!!!

• Leaned hard into the wild and wonderful world of being a Porch Goose Mom since we have an epic & quintessentially country front porch – follow along at @thechippergoose on Instagram:

• Signed up to join The Small Town Social women’s community – and can’t wait for my 1st gathering in September!

• Waited in line for some fresh purple honey – an incredibly rare local foodie phenomenon only found in this region of the world.