J O H N | H A P P Y D A Y O F B I R T H

Today is a very special day - it is co-author John's birthday!

I wanted to do a special shout out to him, because well, if it wasn’t for his constant support, this blog would have not come to fruition. At all. And it is probably best that I created this blog BEFORE starting grad school, not only because that allowed me to have a good foundation on which to build up from, and work on becoming better and better, but because I was also able to record my last month of living in Arizona with John + the Pumps, prior to my move (which was over one year ago!).

So - Story Time. It came to a point in February 2016, where I had probably been talking about starting a blog for the two years we have been dating, and John probably was done hearing about the talk of action, as oppose to seeing the actual action occurring - which, of course, I am talking about starting this space, and just wanted me to shut up about it really.

So, we had a convo. And the convo basically went something like this :::

M E : OMG - I wanna start a blog!

J O H N : (thinking - we've been down this convo road before…) OK - just go for it.

M E : But IDK. Like, I want to host on Squarespace, but LOTS of other bloggers host on other websites such as blah, blah, blah. OH! And they have fancy cameras, and clothes, and photoshop.

J O H N : Alright, well…

M E : (probably cutting off John… Sorry!) But I have a plan of ways to get where I want to go with this thing. And over a period of years, I can build up followers, and my content, and OH! I'm gonna post about when we visit Tucson, and travel in general, and yoga too. Mostly yoga, will work on that as I teach in studios and at events, and such.

J O H N : But you don't even have a blog yet.

M E : I know but…

J O H N : Well, then. Just. Start.

M E : But I am not going to be great, at first.

J O H N : No one is. But the most important thing to do is start. Because once you start, you work through all of this going on in your head, and planned out on paper, and you find what works for you. You find your niche.

M E : But I'm nervous about putting myself out there. Cause there are just so many blogs, blah blah blah.

J O H N : But you are you. If you really want to do this - you will just start.

This convo occurred during a date night, we even grabbed Sprinkles Cupcakes and wine afterwards. Right after we came straight home from our day of fun, we started a movie, John fell asleep on the couch, and I finally created Sol | Ful Goddess, with Demetri, Pumpkin, and John sleeping on our couch. I could not have asked for a better moment.

And from that day, I blogged a TON that month (March 2016), and then kind of stopped since grad school happened.

But now that I am where I am in my life - this space is important to me, and a place I want to cultivate. So we are picking up where we left off, and moving forward.

So yeah. John was a HUGE push of motivation to get this thing started. He also has been a continuous source of support just in life (thanks for all of the homemade dinners), and he has sincerely helped me get to where I am today. His loyalty, honesty, and loving capabilities are more than I could ever imagine in a partner, and I am just so lucky, and yes, #blessed, that he chooses to even be in my life. (And Demetri's life too)

This is my internet form of a 'Happy Birthday' to my love (and hopefully motivation to finish his salsa recipe post - wink wink).

Love you John.

Much love, Hania

+ Also, if you would like to check out some posts that John has written ::: he introduced himself here   and wrote about a weekend adventure we took together here. His upcoming posts include his delicious salsa recipe, and the beginning use of his early birthday present, a wok!