recap

it’s been 84 years….

4 February 2025 / 2022, 2023, 2025, pictures, recap, reflection, ronni

A woman wearing jeans and a white blouse, leaning against a white wall

I don’t even know where to begin. My last post here was in 2022, and I didn’t even update you on what happened during 2022 in that post! Time just keeps marching marching marching. Things get pushed to the side. You forget to celebrate your first domain turning 25 (?) years old.

A lot has happened since I last posted, which is par for the course when one is living a life. I’ll do a yearly summary, with pictures, because that’s how I roll.

2022

I mainly worked on my second novel, and did freelance work. I visited Paris, the French countryside for an Elixir retreat, and London. I went to Disney World for the first time since 2019. Flew first class on an international flight, which was awesome. Participated in the inaugural DivBookFest, which was so fun. I went an autumn writing retreat in a country town outside of Chicago, and was thoroughly entertained by a very loud rooster. Friends, they do not crow only in the mornings!

I also went to Palm Springs for another writing retreat. That one was instrumental in finishing THIS NIGHT IS OURS. My friends kept me fed, the area was beautiful and quiet, and there was a hot tub. Perfect.

I got converted from a contractor to a full-time associate at work, and my mommy came to Chicago for Christmas!

2023

I started by heading to my very first grad school residency, which is 11 days of intensive learning in person, on campus. I learned so much about writing, met some cool people, and then dove into a semester of graduate level work, which was scary and exciting. It was also snowy and cold!

I went to Disney World twice—once with Aidan and once with my sister-in-law and nibling. Both times were super fun! Also attended the most fun wedding I’ve ever been to!

Summer residency was beyond fun. I really bonded with folks in the cohort behind me, and Minneapolis is gorgeous in the summer! I went to a Joey McIntyre concert where he held my hand and sang to me! There is video proof. Later that year, I went to a writing retreat in the Catskills, and it was absolutely beautiful. Again, I learned a lot, got to hang with writers, eat amazing food, and watch a lot of Heartstopper!

The worst news….

Sadly, my mommy had a severe stroke in 2023. She hung on for long while, but in December, she passed away. Sometimes I think about it and it takes my breath away. I miss her all the time. Just the fact that I can’t call her or tell her all the silly things happening in my life. I can hear her voice because I’ve downloaded voice mails from her… but we all know it’s not the same.

Nothing prepares you for losing you mother, and I know I haven’t processed it fully yet. 🙁

Meanwhile, we took in her sweet kitty Lily, and Lily has decided that I am her person. She’s an affectionate cat to everyone, but I’m the one she loves the most. She’s by my side almost every hour, no matter where I am. She’s my small comfort.

2024

Even though it was just last year, 2024 feels kind of far away! But. I saw the solar eclipse in totality and WOW. I will never forget how freaking AMAZING that was. It was so quiet and eerie, like twilight. The corona was beautiful. I am so glad I got to experience that. I entered my 3rd semester of grad school, and won an award for my critical essay, and an award for my current fiction work-in-progress, which I won’t say much about for now. After finishing semester 3 on such a high, I entered my final and fourth semester with an amazing advisor! I also attended a Highlights Foundation retreat in August, and I saw Cobi in concert, which had been on my bucket list for a while. I also got to meet him, and he’s super sweet.

My second book finally came out, and doesn’t it look great next to my debut? 🙂

In 2024, I did more book events than I’d ever done. That, combined with day job and school and so much travel made me tired, but I wouldn’t trade it. I loved meeting so many people and authors, some of whom I’d only known online. And I enjoyed meeting new readers and booksellers and librarians.

I continued through grad school, winning awards for my critical thesis and my creative work, exploring new things, and bonding with the Hamline community.

One of the most exciting things is that I turned 50 years old! And I indeed like to KICK, and STRETCH, and KICK (IYKYK). I am so thrilled to have gotten to this age. And while I still look super young (and act it too, let’s be real), I see more and more grey hairs growing in, and feel random aches and pains sometimes… and I welcome it all.

Surprising approximately no one, I went to Disney World to celebrate. Aidan came with me, and my birthday in Magic Kingdom, and then Epcot, was the best thing ever. The parks were all decorated for Christmas, and playing Christmas music and serving yummy Christmas foods and treats. The Dapper Dans sang Happy Birthday to me. It was incredible.

We stayed through Christmas, and while it was a little overwhelming, it was also magical in a way I can’t describe. Saying Merry Christmas to perfect strangers. The special parade, the fireworks (that might or might not have had me literally sobbing), all the yummy sweets! Enormous trees everywhere, and all the festive outfits. I still smile so much when I think about it. I’m so glad I did this!

2025

And now, it is 2025. The world is back to being on fire. I’m still working my day job, still writing, still freelancing. I’m on the hunt for a new agent, as my former agent had to leave agenting. I’m on the precipice of something, and I’m just trying to breathe and stay grounded and calm while the Universe works her magic. I’m still playing and loving assorted cozy games, planning Disney trips, and making a point to connect more with the people I love. Aidan is 22 and lives with me full-time, and it is the best thing ever. He’s my favorite person.

The best news is that I got my master’s degree! I am now the owner of Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University. It’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever done. I have so much more confidence in my writing, and I made so many incredible friends. I got to learn from amazing faculty—award winners and NYT bestsellers, be surrounded by people who love writing as much as I do, and stretch in ways I never even considered. I wrote picture books, poetry, middle grade, and of course, YA. I wrote a critical thesis and a creative thesis. And it was amazing and I still can’t believe it’s real!

And that brings me to right now. This moment. Right before I hit “publish” or maybe “schedule.” I’m not going to make any promises about when I’ll be back, because I never keep up with them hahaha. I am pretty active on bluesky and threads, and sometimes instagram, and I have a substack you can sign up for if you want to hear from me more often than every few years.

OK, I think that’s enough for now. If you’ve read this far, thanks for sticking with me, and thanks for sticking with this blog for all these years. Leave a comment to let me know you’ve dropped by!

Till next time….

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massive update.

7 December 2018 / pictures, recap, ronni

I haven’t posted here since July! That’s banana pants! To be fair, life has been super busy, and I’m so glad it’s Friday, even though this coming weekend is super busy as well! I’m fueled a bit on caffeine, so I might as well post.

So much has happened!

Adam and I had our ten year wedding anniversary. Like WHAT?? Can you believe it? First of all, I can’t believe I’ve even been in Chicago for ten years, let alone that we’ve been married that long. But then I look back at all the stuff that’s happened, and well, yep. Indeed it has been ten years. I mean, the proof is in the teenager that my Aidan has become:

I KNOW!

He’s going to be old enough to drive on his next birthday. Which is in 23 days. HOW IN THE HELL

Anyway.

August and September were slow and relaxing. I spent an extra long summer with Aidan. His best friend spend 9 days with us and that was fun. WeE went to the Wisconsin State Fair and really just hung out. But as soon as Aidan went back to Ohio, things started really picking up here!

I knew it was time to kick the job search into gear, but the job search found me! I started getting contacted by recruiters and interviewing. I had a feeling things were about to turn around, so I high-tailed it out to Ohio to spend time with my mommy before things got too wild.

It was fun! I got to see Mommy and spoil her, and I got a bonus visit with my Buttercup Jennifer, who was in Cleveland for some exciting stuff of her own!

While I was there, I got a call that I’d been offered a temp job, lasting through Dec 31, starting that next Monday! So I had to run around and do pre-job paperwork and drug tests during my week, which wasn’t as relaxing, but the facials and mani-pedis and yummy lunch with Jennifer made up for it!

When I got back to Chicago, I had one day to recombobulate myself (not sure that’s ever actually happened tbh) before I was thrust back into the working world. Not only that, but back in an office. That meant commuting and long days and totally rearranging my schedule.

Commuting downtown, when you already live so close, is a nightmare. The trains are almost always packed, and some days I had to let 2 or 3 go by before I could get on. And even though the office was maybe 3 miles from where I lived, I had to leave an hour before I needed to start because of commuting headaches. And getting squished in the morning is not fun at all.

After a few weeks at the temp job, another recruiter reached out to me. A job more in line with my skills, paid more, and had a REVERSE commute. Temp to perm. I ended up landing that gig and I’m there now, and so far I really, really like it. First of all, the commute is so much better. I get on the train going AWAY from the city, and I always get a seat, sometimes one to myself the entire ride. No squishing. A shuttle takes me from the train station to the office, and my desk is in a quad right by the windows, so a lot of natural light! Second of all, the people there are great. I realize I’m still in the honeymoon period, but everyone seems to share my sense of humor and seems to respect each other and our/their work. Plus they’re fun. Next week is Spirit Week. We are to decorate our desks, wear holiday PJs, and party, party party. I can get behind this. We work hard and play hard, but the hard work isn’t overwhelming (at least not yet). I’m happy I made the switch.

In between all that, I traveled to YALLFEST, a teen book festival that takes place in South Carolina, and I got to hang out with some really amazing writer friends!

But it’s fall, and fall is B U S Y. Freelance, plus full time job with an even longer (albeit way more relaxing) commute, and well, a lot of work on the BIGGEST THING to happen since I last posted:

For those of you who follow me on social media (twitter and instagram), this is not new information! But it’s still exciting (to me) and I’m learning and experiencing so much! It’s amazing, and it feels like home!

The book has a publication date of November 12, 2019, and it even has its own Goodreads page! Give it an add, will ya?

It blows my mind that something I worked so hard on for so long is finally going to get to be out there. It’s scary and exciting and incredible and I am loving all of it, even the hard stuff. My editor is incredible and fierce and so cool, and I feel very supported by her.

I’m going to be an author!!!!! 😭

So in between all of the other stuff, I’ve been working on edits, doing all sorts of cool author stuff, and yeah. Just really enjoying the journey. Working really hard. I’m tired a lot. I spent spring and summer playing The Sims. Now I might hop on once a week. I’m too tired to spend a lot of time with it, and I don’t have a lot of time anymore. I miss it.

(Let’s not talk about all the laundry I need to put away and the suitcases I haven’t unpacked…eeek.)

I do plan to keep this blog open, but I don’t know how often I’ll be updating it. For my PROFESSIONAL AUTHOR STUFF (omg), I am about to launch my official author site (click the banner!):

Eeeeeeee!

So yeah, that’s a bit why I haven’t been posting as much! Lots going on in my world, and I’m happy for all of it. (Especially since Mercury Retrograde is over!)

What’s going on with you?

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year in review: 2017

30 December 2017 / pictures, recap, reflection, ronni, year-in-review

Was 2017 a good year for you?
On a personal level, I cannot complain. Yes, I had some ups and downs, but that’s normal, right? When I look back through my photos, I feel immense gratitude at the people I’ve met, the things I’ve seen, and the stuff I got to experience.

What did you do in 2017 that you’d never done before?
– went ziplining!
– stayed at Disney’s Polynesian Resort
– rode Avatar: Rite of Passage
– watched a solar eclipse
– rode a chairlift
– visited Utah
– flew business class on an intercontinental flight
– attended a gala
– hired a life coach
– attended the Once Upon a Time convention
– had a spa day

Did anyone close to you give birth?
No, but a close friend of mine is expecting!

Did anyone close to you die?
I lost my sweet Helena.

What countries did you visit?
Italy, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway
(with layovers in Iceland and Germany)

What date(s) from 2017 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
January 10, 2017—the day I got all my girlie plumbing removed
February 17, 2017—the day I got an offer of rep from my agent Caitie Flum!
May 25, 2017—the day I brought Charlotte home
September 5, 2017—the day I left Chicago for a month abroad with my BFF Jennifer Niven
September 18, 2017—the day I visited Copenhagen, Denmark and FELL IN LOVE
September 26, 2017—the day I visited the ABBA museum and became a fan
October 1, 2017—the day I few into Iceland and saw rainbows upon rainbows
November 9, 2017—the day I met Jason Segel
December 6, 2017—the day I saw Hamilton

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
1. signing with a literary agent!!
2. spending almost a month abroad!!

What was your biggest failure?
1. keeping the apartment clean. EPIC FAIL on that one.
2. not keeping up with my gratitude journal as regularly as I’d have liked.
3. not eating enough leafy greens.
4. not doing enough yoga or barre.

Did you suffer illness or injury?
got a couple of colds

Where did most of your money go?
travel, clothes, purses, makeup, toys, books, and gifts

What song(s) will always remind you of 2017?
– Just Say—Extreme Music
– How Far I’ll Go—Auli’i Cravalho
– This Night Is Ours—The Funshiners
– Issues—Julia Michaels
– The Louvre—Lorde

What do you wish you’d done more of?
– ***writing***
– yoga
– moving my body in general
– learning
– traveling
– journaling
– connecting with my friends
– spending time with my mommy

What do you wish you’d done less of?
– eating junk food
– procrastinating
– being afraid
– wasting time on twitter

What was your greatest musical discovery?
– The Moana soundtrack

What did you want and get?
– a trip to Disney World
– a trip abroad
– an agent
– a Fjållråven backpack
– a (mini) home office

What did you want and not get?
– MORE AIDAN TIME (there is never enough)
– a visit to Morton Arboretum
– a book deal

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 43. (bish whet) I slept in, then spent the afternoon getting pampered at The Spa at The Four Seasons. Then I had dinner at a French restaurant that didn’t have great service but the food was amazing! Adam gave me a Tiffany bracelet.

What kept you sane?
– therapy
– friends

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Theo James

What political issue stirred you the most?
*angry face emoji*

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2017.
Sometimes you just have to say “yes” and make it work. You never know what amazingness is waiting on the other side of it!

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2017?
skinny jeans, cute tops

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
getting a book deal

Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? in the middle
ii. thinner or fatter? a bit fatter (thanks, Italy)
iii. richer or poorer? richer

In 2018, I’m looking forward to:
So much! But that’s for another post!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

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time to sit back and unwind.

3 June 2015 / authors, life, living in chicago, pictures, recap, ronni, summer

Flowering tree! ???????????? #spring #Chicago #tree #flowers

Finally! Seems that June took ages to get here! And when it arrived, it brought temps that felt more like November 1 than June 1, but it’s finally warming up, at least for a couple of days. See-saw summer weather: Chicago’s M.O.

Today is Aidan’s last day of school, then this weekend, he’s off to the National Jr. Youth Leadership Conference. He arrives in Chicago on June 13, and June 15, we take off for a long vacation, just the two of us. I’m so looking forward to it. Disney World, the beach, good times.

Aww yiss. #disneyworld #disney #magicband #yay

yay!!

Apparently, Aidan is now measuring at 5’1″…which just happens to be MY HEIGHT. My son is my height now. His feet are already bigger than mine, but now he’s on track to be taller than I am before long too. I mean, I knew it was coming but it’s still crazy. I hope he doesn’t act too stubborn when it comes to taking pictures when we’re on vacation. I need photographic proof of this height thing.

this was from april this year.
he was one inch shorter than me here.

A few weekends ago, I went to see a show at Second City. I enjoyed it. The show was called “#dateme” and was based on a girl’s experiences with some dating site. OK Cupid I think it’s called? Anyway, they had this picture-taking thing set up outside the theater so I took advantage:

I also got to meet Sarah Dessen again, and she was a lovely as ever. I remember, 11 years ago, when I discovered her books and fell in love with her writing. And I used to wish so hard I’d get to meet her. And now, this is the what…fourth or fifth time I got to meet her?

This author. ???? @sdessen #author #booksigning #Naperville #inspiration

Speaking of authors, Meg Cabot is back with *two* new princess books, and I was lucky enough to meet her as well:

Me and Meg Cabot. She's amazing. ???? #author #megcabot #Chicago #Naperville #booksigning

Honestly, if I ever leave Chicago, Anderson’s Bookshop will be one of the top five things I’ll miss.

These days, I’m kind of at odds. I’m restless, waiting for my vacation to get here. I should probably start packing. I got a new suitcase. Purple this time, with the 360? spinner wheels. Because the last time I went to Orlando and was lugging my luggage, the big suitcase kept flipping around. It was awkward and embarrassing! A guy had to help me on the escalator! So with this one, I shouldn’t have to deal with that. Plus my lovely pink bag was starting to rip and all that stuff. You know how it goes after the airlines batter it for a while. I got a good deal on this case, too. I went to Sears–which, I don’t even care, I love Sears–and the case I ended up getting had a regular price of $159.99. It was 50% off, so that took the price down to $79.99. I had coupons and Shop Your Way Rewards, so my total cost was just over $50. Not bad, huh?

I have new shirts and shorts and bathing suits to wear, and new shoes too. They’re not *that* new because I remembered I needed to break them in, so I’ve been doing that. All I need to do is pack everything sometime in the next ten days. Probably buy Aidan some vacation wear (his dad bought him a bunch of “nice” summer wear for his conference, but he’s not going to want to wear khaki shorts and polos at the beach, right?).

…and my mind just went blank. I guess I didn’t have much more to say. Probably the next time I update will be when I am back from vacation. So, till next time……

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this week.

22 March 2015 / chicago, friends, life, living in chicago, pictures, recap, yoga

Seven years ago today I moved to this city which I both love and hate. #Chicago

This past Tuesday, St. Patrick’s Day, marked my seven year anniversary of living in Chicago. Adam, my friend Andy, and I packed trucks and my car, and the three of us, plus little Lucy, took the six hour trek to the Windy City. I was excited and looking forward to a new life with Adam. I didn’t anticipate the depression and anxiety that would overcome me once I settled in. It was quite the adjustment and I still often feel out of sorts. But there are some things that are so cool about living here:

1. Being able to do the majority of my working from home.
2. Finding a yoga community that I love.
3. All the authors I get to meet.
4. All the cool people I’ve met.
5. Being able to work on TV and movie sets.

It was an OK week. There was freelance work, meetings, yoga, A Different World on Netflix, Insurgent 3D (#hotmess), and movie theater food! See, I don’t go to the movies often, so if I am hungry when I go, I like to splurge on concessions. I had a hot dog, nachos, and Reese’s Pieces, which I am still working on actually. Makes it more special. I missed the Insurgent swag, but after seeing the movie, I’m kind of OK with that. It was OK, but I enjoyed in like how I enjoyed Twilight. Meaning I laughed for two hours at stuff that wasn’t meant to be funny, etc. etc. Good times. Daniel Dae Kim + Theo James on a big ass screen in 3D though was almost too much for me to handle. I’m pretty much over that silly crush I had on Theo, but I’ll never stop thinking he’s gorgeous, even with his stupid beard.

Waiting for #Insurgent3D. Rocking these Real3D glasses like a boss. ???? ????????

A photo posted by Ronni (@lilrongal) on Mar 19, 2015 at 5:42pm PDT

this was me waiting on the movie.

I’ve already surpassed my goal of seeing three movies in a theater this year! I saw Mockingjay Part 1 in January, The Duff in February, and Cinderella and Insurgent this month. I may go see Home at some point (a movie with a cute black girl with naturally curly hair as the lead? yes please!), and then there’s nothing that interests me really until November, when Mockingjay Part 2 comes out. I’m just not into the Avengers stuff like everyone else is. I love the movie scores, though, so there is that. I used to be into the Batman movies, but now that they’re rebooting AGAIN, man, I’m just tired!

I’m already halfway through my 2015 Reading Challenge goal, so I probably need to make it higher. Right now I am reading BURNING KINGDOMS by Lauren DeStefano, who has a really great Twitter feed.

I totally was expecting Saturday to be exhausting and overwhelming and it totally wasn’t. Maybe because I got an OK night’s sleep, and I drank a Blue Edition Red Bull. But I had to get up at 7:15am, which is just cruel for a Saturday (unless I’m at Disney World) to head to The Dailey Method for kid room duty.

I am supposed to report to duty at 8am to give moms time to arrive, and I like to use that time to you know, suck down the Red Bull and eat a Luna Bar. This morning when I arrived, the cutest baby was already there, sitting in a bouncy chair and drinking a bottle. I was a bit taken back and surprised someone just plopped the baby there. And he was happy as can be, kicking his little feet and sucking down the formula. Turns out he was the son of one of the teachers there, and turns out that he was probably my favorite of the day.

I spent four hours in the kid room today and it was truly enjoyable. All the kids were good and they listened well, and even though there were diapers, so many poopy diapers, and they made huge messes, it was still fun. And Cole, my buddy who’d been plopped earlier that day, was just the perfect baby size. Squishy but solid, adorable little face. It was too much! I didn’t want his mommy to take him home!

After that, I came home, had lunch, then headed over to Meksha for a workshop with Seane Corn. It was the third time I got to do a workshop with her and it was incredible. Seane is the real deal. She’s so frank and so out there with everything. And I love it. She’s a great speaker, and the practice today was perfect. Just the right amount of challenge and restoration.

The amazing #seanecorn and dorky me. #mokshayogachicago #flowandglow @mokshayogachicago

me and seane corn. i look like i am trying to eat her.

when i first met her five years ago

I ran into some friends there who I hadn’t seen in a while, some in years. That was soooo nice! I am kind of a loner, but getting love and light from people is so so so good.

So happy to see this cutie!!! @cassyoga ???????????? #flowandglow @mokshayogachicago #mokshayogachicago

me and cassandra. i met her at my VERY FIRST yoga class at moksha nearly five years ago!

I’m easing back into my yoga practice and it feels really good. It’s also brings up a lot of crap again, and that whole feeling of not knowing where I fit keeps coming back. All the worlds I am in are so different. They overlap in some ways but not at all in some others. I go to Moksha and everyone is eating healthy, raw, organic this or that. I go on set and people have no problems scarfing down the Cheetos. I go days where I feel guilty as hell for eating meat, and other days where I’m like “Screw it, I want a corn dog and I’m going to have one and enjoy it dammit.” And frankly, I LIKE steak and I like corn dogs, and I like bacon. I hate feeling guilty about the things I eat. Talk about being privileged, being able to have those sorts of feelings about food, right? I can’t remember a time that eating was something I could do without a lot of issues coming along with it. It gets confusing and scary and it’s often easier to avoid eating altogether until I can’t stand it and have to get something in my stomach.

Plus, eating healthy is HARD when Doritos and Reese’s Pieces taste SO GOOD. But I need more veggies in my life so I must work on getting more. Especially spinach. Green beans. Mmm spinach and green beans. I seriously go weeks without eating vegetables. That’s NOT GOOD at all.

And ugh, I already have new split ends. I might need to accept the fact that super long hair won’t ever be a reality for me unless I buy it and have it installed. 🙁

Maybe eating more spinach will help my hair grow. The biotin is working magic on my nails, which don’t even need it, but my hair. Please grow and stop splitting and breaking hair! Argh.

I got up at 7:15am. It is now 4:30am and I haven’t been to sleep yet. Either that Red Bull is potent as hell, or I’m just…still wired from the yoga workshop.

I should wrap this up now. I’m just babbling. OK then. Till next time….

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