Hello there!
I’m so glad you’re here – truly.
To start, here’s a little bit about me. I'm a freelance musician, entrepreneur, and blogger located in southwest Florida. I’m not quite a newlywed anymore, but I married my husband in spring 2023, and we’re expecting a baby girl this winter. The pursuit of beauty, truth, and goodness is always at the forefront of my life and I love to write on any number of topics relating in innumerable ways to these transcendental qualities of God.
I'm a cradle Catholic, and my Catholic faith informs everything in my life. After studying Scripture and Catholic teaching through a critical lens, I am firmly convinced that what I was taught growing up is precisely what God has revealed to us. As such, my writings are deeply informed by Catholicism and Catholic thought. With that being said, it is my deepest desire that my words be ever guided by the Holy Spirit, and as such, I trust He will use them to speak to any heart He wishes to touch – regardless if that heart belongs to the Catholic Church or not.
The concept of the Imago Dei, of being made in God’s Image and Likeness, is one that’s taken hold of my heart and become the backbone behind everything I do. No matter what, I always find myself continually called back to exploring and writing about this precious gift that God has given to each one of us by making us in His Image.
It is my hope that the Lord may touch your heart in some way as you peruse these writings and thoughts of mine, through the various mediums you will find here.
Some fun facts about me:
I have two degrees in music.
That’s right, I got both my undergrad and masters degrees in music – specifically flute performance! Super niche, I know. I can almost hear you asking, “What can you even do with two degrees in that?” And the answer is – quite a lot, actually! Aside from tangible career specifications, six years of music school taught me so much about attention to detail, adaptability, compassion for the human person, sensitivity, appreciation for authentic beauty, mindful listening, intrapersonal skills, and the ability to appreciate the unique gifts God gives to each person. While I might not be doing music full-time anymore, I’m grateful to God for all that He gave me through pursuing my degrees and see why He led me to study music.
I’ve got a bunch of allergies/intolerances.
Nuts, gluten, seeds, sesame, shellfish, chickpeas – the list keeps slowlyyy growing. I was diagnosed with a nut allergy as a toddler, and can’t remember a time before my allergy. However, having allergies and intolerances motivated me to become excellent in the kitchen, to the point where I almost went into the culinary arts instead of going to college! In the end I’m glad I didn’t, but my love for cooking and baking makes for a wonderful hobby (and my husband’s certainly a huge fan of having freshly baked items on hand!)
I co-founded a nonprofit for musicians.
Yeah, so those two degrees in music? Another thing I learned through those is the need for Catholic musicians working in secular spaces to have support in a field that honestly is really tough to be in as a practicing Catholic. So my college roommate and I founded The Hildegard Collective, a nonprofit aimed at providing support, resources, and connection for Catholic musicians. Through The Hildegard Collective, we’ve been running a podcast for almost three years where we talk about any topic where faith and music intersect, and we also offer both day and weekend retreats for college campuses, parishes, and dioceses. If any of this piques your interest, you can learn more about The Hildegard Collective here.
I’ve never had a skincare routine.
Unless you count running water over my face in the shower as a skincare routine!
Jokes aside, I’ve never had a skincare routine because every time I’ve tried to start one, it messes my skin up. Weird, right? In any case, I’m all for clean beauty and all that, but if you’re hoping to find some of that kind of content here, I’m so sorry but this is not the place to be!
I’m writing a book trilogy.
I’ve been working on a fantasy YA book trilogy for years, but I’d honestly put it aside almost completely while I was in graduate school and getting reading for my wedding. I loved writing it, but I wasn’t sure if I’d ever return to it because life was always so busy. Shortly after I got married, my husband and I were walking through a bookstore, and the Lord put it on my heart that it was time to pick up writing again. With a renewed interest, focus, and desire to write, I picked it back up again; and God truly provides, because He’s given me inspiration and time to write where I thought I wouldn’t have either anymore! I have no idea if I’ll go the traditional publishing route or try out self-publishing, but I do know that if God put this on my heart, He’ll have the answers to that.
I met my husband in the back of our church after daily Mass.
And it was definitely a meet-cute. My mom introduced us after daily Mass. I’d been eyeing him up for a few weeks, and he’d actually been intending to introduce himself… but I kept thwarting his plans by accident. Oops. Anyway, we hit it off immediately, and went on our first date the following week. And now we’ve been married over a year with a baby girl on the way! God is so good!
Why I do what I do:
I hit rock bottom during my junior year of college.
After pouring countless hours of practicing and resume building into my dream of becoming a full-time orchestral flutist, I ended up suffering from painful carpal tunnel and tendonitis injuries in my hands and arms. Though I didn’t want to admit it at first, I knew deep down my dream was over.
Being a pretty strait-laced, high-achieving, good-girl type, my rock bottom didn’t include turning to drinking and drugs. It did, however, include lots of tears, depression, soul-searching, emotional swings, and being completely, absolutely lost in life. I had no idea where I was going or what I was meant to do with my life. My entire identity had been wrapped up in being a flutist, and it shattered in an instant. My already-fragile self esteem crashed. My once-busy days of practicing and rehearsals suddenly emptied out as I medically could not play my flute at all for a minimum of two months – which took up a large portion of my semester. I didn’t know what to do with myself, and I found myself asking God “why?” over and over again, hanging onto my faith in Him by a thread.
He never leaves us in the darkness, even when it feels like He’s silent or absent. And He did, indeed, strengthen that thread of faith into something a little stronger with time. He works little miracles and provides healing, clarity, and purpose through the ordinary events of our lives; and such was the case for me.
One turning point – though I didn’t realize it when it happened – came while I was struggling to get ready for a school dance, not knowing what to wear, and feeling so tired and completely unpresentable. I was voicing my frustrations via texting a close friend, and what she said ended up changing my perspective on everything:
“But that's your clothes, not YOU. Anyone who has looked into your eyes has seen just a fraction of your real beauty. And anyone who has ever had a deep conversation with you has seen another fraction. And anyone who has heard you laugh has seen another. You can change your clothes in 60 seconds flat. It's all those millions of other tiny pieces of God that make you YOU. And that's MORE than presentable.”
“It's all those millions of other tiny pieces of God that make you YOU.”
— my college bestie Tara
That one sentence in particular stuck with me. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it ended up being perhaps the most influential thing that anyone’s ever said to me. God used the words of my friend to plant a seed in the depths of my heart that continues to grow and develop even now. And it’s changed my perspective on everything.
Little by little, God began to show me the beauty of being made uniquely in His Image and Likeness, and what the implications mean for a flourishing, beautiful human life. Through prayer and through my own formal and informal studies in theology, He’s convicted me of the absolute necessity that understanding the Imago Dei is to cultivating an authentic faith life, developing a deeper relationship with Christ, and growing in holiness.
There are many implications of what being made in the Imago Dei means, but I’ll explore one quickly to show you what I mean.
One facet of being made in God’s Image and Likeness means that each human person has been given immense dignity and worth beyond measure. When we allow the meaning of this to take root in our hearts, we suddenly see ourselves and the world differently. Christ’s sacrifice takes on a whole new level of meaning to us. The way we treat others changes because we see them through the lens of dignity. We realize we have to stop speaking poorly to ourselves because this isn’t what God wants. We desire to become more like Christ so that our thoughts, words, and actions might reflect and honor the dignity we’ve been given, and honor the dignity that each human person – regardless of any qualifying factor we might be tempted to put upon them – deserves simply because they’ve been made in God’s Image and Likeness. The more we seek to become like Christ, the closer we grow in intimacy and relationship with Him – our ultimate destiny which will truly fulfill every one of us.
Do you see what I mean?
Developing an understanding of what it means to be made in the Imago Dei, in the Image and Likeness of God, isn’t just a nice addition to Christian living.
It’s a fundamental necessity.
The conviction in my heart to share this through every aspect of my life remains unshaken. I have a deep desire to share with whoever God places in my life the beauty and value of being human. Yes, we are all broken. Yes, we all grapple with sin and failings and weaknesses. Yes, we must struggle to overcome these things, and may never completely do so in this life. But sin does not detract from the dignity and worth that God has given to each of us beyond measure.
The incarnation of Jesus Christ as fully man while remaining fully God gives us hope. The salvation and grace that He offers through His sacrifice on the Cross gives us the means to become who God intends and desires for us to become. Our sin does not define us. The value that God has given us defines us.
That friend who unwittingly changed my whole life’s perspective also shared an analogy with me that I’ve also taken with me through the years since. Imagine a diamond with all its many facets, and see how the light reflects off each facet differently. So it is with God. Each person reflects a different facet of God that only they can reflect.
Do you see what this means? Nobody else who’s ever existed has reflected God in the way that you do. Nobody else is currently reflecting Him in the same way as you, and no future person will ever reflect Him the way you do.
In a society where the dignity of human life is often forgotten, where the temptations to put God aside are so strong that people blend together in ways that they were never meant to blend, and where blatant sin is marketed as standing out and being true to yourself, I feel convicted to share the beautiful, good truth:
You’ve been made uniquely in the Image and Likeness of God.
Your Creator desires a deep relationship with you.
And in pursing intimacy with Him and embracing the gift of being made uniquely in His Image, He will make you fully alive in Him. He will make you a saint.
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam. All for God’s glory.