Well, we made it! I really feel like I did it all this holiday season and I’ll be honest: I’m exhausted. Thankfully LaBelle Family Christmas is a very mellow mix of all day pajamas and lazing around while Vince Guaraldi tinkers in the background, so I’m really looking forward to it (followed by an entire week of Bravo marathons and an LA without traffic…the actual most wonderful time of the year.)
I’ll keep it short this week: I just wanted to wish you a happy holiday, whatever you’re up to over the next few days. Maybe I’ll write something more eloquent and new years-y next week but for now I hope you know how much it means to me that literally anyone is reading this newsletter, let alone a few thousand of you (like, what???!!!). À La Carte and your enthusiasm around it was the brightest spot of this year (creatively and financially speaking) and I am so so so so grateful for you. Seriously, I wish I could hand-write each of you a heartfelt thank you card.
This time of year is a bouquet of time markers for me: obviously, the end of a year and beginning of the next, but also my work anniversary (January 1st) followed by my birthday (January 23rd). It’s just a lot of reflection at once, you know? I don’t often talk about my mental health or biggest fears or stretches of insecurity publicly but strangely enough, writing about things like mood boards and creative exercises and even The Sound of Music has been really healing for me in a lot of ways. I can’t explain it, but it’s made me more confident in who I am and what the future might hold. Someone asked me the other day what I wanted to do next in my career and honestly, it felt pretty great to have no answer. I couldn’t have guessed that this newsletter would have opened doors to conversations and community the way it did or that relaunching my previously soft-launched studio would lead to dream projects. The unknown used to scare the shit out of me but I’ve decided to embrace it and just see what happens!!!
Anyway, now I’m rambling, but I just wanted to say thank you, again, for all of the encouragement this year. I’m attaching a Starbucks gift card code below with $200 on it, so go have a festive little peppermint mocha on me before it runs out—just have the barista scan the barcode. And like, don’t be the person who spends it all on yourself and doesn’t leave anything for anyone else…it’s Christmas!!!!!
Oh, one last thing: One-On-Ones are back next month! Last year I offered these creative mentorship sessions to talk career and creativity stuff and I met so many incredible people in the process, so I’m doing it all again! I’ve changed some of the details about how they work so read up on the specifics here and sign up here before I increase the price in February. I’m giving you newsletter readers a head start before I open it up to everyone on Instagram next week!
Have a great weekend, happy holidays, and I’ll see you here next week for one last mood board in 2023 and the December Specials!
x
Ali
Happy holidays!
Merry Merry! ✨