As with anything creative, change is inevitable.

~Enya

I am in the last few weeks of my 40th year.

It has been a very interesting year to say the least.

A lot has happened in my life, both personally and professionally these last 11 and a half months.

At the end of January 2012, after much deliberation and soul-searching,  I closed my online retail business to focus my time and efforts on my family and myself. It was a bittersweet decision, but one that I do not regret in any way.

In April of 2012 we moved into our new Natural Urban Home. A house that we designed, that we put our hearts and souls into and that we continue to imbue with the spirit of our family every day. In one week we will have our first Christmas morning in this house and I have to admit that I may be just a tad bit more excited about this than the kids!

After finally getting all of us settled in the the new house, summer 2012 hit.

And was gone in a flash!

September rolled around and all of a sudden I had one child in Kindergarten and one in preschool, and it took all of us the whole month to figure out our new routines (and yet, to this day, we are late for school at least twice a week).

I think it was probably sometime around late summer that something awakened within me that made me realize what I truly wanted to DO with myself.

You know, that thing that is just for me. For my sanity, for my creativity, for me to fully express myself as a person.

I am sure you'll all have guessed by now that that "thing" was {and IS} writing.

When I am writing, I feel good. About myself and weirdly enough, about what I am contributing to the world as well.

My writing has taken a turn this year. I have figured out that I am indeed a feminist, and a somewhat outspoken one at that. I have tackled issues that are important to me and I hope I have challenged the image of what people expect a feminist to be or say or do.

I mentioned to a fellow blogger once that I felt that my "voice" was changing and she responded by saying, "Well, of course, you are going through blogger puberty."

So there you have it folks, at the ripe age of 40, this mama... this blogger... this writer, hit puberty!

Somewhere along the way and in the midst of the changes of my so called puberty, I think I outgrew the space that I had created here on the interwebs. I was no longer focused on just being the "Natural Urban Mama". My interests and my thoughts started covering broader spectrums of motherhood and feminism and community involvement. And I know that there still exists some confusion about Natural Urban Mamas and what exactly that entity was {is} now.

It wasn't until I attended a local do-gooder event and had a chance to sit down with two of my favourite blogger babes that I realized that it was time for a change.

So here we are...

On the brink of a BIG change.

One that I need and one that I hope you will all understand and choose to embrace with me.

The latter half of 2012 has been well... let's say, interesting. I am more so than ever focused on my writing and have the wonderful Alice Bradley to thank for that. I have been dealing with my usual case of the seasonal blues that kind of hit out of nowhere this year (and yes, I am getting help) AND I have two beautiful children who are venturing further and further into the world and I am feeling this overwhelming need to do something to make sure that the world they are navigating is a better one for them.

My babies are growing up, and kicking and screaming, they are bringing me along for the ride.

It's the last few weeks of December 2012 and it is time for this change to happen.

I am re-branding.

Puberty is over and it is time to shed the trappings of my {Internet} youth and be a full blown grown-up!

I am a WRITER. {I figure the more I actually type or write that out, the more I will start believing it myself!}

I am also a stay-at-home mom. Which means that with a four-year-old and a six-year-old, I am almost NEVER at home!

I am also a feminist. A label that I am wearing with more and more pride and conviction each and every day and one that speaks to all the topics that are near and dear to my heart, my soul and my mind!

So...

Without further ado.

I would like to re-introduce myself and this blog to you...

I am Natasha.

 

the stay at home feminist

 

{I think this song sums it all up very nicely! And I always love me some Stevie Nicks.}

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