Ayla and Potato3s: A Nightly Message From Your Best Friend

I’m reframing my so-called problems as reminders that I am supported, cared for, and allowed to receive help without making it mean something is wrong. In this episode, I share a quiet New York day with Mabel, my favorite sandwich, the “champagne problems” mindset, letting go of scarcity, and a relationship-reflection practice that helps me hold the full picture of love, conflict, gratitude, and growth.

I’m spending a quiet, restful day , letting myself receive love, support, and the reminder that there is no need to measure my life against anyone else’s timeline. I share the unexpected kindness that helped me travel, my shifting plans, looking back on how much I have created over the past four years, and the unconditional love Mabel gives me every time I come back.

I’m choosing rest, preparation, and peace before I travel, and I’m proud of how much I completed without forcing myself to do everything. In this episode, I share my five-task approach, packing early, finishing my blog and audio, helping my dad with tech, talking with my illustrator, protecting my eyebrows with Press’n Seal, and why I’m standing firm on the kind of energy and people I choose to support.

I’m choosing to believe the worst is behind me, even while I’m still tired and figuring things out one day at a time. In this episode, I share publishing my website and my friend’s site, adding a book preview and theme song across my platforms, handling an unkind comment without losing my peace, and taking a real weekend break so I can return to my work with more happiness and trust

I received my first no today, and even though I’m tired, discouraged, and feeling the pressure of a short financial runway, I still sent the emails and kept building. I’m sharing an honest late-night conversation about survival mode, big dreams, protecting future ideas, celebrating other people’s progress while wanting movement in my own life, and choosing not to give up on myself

I’m allowing myself to have ridiculous dreams while also facing the very real decisions behind building a sustainable creative business. In this episode, I share a nonprofit partnership and podcast interview win, my thoughts on runway and expenses, why I see myself as a founder and creative director versus a bean counter and the big conversations I need to have about contracts, profit sharing, future books, and growing my children’s storybook world.

Today I had to make a difficult founder decision: stop fighting with AI illustrations and have an honest conversation with the artist my intuition told me to trust from the beginning. I’m sharing what this taught me about timelines, pricing my color storybook sustainably, hearing “not yet” from a podcast, sending more outreach, and choosing momentum even when the next steps are not fully clear.

I’m celebrating a quiet but productive Sunday: I finished my school assessment early, completed the layout for my book, followed up on a nonprofit partnership, and received a surprise yellow watermelon after keeping my promise to tackle a task I had been putting off. I’m also sharing the new “contracts” I’m making with the universe, my upcoming New York trip, and why I’m clearing space for a more specific vision of the life I want.

I gave myself a real break today and discovered that rest does not mean I stop thinking, creating, or questioning what comes next. I’m sharing an honest update about my mentor challenging my pivot, why I still believe in my children’s storybook, the lessons I learned from coloring-book promotion, sending 34 podcast outreach emails, and choosing small moments of joy while I figure out my next move.

I’m realizing that progress does not always look like a perfectly productive day, it can look like choosing rest, accepting support, and still moving the important things forward. In this episode, I share a late-night life update: choosing Florida, building alongside friends, making my website more accessible, preparing my book, and celebrating the first signs of momentum after a long stretch of sending outreach emails.