In 2014, I packed up my entire life and moved to Northeast Texas, leaving everything and everyone I knew behind. Starting over is both scary and exhilarating. As much as I love being near the ocean, I was feeling a strong pull to leave. You can read a little about my time in the Texas Piney Woods, here.

In the same way that I felt a strong pull to leave the Gulf Coast and wander on land for a while, like a true selkie, I began to feel that intense pull again around 2019. This time, however, I was being called home. It was finally time to return to the sea. When I moved the first time, I was still an educator. All I had to do was secure a teaching position with a school district in the area that I was moving to, pack my belongings, load myself and Hurley up, and go. This move, however, would require a few more logistics. I needed to sell my home, pack, travel with two dogs, and move my shop! This last step would be the most difficult.

In preparation for this change, I completely rebranded my boutique. What started out as a small outdoor outfitters focusing on hiking camping and fishing would be rebranded to a women’s clothing and home decor boutique completely inspired by world travel and the experiences and influences of other cultures we collect along the way. Quite fitting for me actually! I changed the name of my shop to Selkie Sun, and began the rebranding process. In addition to rebranding, I moved my boutique from its brick and mortar location to a pop up style venue that was only open once a month. This allowed me the freedom to search for a new location down on the coast.

I made some updates to my home so that it would be ready for the market, and sold it in the first week it was listed. Not only did I sell the house itself, but I sold it completely furnished! I would be starting over, again.

The plan was to leave my shop in its pop up like location for a year while I decided where I wanted to replant it, base out of my parents house for a while, and travel in Zatara when it wasn’t a shop weekend. But as it is with most “plans”, often we need to be open to the rise and fall of the tides, the ebbs and flows of life. When a small brick and mortar location became available on the peninsula where I now reside, I jumped on the opportunity. My shop has been open in my small coastal community since February 2021, a little over a year now!

The pups and I spend our days watching the pelicans soar overhead and swoop down low between the waves. Our alarm clock is the call of the gull, and we have a permanent layer of sand and salt on our skin. We move with the coastal breeze that is an ever constant companion, and are in love with being home on the Texas Gulf Coast. I have replanted my roots in the sand. And even though my shop is back in a brick and mortar setting which requires me to be in the area regularly, I still enjoy a weekend getaway as often as I can, and have plans to begin traveling internationally once again.