You have the power to write and define your future. It truly is in your hands. You can make it happen. No one's going to bring you the job. No one's going to bring you the husband. It's not going to land in your lap. You have to be open to receiving it, to accepting it. But also, I believe working on yourself to be ready for when it comes. I want to sew dive deep into your book because as I started to read them, there are so many freaking nuggets of gold that people can take away and use in their everyday life. I thought of it as it was a cookbook, but once I started to really pull it apart, it is literally a person's guide to living their best life. I really want to start with how you got to this book in the first place. And I pulled a quote of yours that said, I had a choice. And this is based on your mom leaving at the age of nine. I had a choice. I could become a victim of my childhood circumstances or I could find strength in struggle and create a life full of love, beauty and celebration. Now, girls, so many people go down the rabbit hole of the struggle. They go down the rabbit hole of for the rest of their lives, they are unable to celebrate themselves because of what has happened and the trauma that they've had in their childhood. So talk to me about how you took your childhood and made a beautiful thing and created these amazing traditions and then we can dive deep into the traditions themselves. Honestly, I just remember being lost in my adolescent, being sad when I was young, you know, nine to 12, being lost in my adolescence 12 to 18, being a rebel when I was in my 20s, like, oh, you know, who cares to being sad and lost and like, what am I doing? Where am I going? What is the goal here? Who do I want to be? And the excuses of, well, my mom left, so who cares? Didn't work anymore. The excuse of, well, this is how I, this is the hand I was given. So,

oh well, was Elaine McSqueeze. And I think actually on that note, it's why I, I don't, I would never say so in person, but I have very little patience for when people say, oh, oh, is me. I'm like, no, you can do something about this. And so I just remember really asking myself, So for the I want in life, what do I see as my end game?

And it always was with the family.

Then I thought, well, about this. And so I just remember really asking myself, what do I want in life? What do I see as my

endgame? And it always was with a family. Then I thought, well, in order to have a family, you know,

I need to have an amazing relationship with my husband. We need to have a great foundation to raise

little human beings in this world. I don't want to bring them into a dysfunctional relationship

like I had. So I have to, you know, work on finding a husband like most women, but then it was deeper. What kind of husband do I want? And how do I want to attract that husband? And so I just started shifting my thinking and I know I'm simplifying it here. Obviously, I get into it a little bit in the book and this is years of me working on myself and my relationship with my husband and my girlfriends and my kids.

But ultimately, I think that I would love for people to realize that their messy pasts don't have to define their future. And whatever capacity to that means, it doesn't necessarily mean you have to be a child of divorce or your mom has to leave you. You can have your parents in your life still, but have a messiness in some other way, whether it's an insecurity or whatever. and that you have the power to

Right and define your future. It truly is in your hands but have a messiness in some other way, whether it's an insecurity or whatever, and that you have the power to

write and define your future. It truly is in your hands. You can make it happen. No one's gonna bring you the job. No one's gonna bring you the husband. It's not gonna land in your lap. You have to be open to receiving it, to accepting it, but also I believe working on yourself to be ready for when it comes. And so for me, it was something as simple as what made me feel good.

What was my comfort? And my comfort were things that reminded me of the good times growing up. It was Christmas mornings. It was certain dishes, even though my mom left me when I was nine. Her chicken adobo always made me feel better. And so I I was determined to make my own chicken adobo and I now serve it to my kids and my husband. It was smells the smell of you know pumpkin spice in the fall holidays. It was the smell of vanilla in the spring. It was all of these things. It smells its songs. It's food. So. So I finally realized I've been creating my life

from scratch for my children and my children's children.

I used to be so upset I didn't have recipes passed down

or jewelry passed down or even words of wisdom.

I mean, I'm the girl that wore a white dress to a wedding

because she didn't have a mom selling her not to.

So that was embarrassing.

And I thought that's really powerful. This tradition starts with you. You have the power. And so hence the name, like from scratch, family traditions that start with you, you know, it's a very vulnerable. There's vulnerable, vulnerable moments in it, but all my truth. And I believe even this tumultuous relationship I had with my mother made me who I am now. So I'm okay to share that story I'm okay to share that story because I'm proud of the mom I am and the way I am and the friend I am now.

Oh God, that was so amazing. I didn't want it into ruptured, but there's so many like freaking nuggets of

gold that you like brushed past. I'm like, I'm like, I want to go deep because so many people have

had situations where they, you know, past rumors where they've, you know, used that as a reason you've been said like as an excuse.

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