It was Sunday morning and 3 girls had driven 2 hours to run around in the desert for 4 hours with terrible cell phone reception.

Just as we’d thought,  Joshua Tree was the perfect antidote to the insanity we had endured for the preceding 3 days on the coastline. The air was crisp (in fact, it was fucking freezing) and the views were otherworldly.

Our day in the desert served as the perfect reminder of why we started The Rebel Mama to begin with – for a creative outlet. Creativity has always been a way for us to heal – the nudge needed to shift our perspective to a better plane. It worked when we were trying to get out of our postpartum fog and lo and behold, it worked when we needed to get out of a work-induced daze.

We drove home from the desert in the pitch dark night. Knowing that tomorrow would mark the beginning of a new week and with it a brand new start. It was almost our last day in L.A., and we were going to give it our best.

We spent Monday morning right back where we’d begun just a few days earlier: at the Canadian Consulate. When your girl goes in to find out whether her temporary passport request has been approved or not, you rally and get your ass there for moral support.

By the grace of God, it was approved. So with a fresh passport in hand, we headed to our fourth and final engagement of the trip: The L.A. launch of Bellybrief.com.

Nothing says *Hustle & Grind* quite like getting ready in the restaurant bathroom 30 minutes before the start of an on-camera event, and that’s just what we did.

The night turned out to be incredibly inspirational and cathartic. It was a “friendsgiving” dinner, made up of all female founders including powerhouse women like Breegan Jane, Susan Yara, Emily Baldoni and our pal Alyssa from Mini Mioche. We all spoke candidly about the challenges and hardships that face us as entrepreneurs and as women and shared a beautiful meal together at Bottlefish in Santa Monica to celebrate the official launch of Bellybreif – a website that is going to revolutionize the way moms find and share info with one another. We’re so jazzed about it (see Boomerang evidence below).

We didn’t get home until close to midnight that night but we still couldn’t resist a last minute, late night hang with our girl Shauna – yet another Toronto ex-pat who has recently taken up roots in L.A.. We sat huddled together on the couch, sipping red wine and talking about the divine feminine, the meaning of fire, and most importantly, about learning the lessons that life lays out for us.

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We flew home on the early flight out of LAX on Tuesday morning and as we sat on the Alamo shuttle on our way to terminal 6, we had a good laugh at the fact that we’d actually packed books and bikinis in case of unforeseen pool / beach hang opportunities. 

L.A. definitely was not the laid back yet lucrative escape from reality we’d envisioned it would be. (ha!) It threw curve ball after curve ball and created obstacle after obstacle, but it taught us that whenever shit gets tough we need to be able to lean on each other for support. We need more empathy more honesty more connection more community. And we need each other. 

We arrived home just as our kids got home from school. We squeezed them tight on the entryway floor. It felt like we had been gone forever and it felt like we’d never left. It felt really good.

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Photographed by Ariane Laezza.

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