the end of an era...

and the start of a new chapter.

When I started Made in Mom Jeans, I was a fresh college graduate living on my own and away from home (for the most part). I felt isolated and alone and to be honest, a little culture shock moving from West Virginia to New York.

I wanted a place where I could document my unique experience of working at a military academy as a young twenty-something. I wanted to make connections.

Made in Mom Jeans has always been able to fulfill my longing for connection but if I’m being honest, there are some voids it hasn’t ever been able to fulfill, especially in the last few years.

This post has been a long time coming.

When I wrote Taylor Swift and Other Things that Saved My Life Last Year, I was hoping to reconnect with the platform and the audience I had built on Made in Mom Jeans through the years. But after writing a few different posts over the course of 2024, I realized that something was missing.

Maybe not that something was missing, actually.

But rather, I had outgrown the platform I had lovingly and painstakingly built over the past decade.

Even as I write this post – what will be the sunset post for Made in Mom jeans – I’m having a hard time articulating what outgrowing your own platform means.

I am no longer a twenty-something struggling with their identity.

I am no longer a newly engaged or newly married woman.

I am no longer a new mom. I am a mom of (soon-to-be) three.

These are just a few of the ways that I feel I have outgrown my own space.

And sure, I could rebrand Made in Mom Jeans. I could continue to use the platform I’ve spent a decade building while trying to fight algorithms and keep up with the constantly changing landscape of social media.

But I don’t want to change Made in Mom Jeans and I don’t want to bury the resources that I’ve been able to provide within this space.

There is a quote that says, “It’s okay to disappear until you feel like you again.” And I think this is my soul quote – if there is such a thing. I do this frequently but this is the first time I’ve come back to a space and felt as though it was time to move on.

So if you’re reading this and you’ve been a part of the Made in Mom Jeans crew, thank you for being here. Thank you for all of your love and support over the years. I started this space as a place for honest conversations and I think we’ve accomplished that together.

As Taylor Swift once said at the Era’s tour, “It was the end of an era, but the start of an age.”

Made in Mom Jeans might not be the place for me anymore but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a piece of the internet left where I can carve a new slice for myself.

We all know that I could make this post long cause I love to write a wordy post. But I don’t want to drag out the inevitable “see you later” that is this post.

Instead, I’d like to introduce you to the next chapter.

I have always been a writer. Those of you who know me know that to be true. And even before I could write I was an avid storyteller. Just ask any of my family members. One time, I made up an elaborate story to explain the police cars I happened to see outside of my bedroom window one night.

It’s in my nature to write and share stories. And that’s not going to change. It’s just going to look different.

Over Coffee with Darrian Chamblee will be part creative journal, part cultural commentary, & deeply rooted in my love for stories.

It’s a place where I’ll be writing my next chapter in real-time and sharing weekly(ish) musings that feel like catching up with an old friend in the corner of your favorite coffee shop.

It is my sincerest hope that you will join me in this next chapter.