New Year – Reintroduction

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Hey friends, I hope you have all enjoyed your New Year celebration as safely as possible. 2020 was one hell of a rollercoaster. I’m thankful I made it off that ride in one piece, as well as every one of you reading this.

I want to take a brief moment to reintroduce myself. Most of you that read my blog or follow me on Instagram know me in “real life”. But many of you, including those that know me, don’t actually know what this blog is really supposed to be about – what its purpose is. So let me provide a bit of a fresher, a reintroduction, to Oaknmetal. To me.

Starting with the very basics, my name is Natalie. I don’t really like to be called by my whole name. It’s too long and I kind of prefer one to two syllable names/nicknames. Plus, while I do find my name to be a very nice/pretty name, it’s a bit too dainty for me. Natalie has never really suited me. Nat, however, does. I’ve always preferred my nickname. It’s one syllable, it has a strong sounding presence (at least to me), as well as sporty. It’s a bit on the gender neutral side. Quite simply, it’s me. I am Nat. Unless you are formally addressing me, or I am formally in trouble, please call me Nat 🙂

My birthday is March 4th, making me a Pisces. I don’t really follow or believe in astrology, but I am open to discussions and interpretations. I will be 34 years old this year. I was born in the boogie down Bronx, spent the first 6 (or 7) years of my life living in the lower east side (LES) of Manhattan and then lived in Jersey City, NJ for about 23 years. I very much consider myself a New Yorker. That is my home. But I also deeply feel I am just as much a Jersey girl. I am thankful and proud of this.

Growing up, I was athletically gifted. But I was just as untrained and undisciplined as I was gifted. Many people told me I could have played in the WNBA, but there was never any real direction or mentorship. Just people acknowledging that I had a gift. And that carried over into other areas of my life. I’ve never considered myself special. But I’ve also never considered myself to be average. Certain things have always come natural to me. That includes academics. I never really had to work too hard while in school. I understood things and caught on to different topics quite easily. In many ways I coasted through school. Because I didn’t have to, I never worked very hard. Once again, I didn’t have any guidance, mentorship or discipline. Except for physics. And trigonometry. Oh, Spanish and Latin as well. I had to work hard in those classes.

I mention all that because the lack of support all throughout my adolescence and early adulthood left me quite lost and confused. I knew I had talent, and I knew I could actually accomplish anything that I had an interest in. But I severely lacked any and all discipline. And after my brother was born (22 years ago) my love and relationship with basketball changed. Add to that, once I started going through puberty I no longer felt as strong or confident in my body. I stopped playing sports. In addition to no direction or support, I’ve put on a lot of weight over the years.

About four years ago I woke up and had a light bulb moment. I had been working at a dead end job for way too long, and I was no longer really interested in pursuing film/video. Media Arts was my major, and it was going nowhere. My other interests however, were really filling up all my thoughts, and decision making. The problem was that I had range of interests, and pursuing all of them at the same time was just not possible. How could I pursue fitness/personal training, real estate, film/screenwriting/editing and fashion blogging and actually expect to survive (mentally, emotionally and especially financially) ? The answer hit me like a splash of cold water; a blog.

Enter Oaknmetal. Oaknmetal is my way of combining everything I love and want to do into one cohesive space. Of course, if you have read previous posts, it hasn’t always been about that. It’s actually been more of a journal of what I have gone through the last couple of years. It’s been a journal along with lifestyle blog. I don’t really regret that because it has been my genuine process. Going forward, I do intend to shift more toward’s what this blogs original purpose is. Of course I will share anecdotes and updates on my life. That will never change. But it is high time I start blogging about the roots for this blog – the health/fitness, real estate, fashion, food, traveling, film/media. That is what Oaknmetal was always meant for. And that is what it will be.

Let me also explain the name Oaknmetal. I get asked often what it means or why I chose the name. It’s quite simple, its the aesthetic that I really like. A few years ago I was really into the look of wood and metal combined, specifically furniture. That style would tend to generate a feel of calmness, simplicity, strength, mindfulness, intention, discipline, cleanliness, maturity, sexiness, and confidence. I find it gorgeous. And while wood and metal are vastly different materials, combined they are both beautiful and powerful. It is both the aesthetic that I love along with how I interpret it. Once I said “Oak and Metal” out loud, I knew that was the blogs name.

Now that I have reintroduced both myself and the blog, I hope you continue to follow along and join me on my journey. Soon I’ll discuss my goals for this year. But before I do, I want to know what YOUR goals are! Please tell me below in the comments, or share them with me on my social media pages (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter).

If you haven’t already, please subscribe to my blog and share any posts you enjoy! As always I look forward to connecting with any and all of you. Stay safe and continue to look out for and love one another.

Nat.

(Side note: Today starts my 15th year as a vegetarian!!)