For a while now I’ve been alluding to exciting things about to happen to Candice Does the World. Some of you might call it “vague booking.” You are correct.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that some time ago (maybe years ago?) I expressed dissatisfaction with where my website was headed, and I was considering a name change. But since I’m the kind of person who doesn’t do things half assed, here I am tumbling headlong into a complete rebrand, redesign, and overall life makeover. Chill, friends. It’s going to be okay. I’m not growing up. I’m just growing.

But somewhere along the way I went back to censoring myself and not writing about the things I care about. In my life before travel blogging, I went by the name “Candie.” Rarely did my friends call me Candice.

Candie was a bit more free spirited, and certainly more of a badass. Hence the new name: Free Candie. Because I’m free! Free to roam! Free to a life without borders! Free to construct my own life. Stickin’ it to the man! And yes you can still vaguely associate Free Candie with a porno if you want to get super creative, but over all, it’s more ME. (I was really bad at “doing the world.” I mean I rarely date and I’ve only been to 28 countries.)

Here’s another thing about me: My life isn’t just travel. It really isn’t. In fact, if you were to ask me what my number one passion is, it’s good literature. And writing.

And my dream isn’t to one day be the biggest travel blogger on the planet, it’s to be a published novelist…which might even be happening sooner than you think.

I miss the literary world, where people truly care about the quality of writing. I want to get back into that lifestyle. And if a publisher comes a-knockin’, I want them to peruse my website and say, “DAAAMN, this Candie girl got it going on!” Followed closely by a million dollar offer.

And I want to share all those things with you! The struggles of writing my own manuscript, the realities of balancing work and life, the pitfalls of being perpetually single, or what it’s like to Tinder date in Berlin. You, my readers, have responded so well to my personal posts. I’d love to share more of that stuff with you. I’d like to be more honest.

But I also 100000% promise to never tell you what to do when it comes to achieving your goals. I’m not going to tell you to quit your kickass job to start a blog and scrub toilets in Thailand. I merely offer my support. You want to travel the world? AWESOME! You want to raise chickens in your backyard while creating graphic novels for a living? OKAY LET’S DO IT.

I think you’re going to love my new site rebrand and redesign. Everything will be cleaner and easier to find. My spunkiness will ALWAYS be present. You’ll still get lots of great travel content, but more than just travel too.

It’s time to say goodbye to Candice Does the World and to put my effort into a website that grows WITH me. So that maybe one day if I have children and settle down and build a shack on the ocean, all those new stories will fit flawlessly into my life.

Remember that scene from Shrek, where Shrek is explaining to Donkey how he’s like an onion, and how onions have layers? I’m like an onion. I have many layers.

Over the next couple of weeks, CandiceDoestheWorld.com will be transitioning to FreeCandie.com. And follow my social media for more news about the relaunch.

If you have questions, let me know! I cannot WAIT to share my new website with you.