HAPPY WEDNESDAY, MISFITS ✌🏼

Wait, double take. GIRL, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? (it’s me, I’m girl).

FYI: today’s episode is a real-life update.

IF YOU’RE NEW: and want less life update, more practical tips + an abundance of relatable memes, check out previously-covered topics here!

FOR THE REST OF Y’ALL: I know, I know - in the near 3 years we’ve all been together, I’ve never suddenly disappeared for more than an episode (tbt pneumonia).

But this time I disappeared - FOR OVER TWO MONTHS. As I crawl out of my hole, I think you deserve to know why via:

I wrote our last episode before moving back home to California, after 13 years in London. I genuinely thought “it’s home! I don’t need a break in between.”

But life hardly goes to plan - even in a place you know like the back of your hand.

Because while home hasn’t changed much, I have. An easy detail to disregard in theory; not so easy to disregard in practice.

Today, I’ll take you through the status updates - one reel at a time - and end on what’ll come next with this newsletter.

First on the highlight reel: WE MADE IT TO CALIFORNIA!!!

We prepared for a hostile, dramatic border entry story - but LAX immigration was surprisingly both kind and welcoming to Deren.

I made it home in time for my grandma’s 85th, my birthday, Persian New Year with the family (much needed this year) and my mom’s 60th.

I’ve picked my best friend’s kids up from school, spent endless hours under the sun, squished my toes in the sand and hardly talked about work outside of work.

Look folks, I don’t take London for granted - it’s given me everything and infinitely more.

But after so many years, I began resenting a culture that normalizes “I’m free in 7 weeks on Tuesday at 4pm but have to be back by 6:07pm sharp!!”

Being home means impromptu: “I want coffee. Should I pick you up?” and “Are you home? I’m walking by your house - come out!” with my oldest friends.

My flat in London saw guests maybe twice a month. And sure - I loved that sacred alone time spent with Deren.

But my house back home has always been a revolving door of people. Now that I’m back, my house is exactly that again. Our door is always open. Our couch always has a butt on it.

This kind of love - that isn’t in any way tied to work; this endlessly sunny weather, friendly Californian energy and the little moments spent with loved ones is exactly what I needed after so many years away.

And that’s one reason I disappeared:

To be present to it. To let it fill me up. To soften the hard edges I’d formed to survive in the cold city I love and left. To embrace home as the person I am today.

Every light has a dark, so welcome to our unhighlight reel.

I’ll save the slightly annoying first-world problems for section 3 - but the TLDR of the unhighlight reel is the US + Iran are at war.

I don’t really need to go into why this tops the unhighlight reel. Besides the fact that the Iranian people aren’t any closer to being free, the country has been offline for 55+ days since the start of 2026 and we’re dealing with one of the most corrupt, unhinged wars of all time.

To make matters worse - while my Iranian family has had to leave their homes to hide in bomb shelters, the entire rest of the world is tone-deaf.

*Don’t get me started on the Dubai expats who’ve been next-level during this time.

All in all - it’s been rough.

It’s rough to live with the cognitive dissonance of being Persian, American and British.

It’s rough to have zero way of communicating with your loved ones in Iran.

It’s rough to be here and safe from harm while your own are harmed - by their own government or the American government.

It’s rough to write this newsletter knowing what a privilege it is.

And it’s ultimately hard to engage in any form of social media or have the creative capacity to write when your national identities are at war with one another.

So, I just didn’t.

Finally, let’s talk the first-world problem reel while you’re trying to move your business somewhere new.

Folks - accounting has been doing my head in.

Turns out I couldn’t simply wrap things up in the UK. AND I STILL HAVEN’T.

I learned that you can’t make a once-active company “dormant” - only a company which has never traded can truly be dormant.

So keshty LTD hasn’t closed in the UK - it has “ceased to trade.” Which, in layman terms, means I’m (YET AGAIN) paying an arm and a leg to HMRC for existing.

Accounting in the US hasn’t been easier. Every accountant I spoke to panicked because (1) my minor residual presence in the UK means they’re not equipped to handle “international taxes” and (2) wtf was I thinking trying to reach out to accountants during US Tax Season???

In the end I found a firm willing to take us on and - AS OF THIS WEEK - keshty LLC has been born into existence!!!!! I now have loads more to do (e.g. get a business license, bank account, payroll etc.) but at least the first step is over.

I’ve kept 2 UK clients AND signed on a 3rd. I admittedly haven’t moved on US pipeline generation as much as I’d like to.

FYI: when it’s 9 AM in California, it’s 5 PM in the UK 😵‍💫

Y’all remember how sacred my mornings are to me. I protect them militantly and refuse to take meetings before 11 AM.

But here I am at 7 AM starting my morning with 3 hours of calls - MY LEAST FAVORITE WAY TO WORK.

When I lived in the UK, I’d live a full day before my people back home woke up. Now I’m waking up feeling 20 steps behind my UK peeps.

MAYBE this will force me to become a morning person. I love ending the day at 2pm - but it’s completely thrown off my routine, and TBH I’m still figuring out how to ride with it.

I left home at 21 and moved to London.

At 34, I’ve moved back into my childhood bedroom WITH MY HUSBAND - sharing a space with my parents and grandma.

I don’t take the opportunity for granted, but I can’t underscore enough how much mental gymnastics are involved here.

It certainly doesn’t give way to creative thinking, but as we settle in, I’ve come to appreciate the multitude of coffee shops and outdoor spaces I can work from.

I think they’re the ticket to keeping me sane. To be confirmed.

Just a note to say: thanks for your patience while I adjust to my new life amidst all that’s going on in the world 🫶🏼

I’m feeling more settled now and have a routine again. Expect to see more of me and the practical, no BS lessons you’ve stuck around for from keshty’s inception.

If you want to say hello (or anything else!) feel free to reply to this email directly OR use the vibe check below (it let’s you drop a comment once you select your vibe). And yes - I still read each and every one of them!!

Thank you for being here. I appreciate you.

xo, Neds