Back to school shopping again

Yesterday I headed to Ikea once again to just get some small things for school and grab some good dinner. Sometimes the best food is Ikea food. Some times... usually it's hardly even cafeteria food quality. This week quickly passed and now I suddenly have a week left at home. I'm stocking up on food again and I'm slowly packing up all my things. Next week is my last day at work and it's crazy to think how nervous I was to do the interview at the beginning of summer. Now, I'm just going on a school hiatus.

A lot of things happened to me over the past week that made me realize how often people and especially me, overreact and dramatize little things. It's almost as if we want to feel sorry for ourselves and make things worse than it actually is. Then later sulk about how much we want to be happy. This is just a friendly reminder to stop sweating the small things! Things can get stressful, situations can get bad and worse even - but that doesn't mean things can get better.

First time hiking!

Yesterday, Mark and I set out to hike for the first time! We ended up hiking for 3 hours and saw a lot of scenic spots. Towards the end, we lost track of our trail somehow and had a short panicking period where we didn't know how to get out but we eventually did. We even stumbled upon another lake on our way out. I loved hiking and how it felt to get away from everything for a short while. It was great exercise and we always stumbled upon friendly fellow hikers. Afterwards, we ate a late lunch at Panera which was nothing short of satisfying and delicious.

Later on in the day I mustered up enough energy to hangout with a friend before she set off this Saturday for school. It was reminiscent and a little sad. It's been a whole year since we all were first scared of the first day of college and going away. That last week full of empty promises of seeing each other throughout the year. Not that there weren't any efforts. But... well yeah.

Today I saw Kick Ass 2 with a couple friends which was amazing. I never had an interest in Chloe Grace Moretz aka Hit Girl until this movie. She's definitely a bad ass. Afterwards we hit up the bowling alley and spent the time in between turns catching up. With nearly a week left of summer left, I'm already feeling the pang of depression as summer slowly ends.

Mizumi

This past Sunday my family and I went to check out Mizumi which is a Japanese buffet style restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised with how clean, delicious, and variety of options they had. I'm not the type of eater that would necessarily excel at buffets. I'm more of the type that eats smaller portioned meals frequently rather than three big meals. Nonetheless, I was able to try a lot of their sushi, typical Japanese dishes (not pictured) such as Kimchi, breaded pork, calamari, and different soups. I was glad that they didn't have typical American favorites such as pizza, burgers, or hot dogs. Although they had fries, I thought it was important they kept consistency in the restaurant. My favorite dessert I tried was the green tea cake. I was disappointed I couldn't eat more of it simply because I didn't have room but it was definitely delicious.

Reflection of this summer

I haven't made a textual post in a while and thought I should since my mind has been running wild with different thoughts. It's basically the end of summer and I guess... and I do really hate to admit but my summer didn't turn out the way I thought it would be. I worked a lot, leaving tight schedules which made it hard to make plans with friends and just made others totally give up on me. Or I on them. It's strange really. I don't think I'll ever seem to get over it. It being, how different everything actually is.

I work with a lot of girls who are younger than me. Some a year younger so they just graduated and they're all excited, scared, and nervous for change. Some are two years younger than me so they're just about to enter their senior year. I can't believe how much I missed senior year. Now, I hardly speak to anyone from high school.. let alone see them. Maybe it's my fault, maybe it's theirs. The finger pointing never ends. But I just can't help and think what now.

Even in just a year's time... it's so weird seeing where everyone is at this point in their lives. Party animals, ambitious, or in hiding. It seems as though most of my posts have been about my separation anxiety from high school and the perfection it seemed to be in retrospect. But above all else, how much I miss my old friends.

It seems as though I took this topic in stride... but it pains me every time I let myself think back in time. In anticipation for this summer I thought it would be a chance to rekindle these friendships - deep inside even though I didn't want to admit it. But again, I was wrong. Yet, I have new hopes going on forward.

I think I turned into an archetype hippie this past few months. I tried out yoga which I love and hope to continue this semester at school. I'm slightly more aware of what I eat and what I should or should not eat even though it's difficult to with my culture. And my style is definitely different. Although Mark would like to categorize me as an A class "hipster". I like to call my style bohemian on a budget? A tad corny but oh well. I grew an affinity to nature and pretty scenery which I never really stopped to appreciate before. Hippie yet? Maybe not.

I also decided to take my blog in a different direction. With super big fail on my 30 day snap challenge... I don't think this blog will longer be aimed at tips and advice of products and trends. But will be more a personal and lifestyle blog. I hope to continue posting pictures of outfits and such but possibly more rants. I've been delving in different blogs lately and felt inspired to take my blog in a different direction.

Beach and City Visits

With only a month of summer left, I'm trying to make the most of it! Despite my bigger expectations at the beginning of the season, I'm pretty content with how most of my summer went. I kept busy with my new job and now that it has pretty much slowed down, I can spend the rest of my free time with friends. With that being said, I went on a couple trips this past week. The first one was a trip to the beach with my family. Which was much needed. It's easy to get caught up in jobs and daily routines that it's important to remember to make most of the time that I get to spend at home. We visited an aquarium and local shops for some treats. We attended a sea lion feeding session where they performed stunts and funny tricks which made me think back to the documentary on dolphins I watched in high school. I wondered if it was sick of me to enjoy watching the sea lions follow orders even if they taught through positive reinforcement. I don't know if those kinds of situations are ever justified.

I took a day trip to NYC to meet up with some friends from college which was pleasant. I enjoyed being tour guide for a day and discovering new spots along the way. I must admit, it sparked a bit of excitement in me which I'm now looking forward to this fall. It was a nice feeling seeing those people outside of school. Since I go to school so far, they seem so intangible and our friendship falters only to be reconstructed four months later. So it was a nice change to see them.