Catching up

Here is my past couple weeks in pictures!

 Since early March/April, I've been growing sunflower seeds in my small dorm room in a tiny pot. When I got home from the summer I planted them in my front yard and they just began to sprout into beautiful baby sunflowers! 

 As mentioned before, in an earlier blog, I was incredibly overwhelmed with juggling my summer activities and finding time for myself and people I wanted to spend time with. Mark took me out on a spontaneous kayaking adventure that was super fun and a great way for me to de-stress.

 This was our view as we kayaked around. It was really cool and something I have never done before that day!

 I enjoyed some CPK pizza!

 This is the transformation picture of my sunflowers! They started off as little sprouts of green stems and grew into these beautiful sunflowers! Although the seeds I planted was of the Sunflower Dwarf species, they only grew to about 4 feet tall. Which isn't that impressive for the regular sunflower because they can easily grow up to 6 feet. But they were incredible to watch and it gave me a gratifying feeling that I know how to plant and grow beautiful living things. :)

Some delicious shrimp scampi, white rice, and platanos that I ate at a colombian restaurant. 

Newly

This week I had two experiences that only solidified how sometimes we truly never know how we can truly impact each other's lives.

I recently started volunteering regularly at a hospital near me. During my stay, I had built a friendship with one of the patients there. She told me stories from her past, her family, and her experiences. Earlier this week, she was all better and ready to go home. When she was on her way out, she hugged me and told me thanks and that she hoped to see me again. It wasn't until that moment that I realized how much we had become friends. Sometimes I have doubts about my career choice much like anyone else around my age. But it's experiences like this that make me glad I chose what I chose and that I might have chosen correctly.

Yesterday, I came across a customer at work that I just clicked with. She told me how she ballroom dances, about one of her past hardships, and she gave me some advice about my career as well. We ended up exchanging numbers and hope to reconnect soon. I honestly didn't know she would tell me such useful information and end up becoming a good networking tool.

I feel like at this point I can easily feel lost and unsure about myself. But I'm glad these moments happened so I can feel sure about myself a little longer.

Lovely surprise

Lately, I've been more overwhelmed than I have ever experienced in a long time. I haven't been this stress probably since my first arrival at college my freshman year. I've been busy balancing multiple things and it's been tough on me physically and mentally. Last night, it took a toll on me and I sort of lost it. I broke down, my thoughts began to snowball, and basically catastrophe happened.

I typically like to isolate myself and calm myself down whenever something like this happens. I push others away until I'm alone with my thoughts. Which usually, isn't the best thing. I begin to think that I'm left to deal with my problems alone and that's usually where I reach a dead end.

But today I was reminded that I don't have to do anything alone and I'm very grateful that I was.

Late July 4th Fireworks

A huge storm hit the east coast this weekend that put a damper to most peoples' 4th of July plans. I've been stressed and mostly busy this past week which kind of put me down a little because I wanted to spend time with friends and just kind of hangout this long weekend.

Thankfully, since the storm delayed some fireworks shows, I was able to enjoy some fireworks last night with a couple of friends. Since July just started, it kind of put me in that reality check that summer is halfway over and now I have to buckle down and start preparing stuff for school and moving in.

Some summer goals I have for the rest of the summer:

1. Go hiking.
2. Go to a "pick your own" farm.
3. Read at least two books.
4. Go to the high line.
5. Make more time for friends.
6. Study for one hour every other day
7. Keep up with a gym schedule
8. Beach
9. Collect enough unique decorative pieces for my new room.
10. Go to a couple yoga classes.