Sunday 29 September 2013

Ladies Retreat


This weekend I went on a women's retreat to Lake Chelan. Twenty of us made the journey from Western to Eastern Washington. The drive up was dreary as we wound our way through the mountains; however through the rain we could see the beautiful lakes and mountains that make up the Washington scenery. On our way up we saw signs warning us about both deer and big horned sheep. I personally have never seen a big horn sheep but I certainly would never want to run into one...

Unfortunately the misty weather followed us to Lake Chelan, we were going to take a sea plane to this isolated peninsula at the northern end of the lake; however due to the weather the plane trip was cancelled :( So instead a group of us went on a wine tasting; we hit 5 different wineries in a period of five hours. I have never been wine tasting before so this was a phenomenal experience. We tried many different reds and whites and our servings ranged from minuscule to overly generous. My favorite wines came from Benson winery; you should check out Curious, Rhythm and Sangiovese. They are all delicious and worth trying!

On that note I'm going to leave off with some pictures from this weekend and continue to enjoy my spicy hot chocolate and Beyonce's album 4

<3









Wednesday 18 September 2013

Being a Real Adult...


So the other day I was out at the bar with a couple of girls from school and we were discussing our various epiphany moments where we realize that we're actual adults. We thought it was funny because we've all technically been "adults" since the age of 18 however I've always felt more like a child then an actual grown-up. If you were wondering I had my epiphany moment on the bus the other day; I was just sitting there trying to figure out where to look (if the bus is crowded its almost impossible to not look like you're staring at someone) and it just hit me that I'm an actual adult and this is my life and that I can choose to do whatever I want. The thought of never having to ask for parental permission again is actually really satisfying. So in the spirit of being a real adult here are some things that I've been struggling with:

1) Eating correctly: growing up I was fortunate enough to have a fairly decent meal on my plate (there were some touch and go periods where the babysitter couldn't cook); my meals always consisted of a main dish, a salad and a veggie. In college I would just eat whatever I really felt like in the cafeteria; eventually I learned to swerve certain stations and that eating chicken fingers daily does have its consequences... but still I never had to really put in effort to get a well-balance meal. Now that I'm alone I'm trying to learn the balance of eating enough of the right stuff. For instance; I probably don't eat near enough fruit and vegetables, I have no issue with either I love most types of fruit and veggies I just forget to buy them at the store. Or worse I do buy them and then forget about them and they go bad... yuck! I've been slowly working them into my diet and googling different ways to prep the veggies so I can them back into my belly and be a happier healthier person. On the same topic I also struggle with lunch at work; often when I get up for work I'm too lazy to make my lunch so I'll just buy food at work. While easier now, its not efficient or healthy in the long-term. I've started prepping my lunch the night before as well as I've stocked up on Trader Joe brand frozen foods, yummy! I've also limited myself to eating out at work once a week, we'll see how that goes...

2) Cleaning: Not that I'm a particularly dirty person but its been an adjustment realizing that if you don't clean no one else will...gross. I've gotten into cleaning my room and putting my stuff away. If my mom, grandma and nanny growing up read this they probably all just died of shock. Growing up I was always asked the name of the hurricane that hit my room; now you only rarely find my clothing on the floor. I haven't quite gotten into the whole vacuuming, sweeping and swiftering thing but I'm sure that'll come with time. 

3) Work: There is a lot more to working then you are ever taught how to deal with in school. Regardless of grades or major there is a learning curve going from being in school to working. I got hit hard with the learning curve earlier this week and I'm working on adjusting. The most important piece of wisdom I've learned so far is that its not personal its business; just because someone doesn't like your work its not because your bad; your work often isn't what they were looking for exactly. I'm trying to learn how to read minds but so far its been kinda hard. Also resisting the urge to nap is sometimes extremely hard; its ok to drink 4 coffees no one will judge you. Also I'm working from home for the first time today (only for part of the day) and its soo much better! I don't know why I waited so long...

A couple of other things; I know that Miley has gotten a little crazy but we all rebel sometimes. I actually really enjoy her song Wrecking Ball; so Miley you just keep being Miley.

That's all!

Friday 13 September 2013

Life Updates

Hello Friends,


Sorry its been so long, I've been super busy with work and other shenanigans. Over the past few weeks I've had some milestones. I'm approaching my third month at work (Yikes!) and because its my third month I have a performance review next week (double yikes!) Some other milestones, about a month ago I turned 22, which I suppose makes me a real adult now because I'm officially done with college and I'm no longer in the carefree days of being a 21 year old college senior (wah :( ) But regardless of age I'll always be a child at heart :)

I've also been in my apartment for about a month now and without further to do here are some photos of it:


Sorry my room is a little messy, but lets get real who actually has time to make their bed? The apartment is a little tiny and with all of our stuff, its been looking a little cluttered so if anyone has any tips on how to improve our fung shaui (spelling?) feel free to hit me up :)

Some other fun things, I've recently opened a library card, since I'm a Seattle resident I finally can do it. In YP we're not allowed to use the library because we decided not to pay the taxes (way to fight literacy YP). I got a little overly excited about having a library card since I haven't had a library card in about 10 years ( I incurred too many fines at my library in Chicago...whoops) I placed 35 books on hold thinking that they'd take awhile to come in... I got an email notice saying I had 19 books on hold at the library; I looked like a fool making this trip:
Thank God for Lulu lemon shopping bags; they really do hold a lot. I'm currently trying to get through all 19 of them before I have to return them; so far I'm on my 3rd book so I think I'm making ok progress. I'm also open to book suggestions so if you have any feel free to comment! :)

Over Labor day weekend my friend from school was in visiting from DC; they're going to graduate school in London (what a show-off) this fall and they came to say good-bye to all of their college buddies. One of the adventures we went on was going on the Seattle Great Wheel.  I'm generally ok with heights and I enjoy roller coasters but for some reasons ferris wheels terrify me. I think it has to do with being stuck in a capsule and slowly moving in the air; I am not a fan. Anyway I made it through the 4 spins that come with your $15 ticket; it got a little easier as the rounds went on but I was definitely scared the entire time.

On a positive from where the wheel is located you get a great view of the city and the water; here's my super hip Instagram photo:

If your not as big of a wuss as me I definitely recommend it.

Anyways that's about it; thanks for reading!