Lack Luster

And post lacking. Lately I have just been muddling through summer, working 5 days a week and desperately trying to entertain myself. I have moved into my new place (which is absolutely amazing and already feels like home) and with my best friend too! Unfortunately we have completely opposite schedules so we are lucky if we get to see each other for a few hours a week. Other than that, the only other people I see are my coworkers. I am fortunate enough to work with people I really like so that makes it a bit easier.

I have taken up reading for fun again! Currently embarking on Water for Elephants which I bought over a year ago at the local thrift store and am just now opening. I really want to explore more but I recently have encountered some health issues that have left me on my back on my days off. Really the only thing I need to do is work, so as long as I can manage that and still heal up I'll be ok.

In a few days I shall be off to summer camp once more and with all my friends from far away places! I have a lot to look forward to this summer, but I just need these things to happen sooner rather than later, I feel like I'm just going through the motions but I am working on changing that.

As you can tell I haven't written in quite some time but be patient with me, I intend on having things to post more often. I promise I am exciting, just give it time..

~~~

Stress is what you make it..

The cloud of work and school is still dawning over me as I finish up the last bit of the quarter. In exactly a month I will be moving into a new place and be officially finished with school for the summer. I am a bit nervous to be taking on two jobs for the summer, one being full time, and am ready to move and get settled into a new step of things.

I feel like I am just hanging on for this quarter and will be doing so until the end. Which is fine and I am pretty used to it. I miss doing things that I love and I miss my family. It has been nice for the past few weekends I have gotten to skype with mom, dad, and brothers.

Other than that I have been doing the same old same old, just listening to music, doing homework, and getting older (20 now woo!).

I promise this summer will be more post worthy, everything is just going through motions at the moment, and sometimes that is just what life throws at you and ya gotta do what ya gotta do!

~~~

Nursing School

As you may have noticed, I have not been posting as often as usual. That is because I have officially started my nursing classes! Which, though I am very excited for, has kept me very busy. I now have five classes instead of three but the classes are nowhere near as difficult as last quarter. So more busy but not impossible. Another factor is the extra hours I have picked up at work. I love being able to work and pay my own bills and practice being independent, though sometimes it can be tiring and take up time that I could spend socializing with people but it is just for now and I don't mind it. It has been really cool getting to know my coworkers and managers better too.

Despite the excitement of finally starting my nursing courses, I am so ready for summer. This summer, is going to be my official first taste of freedom. I will be moved into my new place with my best friend and no longer in the school dorms, I will be working full time and possibly even more than full time (depending on if I decide to take on another job), I will no longer be eating at a cafeteria for every meal and will be cooking for myself. My future roommate and I have plans to start an indoor herb garden and she has also been thinking about trying to get some community garden space opened up on the roof of our building. I am just super excited to start taking on these responsibilities and working on new projects.

Also, since everyone has gotten back from spring break, it seems like everyone is refreshed. I don't know what it is, maybe just all of us getting to know each other more but all of my friends seem to be a lot happier. I love to see my friends happy and that makes me happy, it makes me really excited for summer and such because most of us are staying in Seattle for the summer and even though we aren't going to be living close to each other, I think it is going to be ok.

One thing I have been exploring a bit more is music, I have been on a Lana Del Rey rampage as well as Brand New and The Neighbourhood. I should probably make a playlist to post to 8tracks, just give it a few days, but lately music has been super good to me. I usually turn to music when I am stressed or homesick but lately, I have been listening to it to just enjoy. Below are some of my favorites at the mo:

Lana Del Rey- Chelsea Hotel No 2

The Neighbourhood- Lurk

Brand New- Deja Entendu (Full Album)

~~~

Canada and Friends

This past weekend I was so blessed to be able to drive up to Canada to visit with some friends. It worked out perfectly, I didn't have work, my friend Tasha was up from California, and our friends had a day to hang out. We spent the day playing mini golf with our small friends and joined more friends for a hockey game.

It was so nice being able to catch up with people who I don't get to see very often and I hope I am able to make it up there more often and also it feels nice to get away from the city every once in awhile. The noise is overwhelming and I don't really notice till I am out in the country and finally able to hear. Here are a few pictures from the adventure.

Hope everyone's spring has started out beautiful, enjoying the sun in Seattle :)

~~~

Camping

So I wrote a post regarding this last week and some how managed to delete it and procrastinated reposting it out of frustration but here it is! Again!

Over spring break, a few of my friends and I ventured up north to go camping at Deception Pass. Though it wasn't sunny, the rain was kept to a minimum and being by the water was incredible. We spent half a day just walking up and down the water front. Though we couldn't quite get the fire started the first night with the wood we bought in the city, the next morning we went out and bought some from the campsite and had some delicious camping food. Over all it was a lot of fun to be in a beautiful place with a few of my favorite people especially after being in the city and in stressful classes for the past 3 months. It was everything we all needed to unwind from the quarter. Below are some pictures from the trip.

~~~

I am so happy to be in the pacific northwest and surrounded by all of these beautiful places and friends that I really love a lot.

End of the Quarter

Is just about here and this last quarter has felt like twice as long as it actually was. The last three months has been a blur of studying for midterms, working, and staying up too late writing papers. Luckily, as the quarter comes to an end, I feel confident in my time spent in class and really feel like I have learned quite a bit that will help me in my major and after I graduate. Even though it is extremely frustrating to be drowning in readings and studying, it is kind of worth it when you start to understand how everything fits together, especially with anatomy and microbiology.

Lately I have been exploring music a bit more because it is something I can do and enjoy while studying. I either put one The Secret Life of Walter Mitty or turn on the Jose Gonzalez pandora station. The calming melodies and whispered tracks by Iron and Wine and Jose are so mesmerizing and help me to de-stress and focus. Of course I shall link to a few of my favorites below.

As this quarter is coming to a close, I feel relieved, like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I know I will be successful in my major and job after. I was talking with my lab aide last night and he was reassuring that the next quarter would be a joke to this one and that is really what I need right now, I won't have to worry about work stressing me out, or not having enough time or any time at all to myself. I will be able to go to the gym on regular basis too. It feels like I have been in these classes for years and it is surprising to think that I still have another quarter before summer.

Luckily I have spring break in 10 days and have a camping trip planned with some friends. I am so excited to get away from the city and explore a new place, our site is right next to the water. I can't wait to get out of this metal jungle and into the trees and smell the salty breeze and even the drive up will be so beautiful and so much fun. I am stocking up on cameras to bring up.

On that note, here is some music for your ears (the last one is my favorite):

Step Outside by Jose Gonzalez

Jezebel by Iron and Wine

Your Hand in Mine by Explosions in the Sky

I hope you are all doing really well, 

I know the going gets tough but please 

take a moment

to take a breath

and remind yourself of what you love

and hold onto that

hold onto the feeling you feel

when you think your heart might be full

of life and love

~~~

Step outside
Time to step outside
House on fire leave it all behind you
Darkest night let the lightning guide you

An Abandoned Cabin

This weekend has been lovely in the most possible way. Despite the fact that I have a pile of homework (still) and have spent more time reading my biology textbook than sleeping, I made the best of it. I was able to hang out with my family quite a bit, go out to dinner with a close family friend, and even hit the gym a few times. What has been the best though, is the southern California atmosphere that I have missed so much. I literally just sat at the dining room table and did homework for three hours strait without so much as getting up, something completely unheard of for me back in Seattle. The quiet makes a difference, and also having a fully stocked kitchen two feet away helps a bit too.

And to top it all off I got to enjoy the classic Southern Californian dish of In-N-Out with one of my friends from high school. It was a perfect last-day-home meal and visiting with him was a ton of fun. Afterwards he showed me this abandoned cabin that he and his friends stumbled across a few years ago. Below are a few pictures from the adventure. 

It was the perfect ending to a perfect trip home, the nearly eighty degree weather was nice but also a bit much and I cannot wait to get back to rainy Seattle and back into the step of things. I am also ecstatic for this quarter to be coming to a close so that I can stop reading so much biology. Spring break is just around the corner, let's see how long I can hold my breath.

~~~

Snowy in Seattle!

This past Saturday the city of Seattle was granted with a few inches of snow. Now, I have been in the snow before but growing up in Southern California it was never something that happened ever. Being able to walk outside of my building and into the snow was so incredible and such an amazing experience. Also earlier in the night my best friends and I went to an open mic night where the owner forced us to get up and talk about ourselves, which was slightly stressful but actually really really cool. I learned a bit more about my friends and also got to hear Olivia play. The cherry on top was getting to play in the snow like a hopeless ten year old.

Another great thing about the night was going to our school field. There were so many students there and I got to meet a lot of people and hang out and have snowball fights and we finished the night off with hot drinks, cookies, pool, and watching cars try and make it up the hill next to our cafeteria (stressful and entertaining). All in all it was a perfect night for me, with friends, snow, and a lot of love and even though we only had snow for a small amount of time, that kind of makes it that much more special.

Below are a few pictures of the night and morning after taken by my lovely best friends:

It was such an amazing evening and I feel very very fortunate to get to be here, and even though the snow may be melting, memories will remain and the friendships built will continue to grow stronger.

~~~

The Yearbook Project

This is something that I have talked about previously but the project is officially underway! I picked up my first batch of disposables from Bartell's the other day and am planning on starting the scrapbooking process in the next week or so (really when I have finished my last midterm on Wednesday). A lot of the photos didn't turn out too great but I think that might be because the type of camera I was using, so we shall see if there is a difference with the next batch when that comes around with the new brand. A few of the photos turned out really good though and I am so excited to start my book.

Below are a few of my favorites from the past few weeks, another bunch will be up in about a month

I am still really excited about this project and it has been a lot of fun to carry around my cameras and take pictures, the functionality of the disposable cameras makes it a mystery and going through the developed pictures having each one be a surprise was a lot of fun. Just battling through the last of midterms and looking forward to going back to California next weekend and seeing my family.

I also made a new 8tracks playlist that has been on repeat for me for the last week:

Stay Elevated

Enjoy the rest of your weekends!

~~~

My Wonderful Week of Sickness

Sounds like something that shouldn't be a thing right? Well it was for me this week. Being sick this week has actually turned into a really ok thing for me. I started feeling off on Monday during my microbiology class and once I got back to my dorm I immediately went to bed and slept just about the entire day woke up with a high fever and sore throat. At this point I realized that I had a lab the next day and a test in two days (that is supposed to be very challenging) and broke down crying out of stress and went back to sleep to try and forget about it (don't worry there is a happy ending!). Anyways I woke up and talked to my mom for a long time on the phone which was really nice and the next morning I called my aunt and she took me to urgent care.

After a long wait at urgent care, almost passing out in the waiting room chair, the doctor saw me and I was running a 101.6 degree fever (Fahrenheit not Celsius for my non US readers) with an infected throat which generally speaking, is almost always strep. The doc did some swabs and gave me some antibiotics and sent me on my way. I am just starting to feel better but what I was most concerned about was getting really behind on school because especially in sciences and classes that involve a lot of reading (humanities usually) it is so easy to get really behind really fast. But luckily my school is amazing and my professors are even more amazing. 

A scan of Streptococcus bacteria from an electron microscope taken from here in case you were interested, but that is the stuff that is in my throat making me sick. Sorry I got nerd for a second there.

I went to both of my labs today and my anatomy professor was so gracious and pushed back my lab practical test two days without me even asking because she figured I would need more time to study and she let me leave the lab early because she didn't want me to stress myself out too much, she practically made me leave. And my microbiology teacher is letting me take the test whenever I feel prepared to take it and he was super interested in how I was doing and about how the strep progressed and such (I mean he is a microbio teacher so, naturally). It was just so nice to have my professors actually care about my well being and they are taking so many measures to make sure I don't fall behind and it just feels really nice and takes a lot of stress off. That is just one of the many reasons why I love going to a small private school.

So even though today was my first day out of bed, I am just really happy and relieved to not be falling behind and also my boss was super nice and gave me the time off I needed and he even gave me a longer shift on Sunday to make up for hours that I didn't get while being sick. 

With the up and coming Lucky event here in Seattle (which we do not have tickets to yet but hopefully will soon!) I have been exploring some more of the electronic music and here is a bit of my bounty:

Radioactive/Stranger (Mashup) - Daft Punk vs. Imagine Dragons

Fortune Days - The Glitch Mob (you can actually listen to the whole album here which I would highly advise, it is perfect homework/reading music). They are also coming to Seattle in May and I am hoping to get a ticket with the next paycheck cause damn would that be a good show.

And lastly

In My Mind - Ivan Gough and Feenixpawl ft. Georgi Kay (Axwell Mix)

That is all, I hope everyone is feeling healthy and happy and enjoy the rest of your week!

~~~

Seattle and New Personal Project

I would just like to briefly talk about the Seahawks going to the Superbowl. First of all, living in Seattle while the Seahawks are having this amazing season is such a blessing. To see a city come together under the pride of football. And even though football is super diluted nowadays from advertising it still can get entire cities together to cheer and yell and scream at the top of their lungs in love and excitement.

Another dimension for this to me is my grandma. I know it sounds super cheesy and dumb but I don't care. This year my grandma will be turning 93 and was born in Seattle. Ever since that team started she has been a fan and the Seahawks have never won a Superbowl in all this time. I just want them to win one Superbowl before she dies. That sounds morbid, but seriously, I really just want the Seahawks to win for her. I will definitely be tuning in for the game and screaming and gasping along with this city.

And now onto this "personal project." I have decided to start my very own yearbook for 2014. It consists of me carrying around a cheap little disposable camera whenever I go out and semi-documenting my adventures of the year. Then pasting them in sketch book (I prefer their thick construction like paper as opposed to a standard scrapbook) and writing little descriptions about said adventures and filling in the empty spaces with some of my creative sketches (to help along with my new years resolution to learn how to draw). I am so so excited to get into this project, I have already used up a camera and a half for this past weekend, and I shall also be scanning and posting a few of my photos.

I thought this up myself though I am sure its been done in the past. The idea of using a disposable camera has to do with not being too worried about the picture, nowadays with all things digital we all need to see the picture after it is taken and make sure we all look good, but without that ability, everything is candid and my hypothesis is that more pictures will turn out. Also there is a sense of excitement with getting the film developed and seeing how everything turned out. I shall update you all as the project develops.

ALSO, I don't know if I have mentioned this yet, but Taylor and I officially have Fall Out Boy/Paramore MonumenTour Tickets for Nor Cal in August. We are making a trip down for the weekend and I am so psyched for it. Possibly seeing New Politics/Magic Man at Neumos in February, a few of their songs below :)

New Politics - Harlem

New Politics - Tonight You're Perfect

Magic Man - Paris

Hope you enjoyed the post and the music :) Have a wonderful rest of the week!

~~~

First Week of Classes: Winter Quarter Edition

I have officially made it through my second first week of this school year. Feeling a little bit overwhelmed and under qualified, I still absolutely love being back in Seattle. I have already read over 100 text book pages and am still a little behind but still hanging in. The difference this quarter is that I don't have my terrible psychology class and both of my bio classes are starting to be interesting and kind of ok to learn about. But despite all of the work that comes with college, I love being here and I am going to take advantage of it and marinate in this education.

And on the social side of things, this quarter has started out way fun. I now have class at regular times so I can have lunch with my friends and that has actually been a huge thing for me. Last quarter I skipped a few too many classes out of anxiety and having a convenient break in the day has made a world of difference. And this past weekend my neighbor and friend had a few of his hometown buddies come and visit and I had so much fun getting to know some new people and touring around Seattle. Another thing is that I am just starting to get close with my friends here. Moving to a school in a different state was really hard for me because I didn't have those friends that I met in 3rd grade and know everything about and can talk to about anything. I had to start fresh and that freaked me out. But now I have a group of friends who are amazing and so different in all of the good ways. It is just so refreshing to be surrounded by people that you love.

And on the work side of things. Working almost double the hours but it is way easier now. My schedule was so weird last quarter and I was required to volunteer once a week and my classes just had a lot of weird busy work. Now that my schedule for school is normal and I have better studying habits, picking up the extra hours hasn't taken much of a toll on me at all. I actually enjoy going to work, I work with really nice people and my manager is a total sweetheart.

All in all I think it is pretty easy to tell that this quarter is off to an amazing start and I cannot wait to see what comes.

Also below is twenty one pilots new music video for Truce and it is quite lovely :)

Stay happy, breathe, and enjoy.

~~~