This is the second year that I've picked a focus word for the year. My dear friend Phillip introduced me to the idea last New Year's Day that instead of writing a typical New Year's Resolutions list, to choose one word that you want to be the center focus for that upcoming year. I really love that sentiment, so together at brunch, we all picked our words.
Last year my word was DELIBERATE. I wanted to really focus on being intentional with my time and just how I spent it, and to really focus on being present in each moment.
This year I chose the word COURAGEOUS.
I feel like there are just so many things I want to do in life but fear sometimes stops me from attempting those things. I want to focus on being more courageous in life, and realize that it really is okay to fail. It's okay to take chances. It's okay to try new things and be bad at it the first time around. It's okay to be apprehensive about life changes, but I never want that apprehension to stop me from doing the things I want to pursue in life.
So, 2019 will be a year of courage, a year to try new things, a year to live my life fully! As cliche as that may sound. I never want to look back on my life as a "what could have been". I want to take chances, and make changes, and be courageous.
The east coast is so wild. In the past two days I've been in 10 states with hardly any driving! Maine. New Hampshire. Connecticut. Massachusetts. New York. New Jersey. Pennsylvania. Delaware. Maryland. Virginia.
I've also paid waaay too much in tolls to get across all those states! $19 in total yesterday and $24 in total today. I don't understand the point of toll roads. Isn't that what taxes are for?
Anyway, it seems nuts that in just a few hours of driving you can be in so many different states!
Goodnight from Virginia Beach!
Day 1 of my trip started off so great! I went to Devil's Tower, Wyoming which is truly kind of spectacular!
I walked around the entire rock formation, which really isn't that far of a distance but it seems like it will take such a long time to walk around when you're initially looking at the size of it! It's misleading, I suppose. I asked a cute couple at the beginning of the trail how long it took and the husband said "Oh about 15-20 minutes!" It definitely did NOT take me 15-20 minutes but I also did stop a lot for photos and videos. It probably took me closer to an hour and 20 minutes to get around it after all my side exploring off the main trail. Homeboy either lied, or that cute old couple just booked it around the tower!
It was such a beautiful walk, and so incredibly quiet in the trees. I love those purely peaceful moments when it feels like it's just you and the trees. There's just some particular moments in life that stick out as being truly peaceful and completely content with life. This walk was one of those moments for me.
I bought some little souvenir treasures from the gift shop, and then continued on to Deadwood, South Dakota and then Rapid City, South Dakota. Deadwood is a really cool old gold mining town in the mountains. Maybe it's because I was raised going to all the gold mining towns in the California foothills, but I've always really loved gold mining towns! They will always have a sentimental place in my heart, and this one was no different! Deadwood is cute!
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| Deadwood, South Dakota |
My grandparents (Schultz side) are both from Rapid City so it was kind of lovely to see where they grew up and met. I drove by the house my dad lived in for the first few months of his life before they moved to California.
I went to Dinosaur Park which has a really fun view over the city! Not to mention some cool dinosaurs! ;)
On this trip, I sleep most nights in my car but if a place is particularly cold that night I get a hotel. In Rapid City, I got a hotel and met 3 girls in the lobby who were about my age from Australia doing the same thing as me! They flew into the east coast and were road tripping across the United States until they got to San Francisco. It's just really fun to meet others doing the same sort of thing!
Even when you're alone on the road, there's always familiar feeling people to share moments with, and I think that's beautiful.
I'm currently on my cross country U.S. road trip! I'm finally doing it and it's so beautiful! I couldn't have picked a better time of year to do this trip. The autumn colors have been so incredible everywhere I've been! I'm really in love with this season.
I left on Monday, October 15th so it's been about 2 and a half weeks that I've been out on the road and it feels a lot shorter than that while simultaneously feeling so much longer!
I've had a blast so far and this trip is exactly what my heart and soul needed. I needed to be wild, to explore new places, to get out of my comfort zone, to experience new things, to truly live my life. And I've been doing all of that!
So far, I've essentially done the whole northern half on the United States and a little bit of Canada too! I want to do separate blog posts to go into more depth about each beautiful place I've explored so those will be coming soon!
I'm just overwhelmingly happy. It's hard for me to put into words, but it truly just feels so freeing for my soul. There's something so therapeutic about traveling down little unknown roads in states I've never been. About meeting new people who are also on the road by themselves with the sheer intention to just explore. About seeing other walks of life. About approaching kind strangers every step of the way to ask them to take a photo of me. About learning to be truly content with myself.
This trip is something I knew I wanted to do for a long time, but I guess I didn't realize just how much I needed it.
Until next time.
Goodnight from Portland, Maine!
I went down to Nephi with Jeremy to visit his family and have a lake/boating day at Mona Reservoir!
Our boating trip got off to a silly start because after we had just launched out into the reservoir, we noticed there was water at the bottom of the boat. After his dad reassured us he had just checked and made sure he put the plug back in before we took off, we noticed the water was rising. We drove back to the shore and pulled the boat back on to the trailer, and sure enough, the boat didn't have the plug in it! We were essentially sinking in the middle of the reservoir but telling ourselves we weren't! It was funny.
I just laid out and relaxed in the front of the boat, but the others rode on the wake board, and water skis and things. I just felt like being lazy. :)
We had a picnic back on shore of sandwiches, cantaloupe, chips, and oreos (which I don't really care for normally, but they were soooo good that day!)
It was such a fun, relaxing day on the water under the sun. I love a good boat day!
I just love summer. :)
You guys! Summer vacation is officially here! I had my last day of work last Friday and now it's easy breezy fun summer vacation ahead! I'm seriously so happy about it!
It's so funny that as soon as I stopped working I quickly reverted back to my teenage years. I instantly started staying up late again and feeling how I felt when I was a teenager! Just a few months ago, I was totally falling asleep on the couch while watching TV at 9:00 p.m. and Jeremy would have to wake me up and help me to bed. Now I'm just reverting back to my old night owl ways again, but I secretly really love it! I feel like a creative part of my brain gets turned on at night, and I really like that side of myself!
I think I just love the idea of having a summer vacation again! I haven't had a summer vacation for a few years so it's been a blast so far! I finally get to work on the creative side of my life more. I get to blog more, start up my vlogs again, schedule more photoshoots, and work on all the things I've been meaning to be better at.
I'm also so excited to be able to work on my garden more, travel around the country in my Fit, have more time for people, and just focus on the things that really matter to me.
It's so easy to get stuck in the routine of life and a full-time job, especially when it's one that isn't really fulfilling your dream, so it's nice to have that moment to re-evaluate your life and what's important to you. I'm re-assessing how I spend my free time, and what I truly want out of my life and it really is so refreshing and invigorating!
I've only been unemployed a few days, but I already feel so much happier and lighter! I know it won't last forever so I'm definitely soaking it all in while I can!
Yay for summer! And yay for refreshing life re-evaluations!
I'm at a little bit of a life crossroads lately. My last day of work at my job is this Friday June 8th, and then... I don't know what to do next!
I've been thinking about going back to school to get my teaching credential. I've thought about moving to Los Angeles to work for a movie studio (granted I need to get hired first). I've thought about trying to really give my Etsy shop Confetti Heart all my energy to make that more lucrative. I've thought about pursuing photography full time on my own. I've thought about starting a cookie/baking business. I've thought about buying land and making my own wedding venue business.
I just have no idea, you guys! I'm at that crucial moment where I just need to decide on something and run with it with all my time and energy, but I just don't know what direction I want to go yet!
If it's going back to school, I need to decide pronto and apply to a program for the Fall semester. I've been looking at CSU Channel Islands and CSU Northridge for the credential. The idea of going back to school sounds so fun to me, but I also only want to do it if I'm sure that's what I want to do, even if just for a few years.
Regardless of what I end up doing, I'm for sure going to take this Summer off! I haven't had a Summer vacation since I was in college so it just sounds so nice to take a little time off for myself. I want to travel. I want to swim. I want to lay out under palm trees in the sand and be a bum. I want to photograph everything I see. I want to roadtrip in my new Honda Fit and sleep in the back. I want to visit family and friends. I want to play, and explore, and be happy! I really just want to slow down to truly enjoy my life.
So although I have no idea what I want to do after my little Summer vacation, I'm so excited for what's to come! It's nerve-wracking, and intimidating, and exciting all at the same time!
Here's to hopefully an enlightening Summer to help me realize what passion to follow next!
My Etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/confettiheart
A little list of things I love lately! Because sometimes you just have to be grateful for all the little things.
THINGS I LOVE:
1. This lovely little drink I've been making myself everyday! It's such a refreshing summer drink and it makes me so happy! Plus, I put it in my Rain Forest Cafe glass I got from my last trip to Las Vegas and that is a cute little reminder of my fun trip there in April! The drink is so simple. You just mix a can of Dole Pineapple juice and a can of Fresca. Add some crushed ice and a straw and you have a little piece of delicious Summer happiness!
2. Oprah's Super Soul Conversations! Her podcast is so uplifting and inspiring and helps me feel a little bit more lifted when I listen to it.
3. Taking time for a little something small I enjoy. Lately, it's been sitting on the porch swing. Everyday when I get home from work, I put my things inside, change into some comfy clothes, and sit out on the porch swing to unwind. Sometimes it's just for 5 minutes and sometimes I'm out there an hour. I realized it's something I personally need to get back in tune with myself, and I've been loving that!
4. All the flowers in bloom everywhere! They're all so pretty and brighten my day. I love all the different blooms in everyone's yards when I go on my walks. I especially love stopping to smell the yellow roses and the yellow/orange ice cream mix rose bushes. Ooh so yummy!
4.The OC! Yes, that OC. The silly TV show from the early 2000s that we all secretly loved! I'm re-watching the seasons right now, currently on season 4, and it still holds up, you guys! It's just such a silly, entertaining show and makes me feel like I'm my 15 year old self again! Oh the drama!
5. All the little mid-day thunderstorms we've been getting these past few weeks! I love a good thunderstorm! I love just going out on the porch and watching the lightning light up the sky and the rain run down the street. I love the rain! Especially those quick little storms that show up out of nowhere with such force!
LINKS:
Oprah's SuperSoul Conversations: www.supersoul.tv
Cookies from: www.thirstdrinks.com
I went to the Hogle Zoo for the first time Sunday morning! I had been there once before for the Zoo Lights but you can't actually see any of the animals during that; I'm not even sure if the animals are there in the Winter actually. So this was the first time actually seeing the zoo and it was so fun!
For
being a relatively smaller zoo, it's still super fun, and it's laid out
nice so it feels bigger than it really is! About 10:00a.m. it started
to pour so we hid out under the awnings next to the elephants who were
also hiding out from the rain. It was fun to just sit for 15 minutes or
so and watch the rain, but especially watch the elephants play with each
other and hide from the rain too.
We
went to the bird show at 11:00a.m. and I'm so amazed you can train
birds to participate like they did! They fly in from all over and have
their little markers they know to go to for their treat. I especially
love all the beautiful tropical, colorful ones; they're just so pretty
to watch!
After
the bird show, we had lunch at the Beastro. Clever name huh? We got
pepperoni pizza slices and some macaroni and cheese to share. After
lunch there was a little ice cream stand outside the Beastro that serves
Dole Whip so of course I got that! I've been on such a pineapple kick
lately so my little heart flutters when I see pineapple treats. :)
Okay, gorilla hands are so
fascinating to me! This cute gorilla was laying on her back in the
straw, staring up at the ceiling, picking at this log next to her and I
couldn't help but just admire how human-like her little hand was! It
really just looked like my hand in a gorilla costume glove moving about. It was fun
to watch her be bored lying on her back just picking away pointlessly at
this log.
This is the closest I'll ever be to a polar bear and it was so cool to watch him play in the water just a foot away from my face! He had a red little plastic pool that he kept trying to climb up on but it kept flipping over each time he would try. It's just nice to watch animals so closely while still feeling semi-protected. I probably shouldn't feel too safe though because I'm 92% sure a tiger got out at that zoo like a year ago!
Okay, I just looked it up, a leopard totally got out of it's habitat last year when a guest found it sleeping!
We ended our zoo day with a ride on the carousel of course!
Go to the zoo, you guys, it's so fun! Unless you're against zoos, then just know in your heart that they looked happy. ;)
