Oh, hi! Let’s check in

Oh, hey there friends! It’s been a hot second since we last talked, so I wanted to check in with you to say hello! (I promise I haven’t forgotten about you! …or the blog 😛 )

A quick update on what I’ve been up to (besides not blogging ha!) over the last few months…

Last time we talked, I was working on my research at the Applied Physics Lab in Maryland over the summer. And it went GREAT!! I had such a fun, fantastic, and productive time working with one of my mentors there and exploring everything that the East Coast had to offer (in terms of traveling and adventuring!) It was hard to be away from friends and home for so long, but overall it was worth the temporary emotional discomfort and FOMO.

In addition to growing my research each and every day (seriously, the leaps and bounds I made still surprise me!), I also had the opportunity to present at my second technical conference in Pasadena (July), to visit family all over the world (Germany and Missouri in August, Alaska in September), and to hit the fall camping/hiking season hard with trips every weekend once I got back to Colorado. All of this on top of starting my *last* semester of classes here in Boulder, which side note I thought would never happen haha.

It’s been a fast-paced whirlwind of a summer and I’ve honestly loved every minute of it! But there is definitely something to be said about slowing down to breathe every once in a while, and I think I’ve finally reached that point in the year. And what better time to do it in than the changing of the season? Fall….ahhh. My favorite!

Anyways, I don’t have too much to say today, I just wanted to check in with you guys, say hi, and let you know that we have a lot to catch up on over the next couple months! So get excited! (P.S. – I tend to overpromise what I can realistically get out to you guys each week, but I’m still optimistic I can at minimum recap everything from this summer before the new year. Fingers crossed! And I may end up posting things out of chronological order (sorry!), so make sure you are subscribed if you don’t want to miss anything!)

Here are a few of the ideas I’ve got in the works and hope to share with you soon (which look somewhat similar to those the last time I took a break):

• ALL the travel recaps (there are soooo many, it’s almost embarrassing) – spring break trip to San Francisco which I started here, girls trip to Charleston, visiting friends in Washington D.C., conference travels in Los Angeles and Australia, visiting family in Germany and Alaska, New Years trip to Guatemala (yes, we are approaching the 2 year mark on this one), finishing up spring break in Canada and Washington, and all the fall camping trips we’ve taken so far!
• Lessons learned from my 100 Thing Challenge.
• Revisiting and expanding upon the thoughts in this post.
• Talking about my journey in waste reduction, green living, and minimalism.
• Partaking in another 10×10 Challenge this fall!
• New fantastic recipes I’ve been loving.
• A new dietary change that has improved my daily well-being and overall health.
• And more book round-ups like this one.

One last little note before I sign off for the day…

Beyond wanting to simply get caught up on documenting everything that has happened over the past few months (my main aim with the blog), I also just miss the act of writing and sharing my thoughts with you! When blogging is done right (without the stress of saying things perfectly and the guilt of not sticking to a strict schedule), it can be incredibly therapeutic (at least for me 🙂 ). In it’s most pure form, I’m hoping that this post helps to get me back into the swing of writing on a daily basis again–perfectly compositioned posts or not. Because everyone knows my biggest struggle is overcoming my own perfectionism.

So cheers to sharing the oftentimes raw thoughts and ideas on my mind, living in perfect imperfection every day, and talking to you on a more regular basis. Have a great day, friends!

What about you? Anything you’ve been dying to see on the blog? Let me know in the comments below!

You might also like…My Goals & Intentions for 2018 and Finding Summer Balance.

Photos by Jenna Sparks

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Get the Look…

Sweater Tank: Madewell (styled in black here and here, and in white here)| Pants: Club Monaco (similar, last styled here) | Shoes: JCrew (similar) | Purse: Fossil (styled in different print here)