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Welcome back to my blog post and thanks for checking in on how my May went. I say this in literally every post but each month I am so amazed by how fast time goes by. I remember writing my March blog and saying that it'll be June in a blink of an eye - and that’s exactly how it went. Anyways, I had an amazing month of May so I am excited to share some parts of my life with y'all!
Lifestyle: Roadtrips
In May, I was fully vaccinated, which allowed me to finally go on trips and hang out with old friends again. It led me to creating a lot of plans and road trips including:
Trip to Santa Barbara
I’ve been to Santa Barbara to visit some of my college friends back like two months ago but this time I had the purpose to give my friends their small grad gifts and take pictures with them. I also knew that this would be the last time I could visit before they all graduate and that made it a bit more of a meaningful trip. I was originally intending on staying for one day but I’m glad they asked me to stay the night because I got to spend more time with them and get brunch, which has still been my absolute favorite for some time now. Seeing all the seniors in college about to graduate took me back to a year ago when I was also about to graduate and I was amazed by how fast time flew by.
Trip to San Diego
I’ve been wanting to visit San Diego again for some time now and I was thrilled when my high school friend asked if I was free for the weekend. I got to reunite with her after almost 3 years and also got to reunite with my study abroad friend who I haven't seen in over a year. I love how most of my friendships nowadays are low maintenance - although we don’t talk for a long time, it’s like we hung out yesterday in person. I was so thankful that my friend had the weekend planned for us including - picnics, famous restaurants, and more! We even watched this movie called “The Woman in the Window” on Netflix and it was actually pretty good - I would recommend it! I feel like it’s been a while since I watched a movie so it was overall a great time.
Trip to Joshua Tree
This month was my dad’s birthday and I had the idea to surprise him with a trip to Joshua Tree. He’s been talking about how he wants to go stargazing in Joshua Tree for a while and I thought it would be cute to surprise him on a trip. Our family is not one for making a big deal out of birthdays but rather just does the typical gift giving, blowing out cakes, and eating dinner together. Therefore, I knew that it would be a big surprise to him to do a road trip and plan everything out in secret. Luckily, my brother was really into the plan as well and helped plan it out. I bought and planned the trip in the beginning of the month and we hid it from my dad for almost a whole month until we surprised him the morning before the trip on his birthday (5/28). He was super surprised and was touched with the idea that we prepared everything for him, though he did not cry (lol). Overall, the trip was literally so much fun and I saw so many stars in Joshua Tree - the most I've ever seen in my life. Seeing how much my family and I enjoyed this trip, I’m excited to plan out some more in the future.
Lows: Getting Lazy
Better Routines
I said last month that I’ve been slacking off on my routines and that I would get better in May but it did not happen (lol). I’ve definitely been getting lazier by sleeping later at night and waking up slightly later than I would prefer to. I think it’s because I’ve started taking yoga classes at Corepower and they have different schedules so I take yoga classes at night sometimes but also in the mornings sometimes. Therefore, it kind of messed with my routines of wanting to sleep in when I don’t have a class in the morning and wanting to sleep later after a class at night. For this month, I didn’t focus so much on the routines and I tried not to feel bad about not implementing them. However, I want to start creating solid routines again because I did feel as though my body was getting more tired than before. Although I’m glad I allowed myself to feel a bit more lazy this month, I’m excited to implement better routines to make sure I get the proper sleep and care I need.
Solo Dates
As much as I loved spending so much of my time going on road trips with my friends and family, I missed my alone time. Of course, I have my alone time when I’m working from home but I think I didn’t implement enough “solo dates.” I think it’s important to spend time with yourself and do fun activities instead of just running errands alone. This month, I actually did an impromptu picnic date by myself at a park with my Chick-fil-a. I went to pick up my Chick-fil-a and usually I would just eat it in my car but I thought it would be cute to take my food and eat it at a park. It was kind of vulnerable and uncomfortable at first but I REALLY enjoyed my solo picnic. Therefore, I think I should implement more of them next month. As much as I love spending time with friends and family, I know that having solo dates like this also is very important to me.
Lessons: Be Happy
Being Accountable for My Own Happiness
This month, my brother told me I looked happy and it got me thinking about a lot of things. To be honest, I don’t know if I’m happy at the exact stage I am in life. I don’t think I’m at my dream job, dream life, or dream body - I don’t even know what they are to be honest. But, each day I make sure that I make efforts to make myself happy. For example, I wake up early to go to yoga even if I don’t want to to because I know I’ll feel so good afterwards, I take a break in between work and go to a coffee shop because I love trying out new drinks, or I plan out future trips with friends or family because I know that I love traveling and spending time with people I love. Oftentimes, I realized that we are unhappy because we aren’t at the exact stage we wish to be in life. However, I think it’s important to realize that you can be happy today and be working on the future you want.
I know that happiness is not always easy to achieve and I know it’s not as simple to some people as I put it out to be. I also know that I have some really bad days and no matter how much I try, I still am sad. However, FOR ME I realized that there are so many different ways that I can be accountable for my own happiness - some things that I know are in my control. Therefore, I take the time for myself to do those small things because I know it’ll make an impact on the quality of my life. I truly think it’s been working as well because I literally am so happy lately and I know I would have not been able to say that a year ago from today or even a few months ago.
I'll end this section with a quote that I really liked this month:
"If you look at what you have in life, you'll always have more, if you look at what you don't have in life, you'll never have enough." - Oprah Winfrey
Songs on Repeat:
Olivia Rodrigo's Sour ALBUM
happier1 step forward, 3 steps backenough for you My Pick of the Month: Nespresso
I’ve been drinking a lot of coffee again lately and I’ve been using my nespresso a lot! I definitely recommend getting a nespresso machine for a quick and yummy coffee if you are a coffee addict like me.
In conclusion, this month has been so great that it gets me scared for what’s to come. I know that with ups there’s down but I don’t want to jinx it and we’ll just have to see how June goes. However, I’m so excited for it to be June and the start of summer (though I don’t have summer vacations anymore now that I’m an adult… sad). Hope everyone’s May has been a good one and if not, I hope that June is good to everyone.
Talk to you next month,
-- Jin
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