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April showers bring May flowers and I think in a way my April gloom was able to help blossom some of my favorite memories in May.
Lifestyle: What I've Been Up To
New York
Brunch & Beach (friend group chat name feat. Mish, Kels, & Calvin) take NYC! Calvin has moved to New York and we've been wanting to make a trip to visit him and we were able to make it come to life this month. It was great timing as Calvin had time to settle in and find his favorite local spots. All the places he took us to including the local deli and bagel shop had to be on the top of the list of favorite things I ate. We truly ate well and lived it up in NYC. Honestly, some of my favorite memory from this trip has to be when we spent the night in playing games crammed in Calvin's room. I learned a new card game (Sushi Go) and it was so much fun! It goes to show that with great company and friends, you don't need to do much to have a good time. Another huge shout out to Calvin who let us stay over and helped plan most of the itinerary for this trip so we were able to enjoy it head empty and with no thoughts.
San Diego
Happy 55th birthday to my dad! We were able to make our annual during Memorial Day weekend as it always takes place during my dad's birthday weekend. This year, we decided to keep it simple and go down to San Diego for the weekend. Although we've been numerous times, it's still so much fun every time we go down there. We got to indulge in a lot of Mexican food including Oscar's seafood tacos, Tacos el Gordos, and more! We even go to relax with a nice view at Kate Session Park, a place I must hit up when I'm in San Diego. Besides the place, I was glad I was able to spend some quality time with just my family. We've all been busy so it's been a while since we had spent such a long time with just us together. I'll always treasure any time I get with them because I know it's not always easy and it'll only get harder as time passes by. I hope I was able to make my dad feel a little extra special and loved this weekend.
Relationships
My boyfriend and I were able to check off some activities on our bucket list including a Little Fatty Market date, Buildabear (built my own Cinnamoroll!), and another Pinku date (decorating our phone cases). The thing I appreciate about him and being in a relationship is the ability to check off so many of my wishlist activities together. There's been a lot of times when I want to do something (mostly influenced by Tiktok) but I end up pushing it off. However, we've been finding lots of joy in looking for and actively making these activities come to real life even if it's a simple activity.
I've still been trying to take the time to balance my friendships as well with a relatively new relationship. Although I do find it hard to find the balance of everyone, I know that it's important to do so. Luckily, my friends get along with him so there are some activities we do together. However, I actively make efforts to do hangouts without him as well including book club hang where I cooked and hosted paint night for my friends. I hope to do more of these every month as well as try to balance my alone time amongst all of this.
Work
This month I had to "work" on a weekend as I got invited to a special work event that took place in DTLA on a Sunday. It wasn't mandatory but seeing as all my co-workers went, it probably did feel a little bit more mandatory. Although I was sad to cancel some of my plans to make this event work for my schedule, I was glad to go as I've bonded with my co-workers even more as well as take in more knowledge in the industry I work in and even more thankful to be working in such a creative/ fun industry! I also can't complain about attending this event on the weekend as they're giving me a comp day to use any day of the work days. Overall, I did end up having a lot of fun and learning a lot so I was honored that I got to be invited to this.
Lows & Lessons: Everything I've Learned at 26
Being a Planner
I love being a planner and type A to the max because I feel efficient and works well for me. However, sometimes it does feel like the responsibility lands on me and it overwhelms me sometimes. For example, I feel like most of my family trips only happen because I truly take initiative on it and it wouldn't happen otherwise. The San Diego trip was also last minute because no one would tell me or decide where they wanted to go so I made the executive decision to go to SD and book the reservations. Sometimes it's frustrating but I've learned that this is kind of how it goes with my family and I have to learn to be okay. However, my family trips are the rare times I enjoy the trips with truly no itinerary (which is what happened in SD) as we go with the flow. I've learned that my dad especially is someone who's the opposite of being a planner and always goes with the flow. I've come to see the beauty in that as well as I will say I still had a great time in SD and I always do on family trips.
It's also come into play in my relationship as I plan a lot of activities for my boyfriend and me. Although he's always down to do all the activities I want to do and has no problem letting me choose, I found happiness on days when he planned the whole date. Therefore, I voiced the thought to him that I would love it if he initiated more plans for us and he received the feedback so warmly as well as was so quick to make it happen. I'm so thankful to have a partner that allows me to voice my thoughts and opinions so openly as well as who truly wants to make changes for us.
Balancing Relationships
I've been busy balancing all of my relationships - friendships, boyfriend, and family and I don't know if I'll ever find the correct balance. However, I'm still trying my best and finding ways that I could make everyone happy. Throughout it all, I think I'm slowly forgetting about my relationship with myself as well since I've noticed some bad habits come out as I haven't been prioritizing myself in it all. I'm writing this out as well as a reminder that I want to build better habits in sleeping earlier, waking up a little earlier, journaling, walking, etc. of all the things that used to bring me happiness that I've forgotten over the past few months. Although hanging out with all the people I care about brings me the most joy, I'm remembering that I have to also take care of myself for me to be the best version of myself to them. So here I am trying to prioritize myself as well.
Therapy
One thing as I was going through my little emo phase last month was the idea that I should probably go back to therapy and try out new therapists (especially because I have free 10 therapy session credits thanks to work). I've been putting it off for a while and probably will push it off until July (if I'm being really honest), but the reason I'm even putting it in this journal is to keep myself accountable. I think it's a lot easier to do something when you tell someone or write it down. I'm going to be easy on myself but this is a reminder for me (and maybe you?) to book that therapy session you've been putting off. I've also only done therapy with one therapist before and although my experience was super pleasant, I don't know that it truly dug deep in the way I wanted it to. I'm excited to explore new therapists and see a different perspective.
Songs on Repeat:
Top Songs -
let's go picnic - george20 Something - SZADaylight - Taylor SwiftMy Pick of the Month: Pickleball
I bought this pickleball a while back but didn't have much chance to play it until a few months back! I've been playing pickleball at least once a month and it's been such a fun and outgoing activity that brings my friends together. Although I'm not good at all, luckily many of my friends are also new to this sport so it's been so much fun learning together. As I grow older, I find struggles in finding activities to hang out with friends that don't involve eating out or spending a lot of money. Therefore, it's been so much fun picking up pickleball as a hobby and using it as an activity to hang out with friends.
I feel like I was a little more of an emotional wreck last month and in my April gloom mood so I'm so glad I was able to overcome it and blossom in time for the May flowers.
Talk to you next month,
-- Jin
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