Looking back on my last post, it was exactly a year ago, yesterday. It's interesting to me how excited I was to start a blog, document all of my adventures as in a new city, with a new job, starting a life for myself, and then that was it. Why did I stop? It took me a year to realize that I hadn't posted in a while, and I don't know why I stopped.

The truth is, the last year has been a whirlwind of events that were unexpected. I have done some incredible soul searching and reflected on what my purpose in life is. I have met some amazing people that have challenged me in ways I didn't know I was capable of. And here I am, a year older wondering what I am doing with my time that is so valuable.

Lets just recap the last year shall we?

Career:
I was working in an environmental lab, which I thought was an interesting and stimulating job, as I had studied Environmental Science and this is the type of thing I'm passionate about. But while working this job, I realized that sometimes money is important too, unfortunately. Gotta eat! So when the opportunity presented itself, I took a job at Amazon. This happened about 3 months ago. And while working for Amazon, I have had another realization. While working for a huge corporation has plenty of benefits and job security, I feel like I'm just a little minion for Jeff Bezos, making his world go round. And what good is this for me? Am I making anybody's day better? Am I changing anybody's life? Am I improving my own life?
These questions are hard for me to just ignore. Because the reality is I don't go to work feeling good about what I do, excited to make somebody else's life more successful, and do it all again tomorrow. I don't want to live for the weekends, I want to live for every single day.
And these questions sparked a fire inside me, causing to ask myself what it is that would make me feel like I am making a difference somehow. I have been reflecting on what I am passionate about, but can also make a decent living at. And while I am still trying to figure that out, I am writing about it in the mean time!

Relationships:
Something I was not prepared for after graduating college was how my friendships would change so drastically. As a person that is very passionate about maintaining relationships, it was difficult to be okay with people drifting away from me. Friends who stayed in college, or moved to a different city, slowly lost contact as we grew separately from each other. I realized there is only so much energy and effort you can put into maintaining a friendship until you accept that things will never be the way they once were. Relationships are two sided, and if the other person doesn't want to take the time out of their day to respond to a text or phone call, then there is no sense in wasting your energy on that person.  I realized that maybe my time would be better spent investing in new relationships than trying to revive old ones.

Personally:
I have had the pleasure of meeting some amazing people this last year that have helped me grow personally and spiritually. I never used to like to read personal growth books, but I have read some amazing ones that have really changed my perspective on interacting with people and my perspective on life. The things I have learned from some of these books would take way too much time and space, but what I can say is that I am grateful to have people in my life that encourage my personal growth. It is so true that the people you surround yourself with are the people that you are most similar to. I am always looking for recommendations on books, as I have found that I really enjoy reading these types of books!
My two favorites books that I have recently finished:
How to Win Friends and Influence People- Dale Carnegie
The Slight Edge- Jeff Olson


My goal is to keep posting my thoughts on life on this blog, as well as a couple other things I am passionate about! Stay tuned for updates!

"In order to carry a positive action, we must first develop a positive vision" -Dalai Lama

I have always had a love for writing, so as I have moved to a new city, and am beginning new adventures, I thought what better way to document my life than a blog? I'm a new Seattle dweller, I love coffee, fitness, dogs, and nature. Enjoy!

When I graduated from college (still feels weird saying that... since it was only a few short months ago), I was given a gift by some very close friends of mine. It was a mason jar wrapped with a bow, and the lid read "Seattle Adventures". Let me back up for a minute, while in college, I was a member of Alpha Phi. Upon graduating, my chapter does something called senior sendoff, where the graduating seniors are given a chance to say goodbye to the friends and memories we made while a part of the chapter. I was given gifts as a way for those closest to me to say goodbye and wish me good luck in the new adult world. As mentioned, one of these gifts was a jar full of adventures.

In a few short weeks I was headed off to Seattle to take an internship with City of Sammamish Parks and Recreation. I wanted any excuse to move to Seattle, to be with my friends, family, boyfriend, and thirsty for new experiences, so I took a short term internship and lived with my bigs' family. I have now moved to a new apartment, with new roommates, and have accepted a full time position at an environmental lab.

Now that I have finally had a chance to get settled and began to familiarize myself with the area, I am realizing how life in the adult world can be very... quiet sometimes. I have found myself searching for a new hobby, and have remembered my jar full of adventures that I have yet to open. So with that, I plan to complete these adventures and write about the memories, experiences, laughs, and anything else that comes along with them:

See the Fremont Troll
Go to Discovery Park
Explore Deception Pass
Go to the Seattle Art Musem
Visit the Seattle Aquarium
Go to the Woodland Park Zoo
Do the Hoh River Trail
Visit the San Juan Islands
Visit Chateau Ste Michelle Winery
Go to the Seattle Center
Go to the ORIGINAL Starbucks
Complete the Wonderland Trail around Mt. Rainier
Go whale watching
Go to the Skagit Tulip Festival
Visit Alki Beach Park
Do Big Four ice caves hike
Go to the Seattle Waterfront
Kayak Somewhere in the Puget Sound
Hike the Enchantments

So there it is. 19 things to complete in my time in Seattle. Here's to new adventures!