1/2 Way there! April-June

Hey guys!

   Can you believe this year is already half-way over? I can because it feels like this much crap shouldn't be able to happen in only 6 months, but also it does feel like it went a little bit fast. I did so much on my Love Life List though, considering the country was mid-melt-down. Unfortunately, some of the things on my list have been canceled like the tulip festival and the fair but I can always do those next year.  

   The most exciting thing that happened was that my new nephew was born and he's so cute! His name is Maverick and he's just perfect. Due to all the COVID stuff happening we weren't able to see him right away or be at the hospital which makes me feel bad for my sister. She handled everything with so much grace though. Props to you girl!

Look at that little face!

   I'll start with the more mundane things first. In the last three months, I went from having $806 in my savings to $3,886. Which blows my fucking mind you guys, like that's insane. I don't think I've ever even seen that much money. The number of my savings fluctuated a lot though, I went from $806 to $568 to $4,713 and then ended with $3,886. I got laid off from my job for a while due to COVID and my unemployment didn't go through until May. So I went two almost three months with absolutely no income. When it did finally go through it was a nice chunk of money. I was able to pay off three of my debts, my credit card, my mattress, and a medical bill. I have a Canadian bill that I set money aside to pay it but I have to be able to go to Canada to do that. Also, since I am an alien to the states, don't worry I'm legal, I am finishing up the immigration process right now and becoming a citizen. So the last drop in the savings was because I had to pay $1500 to my lawyer.  

  I went on a few hikes, not as many as I would have liked but I haven't found a hiking buddy other than my dog so I don't really have the motivation to go on my own. I'm going to work on that though. So these are the hikes I've done the last three months:

1. Sugarloaf Point (it was a bit of a drive to get out there)
2. Lake Padden trail
3. Chuckanut trail (there's a few and I don't know the name of this one, but it's steep and has ropes for you to hold onto)
4. Benson Beach Trail
5. Cape Disappointment 
6. 1/2 Skyline divide

So the reason I only did half of the Skyline Divide was that I saw a bear. Correction; I saw my dog take off and then saw the bear he was chasing. I've never yelled his name so fricken loud in my life. He came back right away but he fucking chased a bear! It was a cub, but I wasn't taking the chances of running into mom so we left. Also, I didn't have bear spray or any kind of anything to protect myself and I'm not convinced that I could just take on a bear with my bare hands. 

   In May I did my 30-Day Journal Challenge which actually ended up being only 29 days, oh well. I really enjoyed doing this, it made me realize so many things about myself good and bad. If you want to read more in depth about those things I talk about them in the Day 30 post. I also list all the questions I used so if you want to do your own I highly recommend it. Along with this I also joined a journaling circle put on by one of my family members, we met every Thursday at 4 for a couple months and it was game-changing. It was all women which I liked, although it might have been interesting to find out male perspectives on the prompts we used. 

  On May 2nd we celebrated Jacksons birthday (Since I don't know when it really is, I use the day I adopted him) It's crazy to think that I've had him for a year, but also it feels like I've had him forever. It's hard to remember a time without him. I made him a birthday cake (I'll have to find a different recipe next time because ew) Jackson ate it though. I would have been thoroughly offended if he didn't because he eats some nasty shit. He got to celebrate his birthday with his best friend and they shared the cake, it was super cute.

Trying to get a picture of him with this cake was not easy! This is actually a screenshot of a video.

   The most terrifying thing I did was post a video of me singing on Instagram. I used to post those all the time because I didn't care what I sounded like or what other people thought, I was just having fun doing something I love. I ended up deleting all of them because eventually I became uncomfortable with them being there. I know I'm not the best singer and I know I'll never be famous for my voice, but you shouldn't stop doing things that you love and that make you happy just because you're not good at them. I got a lot of positive feedback about the video though so that definitely lifted my spirits.

  Another scary one is that I learned how to ride a bike. I know I'm 22 and don't (or didn't) know how to ride a bike. That's crazy! I just never learned. But my friend had an extra bike and taught me, I'm still not totally comfortable on a bike and I can't turn corners very well but I can kinda do it! 

   One of my favorite things I did was very spontaneous. On my list, one of the items is to get in the car and just drive. Wherever just get in the car and go. I've never done that before and it was an incredible experience. I ended up in Long Beach Washington and if a town could steal your heart this one has mine. I brought my dog and he's not really one for car rides but he fucking loves the beach. He's not so much a fan of the water but the sand he goes nuts for.

    I decided once I got there that I wasn't ready to head back home right away. So I got a hotel and stayed the night. Jackson and I spent pretty much the whole time at the beach. all day, all night into the next day. The water is so magical to me, people say it's things like the ocean that makes you realize how small your problems are and they are definitely right. On this trip, I tried two new restaurants; The Pickled Fish and The Little Roo. Both were amazing. I also completed my "Do something spontaneous" item on my list by getting tattoos. I've wanted these tattoos for a while and when I saw the tattoo place I went for it. 

They say inhale and exhale. It's common sense that you should do these things because it's kinda important if you want to live but sometimes I forget. Not so much in a literal sense, I'm not over here depriving myself of oxygen. Moreso in the way of when life gets hard and I'm feeling the weight of everything I forget to just breathe. I need to remember that its okay to take a minute and just breathe.

This is Benson Beach, even just this picture takes my breath away. It was just me and Jackson and the beach. This knocked off "Go to a sandy beach"

 

    My friend Molly has been my rock the last few months, she has been so great and patient with me through all of life's little hiccups. We've been doing some of the items on my list together, and I'm so grateful for her. 

She's cute as shit!

   I've read 3/10 books; I read Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson. I started reading Without Remorse by Tom Clancy, and I really liked it at first but I got about 300 pages in and decided it didn't interest me anymore. Right now I'm reading The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard.

 I watched 2 more Ted Talks (I watched a lot more than that but again I only pick the ones that stuck with me)

1. "Getting stuck in the negatives, and how to get unstuck." by Alison Ledgerwood. I had someone tell me that I was a very negative person. I don't really think that I am, but there must be a reason why they said that so I figured there's no harm in being more positive.
2. "The difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships." By Katie Hood.

    I only watched one documentary, but I did watch it three times. It's called "The Game Changers" and it's on Netflix. It's a food documentary because those are my life. I felt like I learned so much the first time watching it that it was impossible to retain it all in one sitting so I watched it again. And then again. And I'll probably watch it again. 

  For the being healthier aspect, I definitely slacked this time. I still ate pretty well because I'm way too conscious about the food I eat. The working out was rough though, it didn't help that my gym closed down due to COVID. I went on 15 runs, I did 19 at home work-outs, I went to the gym 20 times. I also did yoga 9 times. So not a lot of working out and I want to pick up the pace a bit more and push myself for the next few months and the rest of the year to see how much I can accomplish.

   Learning how to cook also slacked and I need to pick it up. I did make a few things though.

1. Cookie dough protein balls. These are so good you guys! I've made them at least five times. 10/10
2. Stuffed peppers. These weren't bad but I kinda fucked up the instructions so I didn't make them the right way. 7/10
3. Banana bread cookies. Oh my god, these are perfection. I got the recipe from a friend and my family and I devoured them. 11/10 Exceeds expectations
4. Garlic shrimp pasta. Not a great recipe, so this one was maybe a 5/10. I tried again without a recipe and it was way better, that one was a 9/10.
5. Apple pie. Standard, super yummy. 10/10 (I even made the crust!)
6. Banana pancakes. Fucking gross. These were the pancake batter add banana pancake, these were a simple healthier recipe I found on Pinterest, and I'll never ever make that again. -1/10
7. Chicken parmesan. Amazing. I'm not trying to toot my own horn but this was so good. 10/10 

I'm going to just list off some other things I did that don't need explaining. They are not in order.

1. May 5th I went on a picnic.
2. April 4th I spring cleaned my room.
3. June 18th I got a tan, not a great one but it happened.
4. May 27th I went looking for sea creatures and found a huge crab.
5. April 10th We had a bonfire.
6. May 29th We roasted smores over another fire.
7. May 31st I went mini-golfing.
8. June 6th I went shooting.
9. I bought a new cushion for the chair in my room, which contributes to the "Decorate my room" page in my Love Life List.

Last but not least these are my favorite pictures I took during these months.

Thanks for reading! 

-Courtney :)