We started off down the trail and immediately spotted the difference between this moderate trail and the easy trail from Fort Yargo. It was waaaaay rockier. There was barely room for people to pass since the trail itself wasn’t as wide. The inclines and declines were super steep and there was no way anyone would be able to complete that trail unless they were in decent shape

For someone who was determined to go out of state for college, I’m a huge UGA fan. It was the only university I applied to in Georgia, and not once have I regretted that decision. Fun fact, I applied early action to UGA but since I actually misspelled my name, I had to wait on pins and needles until the regular decisions went out. My initial mark on UGA will always be Jesssica.

Talk about embarrassing lol.

And with that much content to read, we are pretty much locked in for years. We read at a decent pace, but we definitely don’t like speed reading. Back in my day, I had a competition going with myself to read books as fast as possible. I loved getting new books but knew that to buy a new one, I had to finish one.

There’s one tea that I got from Trader Joe’s that has stuck with me for many years. I deeply enjoyed it, but only purchased one box. It was a reddish purplish color and smelled of flowers but had a sweet, light, airy taste. It was a pomegranate white tea with hibiscus flowers and lemongrass but I don’t think it had any caffeine. To date, that was my favorite tea that I’ve ever tried. I could drink it any time of the day and not get tired of it.

Out of all the doctors and health professionals I have to see annually, I dread seeing the dentist the most. Maybe because I have to see them more often than I have to see my primary care doctor or eye doctor. I prepare a whole month in advance by flossing almost every single day to avoid the typical “Your gums are bleeding. You might want to floss more often” lecture that I used to get pretty often.

While some internal timelines are beneficial, some definitely cause more damage than good. For example, an internal timeline can let us know when it’s time to work out again or when it’s time to push ourselves to get a little bit better each day. An internal timeline can become detrimental if we’re using that timeline to compare to other people’s highlight reel. We’re all human so we all wonder if other people are going through the same things at the same pace as we are. More often, the answer just isn’t that simple.

I saw this quote recently that had an impact on me. Someone said “Post your content. It doesn’t matter who is watching or how nervous you feel. It’s valuable.” So often, I get in my head over how other people will view the things I post, including this entire blog. For the longest, I didn’t post anything on my Instagram story because it didn’t seem that anyone cared for the content I created. Truthfully, it still doesn’t seem like many people care, but I’m pushing myself to not let that be a deterrent for me.

I used to be a leave everything in my suitcase and just rumble around for things I need girl, but I unpacked during this trip just to see how it was and I liked that method waaaaaay better. And it makes it incredibly easier to pack when leaving. I used the hour of free time we needed to burn to unpack all of our clothes and set up the bathroom with our hygiene stuff since I seriously didn’t want to do it when I was tired later that night.

My options for the replacement car came down to a Lexus RX 350 and a Honda CR-V. I was initially drawn to the CR-V, but when I thought about what I wanted most in a car, the RX 350 fit the bill better at my budget. The first couple we went to see in person were a bust. The very first one wasn’t well maintained, didn’t have a backup camera, and needed more repairs than we were willing to take on. The second one ended up being over budget once taxes, tag, and title were taken into account and it had more miles than we necessarily liked. The third one was unconventional and maybe a little risky, but it ended up being the best option and the one I’m driving today.

My 8 AM to 5 PM has been working my nerves this week. Okay, that’s dramatic. Maybe not working my nerves, but I’ve been having some conniptions about it. There are major issues that seem oh so simple to fix along with too much information floating around in my head.

Nala on the other hand, acts a complete fool outside with no collar or leash on to the point that everytime she needs to go out, she has to be supervised. We’ve learned this from trial and error which involved a dirty Sasha, about ten minutes of chasing, and much frustration. Nala has a one track mind outside and she tunes me out if I call her to come inside. The only silver lining that I’ve found recently is letting her go outside unleashed late at night when she’s tired. That’s the only time she will go out, do what she needs to do, and actually come back to the door without walking off. But, there’s a catch.

While it’s definitely a thing, I try not to dwell on it. Ultimately, that’s one of the quirks that make me, me. I’ve learned to push forward in making sure I don’t just drop what is important for me to say all because I get scared no one is actually paying attention. Krissy has done a great job helping me understand that my voice is important not just in our relationship, but in all aspects of my life.

I don’t have the enthusiasm for work like I did when I was desperate to get hired or when I first started in Marketing. The nonstop, customer facing aspect of being on the Service Team has worn that newness off really quick. That combined with the constant turnover, lack of true leadership and development, location restraints, and angry customers has me dreading 8:00 AM and praying for 5:00 PM every day.

The list feature in Amazon is undefeated. The fact that I can create a list for each section of my house and window shop for things that I might never buy speaks to the Type A in my personality.

Over the past few months, I’ve really noticed that my creativity, motivation, and drive waxes and wanes similar to the moon. There’s times when I’m bursting at the seams with great ideas just waiting to be put into action. That’s when I crank out a new design or put some time aside to make edits to my website verbiage or even try to update some Etsy listings. And then there’s the other side of the coin when I ~want to be creative, excited, and motivated, but I just can’t get into my groove.

Brain fog is real. Being so busy that you can’t see the trees from the forest is real. Having boundaries and understanding that there are just certain situations that you have to push through are vital pills to swallow early. I definitely still struggle with all of the above.

Part of the reason why I like basic iced and hot coffee is because no matter where I go, the coffee will more than likely taste the same. That sometimes isn’t true for those super fancy drink orders with measuring, substitutions, and flavors. You might order the same drink from two different coffee shops and have two totally different tasting beverages.

I like to assume positive intent. I stray away from assuming people are all bad (or all good for that matter) and instead hope that people will do the right thing. I don’t have a jaded view of the world where I inherently think people are out to make your life unnecessarily difficult or only care about their own personal gain. I’ll give people the benefit of the doubt and assume something was an oversight instead of malicious intent.

Fear definitely has a way of holding you back if you let it. It can make you second guess yourself and what you know is right. It can also paralyze you from making any decisions or following your heart/passions.

I, on the other hand, never enjoyed watching the sport. I always thought it was too slow paced and I didn’t understand the rules. I was confused why the pitcher would throw so many pitches during a sequence and only a few in another sequence. Balls and strikes looked too similar to each other for me to tell the difference. At times the game whizzed by and at others it dragged on slower than a snail.