Long Term Goals + Dreams

As I'm getting ready for a big new stage of my life (college), I've been thinking a lot about my future. These days, it feels like every choice I make is going to determine the rest of my life. Where I chose to go to school, who I choose to live with, what major I choose to study. To make these choices, I'm having to look to the future + know towards what destination I want to aim my life. It's not something I do very often, but it's been really eye-opening + I think valuable. I find that I have a lot of dreams that just aren't compatible with each other. But I still think they're worthwhile dreams to maintain, since any one of them could be in my future!

I also think there's tremendous value in sharing your dreams with others and so I thought I'd share my dreams with you. If you'd like to share your long-term dreams with me, please link up below! I'd love to read them.

+ Graduate from college first! My plan is microbiology or biotechnology with a concentration in botany. 

+ Get an advanced degree, at least a masters, maybe a Ph.D. I wanna be smarttttt. 

+ Work in a research field for a little while or pursue graduate teaching. 

+ Grow this blog until I earn a little income off it. I don't dream of making blogging a job, but I am inspired by the idea of getting financial encouragement to continue this hobby. I haven't decided whether I will offer sponsorships in the future, but it's definitely an option. 

+ Grow a family. Whether it's just a husband or a husband/child (I can't handle more than one!).

+ Do freelance design part-time. I don't want to get a degree in design but I'm motivated to use the skills that I have, particularly for new + smaller bloggers to have an option for custom designs.

+ Open a stationery shop with my own designs. This one's a big one + might just be a dream (I've never confessed it out loud/in a post!--but that's okay). I keep coming up with ideas for cute cards with confidently quirky-cute designs and want to make them so badly! I am very interested for now in getting to make some cards for myself, just for fun. If anyone has any tips on designing for print/where to print things like that (I've heard StationeryHQ), give me a holler!

+ Become a master calligrapher and do a little freelance calligrapher for friends or family. At the very least, I'd like to continue the practice and become comfortable with (pointed pen) gouache, brush and india ink calligraphy while experimenting with different papers.

+ Write a book on science for the average person that doesn't include "cliche" science facts. I want to talk about technicalities in fungi and genes and proteins. I want to teach anyone, especially people without a science background, that the biggest beauty in our world is not because of it's colors and aesthetics, but because of its complexity. 

Now link up your dreams, pretty please, so this link up isn't all lonely!

iPhone backgrounds + the creative initiative + batesian mimicry

Hi darlings! How's your Saturday going? Unfortunately, I had a terrible day yesterday that was filled with anxiety, but I've decided that today's going to be better. Actually, I only found out you could do that a little while ago. That I can decide when I have a good day. Have you ever tried that?

Anyways, I plan on having a great day. I've got some tutoring this morning, which I enjoy (yes, really) and then I'm going to a consignment sale later today.

A few weeks ago, I saw that Lena from This Lovely Little Day was hosting a linkup called The Creative Initiative. Basically, she gives a theme for the week + you can link up anything related to the theme that shows how you were creative this week. Mostly that means sketchbooks + things like that, but unfortunately, I'm poop with a pencil or brush. But I wanted to be part of it, so I asked Lena if I could make a sort of digital sketchbook and she said yes! So here are my "sketches" this week on the theme of dreams.

You can click either of them to download. The easiest way (on an iPhone) is to go to this URL on Safari and tap the iPhone. Then hold on the wallpaper image and tap save to camera roll.

I hope you enjoy them and check out the linkup!

Science Bit of the Day:

Mimicry is when one species imitates another one (usually in appearance) in order to protect it in some way. For example, if one species exhibited coloration patterns that a predator recognized as a signal of a poisonous animal, another species might mimic those patterns so that they will not be threatened by the predator. This is called Batesian mimicry. One example of Batesian mimicry is the coral snake and the milk snake. The coral snake is a red, black and yellow striped snake with deadly venom, while the milk snake has the same colored striped but is harmless to humans. The first image shows a Red Milk Snake and the second shows an Eastern Coral Snake. You may have heard the phrase "red next to yellow will kill a fellow; red next to black means venom lack" that is often used by outdoorsmen to tell these two snakes apart.

(image courtesy of the West Texas Herpetological Society)

This kind of mimicry is named after the English naturalist Henry Walter Bates. To show his theories, he made a bunch of plates out of these two species of butterfly/mothy things. The Dismorphia species is on the first and third rows and the Nymphalidae species is on the second and fourth rows. 

Don't forget today is the last day of the ad sale! Get 20% one month with the code "HAPPYDAY" or get 3 months for the price of 2 with the code "IMANAWESOMEPERSON".

What are your dreams in life? And tell me mimicry isn't super cool!