Weekly Goals #34

(photo by me, San Francisco)

Hey y'all! Happy Monday! I just want to give a big thank you to everyone who has left comments on my post the other day about why I'm choosing not to schedule my blog posts anymore (for the most part). I know scheduling posts is super convenient at times + it's certainly a good idea for some bloggers! But I decided that it's not the best thing for me or my blog right now.

I've got a fun but pretty relaxed day today. Earlier today, H and I went out for lunch at one of my fave Italian places in town. They're famous for their Nutella Pie! Yummmmm. This afternoon, my mom and I are getting our nails done--they need sooo much repair after two weeks of hiking and rock climbing and whatnot. So that really needs to happen. And then tonight I'm flying to Florida for my orientation! I'm super excited about seeing my future school again and meeting future classmates but I'm also a little anxious about it so we'll see how it goes.

Then as soon as I get home, I have to pack for Michigan (for the whoooole summer), which naturally takes forever. So I'm kind of really dreading that. Anyways: weekly goals.

LAST WEEK'S GOALS:

+ Have fun in California! Duh, I did. I'll post a recap...someday. No clue when. Life's crazy right now.

+ Take pictures! I did pretty well at this! The first week or so I was a bit shutter-happy and took sooo many pictures. But towards the end of our trip I got lazy and just told myself that someone else would take the pictures and I'd get them later. But I still have lots! I'm thinking about picking the best and offering them as a free stock photo pack. I know I'm not an expert photographer or anything but I thought I'd put them out there! The post photo from this post and the post before are both from my trip. 

THIS WEEK'S GOALS:

+ Give my room a thorough cleaning before leaving for the summer. If there's one thing I hate, it's coming home to a mess. It's gonna be tricky finding time before I leave, since I'm home for, oh, approximately 24 hours in the next week. But it needs to be done.

+ Write thank you notes. I feel like I'm drowning in thank you notes...but kind of in a good way, if there is a good way to drown. I received soo many lovely gifts + checks for my graduation and need to, ya know, thank people for giving me their hard-earned money. I've written like 25 but still have 15+ to do...so yeah. There's that.

+ Practice hand lettering at least twice. I absolutely love practicing my lettering, whether it's with a pen + ink or a brush (even though I struggle so hard at brush lettering). I'm hoping to start making some projects out of my lettering + I need to keep practicing even though life is kind of crazy right now. Even in 45-60 minute chunks, I can feel myself improving and that's exciting!

+ Respond to comments! Okay so my cardinal rule of goal-setting is to make sure I don't make too many goals...but I just have so many things to get done this week! I haven't responded to any comments since I left for my hiking trip (sorry everyone!) and I feel so bad! I've been reading them all but I want to get back to all of you ASAP!

What are your goals for the week? How do you stay sane when traveling a lot?

THE CASE AGAINST SCHEDULING BLOG POSTS

(photo by me, at Alcatraz)

There are a lot of great reasons to schedule your blog posts ahead of time. By writing posts ahead of time + scheduling them, I've been able to take time off to study for exams, vacation or just busy times. Any of you bloggers who have tried scheduling out posts ahead of time know that it can be an extremely convenient practice.

But over the last few months as I've been scheduling posts as much as two or three weeks in advance, I've felt more out of touch. Some days I don't even know what post is going live, only that it's a Monday/Wednesday/Friday so there must be one!

I find that I don't mention much what's really going on in my life...because it would be weeks-old news by the time it went live! For example, in the last couple posts, I haven't mentioned that I've been in the Sierra Nevadas on a hiking trip for the last two weeks. But that's because I wrote those posts a month ago!

Somehow, that just doesn't feel right. I want you to know what's going on right now, and in the same way, I want to be updated with you and my favorite bloggers. If I was just writing for a newspaper or something, scheduling would be fine. But because blogging is about community, I'm feeling the need to add that little life update back into my posts.

I'm not saying I'll never schedule posts again! I probably will when I'm on vacation or during exam weeks. But I'll try to write my posts less than a day or two ahead of time when possible so that I can stay in tune with what's currently going up on my blog. Make sense?

I will still keep an editorial calendar (which I recommend all bloggers do!) and will probably plan out posts ahead of time to some extent. But I want to make sure I focus on sharing more of the day-to-day details, and that just doesn't happen when I schedule posts. 

So I mentioned that I wanted to share more of what was going on in my life, like right now? Here's what I've been doing lately:

• I graduated, just over two weeks ago. Super exciting! Super crazy! Super busy!
• Two days later, I flew to San Francisco with my family.
• Over the last two weeks, we've been hiking through Sequoia, Yosemite, Big Sur, Kings Canyon and Lake Tahoe. We've been swimming and rafting and sleeping in yurts (no, really!) and ziplining and driving (so much. How is California so big?!) and so much more!
• I'm currently in Sacramento with friends, getting ready to fly home tomorrow.
• It's been crazy exciting but I'm ready to come home to NC.

Now that I've updated you, I want you to tell me. What have you been up to? Do you schedule posts? Tell me why you do or don't!

6 Visually Inspiring Pins / Lush

clockwise (ish) from top left: beach / lettering / colombia / cacti / shorts / limes

1 // I'm really not a huge beach person. I hate being hot and sandy and sweaty. But nevertheless, this looks like heaven.

2 // An important reminder during family vacation week...

3 // While I'm not particularly attracted to beaches, I'm in love with the lush tropics While the first picture is H's dream vacation, this one is mine! I'd love to visit Colombia + other parts of South America someday.

4 // I think cacti are just gorgeous. Not to mention I think it's so cool how their stomata (pores) regulate themselves so they don't lose too much water in hot weather. Just a little bit of science ;)

5 // I've been looking for a good pair of flowy printed shorts but it seems that I can only find (other than on pinterest) them weird patterns or in super expensive boutiques. Neither of which, incidentally, I'm into.

6 // Everything about summer makes me crave everything lime. I've always loved key lime pie or lime popsicles but this recipe for coconut-stuffed limes takes the prizes for both intrigue + yum factor.

What are you pinning these days? Leave me your links! Also: would you rather go to the beach (1) or Colombia (3)?

Recently Read

You know what? I've been meaning to post a book recap for months. Months. But it's taken me that long to actually finish three books. It's actually pretty embarrassing. Almost as embarrassing as the fact that I still can't spell embarrassing and have to rely on spell check to remind me of that double-r.

But nevertheless, guys, I've read three books. I'm about to tell you about them + which ones you should read + which ones you should proceed to deposit in the nearest trash can (I kid, I kid).

Book #1: The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Synopsis, adapted from Goodreads: On a winter night in 1964, Dr. David Henry is forced by a blizzard to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy. Yet when his daughter is born, he sees immediately that she has Down's Syndrome. Rationalizing it as a need to protect his family, he asks his nurse to take the baby away to an institution and never to reveal the secret. But Caroline, the nurse, cannot leave the infant and raises the child herself."

Someone recommended this book to me after I read The Light Between Oceans (which I mostly liked) and I can see why. Both books involve moral dilemmas involving children + are sort of sad. But in general, I hate sad books. Hate them. This book was well-written for sure and definitely kept me interested. But I didn't enjoy reading it. And even for a sad book, no one ended up really happy in the end. It told the two parallel stories of David and Caroline, one who screwed up and one who was sort of a savior. Understandably, the book documents David's guilt and unraveling over giving up his daughter. But it continually frustrated me that Caroline didn't get a happy ending.

I'd recommend if...you don't mind a sad book that will make you think, you have time to read it for decent chunks of time and you want a truly realistic (not romanticized) book.

My rating: 3/5 stars

Book #2: Reconstructing Amelia

In short: Kate Baron is called at her work as a high-powered lawyer and told that her high-achieving daughter Amelia has been suspended for cheating. Shocked and determined that the accusations are false, Kate drives to Amelia's school. But when she arrives, she finds that Amelia jumped off the school building and Kate is determined to find out why.

I expected this book to be pretty much a mystery novel, set in a NYC prep school. Instead, I felt it delved way too much into minute details of some characters and left others completely undeveloped, not to mention mostly unlikable (including Amelia). I never felt like I understood Amelia's girlfriend and while I felt the author wanted to make her seem mysterious, I just felt like she wasn't real. And speaking of Amelia's girlfriend, this was almost like two separate (and mostly unrelated) stories in one: one of the investigation behind Amelia's death, and one of her unexpected relationship. And in the end, there ended up being really boring answers to all the so-called mysteries. 

It felt like Gossip Girl and SVU tried to have a baby and it just wasn't happening. But then again, most people on Goodreads either gave it one star or five.

My rating: 2/5 stars.

Book #3: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

Unemployment has send web designer Clay to work in Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, a mysterious store containing random assortments of books. But the customers are few, and they never seem to buy anything—instead, they “check out” large, obscure volumes from strange corners of the store. Clay and his friends try to figure out the mystery behind the bookstore.

Welp. Sorry if I'm being Negative Nancy over here, but this book sucked too. So many people recommended it to me + the reviews looked promising, but I couldn't even finish it (and that rarely happens). I expected this book to be a great mystery set in an old bookstore, but you know what the first 100 pages were about? Web design. Programming. Weird art. I'm not even kidding you. It was just so weird. This book sounded so promising but it just wasn't worth the effort after awhile and I stopped reading. But if you're into reading about programming and installation art....go for it.

My rating: 1/5 stars.

Have you read any really good books lately? Pleeeeease share!

On Niches (In Blogging and In Life)

I'm a person of many dichotomies.

I love sciences, but I really like design. I like being with people, but I love being alone. 

For a long time, I thought that was something I should change about myself. During the summer, I'd "decide" what kind of person I would be that fall--as if it was that easy. Some years I'd want to be that super sweet girl who everyone loved to be around. Some years I decided I would be the tough girl who didn't care about what anyone thought.

But I would always find out, by the second or third school day, that it just didn't work like that. I can't choose a stock character and make it me. 

More importantly, unlike the stock characters I tried to be when I was younger, I found that I couldn't put myself in a box. I was on the cheerleading squad, but I also played soccer. I was a good student, but I also flunked a test once in awhile. 

Eventually, and especially lately, I've begun to embrace the dichotomies (and sometimes, contradictions) within myself. It's really a beautiful thing to realize the value in loving and embracing your personality with all its quirks, and even FOR its quirks. 

I've begun to love the fact that I don't "fit in a box" and I should add that you should too--because YOU don't fit in a box either. 

Over the last few weeks (and really the whole lifespan of my blog), I've been exploring my blog, the concept of a niche and "categorizing" your blog. Quite similar to the way I feel about myself, I can't put my blog into the metaphorical box. And again, like the way I felt about myself, I thought this way a bad thing, that no one would ever really like my blog if every post I wrote doesn't fit in their little niche of "positivity bloggers" or "design bloggers". 

But I thought to myself, why have I accepted and embraced that fact that my own personality doesn't fit into some stereotype, but I still expect my blog to? 

Though it seems all over the board, 80s music, plant microbiology, black + white design and positivity mantras have one thing in common: they are loved by me. And though the topics of my blog may seem equally random, they are united under the fact that they fit under the umbrella of my passions. 

And as I've thought about my many passions that I've chosen to represent in this blog, I think I've truly stumbled upon one of my biggest passions in this blog. 

I'm passionate about loving myself. Not in an "I believe I'm beautiful" way, though I think that's real truth. I believe that my existence, my interests, my loves, my hates, my quirks, my inconsistencies and dichotomies (and yours, too!) are totally valuable to the world and one of the things that adds to the texture and richness of our lives. And I'm passionate about making sure you know this truth too. When we embrace our weird personalities, we can live bravely and freely. 

That's why when Bloglovin' asks me to categorize my blog, I have no qualms about shamelessly and fearlessly choosing "other".

Missing Links [Science Links]

Hello nerd-monkeys! I hope you've been having a lovely Wednesday so far! Today's post is the second in my new series Missing Links, which is all about links, articles, infographics and resources for normal people interested in the sciences. I also try to share only articles that use (mostly) common English...so as long as you understand what the Schwarzchild radius of active galactic nuclei are, you'll be good. (Also, I'm kidding. I have no idea what those are.) Anyways, I really hope you enjoy this series because I feel like it really fits in with what I want for this blog. :)

+ This is so cool! Slide right and left to see how different animals see the same picture differently and learn how it works!

+ This article on the bacteria and fungi in aged cheeses is interesting! Kinda gross if you like stinky cheese though. Spoiler, there might be mites in your cheese. Sorry.

+ If you are on tumblr, you probably have seen a post about "petrichor"--the smell of the ground after a rain. Turns out, the petrichor smell comes from bacteria in the soil and oil from plants.

+ This cool video of the Mimosa pudice (called "Touch-Me-Nots") curling up after human touch really reminds me how alive and responsive plants are.

+ The collection of images from the American Journal of Botany is amazing! Just pick a category and view pictures that correspond with the topic (don't worry about the other blanks). I picked Plant Defense Mechanisms (ooh, poison and thorns!) and looked through pictures of trichomes (hairs on plant stems) and read about a plant that literally shakes when a bug is on it to shake them off!Also, the carnivorous plant section is interesting (duh).

+ This article about the differences between male and female immune systems.

Okay, so obviously my science interests are in the realms of microbiology, mycology (fungi) and botany (plants). What areas of science most interest you?!

Monthly Goals

Helloooo! Happy June! Today's our double day: weekly and monthly wishes! Man, it has been a heck of a week!

I've only talked about it a little bit but I had something big happen this week...I graduated! Yay! Side note: can I just say that graduation caps are officially the ugliest hats ever. Like serioiusly, America, is that the best tradition we can come up with? Other countries have gorgeous tribal or ethnic clothing and meaningful traditions (my family's half-Swedish and I've always loved St. Lucia Day). And while I know the US has other beautiful traditions, wearing flat caps on your head for graduations is pretty embarrassing. 

But aaaaanyways, all the family-and-friends socializing sort of overshadowed my goals this week. But I still didn't do half bad!

Last Week's Goals:

+ Make a to-do list every morning and actually get things done. So I started off great, but come Friday (when graduation festivities started) it was just not happening. My room's a bit of a mess and I've got approximately four thousand and seven thank you notes to write, but whatever. I graduated, homeskillet.

+ Read at least 15 minutes a day. I did great on this...until approximately Wednesday when I forgot I made this goal. Uh, oops. But then I remembered it on Friday and did pretty well the rest of the week so it's all good, guys. Plus, my genetics book = super interesting. I'm a nerd.

This Week's Goals:

+ Have fun in California! I haven't mentioned it in awhile, but my trip to California is this week! I leave tomorrow. As a reminder, in case you've lost your binder full of the details of my life, my family and I are celebrating my graduation by going to CA (I live on the East Coast) and visiting all the National Parks/beaches/aquariums we can fit in 12 days. I'm gonna see big trees. Anyways, this isn't a goal, but more an excuse to talk about my trip. #sorrynotsorry

+ Practice taking pictures! So I officially break the cardinal rule of bloggers: I don't take pictures. I don't even own a camera. Except my phone and a (largely unused) digital camera from approximately 2004. But I'm telling myself that it'll take a lot of skill to screw up pictures of such a gorgeous area. So even if it's on my iPhone, I want to actually take pictures of things for once! Maybe I'll get bold + take out that digital camera ;)

This Month's Goals:

+ Well let's look ahead to what June includes for me. First part of the month, I'll be in California, chilling out with the trees. Then, I'll be in Florida for a few days on some school business. Then (with literally less than 24 hours in between on either end of Florida), I'll head to Michigan for the summer where I work at an ice cream shop and listen to way too much indie pop music on my walks to the beach every afternoon. So it's gonna be crazy in that I have too much vacation planned! Jokes, jokes.

+ Form an actual morning routine. During summer (aka when I don't have 8am classes), I'm terrible at actually forming a good sleep/morning routine. Most days I get up between 8-9, but some days it's 7am and others it's not till 10 (which is actually embarrassing). This month, I'll form a morning routine that will involve a consistent but reasonable waking up time (with an alarm as back up!), exercise at least a few days a week, stretching, being productive, designing, etc. 

+ Work on my super secret project! How annoying is it to you guys when bloggers announce a project, but title is something like 'the super secret project'? Like why am I telling you about it if it's a secret? Mostly because it's not a sure thing + it's my way of knocking on wood. I hope to share more about it with you soon...if I can get enough of it prepared first!

What are your goals for the week + month?!