a new month

It is no doubt that May is one of my favorite months out of the year. Why? Well, because it happens to be my birthday month and it always seems to be the true beginning of spring and summer weather. Yesterday's down pour of rain the entire day did not help the case but that was April showers, now for the May flowers!

A lot has changed since the beginning of April. I'm not sure if it's good or bad news, but it still continues into May. B and I ended our relationship for the time being. Long distance took its toll on us, probably me to be honest, and I couldn't honestly be dedicated to it when I was half-hearted. My feelings for him have not changed but at the moment, I need to focus on myself. With a full workload and school load coming in the next few months I need to figure out how to handle it. He is really wonderful in understanding the difficulties I am having and I am hoping in the next few months we can work something out together. Until then, I need my life to be my own, not wrapped around a partner. I've done that before and it's not what I want again.


So here is to May.
Sunshine, beaches, crafting, working, studying, tanning, and all things wonderful that the summertime brings. I need to manage my finances a little bit better, considering I am going to Germany in four months I need to SAVE. Says the girl who checked out with some new white converses and a cutlery set from Macy's this morning... oops.

Here's to May.
I will be carrying my camera around with me more often. The nice weather will bring more walks for Fifa and outdoors-y activities. It seems annoying to carry this big DSLR around but, honestly, I love photography and I need to get back into it. SP was so supportive of all of my adventures in hobbies and he pushed me to do more of it, I need to do that for myself now.

One week until my birthday.
Twenty-seven will be another good year for me. Twenty-six was tons of fun and full of new things. I can not wait for 27, it will be so exciting and full of travels. So so many travels. And lets cross our fingers on a new job and state to live in.


GOALS FOR MAY
+  learn how to use my sewing machine
+  work on Project Life
+  take more pictures with DSLR
+  make new recipes and/or bake something new

currently: april edition

starting Project Life, finally, I began the title page and decided on 12x12

enjoying the weather beginning to warm up

taking time to walk Fifa outside and using her long leash so she can run

thinking about how I don't know what to do with my love life

missing B when I know I made the decision to let go (ugh, long story)

watching Game of Thrones and hating that I caught up because now I have to wait a week like everyone else

eating kale and arugula salads like it's my job 

drinking iced coffees again, although my taste in coffee has changed

hating this sore throat

counting down the days until my 27th birthday *gasp*

wishing we weren't so far apart so things could work out

trying to figure out what to do with my life and what I want

reading tons and tons of blogs about gardening, crafting, scrapbooking

dreaming of my Germany trip in August

waiting for the semester to be over so I can relax a bit

#sammyvaca

If you have ever followed me on Instagram, you will know I use the hashtag #sammyvaca whenever I go on vacation. Well, this might be my new future favorite vacation plan by far. That says a lot, considering I spent three weeks in Thailand.

Well, while talking to my friends wife, Elizabeth, I started planning my trip to Germany to visit her and one of my good friends, Craig. I can not tell you how ecstatic I am to go visit. I have gone to North Carolina a few times to go visit them, you can check that out here and here (when they got married). They moved to Germany almost a year ago for the military and it has been a long time since I have seen them so that is also a plus!

I'll be visiting in August for about two weeks and taking a trip to Rome to visit a friend from college for a few days as well. Along with Germany and Rome, Elizabeth made the suggestion for other places in Europe to travel to, uhhhh yes please. She suggested Greece, Czech Republic, Turkey; ermahgawd. I could pee my pants I'm so excited.


Summer can not come soon enough.
Do you guys have any exciting summer vacation plans?

distance

We celebrated this past weekend for his last birthday in his 20's. The big 29.
He absolutely loves aquariums, I may or may not have mentioned this before, so I drove down to southern New Jersey and took him to the Adventure Aquarium to meet some friends. He got to pet a shark and I got to see penguins - win. I was really excited to see the hippos, which to my misfortune was off exhibit until June.

We don't get to indulge in a lot of dates so I really cherish when we are able to go out to lunch for a burger and beer. By burger, I mean mine was wrapped in lettuce and made of quinoa (it works for me). I cherish the moments we get to try new places together.

I especially love the moments when he snuggles with Fifa, when she crawls into his nook and falls asleep. He finally got to hear her snoring in person.

For his birthday after the aquarium, I took him to the nicest steakhouse in my area. Yes, this vegetarian willingly went to a steakhouse for her boyfriend. I turned pescetarian for the night and tried some mahi mahi, not terrible but I probably will not go for it again. He loved it, one of the best steaks he's ever had. I think I did good for his birthday.

Distance isn't easy. We struggled, we still struggle but we are managing. I can not say we are perfect but we are attempting to make it work for us. I try not to overanalyze the situations and enjoy the moment we are in and enjoy the moments we have together. Hopefully it gets easier with time. Thank goodness for technology.

100 happy days // 2

I finally have figured out how to upload my pictures to my MacBook! 

It was as easy as saying hey iPhone, trust this computer. Voila. 

This project has really made me pick out the simple things in my everyday. It has made me happy to realize all the little things that truly make me happy. I can see a pattern in some of my photos: Fifa, friends, food, and the shoe shots. But hey, it works for me.

I am on day 37, as of today and so far so good. I have seen a ton of people start this project and I hope I can be one of them to finish it. 63 days left to go. A lot can happen in two months.

You can find part one here.