What Up, What's Happening.

For many, today begins a three day weekend. For me, well every week is a three day weekend. ( I don't work Fridays, yay!) As we ease into this fourth of July weekend, I'm going to update you all on the happenings on my life.
New Haircut:
Back in February, I debuted a new haircut as I got ready to go to California. However, by the time July rolled around, I noticed that my hair has slowly become really unhealthy and thin. I decided that it was the perfect time to go short. (Well, shorter.) I've been admiring the lob hairstyle for quite a while, so I got a longer version of that. I neglected to take a before shot (I always neglect to do that, so here's a picture of how short I cut it back then)
Before:

After:

In total, I probably cut off about three inches, and I'm so glad I did because my hair is so much healthier and less dry. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm really growing to like shorter hair on me! I'm even considering going shorter before school starts, because I like how healthy my hair is now. (If I do, I promise I'll take before shots) What do you all think?
Planning my 21st Birthday:
I turn 21 in nine days. Watch out world. On my actual birthday, I plan to hang out with none other than Griffin and Gabriel. I hopefully will go to the beach and then go to order my first legal drink with them! (I'm a little too excited about this) Then on Monday, I plan to go to the casino with my mom. The following Saturday I plan to hopefully go out to dinner with some of my friends from school and home. I'm looking foreward to having some time for fun, and of course I'll be having something interesting to post about other than what I've been reading!
Alessia's visit! 
 
The day after my birthday, I get one of the best presents in the entire world. And that is, seeing one of my closest friends after not seeing her for almost two years. I'm so glad that I had gotten the chance to get to know her though, because she's one of my best friends. I'm not sure what we're going to do yet, however, I did take some vacation time at work to do things. I know for sure we'll be hitting up Fro Yo, which was one of her favorite spots and maybe even give her a tour of New Haven. I'm so excited to finally see her!
What have you been up to lately? Let me know!

The Importance of Taking Time Out for Yourself.

As a blogger, I have the decision to post whatever I want to post. It's all a part of being free and having your own webspace to do it in. I've gone back and forth in deciding I wanted to post this, especially since one you post something on the Internet, there's no way of going back. However, I've decided to do so, since blogging is all about being honest and stuff.
First things first, it's been a while since I've posted on a Tuesday. I've also been out of the blogging world for a little while, and took a 12 day hiatus from this little old blog. I'm deciding to come back, mainly cause blogging is my forte, but also because I really missed blogging. I could never not blog, and I am grateful to those who come back day after day on this little space on the Internet to see words that I've written in.
This semester, by far, is the worst semester that I've had. It's only been about a month, however, I am stressed out the way that I would normally would be during finals. I work two jobs, and at the start of the semester, was taking 5 classes. I felt like I had a mountain of work, without anytime to complete any of it. I was constantly overwhelmed and felt awful because of it. I constantly came home with a severe migraine (I have 5 classes in a day) and felt so depressed that I was constantly walking around on the verge of tears. I felt like everyone had these expectations of me, and I slowly began to lose what's important. (Which is, for those of you who don't know, being happy with yourself.) I however also felt that I shouldn't be complaining this much about my schedule, because that was life. It's a part of college, and the semester was only four months. So, for about a week, I was completely and totally miserable.
The breaking point for me was one Tuesday when I called a good friend of mine who is also my pastor and just started crying to her and saying that I couldn't handle it. That morning, I had gotten so sick, that I was throwing up before one of my classes. She was extremely comforting to me, and offered me some great advice. She told me to simply cut back. So, the next day, I went to my job and cut back on some of my hours. Luckily, my boss was kind enough to understand, and cut my hours back a bit.
However, I still felt overwhelmed with my schedule. At first, I thought it was me being lazy. In addition to taking five classes, working at the newspaper, and working at the library, I had been writing four articles (2 to keep my job; book review; class project), and of course keeping up with the blog. Enter the need for a break with the blog, with the hopes that it would help. I did go to my mom for guidance, who only suggested to drop a class.
So, after a few more weeks, I met with my academic adviser and explained to her what was going on. She then thought I was nuts for my schedule, and told me that I probably should withdraw from one of my classes. After a few days of thinking, I knew that this was the right thing for me to do. Even though it probably won't look the best on grad school apps (she did go on to tell me that it would be fine since I wasn't planning on doing this every semester) and that I wouldn't be graduating on time, I knew that this would be the answer for me.
This past Saturday, I withdrew from my class, and honestly I never thought that it would be something that I myself would be doing. As a result, I'll be graduating a semester later than I originally planned. Although this changed my life plan, I am realizing something else. And that is the importance of taking care of yourself, and putting yourself first. I believe that I was putting way too much on my plate, causing me to break. So, therefore, I am taking a break.
My goal for the remaining parts of this semester is to take care of myself. I'm in the process of getting a therapist. (Snow hasn't been helpful for that, everytime I made an appointment it got cancelled because of snow) I also am trying to make more time for things, treating myself (which isn't so great on my bank account), and trying to treat myself better. I hope to never find myself in that situation again, and I am now realizing that no grade is worth risking your mental health over.
As for my blog, I plan to be blogging for a while. Every now and then, I'll be taking a bit of a break if I feel like I'm overwhelmed. But, I'm taking care of me, which is something that I need to realize is important.

So That's What's Up.

Hi everyone whose a friend, or just a casual reader here on this lovely blog over here. As many of you know, I took a week off to get used to the whole school mode thing. I am so glad that I did, but now I figured that I would give you a life update, because I never give you one, and I have been out for a while, so I wanted to share what was going on in my life.

I started my job at my school's newspaper as the opinions editor, and I am in love with the job. I am so excited to go and do something that I am passionate about. I basically write 2 to 3 600 word articles and then I put the paper together. The people who are also on the paper are great people, and every time that I go to work, I honestly feel like Carrie Bradshaw whenever I go to work. I am so grateful for this opportunity because it's experience to help me get into my dream school which is Columbia University's Journalism School graduate program. I still work my other job one day a week, and it's okay. 

I am also taking four three credit classes, and one four credit classes. For the first time in my five semesters, I enjoy all of my classes. I am taking three writing classes, and I have classes all day Tuesdays and Thursdays. I also really don't feel like it's school work, because most of these classes are in a field that I am interested in. One of my classes even goes to the beach for field studies! 

Other than that, I have been getting used to having my best friends far away. Griffin and Gabriel are away at school, and I really miss them. However, I have been hanging out with my friends who go to my school so that's always a good. 

My life is pretty boring, but I am looking foreword to having an interesting semester! Stay tuned!