Live Your Best Life – Page 2

Food Alert: Royal Oak Taco Fest.

I decided to spend my July 4th over at Royal Oak Taco Fest! It was a very last minute decision, but in the end worth it. I’ve been saying that I wanted to challenge myself to go out and do things solo more, so I did just that! I’ve never been to any Taco Fest, so I wasn’t sure what it would be like, but it was well worth the drive and admission fee. Royal oak is about 2 hours to 2.5 hours away from me, so I made it a small foodie adventure. Admission tickets were $12 per person and when I got in, there were tons of food trucks, vendor booths and a huge kids area. There were all sorts of food beside tacos and plenty of drink booths, both non-alcoholic and alcoholic. Now, let’s eat!

It was pretty hot out, so a freshly squeezed lemonade was a must! There was an option to add alcohol to the lemonade, but I decided not too. I was not going to make the mistake of “eating” alcohol like I did with previous festivals that I wanted to blog about.
The first food truck was Eight Claw Crab Boil. I will say, I was hoping they had their seafood boil available, but sadly it wasn’t. Instead I ordered the Crab and Lobster Grilled Cheese. I’ve never had a grilled cheese that was this tasty. It was like heaven. I might have to hunt down Eight Claw Crab Boil pretty soon.

Next was Spicy Jerk Chicken and the famous BBQ Mac & Cheese from Chef Collier Willis of House of Barbecue. I was walking around and the smell of the ribs was so amazingly delicious that I stopped and grabbed food. The ribs were a big portion and I wanted to be able to try more foods, so I skipped on it. Don’t worry, I’m coming to find you too! The BBQ Mac & Cheese was nothing special, still good though, but the Spicy Jerk Chicken was SPICY. It had a great kick to it. I usually don’t like chicken that much because it usually is dry, but this was perfect and juicy. You got everything fresh and right off the smoker. House of Barbecue also got voted for ‘best entree’ out of everyone else!

I always try to go on these foodie adventures and get so full after the second food truck or booth. I opted in for some dessert just in case I was going to call it a day. I was so stuffed after eating this delicious strawberry and pineapple milk chocolate skewer topped with sprinkles, marshmellows and peanuts from Lekker Choco Treats. It was just what needed on a hot summers days. They have different fruit skewers to choose from, then you get to choose your chocolate and then your toppings. You can’t go wrong!

Who was I kidding? Who just quits after the third food truck when you go on a foodie adventure? Definitely not this girl. I was at the Taco Fest for hours, just trying to walk off the food I already ate to try more. I walked around for a good hour and even sat at one of the stages trying to stay awake and away from the food coma that was trying to get me LOL. Ya’ll I was struggling trying to not nap. I succeeded and decided to celebrate with some tacos! Finally the item that the festival was named after.

I know, I know. This might knock down my foodie credit with some of my readers, but I like flour tortillas over corn. Don’t hate me, okay!?! Please still support me ♡ I visited Galindo’s Authentic Mexican and ordered their red queso steak taco and just a regular steak taco. No, I didn’t eat them dry. I added both of their spicy roja salsa and verde salsa. They were good tacos, but nothing that made them stand out to be the ultimate best. Galindo’s got voted for most authentic taco at the festival!

Dessert time again! I’ve been really into sweets lately, which is very unlike me, but I’m not going to question it. It is what it is. There were some carnival like food booths and this one had deep fried candy bars. I’ve never heard of such thing or have seen one, so I had to give it a try. I ordered a deep fried snickers. I don’t know what I expected it to look like, but not a corndog like item with powdered sugar on top. Let me tell you though, if you haven’t had a deep fried snickers bar, you are missing out. I was impressed with this chocolate corndog delight. It may not look like it in the video though. I was passed full and starting to sweat being out in that heat.

I could no longer eat anymore, I was about to pop. It was time for me to leave, BUT before leaving I had to get one last drink. I tried the Watermelon Sugar topped with blue punch. It was a mix of the blue punch with raspberry tea and strawberry melon. It was very sweet, maybe a little too sweet for me. I think it would have been better without the added blue punch. It was pretty refreshing though, so I do recommend everyone to visit The Fern when you find yourself in Royal Oak!

I’m very happy that I did the solo trip to Royal Oak Taco Fest. Sometimes you just need to self indulge and take adventures. How would I rate Taco Fest? 8.5/10. It was a family friendly event with tons of craft tents and blowup obstacles for the kids, then tons of food options to choose from, plus multiple of the same food trucks, so lines were short. There were multiple vendors and chances to spin a wheel and win prizes from the merch ones. I will point out that if you are against cannabis, then this might not be the event for you. Most vendor booths were cannabis and THC products, so that’s all that I will point out. I’m not sure if this event is held in multiple cities, but you can always get a good idea of what vendors will be there based off of the sponsors! I’m not sure what the next foodie adventure will be and I won’t promise anymore about certain ones because I might end up “eating” alcohol again.. oopsies. ALWAYS remember though, we live to eat and not eat to live! ♡

2024: April to June Photo Dump

I become a better person when the weather starts to heat up. I don’t know what to say, I just LOVE the sun. As you may have read or heard, I switched jobs and positions which has allowed me to have more time to have a personal life and more time to focus on my health and make improvements to it. I promised myself that I would live more this year in experiences and not live at work like how I have in the past. April to June has been a blessing and I have done just that ♡ I’ve done so many things in these few months, so I’m excited to see how this will continue for the rest of summer and after. I’m happy that I can feel like a normal person and be more with the people I love. Living my best life ♡

April

May

June

Food Alert: Festival of the Arts – Grand Rapids.

Here’s a local Food Alert for my Michigan readers. I was able to attend the last day of the Grand Rapids 55th Festival of the Arts this past weekend! This one is a special one because for as long as I can remember, my family and I always attended this festival. It was always so fun with all the painting and different crafts that we got to do, then all the food that we would eat and who can forget about handmade lemonade? I remember we use to design our our own t-shirts with paint, get our face painted, make our sculptures with wood and glue, get ballon animals, spiral painting and even just regular painting. Then as I got older, I was able to take some of my nieces with me and watch them do all the same that I use to do as a kid. It’s such a fun family event that happens in Grand Rapids! I haven’t gone in the past 9 years, so when I was able to make it this year I made sure to make the best of it. A lot has changed from the last time I attended and it was a lot smaller with less activities and vendors, but I just know it’ll get there again! Now let’s jump into the food ♡

I went by myself to do a little foodie adventure, which was very hard because I can’t eat a lot. I got full quick. I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat everything and all of it, so I came prepared and brought some to-go containers from home in a bag to store what I couldn’t finish for later. That was actually such a smart thing to do. GO SALLY!
First stop was at the Chinese Association of West Michigan booth. One of my favorites, even as a kid, are these chicken skewers! It was a nostalgic way to start off the foodie adventure.

Not even 2 minutes after buying the chicken skewers, I saw the Sanse Filipino food truck and knew my second stop would be there. With the chicken skewers in hand, I ordered their Pork Lumpias. If I had more hands, I would have probably ordered more food like their chicken adobo, but I also needed to not go in so hard right when I got to the festival.
You guys should have seen me sitting on the sidewalk taking a bite of the chicken skewer in one hand and then a bite of the pork lumpia in the other. I was in such a happy place!

After the first two foods, I was feeling full already. I know, it’s not even that much, but I really have a small appetite! I walked around and looked at all the merchandise vendors for about 45 mins before grabbing this Tamales Platter from the Tamales Mary food truck. It has been a while since I had tamales, so it was everything! I really like tamales, especially with extra hot sauce. The spicier, the better. I got a red shredded chicken tamal and a green shredded pork tamal. I tried to eat as much of the platter that I could, but look it was perfect for leftovers for later.

I could have taken a little food coma nap at this point if I tried. I had to be a champ and walk around again and explore more of the festival. I sat down at a few stages and watched a few performances. It got blazing hot after a bit and I needed something cold and something sweet, so why not find some some ice cream? There were a few vendors to choose from, but I decided on SemiFreddo, an Italian food truck. The other ice cream trucks were ones where I’ve had them before, so I wanted to try something new. Plus, a sparkling cream float sounded so yummy and perfect! I knew that if I didn’t finish the ice cream part before it started to melt, at least it would still be good as a float! In the sparkling cream float was a scoop of lemon semifredoo, strawberry sauce mixed with sparkling water. I’m not a huge fan of strawberry sauce because it’s usually just artificial syrup, but their strawberry sauce had chunks of fresh strawberries. They won me over. I had a great time eating/drink my float and watching the jazz band, Big Band Nouveau. It was one of those ‘life is good’ moments ♡

With two hours left of the festival and an over stuffed tummy, I needed to choose what would be my last foodie options. I really wanted to try Honeybee’s Kitchen Caribbean & Soulfood food truck or Big Ed’s BBQ food truck, but their lines were super long. I should have because I’ve been thinking about them since! Long lines usually = really good food.
I walked past the Holy Trinity Greek tent twice before deciding that I just needed to get a Souvlaki. This was also one of my favorites to eat when we came to Festival of the Arts when I was a kid. It was just as good as I remembered it!

The last item of the festival foodie adventure was, of course, a Shaker Lemonade from the Big Mike’s Kettle Corn tent. Fresh lemonade is top tier. Usually at this festival it would be a booth by one of the local high schools, but I noticed this year it was more food trucks than associations or organizations like in the past. Not complaining though, all the food trucks were still Michigan local and I was able to have the chance to support them! Also, the streets of downtown Grand Rapids is such a cute place to take photos.

Honorary Merchandise Vendor Mention

You all know how much I LOVE FLOWERS! I was so excited to see a vendor selling flowers and had to get a cute bouquet for myself. Thank you to Leaflet for making this beautiful bouquet and making my whole day. I’m absolutely obsessed with them ♡

I wish I had more space in my tummy to try ALL the other food trucks or tents that I couldn’t get too. If you weren’t able to attend Festival of the Arts, but is now interested, it happens every year in June, downtown Grand Rapids! It is a free event, no admission fee! Just keep your eye out or sign up for emails on their website. You can also follow them on facebook as well! I’m very happy that I had the day off to go. I’m also proud of myself for going on a solo foodie adventure and how much I was able to eat on my own.

This upcoming weekend is the Grand Rapids Asian-Pacific Festival, so if you are in the area you might catch me on another foodie adventure! It’s also held downtown Grand Rapids, this will be my first year being able to attend. It is also a free event with no admission! Another great family friendly event to bring the kids to. Like this one, there will be a Food Alert blog on that coming shortly after! I actually tried to do the same thing with Michigan Asian Fest in Novi, Michigan, two weekends ago, but I ended up only eating beer with a side of papaya salad and kapoon. I had a little too much fun there at Michigan Asian Fest. It was well worth the memories though. See you guys soon!
Remember that we live to eat and not eat to live ♡

Food & Place Alert: Florida – Tampa and Orlando.

I feel like I only ever food blog about two locations and Orlando is one of those places. You can read the other Orlando food blog here! This time we have both Tampa and Orlando. This won’t include all foods from our Epcot day, but you can read the Epcot foodie adventure here. Stay hungry! ♡

Tampa, Florida

So let’s start off with Tampa! Our first meal after arriving in Florida was in Orlando, but we drove to Tampa and got food to-go for a dinner and night in at our airbnb. We got pretty random foods from 3 different places, La Casa Della Pasta, KFC, and Taco Bell. We said we wanted to “eat light” before the wedding, so much for that LOL. Taco Bell is nothing special to write about, but we did try the Chizza from KFC. If you don’t know what the Chizza is, it’s just a fried chicken pizza. Literally a fried chicken topped with pizza sauce, cheese and pepperoni. If you like lunchables, then you’ll enjoy the Chizza. There’s definitely that nostalgic pizza sauce taste.

There’s no picture from La Casa Della Pasta, but what I can say is that they know what they are doing! I really wanted some pasta. (Pasta is my favorite type of food btw. It’s an easy way to my heart.) La Casa Della Pasta was the closest to our airbnb and that’s how we chose it. what we didn’t know was that according to Tampa Bay Times, they are the best Italian restaurant in Tampa Bay and have been four years in a row. It was everything and more! Next time in Tampa, I’ll have to come back and try more. I love a good pasta. I got the Pappardelle Al Ragu’ (Bolognese). It’s made with their homemade Pappardelle pasta, ground beef, tomato sauce, basil and garlic. Besides all the flavor, it was very fresh.

The morning of our friend’s wedding, we went to Banh Mi Factory. Banh Mì Factory is a cute spot to chill with friends or even go to study. Not only that, but they are so good. They have tons of different bánh mì options to choose from. I said before that I thought Lee’s Sandwiches in California was good, but this place is even better. You always have to try the classic Bánh Mì Đặc Biệt or the Special Combination, so we ordered that and the Bánh Mì Bò Nuớng or the Bulgolgi Beef. Both were super good. The way the bread soaked up the juice from the bulgogi beef and the crunch of the baguette was *chefs kiss*. I wasn’t going to start my day without any coffee either, so a Viet Coffee or Cafe Sua Da was a must. On their menu they call in their Vietnamese Phin-Drip and I got the Saigon Savory option. It was more like a ca phe trung with the cream on top which is a little different from just a regular coffee. It literally translates to coffee egg. The cream is a mix of egg yolk and condensed milk. It may sound a little weird, but it’s so good and elevates the drink!

The morning after the wedding, we chose to eat at Ha Long Bay – New Tampa location. After a day of open bar, this was needed. I can’t tell you enough how GOOD the Thai Tea was and how it brought me back to life! I would come back just for the Thai Tea. I almost ordered another one to go because it was so good.
Don’t worry I ate too. Noodles with broth is also another life saver after drinking.

We ordered Bún Bò Huế (Spicy Beef and Pork Noodles) and Bún Riêu (Crab Paste Noodles). For me the Bún Bò Huế was a little too sweet for my liking, but the Bún Riêu was the best that I have ever had at a restaurant. Nothing will ever beat my mom’s homemade bún riêu though.

Bún Bò Huế: Thick noodle, rich and spicy beef soup with tender beef slices, beef tendon, Vietnamese ham, and topped with mixed fresh herbs

Bún Riêu: Thin vermicelli, crab mixed seasoning, ground pork paste, Vietnamese ham, fried tofu, and tomatoes

Orlando, Florida

We landed in Orlando first, ate, drove to Tampa, stayed a couple days, then drove back to Orlando for the rest of our trip. In Orlando, we had a foodie adventure! So let’s get into it.

Our first stop was at Twenty Pho Hours. It’s a super cute 2d noodle bar. They are known for their 2d decor and their fast & casual dining service, which was great because we were both starving. They had these cute bear cups, so you know I had to get one! You can never go wrong with a taro bubble tea. We tried their Short Rib Pho and the “Black Ox” pho. For fast and casual dining, the meats were so tender and melt in your mouth. I was super impressed with the flavor of pho with how little time it came out.

Short Rib Pho: Rice noodles, onions, cilantro, scallions, bean sprouts, basil, jalapeños, lime, eye round steak, short rib and brisket

“Black Ox” Pho: Rice noodles, onions, cilantro, scallions, bean sprouts, basil, jalapeños, lime, eye round steak, brisket, and slow-roasted oxtail

Our next stop was Disney downtown or now it’s known as Disney Springs. I absolutely love Disney Springs and all the restaurants and shopping. It’s such a happy place to be at when you aren’t at Disney World! I am IN LOVE with Amorette’s Patisserie located in Disney Springs. Every time I visited they have new cakes and desserts to try out, plus boozy sweet drinks! We got the Amorette’s Rose dessert with a little milk carton on the side. It is a chocolate biscuit with dark chocolate mousse and raspberry sauce. This dessert is as decadent as they come. I’m not a huge raspberry fan, but the pairing of the raspberry sauce and dark chocolate mousse just paired so well together!

After Tampa, we drove back to Orlando and went to Icon Park. We’ve always driven passed the wheel, but this trip we had the time to visit it. Sadly, the iconic wheel was not being used, so we weren’t able to ride it. One of these days it’ll happen though! Icon Park was smaller than I imagined, but there’s still tons of things to do and see. I chose to do the Museum of Illusions. Maybe it’s the kid in me, but I love interactive museums like these. They are so much fun and the photos came out pretty cool. My part was the spinning tunnel where you try to walk straight on the path, but it gives you the illusion that your pretty much walking drunk. The only reason why that was my favorite part was because right when you get out of the tunnel, there’s these 3d holographic pictures framed on the wall and my boyfriend had a little jump scare from the Albert Einstein one. I still laugh about it today when I think reimagine it in my head.

After 4 long years, we made it back to King Cajun Crawfish. My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE seafood boil place. I dream of the seafood boil here all the time. I’m literally obsessed. I have not found a better seafood boil than King Cajun Crawfish and I know you guys have seen all the different seafood boil places that I have gone to on every trip. The absolute best, my mouth is watering as I type. I wish there was another location closer to me than in Florida. TAKE MY MONEY. This is a must go to if you love seafood boils!

We had to go with their Shabang sauce with the hot spice level. Their Shabang sauce is a mix of all their flavors which are: lemon pepper, rajun’ cajun, and garlic butter. The hot level spice was pretty hot, our noses was dripping and there were moments of sweat, but it made the flavor 100% better. I believe we ordered the Royal Feast and that includes 1 cluster snow crab, 1 cluster dungeness, 1 lb. crawfish, 1 lb. shrimp, 1 lb. clam, 1 lb. green mussel, 4 corns, 4 potatoes, and sausages. Seriously unbelievably amazing.

Sometimes I wonder, “how can we eat so much in one day?” The answer will be forever unknown. Maybe the foodie in us comes out on vacation.
We went to Universal CityWalk to try to walk off all the food, but instead found ourselves grabbing a drink and dessert at The Toothsome Chocolate Emporium & Savory Feast Kitchen. There we ordered the Chocolate Potted Cream, Chocolate Old Fashioned, and Vanilla Chocolate Cocktail. The drinks were good and strong, the pudding was amazing and perfect consistency, it was a chocolate heaven. After, I had the biggest food baby that I have ever had. I don’t remember when I had that much to eat and drink in one day. I was happy!

Chocolate Potted Cream: Creamy chocolate pudding served in a copper pan

Chocolate Old Fashioned: Bird Dog chocolate whiskey, cherry liqueur, sugar, chocolate and orange bitters

Vanilla Chocolate Cocktail: 360 Madagascar vanilla vodka, Trader Vick’s dark chocolate, Faretti chocolate, chocolate bitters

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We went to Epcot at Disney World and you can read all the food and drinks in that blog here. It’s a long one, but well worth the read if you plan on visiting Epcot! On our last day of the trip, we went to the Florida Mall and shopped until we ran into Gatcha. Gatcha is a clawcade. Yes, that’s right an arcade full of claw machine! I love claw machines, so I was having a blast. My secret talent is how good I am at claw machines. I don’t know when it started or how it happened, but 90% of my plushies in my room are won from a claw machine. I’ve never seen a clawcade in person before so this was really fun. Gatcha has two spots in the mall, one is filled with plushies and figurines and the other spot is filled with drinks and snacks. Plushies? I got you, we’re winning tons! Drinks and snacks? Sorry, but we might be out of luck there. Those are so hard to pick up and the items are heavy compared to the claw. Gatcha is opening new location around the US, so hopefully they’ll make their way to Michigan!

A little dessert never hurt anybody! I’ve been having a major sweet tooth lately and when I saw this cute dessert shop in the mall, you know I just had too! Lucciano’s is the ultimate gelato place and they had a cute table/photo op! We got the Mango Gelato Icepop.

Our last stop on our trip before flying out was to SnowBean. It’s a cute small cafe that’s located right next door to Izziban Sushi & BBQ, which we have eaten at a few times. We just never know that SnowBean had their own little Love Lock Bridge! (We did order a strawberry smoothie from there as well) My boyfriend and I put up our own lock on the bridge. This would be our second lock that we put up together, out first one is located in Houston, Texas on a love lock bridge there from our trip back in 2021. It may seem like a silly thing to do, but I honestly think it’s so cute to do and it’s fun to have that memory and souvenir to go back to on your next travel back!

Traveling and exploring makes my heart super happy. It’s one of the best things in life. If I could travel all the time, I would! Thank you Florida for being so wonderful again. The food will never not amaze me. I’ll definitely be back soon! Remember, we live to eat and not eat to live! Live your very best life ♡

✈ ✈ ✈ next trip/blog: EDC Las Vegas ✈ ✈ ✈

March & April ’24 Mini Writings.

A slower month for me socially, so very little mini writings. School took over my life a little there, but we’re done with the semester! More writings coming up ♡

March 19, 2024

To find some clarity, you have to go through insanity.

– sally.things

April 9, 2024

“Perhaps in the past, the biggest mistake that I made was believing that love was about finding the right person. In reality, love is about becoming the right person. Don’t look for the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, become the person you want to spend the rest of your life with.”

– sally.things

April 10, 2024

Your life is worthy of you showing up.

– sally.things

2024: January to March Photo Dump

A little late here, oopsie! Winter felt like it lasted forever and I’m so happy we started to finally get warmer weather even if it lasted for just a day. I’m not a cold weather person AT ALL. I question all the time why I live in the midwest, I’m not built for the cold. I started my second semester of college, so that school and social life balance has been a hard one. The beginning of 2024 has been an interesting one to say the least. I will say I am pushing myself to be a better version and opening up more. I want more out of life than what I have been comfortable with. Here’s to living more and loving life ♡

January

February

March

Let’s Check In.

⋆˚✿˖° SPRING IS COMING, Happy March! ⋆˚✿˖°
Let’s take a second and do a check in with ourselves. We’re three months into 2024 and time isn’t going to go by any slower. It’s not too late yet to chase what you dreamt this year will be for you. If you follow me on instagram you might have already seen and done this check in, if not then take some time to answer and reflect.

Let’s get into it:
♡ How are you feeling?
♡ How are mentally overall?
♡ Are you positively taking care of yourself?
♡ Have you come up with your yearly goals and intentions yet? If not, get started even if it’s just a weekly goal for now!
♡ Have you started on your goals and intentions yet? If so, how far along are you?
♡ What has made you happy so far? How can you do more of it?
♡ What has made you sad or mad so far? What can you do to make things better for yourself?
♡ Any new goals you can add?
♡ Reflect on your growth in the last two months and celebrate it.
♡ Reflect on your lack of growth and give yourself a safe space for grieving and acceptance. After, leave it behind and start over. It’s not too late!
♡ Do something you love.
♡ Soak in some sun when you can.
♡ Take a walk, even if it’s a little chilly. Find your green space, be outside for a little.

Remember it’s never a bad thing to do a little reset if needed. Let’s make the best of this year. Happy March, may it bring you lots of love and happiness ♡

MY UPDATE

I am currently sitting in an airport by a huge window and soaking in the sun rays. Even though I’ve been up and traveling since 3 AM, today life is good ♡ I also can’t wait to write a food blog after the trip! It’s been a while since I last wrote one, but I promise this one will be worth the wait. New foods to try for your next trip!

Some people will say I’ve gone quiet, but really I’ve just been very occupied with my life, wellbeing and focused on other goals/have other priorities. I’m at a good place now where I feel like I’m rested and decently caught up with life. I feel more like myself than I have in a while. I can feel SALLY THAT GIRL again. She’ll be in full effect by the end of this year. I calmed down my lifestyle to prioritize school and it’s really my main focus. That’s really the main reason why I disappeared. Michigan has this wonderful program where they’ll pay for your semesters as long as you keep up with their requirements and I’m NOT going to lose that. This is a great opportunity to take advantage of and I’m doing exactly that.

For those that haven’t really worked on your goals for the year, it’s fine cause I haven’t really either. I’ve touched the surface, but haven’t done enough yet to say there was any visible progress overall. Some I goals are in the works, some none at all. SO that’s why we can do this check in together, not feel bad and start working on them NOW! We’re human, life and other things get in the way, we don’t feel motivated, fighting the winter blues are hard, I GET IT. I’m there with you. Two weeks ago was when I finally found my motivation to really get up and be active and make sure I use my time to do things that I love and that help me. I just got out of my funk two weeks ago. I wasn’t even able to get out of it myself, my friends in Wisconsin were the ones who really got me over it and that’s okay. It’s absolutely fine to get help from those close to you that you love and trust. Sometimes what you need is love, attention and support. I will admit that I’m definitely one of those people. After all, we are just human.

I am going to go enjoy this love filled vacation now, (my friends are getting married this weekend!). Enjoy your day, your weekend, your week. And to remember to show up for yourself the best you can. ♡

January & February ’24 Mini Writings.

Not so many to start the year off with and that’s alright. I’ve actually been a little shy to write down my thought and share them lately. I know there’s no need to be shy, but there will more mini writings to come in the next few months. ♡

January 20, 2024

“Slow and steady wins the race” & will also show you truth.

– sally.things

January 25, 2024

Live your truth.

Dig deep down and decide who you are and live in your truth.

What things are you going to let define you?

What things will you let take space up in your mind?

What image are you going to hold up?

– sally.things

February 8, 2024

Breathe in and breathe out.

Breathe in and breathe out.

Soak everything in.

And just enjoy the moment.

– sally.things

February 18, 2024

You deserve healthy love from yourself too.

– sally.things

What It’s Like Going Back to School at 28.

Am I crazy? Slightly. Did you read that right? Yes. I decided to go back to college this semester at the age of 28. The last time I had classes was back in 2014/2015, so 8-9 years ago. Life got in the way and I really wasn’t ready back then. I’ve been wanting to go back, but timing wasn’t right or it didn’t feel right to me. How I feel about something is very important for me. This time around, things fell into place and I was able to sign up and get back into it. I’m happy that I’m back in school and excited to see what’s to come from it.

So what’s it like to be back?
While it feels like I haven’t left and majority of things look the same, many things have actually changed. My professors from back then are still here, but they have aged. It’s weird cause I feel like I went time traveling to the future. The student IDs are different colors and now have more use for things, I got mine replaced to the new one and the person taking my picture said, “Wow, welcome back it must be a while for you. I haven’t seen the all blue IDs in a while.” How embarrassing that was LOL. The parking student rates have gone up and boy does that make me sad, but happy cause I’m only on campus 2 times a week. I also just feel sooo old in my classes. Majority of my peers are 18-20. I’ve interacted with some classmates in group projects and we’ll get to know each other with little questions and they all get so shocked when I tell them my age. It’s always the same reaction too, “No way! You look so good and young for 28!” Thank you for that compliment though, I’m starting to appreciate it more. ♡ I’m also meeting others who are older than me, that are coming back to school just like me. Having that in common has been very motivating for me and reminds me to not be too hard on myself for starting over again.

How are you feeling about it all?
Well it’s been very emotional for me for sure. It’s been 3 weeks already and on the first day I was 15 mins late and I skipped one class lecture already. The enrollment period before was pretty stressful for me already. It’s been a while since I’ve been in school, so some of my credits that I earned when I first went no longer exists. I have to pretty much take some of same classes over again to get the credit again, which sucks. School was a hard topic for me to talk about before and even now at times because of how my first year went. It wasn’t ideal and I didn’t feel supported back then. Those feelings come through still from time to time and I can get very discouraged and less motivated. Have I already thought of dropping out? YES, plenty of times already. I did have someone who was my #1 supporter and they helped me talk about and through my worries about school, someone who was always there for me. I ended up starting this semester without them. It’s heartbreaking to lose someone who was so proud and believed in you and I’m still trying to adjust with that. Besides those feels, mainly I’ve been excited and motivated. I am proud of myself for taking this step again and trying again. I’m happy with my decision of going back and ready to see what’s to come with it. I’m happy that I get the opportunity to change up my daily routine and change my environment. It’s something that I needed to do for myself.

I’m here to let anyone else that’s looking to go back to school, whether you’re older, younger, haven’t gone yet, or dropped out that you can do it. You’re not alone and you definitely don’t have to think negative about yourself about it. Whatever your story was before, it’s not going to be your story this time around. Take your time, go your own pace, don’t listen to those who bash others. You have your own journey to go through. Most importantly YOU got this!

This won’t be the last blog about school and I’m hoping to be able to post about getting my degree when the time comes around. Whenever that will be. I’m in no rush right now and enjoying the ride. I’m happy for this new start and I’ll see everyone at the end. ♡

2023: April to June Photo Dump

Some of my favorite moments from April, May and June. This year is going by so quickly. We’re already have way through, insane. Slow down, so I can have more time this year please!

APRIL