Tag: Moving

What’s Been Up, Sally?

What’s been up? What’s been up? What’s been up? What’s been up?

Hi, hello again SALLY ♡ THINGS readers! Yes, it’s really me. I’m coming back into existence. Here’s an update, so feel free to skip too. I’m just talking about life, but lets get into it, What’s been up?

Well … you see … life has been really life-ing. Lifing or life-ing? But like REALLY. Both in good and bad ways. I was going through it when the last blog was posted plus some more, then of course it calms down. Things start to come together a little and then it takes a sharp turn in another direction that I did not see coming, but it feels good. It feels familiar, but it’s also new at the same time. I just don’t really know how to navigate it and how I feel about it. I just can’t fully accept it just yet, I need to be cautious, I need to look out for me. More time goes on and I’m fighting some demons, ignoring others and starting to accept some. Then we go to the most recent obstacle life has thrown in the way and I still can’t even wrap my head around that one.

You know at the same time, I’m living life. I’m free, I’m starting to feel light, my personality is starting to shine again. I’m literally feeling more like myself and I’m loving myself more. The love is there, it’s still there, it’s always been there. I feeling like I’m growing into the same me, but also a newer, better me. I feel like I’m in this little phase of healing, glowing, loving, and just shining. Which I will admit feels very bizarre because I’m also so stressed. You can really see the stress or burn out on me, specifically on my skin and hair and with my drinking that I had fallen back into too. Is this the non-linear path that they call healing?

Both of my jobs are keeping me busy and I’m very blessed to have them. It’s going on month three of being an assistant to a modeling agency here in my hometown and even though I’m doing light work for them right now, I’m learning a lot of skills that I could use for myself and for my own social media/branding. I’m very thankful for this opportunity that was given to me. My other job, I’m happy to be working in an environment that really sees my effort and worth. Yes, It’s a pretty high-stress work environment, but it works with me and provides for me.

My drinking? It got really intense since I moved back to Michigan last year and while I was impressed with it myself, it was going down a rocky path. I’ve been really working on consistently slowing it down and there’s been a lot of improvement there. Gym? It was starting and I did go for about 3 weeks. Then I fell behind, but that’s okay. I have time to get back into it and I really wasn’t going with intentions of a body goal, but going because I know it’s good for my health. To be honest, I’m loving how I look now, it’s already different from how I saw it before and I think it’s that self love that I’ve really been working on. Talking about self love, my skin? I’ve going through the trenches with that one, but it doesn’t bother me where I’m feeling insecure about it. Maybe because of my severe facial eczema as a kid helped me with my own feelings and securities? I know the cause of the breakouts are from being off of a medicine that I’ve been taking for at least 10 years and my hormones were regulated heavily by it. Something out of my control.

Which BTW, **(rant incoming)** remember that when you move to a different states that there could be different rules and regulations. So your doctor that you had in your previous state, might not be able to legally prescribe medications in the state you moved too. Leading you to having to find a new doctor, but before that you have to switch health insurance from the previous state to one in the current state you live in that will cover you and then you to find a doctor that can prescribe what you need. All the while, a lot of doctors are constantly changing their status of if they are accepting new patients or not. Then your new insurance cards are taking a long time to mail to you and the doctor can’t fit you in until April/May so you have to wait until they have a cancellation in an earlier spot, so you you can take that time slot. It was a fun time 🙂

Then this will be in another post with more details and links soon, but if you haven’t seen yet, my one year old nephew recently got diagnosed with leukemia. That has been the biggest life challenge and it’s been very hard. I don’t think I have my head fully wrapped around it yet because how could that be? He’s only 1 year old, a sweet and innocent baby. Life is not fair to kids and it makes me want to cry every minute I think about it. Even until recently, he’s looked and has been super healthy and then one day he just was very sick. Next, he was diagnosed and put in chemotherapy treatment the next day. It really happened all so quick. That’s my little chubbs.

I’m tired and starting to feel burnt out. It seems like catching a break is not in my 2023 plans. What I can look forward too though is the support that I have with my friends and family around me. Without them, I would have been pushed over the edge already. So really, thank you to all of them. It definitely means the world to me. When you are at low points in life, you also find yourself having high point moments. It’s the way life works, we need the bad to see and appreciate the good stuff coming. The world just keeps moving, so I need to keep moving too or at least attempt to. Here’s that update, what’s been up Sally?

My First Year in Wisconsin.

You read that right. It’s officially been a year since I moved from Michigan to Wisconsin. Time here flew by really fast, maybe a little too quick if you ask me. This past year has taught me a lot about myself, starting over, friendships and so much more. Moving states and changing environments has been good to me, it has humbled me and it has also brought out the worst of me. For the first time in my life, I felt like an outsider and I would be lying if I said it doesn’t still kind of feel that way. Adjusting to a brand new environment was a lot harder for me than what you would expect. Having to let go and move pass a life that you’ve always known is a lot harder than it seems. I guess I’m one of those people who prefer to be where I feel comfortable in, but I’m making it work.

I promised to be honest on my blog, so let’s talk about some of the downsides that came with moving. To start off, I miss my family and my friends so much even to this day and forever will. I’m so big on connections and being away from everyone really hit me hard. I’m missing out on seeing my nieces and nephew grow up and that probably hurts the most. I was so present in their lives and I absolutely adore and love them like my own kids. Hell, I missed my nephew’s birth and I cried after the call in the middle of a house party because I knew I wouldn’t be as present in his life like I was with the other babies. I’m also missing out on all the quality time with my parents, sibling and friends. They play such big roles in who I am as a person. My friends are literally my family, we celebrate everything together from big to small. It’s the connection, it’s the love and support.

Second, I lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan which I would say is super diverse, my friend group is also diverse, even the school I went to was pretty diverse. So it’s all that I’ve ever been around. Once I moved to Wisconsin, it was like the opposite of culture shock for me. I was around a group that mainly consisted of one ethnicity with one or two people of different culture. Even then, those one or two people were very educated in the ethnicity group where they even knew some of the language, music, food etc. so I actually felt like an outsider. Never have I felt that way or experienced something like it.

Third, there’s that saying ‘you can’t heal in an environment that has hurt you’ and as much as I would like to say it’s not true, there is some truth to it. I willingly moved on my own knowing the problems that I would face, knowing that I would be on alert and always on my toes waiting for something to happen. I knew it would be kind of negative at first, which I will say definitely did not help me with adjusting. Sad, but it’s how it was. I saw the outcome of the move to worth more than the hurt and that I could get passed all of it eventually. There were tons of people who tried to get to know me, but really their intentions were to really get to know what had happened before and to instigate or start new problems. I had to and sometimes still have to pick those people out from who my real friends are. It also keeps me stuck in a place or brings me back to it that I’m trying so hard to move forward from. It was hard to make genuine friendships because for a while I couldn’t make out the differences. You wouldn’t believe how many times I was told that I was stupid to move here or all the new anonymous accounts that tried to make my time here hell. Maybe all that can be talked about in another blog LOL. But yes that did happen and yes it use to get to me and yes I use to cry about it.
Now I’m not an angel or perfect, sometimes it’ll come up in conversation and it’s me that’s bringing it up. I’ll 100% claim that. I’m not fully moved on and now I’m living so much closer to the environment where it happened and with people around that knew. I had to learn how to forgive everyone and how to accept things and see things from different perspectives. I’ll keep working on it because I owe that to myself. I’m much more than what people think and I came here for a reason and maybe for a little vengeance, juuuuust kiddinggggg on that last part. If it happens it happens, ya know?

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Now time for the good part. Moving out of my hometown gave me a new start and even though that was hard to accept, I made my way and now I can literally do anything. I just needed this jump start. So if you plan on moving, do it. Just go ahead and do it. Do things for yourself. It may take time, but you’ll settle in eventually. I can say I’m more comfortable and I’m building my life here. I’ve also been learning new things about myself that I never knew. With having this space of being on my own, away from my friends and family, it has opened my eyes about who I am, my potential and who I can become. It’s exactly what I needed.

I met a lot of new people and made a lot of new friends and I even have some very close friends that I very much appreciate and love. My first year in Wisconsin also consisted of a lot of time spent in Minnesota or in different cities like Milwaukee and Sheboygan and even hotel living. If you know, you know. Long story short right after I moved to Wisconsin, I spent about a total of 3-5 months maybe in a hotel due to house cleaning, but because of that I can recommend some pretty nice hotels and restaurants in the Madison area if anyone plans to visit.

Overall it’s been a really good first year. I can honestly say I’m excited to see how the next few years will be because ya girl isn’t planning on moving anywhere else. It’s a lot of work and cost to move to a new state and I don’t have that in me again just yet. I didn’t think I had a lot of stuff to move until I filled up two cars. Plus I have so much in front of me that I wouldn’t want to miss out on. To my first year in Wisconsin and to another year coming, to all the life lessons, adventures and opportunities, CHEERS!
Now enjoy my little 1 year recap video below! ♡

Let Me Reintroduce Myself and SALLY♡THINGS.

I wrote a super brief first post of the reasoning behind creating SALLY♡THINGS, which you can read here <- click
I think that I was too excited about writing the first post so I didn’t write it the way that I had imagined. Plus the way I thought I would be using my blog turned out very differently, in a good way though. So let me reintroduce myself again!

My name is Sally Tran and I’m turning 27 this year in July. I am Vietnamese, part of the first American born generation of my family. I’m still very rooted with my culture and background, Vietnamese dishes are my favorite. Even though I don’t speak as fluent as I use too, I understand it perfectly fine. Okay, maybe more like 90%, but that’s enough to pass. A little fun fact, I discovered over the pandemic that I’m mixed with Italian about 20-25%! I was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but now I live on the other side of Lake Michigan in Madison, Wisconsin. I love to eat, travel, attend concerts, shows, music festivals. EDM is what I listen to the most. I’m a little headbanger, but I do enjoy all other genres as well. Every time I travel or adventure to some place new, I fall in love with the world and life even more. It’s nice to meet all the new faces and to meet familiar ones over again!

I created my blog instagram back in 2018 with the visions and goals of reviewing products, specifically posting EDM content and hopefully becoming an influencer. When the pandemic started, it became harder to be category specific because of everything shutting down. That’s when I created my WordPress blog SALLY♡THINGS where I had a place to post more of my personal experiences and thoughts, where I don’t have to be category specific and I could write novels if I wanted too. Along the way, I changed my end goals from influencer to blogger. I would like SALLY♡THINGS to be a brand/phrase/business that people hear and can put my face to it. I’m working on making it my creative space. I have many, many, many ideas of where I would like to go with it and I’m slowly working on making those ideas come to life. I’m not an influencer, I’m barely a blogger and not yet a business woman. I am a 26 year old figuring out life and trying to make her dreams come true!
Thank you for reading and thank you for all the support on everything I’ve posted and all the different social media adventures that I’ve had. Most importantly, thank you for the love and kindness! ♡

ps – I do have stickers made of my logo if you would like one or a few, I’d be more than happy to ship them out to you. Just send me a dm or email! I also haven’t been very active with posting lately, but I’m just trying to get my life together personally and work wise. Self care is important and it’s okay to cut some stuff out or put some things on pause to make more room and time ♡

On My Own Time.

For the past few months, I’ve been able to kind of reset, start over and change how I’ve lived my life. Something I didn’t think was possible because I felt so stuck in a routine that didn’t allow me to have any time for myself. I quit my jobs and moved which allowed and forced me to find out what I would like for myself and what I don’t want to fall back into. It is 3 AM and I’m sitting at a breakfast bar inside my room eating a cheese, meat and carrot box, drinking kombucha and feeling pretty happy and content with life.

One thing I’ve learned and trying to incorporate more is doing things on my own time. Waiting until it feels right for me and not rushing into things. I’m not talking about chores, but life decisions. It may be a great opportunity, but if it feels too rushed then it’s okay to say no. When the time is right for you, then go ahead and revisit it. If it’s not available then it wasn’t meant to be. Finding your own timing with things can be a little difficult, but when it’s time you’ll know.

Don’t let anyone tear you down for not doing something right away because it’s what they want for you or because it’s what they expect from you. Some people will even try to use your own timing to make you look bad and make themselves better because you seem happier than them. They just want what you have, pure jealousy. Choose schooling when you feel ready and motivated, choose that job that you’re happy to work at instead of the one where you make tons of money, but you’re completely miserable. You know what’s right for you and only you can live for yourself.

I’m taking this time to not only enjoy my freedom and getting to know my new area, but to make sure I’m choosing me correctly. Making sure I have time to actually make the right decisions. From school, work, and my life outside from those I don’t want anything less than happy. I’ve been doing things on my own time and I couldn’t be happier about it.

SALLY ♡ T

Dear March.

It was pretty until it wasn’t. It snows and then a false spring comes. It’s hard to tell what you’ll get within this month.
Just go for it. Just go. The way things were said was like it was coming straight out of a fairytale. The way I felt, the way the night went, it was a fairytale. I know now that it was coming from a problem or guilt, but also hope and the heart. It gave me hope. I gave me more than hope, blind hope, but it was so perfect. Do I want to ruin this memory or will I remember it as how I did before? Was it a cry of truth or was it innocently true? Sometimes it’s hard to see everything as how I saw them in the moment.
It was a start of something that needed to happen. The good and bad, everything needed to be said and out. I spoke as I was holding back every emotion known to man. I spoke. That’s such a huge thing for me. I cried tears and a lot of them. I remember waking up one morning and I didn’t have time to open my eyes yet and I cried. This was truly the start of everything. It hurt, I was hurt, but it was needed. It was part of what I needed. Healing is so messy. Healing hurts so much until it doesn’t anymore.
What a change. I can’t believe it myself looking back. The thing you said that night, yeah it happened. Was it a cry? I still don’t know, but I don’t think I want to know the truth. The progress of each brings me tears if I think about it. To go through such high highs and straight to the lowest lows, it made it.

Dear March, tell me that there’s light at the end of all this starless night.

SALLY ♡ T

Imagine.

Imagine waking up happy the moment you open your eyes all the way until you fall asleep. Imagine less roads traveled and more of that time spent surrounded by love and laughter instead of your radio and your solo concerts. Imagine less conversations through the phone and more in person. Imagine lonely days being less lonely, each day filled with loving stares, more hugs and more kisses. Imagine a world like that.

Big news though, I don’t have to imagine it anymore because I finally get to live like that. I moved to Wisconsin.
You read that right, I moved to Wisconsin.


All I have to say about it is: it feels right.

SALLY ♡ T