#LostMyJobSoPhuket

It’s been a while since I spoke about my 30 before 30! So, let me get you caught up!

In October, the campaign I was working on dissolved and whenever a campaign finishes, I travel! My parents have timeshares, so I went to their timeshare trading website to see if anything interesting was available. As I was searching, I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw “Phuket, Thailand” on my screen. Thailand has been at the top of my list of places I want to visit - not just because of its beauty but because of how friendly and safe I’ve heard it was. It’s also surprisingly very affordable! I booked the trip and a week later I was getting a massage on the beach in Thailand. #LostMyJobSoPhuket

Thailand is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been! The beaches are so sandy, and the water is so clear. Since everything is so affordable, we were able to do a lot of different excursions. 

Getting to my 30 before 30 list… paddle boarding, eyelash extensions, and white-water rafting were on my list.

Paddleboarding:

Whenever I have seen paddleboarders, I’ve always been very intrigued. They look so graceful and it seems so serene and enjoyable. My experience was quite the opposite… you have to have abs and thighs of steal with balance out the wazoo – I have none of these things. I’m sure you can all imagine what a hilarious sight this would be. And trust me, I gave the folks on the beach a great show. At one point, I had to be rescued by the paddleboard rental people… it was pretty embarrassing. I’m glad I did this in Thailand, away from anyone I would ever know so they would be spared from the sad image of me flailing in the water, attempting to be a graceful paddleboarder.

Since this was such an embarrassing moment, all of my pictures and videos reflect the embarrassment. Instead of showing that, I will show you a beautiful picture of the sun setting on the beach where I paddleboarded haha

Eyelash Extensions: 

I have wanted eyelash extensions for a while. I've seen how amazing they look on others and how easy it makes getting ready in the morning (and since I'm not a morning person I look for anything that would allow me to sleep more!). When I was in Thailand, there were so many people advertising about eyelash extensions and when I saw how cheap it was, I had to give it a try! I LOVED the way they looked! 

White-Water Rafting:

We booked this excursion through the hotel. It was a little disappointing and misleading. They advertised that it would be a full day of rafting, but when we got there it was only a 30 min rafting ride. We complained, and they let us join a group that was also riding ATV’s and hiking to see a waterfall. In the end, it was a fun day, but not my favorite excursion from Thailand. I would love to go on a real rafting trip at one point, but this was still a fun intro into rafting.

 

Even though these weren’t part of my 30 before 30 list, they were my favorite part of my trip to Thailand.

Phi Phi Islands:

The water was so clear, and the islands and cliffs just jut out of the water. We went snorkeling at Bamboo Island, visited the monkeys on Monkey Island and enjoyed a Thai lunch on the beach at Phi Phi Don. Seriously, such a perfect day!

 Monkey Island

Elephants:

First of all, I LOVE elephants. I’m a republican political junkie so it’s basically a requirement… haha But these animals are so beautiful and playful and need to be protected. When you think of Thailand, you think of riding elephants. Most of the time, these elephants are being abused and not receiving the care and nutrition that they need. We went to the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary in Phuket. Seriously, this was by far the most amazing excursion. They give you a handmade shirt and bag, along with lunch. You spend several hours with the elephants, feeding them, giving them a mud bath and swimming with them. It was the highlight of my trip!

These are the awesome shirts they provide! 

Sight Seeing:

We also went around Phuket and saw some of the sights, like the Big Buddha, the Wat Chalong Temple, the Rawai Seafood Market, learned to sail, and tried new food! It was all around an incredible journey and I would go back to Thailand in a heartbeat if I could! 

It's a dreary day in Houston and as I look out my window and see the thunder storm rolling in, I long for those days on the beach in Thailand. 

Living My Best Life #30before30

It's been a while since I've written anything... And if I'm being honest, I haven't had much to write about. I know all of my other blog posts have been pretty light and fluffy... but let's have some real talk for a sec. (Don't worry, I'll get to the light happy things in this post as well!)

This last year has basically eaten away at my soul. After a series of unfortunate events, I've looked at my life and realized that my unbalanced lifestyle was chipping away at my happiness. I invested so much of my time in my job and neglected relationships with pretty much everyone else.

A month ago, I allowed my anxiety and stress to consume me. I felt like I had completely lost myself. In an effort take back control of my life, I have decided to return to the things that brought me happiness before. I was recently inspired by a good friend who created a list of 30 things she wanted to accomplish before she turned 30. Some of them were serious life goals (#adulting) and others were just silly things she has always wanted to do (#yolo). In an effort to reclaim my zest for life, I have decided to create a 30 before 30 list. My 30th birthday is coming soon, so I only have a few years to work on this. With that being said, I had to keep my goals pretty realistic (I'll save the other ones for my 40 before 40 list!... ugh... that freaks me out!!).

I want to use this blog to share this journey with you!! So please, wander with me while I check things off my 30 before 30 list!!! (DISCLAIMER: I've had my list compiled for a while now, but I wasn't really doing anything about it. Some of them have already been checked off so I will talk about those ones first.)



1. Grow A Cucumber

Cucumbers are my FAVORITE vegetable!! They are so refreshing and delish! This last March, I was looking for work and realized that it was the perfect time to plant cucumbers in Arizona! Since I had the time to give a young plant some TLC, I decided to give it a shot and plant a garden!

I've only ever tried to grow something once and it was while I was on my mission. I decided I wanted to have a strawberry plant (which is funny because I don't even like strawberries...). I planted a strawberry "bush" in a pot and called him Jerry Berry. I was able to get one strawberry before the plant fell to its death at a gas station in Parker, AZ... and it was soooo sour!! (Which really didn't help my whole not liking strawberries thing...) Since this experiment was such a failure, I assumed I didn't have a green thumb and that this new garden would be an epic disaster.

This was actually really fun! I went to the good ol' Home Depot and picked out a handful of other fruits and veggies that I wanted to grow.

I planted strawberries, tomatoes, zucchini, jalapeños, red, yellow and green bell peppers, cilantro, and of course, my beloved cucumbers. (And you better believe I named every single plant!)

Everything grew really well! I had fatty stacks of zucchini coming out the wazoo! Larry the cucumber plant only produced one cucumber... and sadly, it did not taste that great. Everything else in my garden was a smashing success! Next season, I will have to plant cucumbers again. I was really lucky to have a few months where I was doing contract work from home. This allowed me to tend to my garden daily and give it a little extra TLC.

 

 

If we live an unhealthy and unbalanced life and neglect the people and things that matter most, our spirit shrivels. This cute little garden of mine reminded me that happiness comes after we put forth the required DAILY effort and a little extra TLC (#treatyoself)!

I'm excited to continue on this #30before30 journey as I strive to live my best life!

You Have Got To Be GIFing Me!

For the last several months I was working as a field representative for a state-wide political campaign. I have had many people ask me what it was like to work on a campaign so I figured I would use this blog post to explain my experience.

Life on a campaign as explained through GIF's:

1. The excitement of starting a campaign:

2. Begging people to phone bank:

3. When someone says they can volunteer:

4. When volunteers cancel:

5. When volunteers don't show up for their shifts:

6. When someone shows up for an extra shift they weren't signed up for:

7. When you have to get after volunteers for not making phone calls:

8. When you don't sleep regularly:

9. When you're gaining weight from all the phone bank pizza and soda:

10. You might actually be dying:

11. When you aren't reaching your goals:

12. The nerves before election day:

13. When you win the election: