I’m back in American Samoa now, waiting out my government mandated quarantine at the Fatu O Aiga quarantine facility. It’s strange not being allowed to go outside really and being in a “real” lockdown. I’m currently on day 12 of 14, and I’ve tested negative on every antigen, PCR, and nasopharyngeal covid test I’ve taken over the past two months, which is wild!
And it’s been two months since I last came on here because whewww-I-really-needed-that-vacation.
I feel like I’m in some sort of third life crisis or something because I hadn’t really been feeling myself lately. I think I’m feeling… old/older?? Like, I want to take naps constantly and just do nothing a lot more often now. I don’t know, maybe it’s the covid fatigue but I’ve been so lazy that I couldn’t even get on here to share an update or a photo or two.
Vacation has healed me in some ways though. I’ve been reconnecting with analog journaling (travel journaling always makes me feel so nostalgic!) and it’s been lovely to be so excited by new stationery and scrapbooking journal spreads — using my hands and imagination, and mostly enjoying the process more than the final result. I’ve truly truly missed it.
But yeah — today I finally uploaded most of the photos off my camera’s memory cards… Hmm, see, that’s how lazy I’ve been! I hadn’t even off-loaded my memory cards until now from my trip and it’s two weeks after I’ve come back from said trip. I took quite a few photos as usual, but it reminded me that I need to put them somewhere so I don’t turn into one of those people that takes a zillion photos and does nothing with them (literally, everyone with a smartphone these days). So over the next days and weeks and maybe months I’ll slowly share photo journals from this very lovely, very needed vacation.
My little frazzled brain has been in hiding so if what I share looks/sounds like gibberish, oops sorry — please bear with me!
If you’re reading this, and made it this far. Thanks for being here.
In 24 hours I’ll be on a plane… Up up and away from home after 2 years since COVID canceled all my travel plans indefinitely.
Everyone keeps asking “are you ready?” and “are you excited?” and I’m like hmmm, yes and no to both.
I’m beyond excited to finally go on vacation, spend time with family, and go on new travel adventures.
I’m not looking forward to living out of a suitcase, leaving my big comfy bed, and I’m obviously worried that I might get COVID or that another new variant will pop up and cause my flight back home to be delayed.
Let’s focus on the positives though! I can’t wait to be a bit cold so I can wear layers, scarves, socks, and get cuddly without getting sweaty. I want to eat a lot of really good food. Go on a road trip. Go shopping (lol). Maybe find some snow since I’ve never had a white Christmas.
I’m pretty much all packed. I just need to pack my toothbrush, close my luggage, and organize my carry-on bag. The last few days have been all about packing, closing out work tasks, running errands, doing last name changes on my documents, shopping for pasalubong (souvenirs), wrapping gifts, cleaning the house, and trying to spend as much time with my best friend before I leave because I’m gonna miss her birthday while I’m away.
It’s late already — 11:45pm… almost midnight. I feel incredibly exhausted, and a little stressed that I still have a bunch of stuff to do tomorrow before we check in for our flight. But anyway, I wanted to preface my next blog posts with at least something because I’ll be in the states soon and I’ll try to update the blog more often since I’ll be in the land of fast internet. Maybe I’ll even start adding a few photo journals from my funky last couple of months.
I’m seriously about to pass out and my eyes are definitely too heavy to be staring at my laptop, so I’ll end this here…
I put this lil mood board together when I was in a funk about a month ago. I clearly haven’t been sharing much on here, but I think I’m ready to come back to my online home. This was nice to find in my drafts though because it’s a reminder that I am always a work in progress. Life is like the ocean and I am but a wave in constant ebb and flow.
I think this is my upcoming 2022 anthem — you are the greatest project you will ever work on.
But no really… how are you doing? Hanging in there?
To be honest, I’ve been struggling to maintain a good head space.
The last couple of months have felt really chaotic, I have had very little motivation and yet somehow I’ve been super productive and really really busy. I guess I’ve been so preoccupied with everything else in life that I haven’t stopped to smell the roses, so to speak. Plus there have been so many contrasting emotions that have put me through the ringer… high highs and low lows that have left me in a funky funk.
Anyhow, I haven’t been motivated enough to get on my blog to post anything so just wanted to post this update for now–hii, I hope you’re well and getting fresh air and sunshine when you can, and hopefully I’ll get some energy to share some photo journals soon.
Sending love and good vibes to wherever you are in the world.
Today after work, I asked my husband if he liked my style, and he answered “I love your style!” with so much more energy and zest than I was expecting, and then he he paused and said “unapologetically!”
It’s nice to know I made good choices in my wardrobe and in choosing an amazing husband 🥰
The last few weeks have been up and down and all around for me. I’ve been finding myself to be more distracted these days, less motivated, and out of rhythm in my routines… and that sucks. I’m working on feeling all these feelings, processing, letting go, and trying to constructively get myself out of this rut.
This lil mood board includes some visual inspo to remind myself to take things one step at a time, magnify appreciation for the little joys of life, and just have fun — life’s too short to be boring!
Sending all my love and good vibrations to wherever you are.
