Been a hottt lil minute since I had a chance to get on here and share a life update. July was a busier than expected month for me, and I can barely believe that it’s already mid-August?! Wild.

Between my full time job, freelance work, social life, “thriving” social media presence for work and self, PLUS my self care couch potato time *foreshadowing here*, I’ve been burning out. I was really hoping to blog my weekly Plastic Free July updates, and all the photo sessions I’ve been taking over the last few months, but that fell off real quick when my work schedule picked up. I even dropped the ball on a project I committed to—drafting a book design for a travel guide—and I felt really bad about my dwindling motivation and time management, so I re-prioritized and got it done.

The to-do list never ends. And I’m not mad about it. I’m just losing steam. This loco-motive is in desperate need of a vacay; some time away to recharge.

I live in paradise, so working from home—slow mornings, settled routines, and jumping in the ocean for lunch—has been a great deal of help. But I got a case of wanderlust and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a trip to Manu’a in the near future.

A few highlights of my life lately though:

I got a new couch! — *see I told you, foreshadowing* On the tag, it said it’s an L-shape chaise sleeper, so it can be converted from a couch into a full size bed. It’s the perfect size for our little home, and I’ve been stationed here most days lately with my bamboo lap desk and reading pillow for working on my laptop, or watching Netflix with my guy.

Finding rest and loving it — And while I know I said I’ve been uber busy, I’ve also been maxin’ my relaxin’ as much as I can. If the pandemic taught me one thing, it’s that there is never enough time in the world to do it all right now, so be kind to your mind and body, and do whatever it is that keeps you going. Can’t stay motivated if you are burnt out all the time!

Landed a new web design project — I’ve briefly mentioned this in a previous blog post, but I’ve made some changes to how I’m running my web design projects and I’m excited to have landed a sweet gig to keep me busy, active, and honing my skills. I generally only take one or two projects on each year so I can dedicate my time to each client since I have to do all this work in my spare time, when I’m not smashed with work at my full time job.

Plastic Free July — I truly meant to be better and share my daily updates, but alas, I was only able to post about my first week of the challenge. I did take photos on my phone that I’ll eventually get around to posting, but for now, all I can say is that it was pretty chill. There were definitely some fails, especially when it came to food and groceries, but it was a good way to reinforce my habits, and take stock in my plastic consumption again.

Dry July — On top of going plastic free in July, I also decided to go the entire month without alcohol. It wasn’t for any specific reason either. I just wanted to give it a try. And it was super easy. I didn’t crave a drink at all, except towards the end of the month when I was stressing about work stuff, and wanted to wine down (pun intended) with a cold bevvy. But yeah, it was cool otherwise.

Videos — The newest episode of PBS Changing Seas came out in early July featuring National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa and the various resource management agency partners, and I am stoked to be able to say I was a part of it! Back in October or November of last year, I pitched the episode idea to our office’s research coordinator, and she helped guide the direction and inform with research, and we sent it off to our headquarters media person, and got word from the South Florida PBS executive producer that we were selected for an episode! I helped with some logistics, and welcomed the film team back in February… literally just after the island’s measles epidemic, and just before 3 hurricanes came through, and of course COVID happened… it was a miracle it all worked out and they got a good weather window too. Anyhow, the show was amazing and I highly encourage you to watch it and get a sense of my beautiful island home and a bit of the science and research being done here to protect our natural resources. On another similar but unrelated note, I filmed a 20+ minute Get Into Your Sanctuary video program that turned out better than I expected. It took me and my coworkers 3 weeks to film, edit, schedule, and share the video on social media and I was so happy when it premiered live and the engagement was through the roof. Video work is new in my arsenal as I’ve always only been a still photo type of person, but I dig it and who knows, maybe if I upgrade my laptop’s RAM, I can get into more video work.

Hmm yeah, there’s probably more but honestly I’m tired. It’s 1am, and I’ve been forcing myself to stay up so I can finally post a blog update. And my eyes are drooping… so don’t mind any typos, and till next time!

xo,

Nerelle