Let's Play Catch-up Days 5-14: 30 Day Writing Challenge

I totally let myself go really quick omg, haha but I think I also started getting ideas for so many new posts after this challenge is done that I got so impatient that I just didn't post for a week. Sorry guys. Haha but to catch up on the last week, here's what I got: 
5. A place you would live, but have never visited

I would definitely not mind living in Spain or Greece one day. Those two countries are also the only countries in Europe that I have an "I NEED TO VISIT HERE BEFORE I DIE" kind of mentality about.
Spain intrigues me because it seems like such a beautiful and passionate country and culture, plus I have roots there somewhere down my family line so that would be cool to explore as well. With Greece, I've just always admired the landscapes. I think the film, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, was the film that first introduced me to Greece and got me thinking about it. 
6. Someone who fascinates you & why
This is a hard one. However, if I had to choose someone who truly fascinates me, I would have to say Selena Gomez at the moment. She's slowly started coming out and speaking about her recently found faith in God, and I like it. I know she's getting a lot of flack for it though because of her past, but I'm very curious to see how she deals with the criticisms in the future. Not to mention, we also go to the same church so that's pretty cool. 
7. Any tattoos you have & the meaning behind them
Nope, sorry no tattoos. There are a few that I want, but I'm not sure if I would ever muster up enough courage to actually get them.
8. A book you love & one you didn't
A book I loved: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I've read a ton of books since reading this book in my senior year of high school, but it truly stood out to me because it was a historical/science nonfiction novel that surprised me. I am not a huge science fan, so when I was first assigned this book for my summer homework, I wasn't too excited about it. However, I do love novels, and I really enjoyed the format that this story was told. The story was told partially with the history of this woman & her cells, as well as the author's research into learning this woman's story as well as her family's to share it all in this book.
A book I didn't love: Lord of the Flies (sorry Ms. North, haha). I had to read this book in high school as well, except for my sophomore year of high school. I think the book was written very well, but I just didn't find the content interesting at all. It just wasn't my kind of book. 
9. Your feelings on ageism
Ageism isn't something that we talk enough about, but it is definitely there. Especially against people of older age. I've noticed that ageism against older adults tends to be in Western cultures more than other cultures, simply because many of those other cultures place such a heavy emphasis on respecting elders. 
10. A fruit you dislike & why
I don't like cherries. I don't like the flavor, I don't like the seeds, I just don't like them. Especially cherry-flavored things. YUCK. There is just something about the flavor that isn't sweet or sour enough for me to enjoy. I'm not sure, I don't usually ever go for it so it's been a while since I've last tasted cherries, haha. 
11. Your current relationship; if single, discuss that too

I think everyone knows about my current relationship. In June, we will have been together for 6 years. We have an interesting beginning & an even more interesting story, but those are for another day (but I have written our beginning out in the past). 
All I'll say is that we have been through almost everything couples could possibly go through, even some things that most people don't ever experience in their entire lives, good & bad. & with all that being said, I have to say that this past year has been the best year ever for us. I know that long distance tears many couples apart, but honestly, it has made us stronger & healthier (& probably saved our relationship in different ways, too). 
12. Two words/phrases that make you laugh
This is where I think Darell knows me better than I know myself. It's something he says, but I can't think about it right now for the life of me. Sometimes when he talks, I just burst out laughing. He's also funny-looking sometimes. (hehe, love you babe)
13. Your commute to & from work/school/etc.

My view on the bus on the way to work

Depending on if I am coming from my house or my friend's house that I stay at pretty much half the time, I get to work by bus or train. Taking the train is always cool for me because it really makes me feel like a city girl, even though I live in the suburbs. Running to catch the train right before it leaves adds to the experience as well. 
14. Your life in 7 years
7 years from now, I will be 28 years old. I will definitely be married and most likely have at least one kid if not two. Whatever I'll be doing for work, I hope it's something I love somewhere I love. I don't know where I'll be living at this time. I could be here in Australia still or back in the States. Heck, I could even be somewhere completely unexpected. Who knows, but I can't wait to see where I'll be. 

Let Me Re-Introduce Myself

Today's prompt says for me to write 10 interesting facts about myself. I believe I've done this kind of post once before so I'm going to have to get creative with this one. Here goes nothing!

1. I am part of a couple online "sororities" that have been circling American news outlets lately! I'm not part of the über exclusive group "Girls Night In" that was just mentioned on Good Morning America recently, but I am part of the much larger, less exclusive group that was actually the predecessor to GNI if I'm not mistaken :) I have a few friends that are in the group, though!

2. I once had to attend a late-night work meeting at one of my old jobs to meet with Apl.de.ap from the Black Eyed Peas to talk about his future business endeavors! He's really cool in person. 

3. I've been in a relationship for almost 6 years. Love that guy. 
4. Over the last 6 years, I've moved quite a bit but I've always kept one thing with me in my room wherever I go, including here in Sydney. It's one of the very first gifts that Darell gave me. It's a collage of pictures of us that he gave to us after two months of dating because for half that time I was in the Philippines. It was made on Paint & he actually tried being girly with how the actual frame looked. It's one of my most treasured things that I own ♥  

5. I work at a makeup store in Sydney. I'm not a professional by any means nor do I ever intend on becoming a professional, but I love makeup & have always been interested in working with it, so this job is pretty fun. I like helping women use makeup to enhance their looks in a good way :)
6. My guilty pleasure is The Bachelor. I didn't get into the show until last year & there are a ton of reasons why (especially regarding race) but once my friends got me to watch one episode I couldn't stop! It's so bad & it's so good.  7. Welp, I can't come up with anything else. So 6 facts it is!
I'm having tons of fun with this writing challenge. It will be good for me to look back on it later :)

First Love & First Kiss (Oo0ooh JUICY)

Ooh, where to start with this one? 
Well, both of these things were with the same person, 10 years ago (it's actually almost 10 years from what would've been our anniversary had we stayed together, haha! I have a very vivid memory). I dated this guy while I was in middle school for almost 2.5 years. I know that people say that relationships from that age don't count but I think when they last that long they should!

My group of friends in middle school, my ex included. I purposely chose a photo where I wasn't next to him to respect his privacy haha.

Anyway, the guy went by Junior, but he goes by a different nickname now to get away from the stigma that can come from being a "junior." For the sake of this post, that's what I'll refer to him as to respect his privacy. 
He was someone I had classes with since 3rd grade. Before we started dating I didn't really have much of a friendship with him, other than the fact that for school dances we were always paired together because we were both the shortest people in our classes, haha. We had almost all of the same friends but just didn't talk so much. 
Then, one day in 6th grade he had admitted to liking me on the playground then ran away. It wasn't until a few days later that I said I felt the same way on the phone so we decided to be boyfriend/girlfriend right then & there. 
Our first kiss was two months later, and it was the day after the last day of school. We both had gone to school with some friends to help our teachers pack up for the summer & at the top of the second story building of my middle school overlooking our hometown, we kissed. It was cute; it was so sweet & simple & innocent.
I call him my first love because he was the first guy I ever said "I love you" to. He was the first person I ever held hands with, and also my first kiss. He also treated me really well. Our relationship was so pure & innocent, & as I look back on it now I see our love more as a puppy love more than a very emotional, over encompassing, forever type of love. & no it's not a bad thing at all in my eyes. We were just younger and simpler. We never fought, everything was so new with us, and I think for the both of us it was about having someone who cares about you and caring for them back. Nothing else. No ulterior motives. No taking advantage of anyone. We just really cared about each other. 
The best way to describe the relationship was "sweet." I only have fond (but sometimes very embarrassing/cringe-worthy on my end, especially with how I looked) memories with him. 

Us all reunited a few years later at my friend's 18th birthday!

Our breakup was initiated by me, but ended up being mutual in the end. We ended up going to different high schools, and at such a young age it would've been difficult to maintain a long-distance (because we had no cars) relationship. 
We are still friends. We are on good terms. We are friends on Facebook, Instagram & Snapchat. Heck, I even danced with him at a friend's 18th birthday a few years ago! He might even come across this post, haha. So if you're reading this, Junior, I hope that you're cringing & smiling at everything from 10 years ago just as much as I am, haha. 
& I also want to say thank you. Thank you for everything you did for me all those years ago. As cheesy as it sounds, I probably wouldn't have had such an optimistic view on relationships if it weren't for you! I hope you're doing well & having so much fun in your last couple of months of undergrad! Your snapchats are always lit haha. 
Anyway, I'm not sure how to end this post! But whoever is reading this I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed thinking back to it. :)

My First Memory of Life

I'll keep this one short because well, my earliest memory is quite faint, but I still remember it decently well, if I say so myself. 

little baby me: I actually look like a little girl here! (most of my baby pictures make me look like a boy)

I was about 3 years old, maybe. I remember it was an early morning, before 10am for sure. The sun was shining and I remember running up to the screen door of the house that I grew up in. I had heard my uncle, grandma, and parents talking about a new puppy we just got! I remember looking out the screen door and seeing her running around the front yard, playing with my uncle or dad (I can't remember who, all I know is that it was a man). I wanted to play with the dog but I was also scared at the same time.
And that's about it! I wish I could remember more but that's about as vivid as I can get for now. 

5 Issues I Have with Social Media

Social media seems to have taken over our lives, whether or not we want to admit it. We are always posting new statuses on Facebook, testing out new filters on Instagram, and retweeting tweets on Twitter. Social media has done a lot of good by being able to spread the word about different causes and issues so quickly and by giving us access to almost all the information in the world, but there are also tons of things wrong with it as well. 

The first day of my 30 day writing challenge is to talk about the 5 issues I have with social media, and here they are: 
1. Feeling like you need to be on all of them.  Now I know tons of people that limit themselves to just Instagram or Facebook and not on Twitter/Snapchat/Tumblr/LinkedIn, etc (not to mention dating apps if you're single too!). & especially if you are a blogger like I am, there is even MORE pressure to download all social media apps to be accessible to all potential followers, which then causes us to obsess over what we post and how and when (see points 2 & 5). 
2. We literally & figuratively "filter" our lives to be better than what they may really be.  I wrote a post on this two years ago. I had gotten so fed up with everyone around me having seemingly "perfect" relationships while Darell & I had a lot of issues that we were working out. But after talking to a professor about it, she helped me realize that people use social media to post the best of their lives most of the time. If they are fighting with their significant others, they are probably not going to post it, and of course that makes sense. With social media, we try to only show the good parts of our lives, fooling the rest of the world into thinking our worlds are more perfect than we see online. 
3. It allows cowards to troll the internet with pointless or hateful comments. Because people have the ability to be anonymous, they think it's okay to comment on social media posts bullying the original poster or being very insensitive/racist/misogynist with their comments. Those people are cowards because in real life, chances are they would never have even said a thing. 
4. It makes for tons of shallow relationships/"friendships."  Instagram and Facebook, it's so easy to add or follow someone after meeting them once, only to never speak to them ever again. Yet they know all about your pregnancy announcement and you know all about their new dog. You know (what can be) some intimate details of these peoples' lives, except that you don't interact with them at all. What makes it more awkward is if you added this person before you guys formally met (yet you both have seen each other before/have hung out in the same group before) & you have to act like you don't even know them. Or if you see them while you're out but you guys have to ignore each other as if you don't know each other! 
5. We don't fully live in the moment. Whether people openly admit it or not, we think about what we want to post next on social media or we want to see what everyone is up to. Some people may say that they're not like that yet you see them on their phones while in a room full of people. I know that because of my blog in the past I have definitely obsessed over social media & was constantly on it, but have since toned it down quite a bit. I'm trying to have a better balance of using social media but staying aware of what's happening around me. 
Surprisingly, it took me a while to come up with these 5 items, simply because a lot of other things were more specific and fell into one or more of these general categories. Now despite this list of course, I still definitely really like and appreciate social media, but with everything there is going to be some negatives. Do you have any other pet peeves with social media? 

Colour Conference 2016 & My Personal Encounter with God

One of the craziest things about attending Hillsong Church while I'm living in Sydney is the opportunity to be part of a growing movement of people who are so genuine and so passionate about what they do in ministry. And that's not to say that there aren't movements like that back home in America, but it is this movement at Hillsong that is paving the way for so many other churches around the world to be empowered in the cause for Christ. 
One of the biggest movements coming out of Hillsong is empowering women in the church, something that has been discouraged in the past in the Christian community. 

source: hillsong.com

Anyway, so every year, Hillsong hosts a women's conference entitled Colour Conference. It is where women from all ages all over the world come together to be inspired and encouraged by some of the world's greatest speakers to just be a women in Christ. We are reminded of our beauty and value and it's just a great time and place to be to gather with thousands of other women literally from all walks of life. 
I first discovered conference back in 2013 when Hillsong Conference was in LA. I had attended with Darell & little did I know how it would be the first of many seeds planted in my heart and spirit about where I would be today. I'll never forget seeing the flyers for Colour in our seats and me turning to Darell and telling him that I wanted to go and that one day, I'll have the chance. 
Fast forward 2.5 years later and here I am, at Colour Conference IN SYDNEY with a very discounted ticket that I bought only the night before. 
It was really great to be at a conference that really is all about the godly woman. Women are so beautiful and valuable and sometimes in the church, that can be forgotten about. The aesthetics were so beautiful to look at. The speakers were hilarious but all so real in the words they preached. It was such a great atmosphere to be in. 
However, even though everything was AMAZING, my biggest and most powerful takeaway from the whole conference was from day 3. & I'll quote it directly from my journal entry the day after conference: 

"The most powerful takeaway from conference was from yesterday's late morning/early afternoon session with Brooke Fraser, Taya Smith, and a few of the other worship leaders/directors. 
I was so overwhelmed by God's love and goodness that at one point I was sobbing on my knees to the song 'Good Father.' I wasn't completely sure why I was crying at first but all I knew to do at that point was to give praises to our God & King. 
Brooke also gave a beautiful tidbit behind the word 'Abba' that really spoke to me.
She explained that a closer English translation of the word is 'Dada.' & when babies use it to call their dads, all they want is to be close to them, which is how we should be as well. She [then] described how God is with us as a dad..." 
With all of that being said, God had also spoken into my spirit Psalm 3:1-4, which talks about people doubting David but that he is protected by God. It was the perfect comfort to where I was in life at that point, that no matter what happens to me and no matter what people think of me, I am protected and cared for by a God greater than anything on this earth. 
I guess with all of this I am trying to encourage whoever is reading this wherever they're at in their personal journey with God. While I think it would be awesome if every woman gets the chance to attend Colour, I also think more than that I want to say that it is possible to have a crazy and overwhelming encounter with God. 
As someone who grew up in the church, I had always dreamed of having an experience with God so overwhelming that I am brought to my knees, and while I have definitely encountered God before, it was never anything like this. He had never spoken to my heart and soul as clearly as he did here. Just be open to it. 
--------------------------------------- Wow, two posts, two days in a row! I am quite proud of myself considering my blog post track record for the last year or so. But anyway, starting tomorrow I'll be starting a 30 day writing challenge to get myself re-aquainted and to reintroduce myself back into the blogging world, and hopefully after that I can get back to posting some really great content again. Welcome back to my world as I try to live & love it one day at a time. ;)

The Habit of that Sydney Livin'

WOW. It's been about a month & a half since I last wrote. SO MUCH has happened since then & I've had so much I've wanted to write about but just haven't. Let's just say that I'm really enjoying being here, and I've gotten into my own little routine every week. I now have a job, take public transit almost daily, and have made some friends outside of Darell's friends that I now call my own. 
The transition to living here was almost seamless for me, even the public transit, despite almost never taking it back home in California. & although I'm just as paranoid as ever for my safety, Australia is generally safer than LA, no doubt. 
I'm having a hard time writing this post because I'm unsure of whether or not to unload on the last month & a half now or putting it into separate posts, but I'm not sure when's the next time I'll be able to write (my schedule is about to get a ton more busy in the next few weeks). 
But let's see... 

In the last 6 weeks I have:

• Seen an opera at the Sydney Opera House
• Started attending a connect/small group at church (something I haven't been able to do in years)
• Worn colored contacts for the first time as a result from work
• Attended the 20th anniversary of Colour Conference for the very first time, and it changed my life. 

Other than that plus random/lazy days with Darell & our friends, I haven't done too many touristy or crazy adventures simply because I've been focusing on work, finding a job, saving money, etc. 

I'm going to be trying out a writing challenge for the month of April on random topics so hopefully it pushes me to just start writing again. I really miss it, and I really miss being in and apart of the blogging world. If I want to someday work remotely, I'm going to have to get used to working from home.