outdoors

It’s been a long time

Heeey there! It’s been about two weeks since I last blogged… weird! It’s also been about two weeks since I deactivated my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. During my little hiatus I learned a lot about what’s important to me in life and how I feel about blogging and social media in general.

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Why I took a break from blogging and social media:
-I wanted to strengthen my relationship with God.
-I wanted to truly focus more on important relationships in my life.
-I felt like my blog was becoming too “me” focused and selfish.

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How I felt:
-At first I felt almost panicked, like I was missing everything going on in the world.
-After a few days, I felt very free because I wasn’t “available” 24/7.
-It was amazing to spend less time staring at my computer and phone.
-It was also great not to read blogs and compare myself to others (I know I have the choice not to compare myself to others, but I often feel like it happens almost automatically for me).
-I felt out of sorts at times because I was so disconnected from people that I regularly talk to via blogging and social media.

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Other thoughts:
-Spending less time blogging and using social media helped me become a better listener and gave me more free time to do things for others.
-I’ve learned that social media/blogging can be great, but can also take my attention away from more important things in my life if I allow them to.
-I’m struggling with feeling like I must have a blog or Facebook account in order to connect with people and learn about what’s going on in my friend’s lives. Ugh.
-I’m likely going to be reading blogs and blogging a lot less. I want to blog on my own terms–for the enjoyment of it instead of feeling like I have to document every aspect of my life and keep up with every blog out there.

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Whew, it felt good to get that off of my chest!

So, what have I been up to for the past two weeks?

VBS
Vacation Bible School at my church was great! I worked in the kitchen and Hannah and I were puppeteers.

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I competed in a sprint triathlon and placed third in the 19-29 age group.

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I harvested zucchini from my garden, Jimmy and I made chocolate chip and raisin zucchini bread, and I began working for my parent’s real estate brokerage (more on that in another post).

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I bonded with Hannah and Felix and went swimming at a local lake.

And last but not least…

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I had my wisdom teeth removed on Friday morning.

My dentist told me to have them removed a few years ago but I kept putting it off. They started hurting me earlier this week, so I went to the oral surgeon on Thursday and less than 24 hours later I was in surgery. The doctor said my something was wrong with my heart during the surgery, so I have to see my regular physician on Tuesday to figure out what’s up with my ticker.

I’ve been laying around on the couch eating soup and jello and popping lots of Advil. It’s nice being babied by Jimmy, too. We rented Despicable Me last night and it was such a cute movie! Here’s to hoping I can heal up quickly with no dry sockets!

What’s going on in your life?!

The last

This post is going to be filled with pictures from the second half of my family’s vacation to the Outer Banks. To see the first round of pictures, click here. To see pictures from our fun adventure, click here.

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My mom took this picture of Hannah and I outside of the Jolly Roger Restaurant. It’s one of the oldest Italian restaurants in the area, and it’s very uniquely decorated inside. The menu is pretty big, and my favorite dish is the broiled scallops. All meals come with hushpuppies, which is pretty awesome if you ask me.

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I ate peanut butter from the jar while watching Hannah and my dad do Insanity one morning. That was fun.

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Hannah and I tried to play volleyball, but I ruined it with my lackluster skills. I think I’ll stick with running and swimming.

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I really don’t know what to say about this picture.

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My family also walked on the beach one evening. It was so peaceful.

Other fun things we did:
-Went go-karting
-Played basketball in an arcade
-Painted our nails (my dad didn’t participate in this…)
-Slept in and did nothing until noon
-Read books on the beach
-Played frisbee on the beach
-Baked cookies
-Sat on our porch and watched the ocean
-Went souvenir shooping

We also went out to eat for dinner nearly every night. That was such a treat.

Outer Banks restaurants I personally recommend:
Outer Banks Brewing Station –>Try the black bean dip, seared tuna, and freshly baked bread.
Miller’s Seafood and Steakhouse –>Try the rockfish and hushpuppies–the hushpuppies are sweet and taste like funnel cake!
Awful Arthur’s Oyster Bar –>I highly recommend the raw oysters on a half shell.

I ran three times while on vacation (yay for flat roads!), and on the last morning of my family’s stay, I watched the sun rise over the ocean as I ran. It was so gorgeous and I felt extremely blessed.

I felt even more blessed to come home after a long 10 hour drive to find a birthday gift from Kim at my house.

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How sweet is that?! Thank you Kim! You know me so well 🙂

It was good to be away, but even better to come home!

What’s do you love about vacations?
I like lazing around with nothing to do. It feels so good to do nothing sometimes. I also love going out to eat and trying new foods.