Lyfe Update - Where have I been?

Ok. Hey guys.

There is sooooo much to update you on!

*Disclaimer: This post may or may not contain affiliate links. Meaning, I could make a small commission if you make a purchase through links in this post, at no cost to you! You are simply supporting my job as a blogger and content creator. My views and opinions are never swayed. And I will only recommend places or products that I actually use, approve of, and love.

I'll start from the beginning.

After listing our house for sale for almost a year, we finally got a buyer this past July! Which meant we suddenly had to find the perfect house, in our price range, and in a good area/city that we liked. All while packing constantly... So basically July and August I was crazy busy packing up our lives into boxes. 

Quick Tip: When you are preparing to move, starting packing boxes a few weeks before the big day. Write up a number/letter system to label the boxes, and keep a log of everything in each box. Then dedicate one room to keep all the boxes until moving day. This made the movers' lives (and our lives) much easier because there was nothing in the way of them carrying out the furniture!

Thanks to our amazing realtor, we found our ideal home! Complete with hundreds of tropical plants around the outside. Including banana trees, hibiscus, plumerias, lemons, limes, mango. (And tons other that I honestly have no clue what their names are. They're pretty tough!) Almost every week my Mom and I are outside trying to tend to the garden. So far we've had 2 large bunches of bananas we've cut down (and eaten), with 3 trees growing more right now!

So around mid-August, we moved in and spent the first 2 weeks unpacking and reorganizing everything into the new house. (This is only the second time I've ever moved, so the process took me forever!)

During all of this craziness, I was still trying to keep up with my emails and Instagram life. And I'm so glad I did! Because exactly 8 days after moving, I went on a trip to St. Pete with my friends at @ShareALittleSunshine. I met up with lots of other #LoveFL Instagrammers, coming up with lots of ideas to grow the Share a Little Sunshine brand. We went to the Dali museum, The Don Cesar hotel, Fort De Soto, explored the downtown district, put together our own succulents, watched the sunset, and more! 

I came home to the sad fact that I still had so much unpacking to do... And it still took me a couple more weeks till I had 95% of my stuff out of cardboard.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Dorian was heading our way. So I was running around the new house trying to get everything prepared for the incoming storm. (And wrote a blog post all about it!) I'm sure you heard about the devastating effects of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas, and we were very fortunate to only be hit by the outer bands of the storm here in South Florida. (We had lots of wind gusts and rain. Which was nothing compared to the Category 5 eye that was over Abaco and Grand Bahama Islands for 2-3 days.)

After living here for a month, I had this sudden drive in me to be creative again. I was thinking about how my art has come in and out of my life a bunch of times, in different ways. So I wrote this blog post and started up my own Etsy Shop! (So far I've uploaded photo prints, but I have plans to post digital-downloads and paintings as well!)

I have been very open with my mer-babes on here that I'm a full-time blogger, content creator, and influencer. But because life is getting so busy, (and my health insurance is running out), I need another source of income to support my lifestyle. So I've been looking for a job...

Then, a couple of weeks ago, a friend reached out asking if I'd be willing to train him in the world of social media to help grow his business. I happily said yes, and immediately started putting together a document with all my best tips and tricks. (I wrote 21 pages in a week 🙃.) My meetings with him are going well and it feels nice to help someone break out into the huge world of Instagram.

My uncle heard about my social media meetings and asked me to help out with the accounts for the auction house that he works at. So I dove headfirst into a new environment and worked with them on their social accounts. (Fun fact: I've never actually worked in an office before! I mean sure, I have every episode of The Office memorized. So I just can't help but compare this world to the one on my TV screen.) 

As for my current employment status, I have no idea what's happening! I sent out resumes and proposals, and I'm waiting to hear from a few companies. As well as trying to find an ideal health insurance plan. (Adulting is hard sometimes.) I'm really hoping for the best in my situation, so cross your fingers for me, please!

October was also full of fun photoshoots and activities too! I went to Flamingo Gardens a few times, pumpkin patches, carved a pineapple, and explored a few fall festivals.

It's mid-November now, and I just got back from my latest #GirlsTrip almost 2 weeks ago. Where we went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure! If you've been following me for a while, I'm sure you've heard about my obsession with Harry Potter, and going to the Wizarding World for the second time was just as magical as the first! This time I really took my time going into every shop in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley, savoring every sip of frozen butterbeer, and soaking in every minute of being with my girl squad. (Let me know if you want a blog post with my tips on visiting Universal Orlando!)

Since Thanksgiving is next week, one of my besties invited a few of us over for Friendsgiving this weekend. And I'll be traveling there by Amtrak! This trip feels like a first for me, even though it's technically not my first train ride... (I rode the subway in D.C. 8 years ago, and the Brightline last year. Oh, and of course I take the Hogwarts Express every year on September 1. 😉) It will take a few hours to get there, so I was on Pinterest a ton last weekend looking up other bloggers' tips and tricks to train travel. Things like what to wear, do I bring a blanket, snacks, and water, what size carry-on is allowed, etc. Even though I'm doing my absolute best to prepare, I'm still a bit nervous!

So that's a little bit of what's been happening in my life in the last few months! I honestly could've kept going, cause there were some baking mishaps and lots of banana recipes. But I didn't want to bore you too much lol. (And if you follow me on Instagram, you know all about my banana chronicles. 😆😆)

My life still feels up in the air right now and I wish I could continue this blogging thing full-time. But, no matter what the next step in my life brings, I plan on continuing my blogging, traveling, mermaid lifestyle as much as I can. Your support during this hard time means so much more than you know!

Thank you for sticking around as I try to figure out this thing called life.

xx

-Lala