#Summer – Pink for Days

Hello my dear friends!!

I’m very happy and in a very good mood.

I was offered the job I really wanted and that I had recently interviewed for and I, of course, said yes. I’ll start on September 1st, which is perfect because our annual Summer vacation (time we can take together in the Summer, usually August) starts tomorrow, after Rui leaves work. We’ll be free (I mean, I’ve been for a while so he’ll be) from Monday, 31st of July (not counting this weekend because he’s free on weekends anyway) to Sunday, the 13th of August. Rui will probably go back to work on Monday, August 14th. We have no idea what we’re doing yet but we know we won’t be doing anything too crazy or spending too much money because I’m not working yet.

Tomorrow night we will go and spend the weekend at his parents house in Sertã, his hometown. It’s countryside, super hot and extremely beautiful. There are river beaches and the city pool is extremely cheap (you pay about 3€ per person for the whole day) and I just love the landscapes and high places and dense Eucalyptus and Pine tree forests.

There’s just a few issues we have no idea how to solve. Rosa, the vegetable garden and my garden and plants. We would like to stay longer than just the weekend but we have no one to watch Rosa, and to water everything. It’s very hot so things need to be watered and taken care of daily. We can obviously leave Rosa at the Pet hotel where she usually stays, but it’s kind of expensive. 15€ per day adds up quickly if she stays there for a few days. Also, I feel bad to leave her more than a couple of days because I’m afraid she will feel abandoned and get nervous or anxious or sad. It’s my baby girl, after all. If we take her, she will spend so much time inside the house because we cannot take her with us to the pool or beach. So, yeah, there are a few problems to solve before we go.

Now, more details about my job. I’m very, very excited because I’ll go back to tutoring, which is easier than full on teaching, and I’ll have 8th and 9th grade, instead of pre – college, teenage high schoolers or working adults. The fact that I’ll be working for someone else for a while instead of being responsible for a whole business is something that makes me feel calm and peaceful right now. The hours are so different and there’s only about 10% of the stress and responsibility I was dealing with before I came home. I have been known to work from 7.30 a.m to 11.30 p.m with no breaks, more than once, many times actually, and now I’ll only be dealing with 12.30 hours a week, earning a close to full-time salary. How lucky am I? God is being very good to me and I feel so blessed. This job is what I needed and prayed for and it’s the perfection way to slowly get back to work and still have tonnes of time to take care of myself and get better. Plus, I love the idea of being booked for the whole school year, because it provides stability. What else could I ask for? Oh, there’s one more thing. Most hours are in the late afternoon, which means Rui can go by when he’s coming from work and pick me up, which means less money spent on transportation. I’m over the moon.

I’m sorry I’m writing so much but I really wanted to update you on these very important things, our upcoming vacation and my new job. I’m looking forward to both. Its’s also great that I have about 15 days after our vacation for getting a few things done and organized before the school year starts.

I’m really happy, which hasn’t happen in a while.

I’m going to get off your back now. Sorry for such a long post (not that they’re usually small, but still) and I hope, from the bottom of my heart, that you’re happy and that things are going well for you right now.

I would love if you’d tell me what makes you feel blessed at the moment or, if you’re going to a tough period, what’s going on, so we can talk and pray together.

Love you guys so much.

Thank you for the constant support.

Chey.

Good afternoon everyone,

Buckle up, this is going to be a long one. Hopefully you like to read monthly plans and reviews. I’ll try to make this as non-boring as possible.

Before I get into the monthly reflection, let me tell you I forgot to update you on my day, yesterday, because I fell asleep. I won’t do it now, but I’ll apologize.

I watched 2 movies and 10 minutes of another lol I watched Conviction, with Hilary Swank and really liked it. Then I caught about 10 or 15 minutes of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which is one of the saddest movies ever (I have seen it more than once). I really makes me cry. In the evening, Rui and I watched Little Miss Sunshine, which I had never seen but has been on my watch list for ages. I loved it. Funny, yet dramatic.

Anyways, there’s three things that are important that I want to share with you:

I didn’t meet my goal of getting 15,000 views this month, which is totally my fault because I know I slack a lot. I’m not even close at 11,516. Still needed 3,484 views to meet my goal. It was even worst because I had less views than in May, the total being 13,337 last month. I had 1,821 less views this month. Don’t worry I don’t lose sleep over this and I don’t obsess about it either. I just like to set goals and reach them. That is all.
I’ve noticed that my perfect party series posts didn’t have as much views or likes or comments as I was expecting. This is not for me, it’s for them. I would be so happy if you would go over the posts again, show your support to the bloggers, go over to their blogs, compliment their work. It would mean the world to me. It took so much work and they’re such special people and I think they deserve more love and attention.
I’m no longer taking any exams or finishing university this year. It really breaks my heart. I had not yet paid my tuition this year and I thought I could pay it later in the year, no problem with paying interest. Turns out they have a new rule, where you’re not allowed to do exams unless you have paid full tuition. It’s over 1000€ and it’s not like we don’t have it, we just cannot spend such a big amount right now, because we don’t know how long I’ll need to be home and we need to save and be frugal. I’m really sad. I’ve been trying to finish my degree since 2011 and I’m only 3 courses away. The need to work or mental illness have always been in the way. The worst part is, I’ll still have to pay this amount, of course, but enroll again next year for those 3 courses, paying an extra 800€. Life is never easy, is it?

So, this is what I wanted to share or talk to you about. Let’s now get to see what I accomplished in June, shall we? Don’t expect anything too grand.

My June goals were:

Drink 1,5 l of water every day. – I mostly have because it has been hot and I have no issues in meeting my daily goal in the Summer.
Do my yoga every single day and find one video with exercises for back pain to add to my regular yoga routine; – You know I didn’t do this.
Go to the beach; – Went once. In my defense, it has been to windy and colder since.
Wake up early every day, maybe 8.30 hours would be a good time; – I do. But then I get so sleepy I have to get back to bad. Pills.
Go to bed earlier, between 11.30 and midnight; – No way.
Take a walk in the morning, at least 3 times a week; – No.
Do some gardening, at least every other day; – I’ve been pretty involved with gardening and my inside and outside plants and they’re all still alive and thriving.
Keep up with house chores, they count as exercise; – Slacking so much.
Go swimming; Didn’t.
Watch 2 movies a week; – Yes, I have, give or take.
Finish reading 3 books I need to finish and get back to the library. (bonus points for 5 books); – I finished one.
Go to therapy once a week or every other week; – I went once. Things didn’t go as planned, totally my fault.
Finally schedule a gynaecologist appointment, a dental appointment and a dermatology appointment; – I didn’t, but that’s because I’m waiting for my insurance to come through on July, 25.
Don’t slack on self-care: Wash face morning and night, use toner, moisturize, exfoliate once a week, do green clay mask once a week, do hydration mask twice a week. Moisturize body, exfoliate twice a week. Brush teeth 4 times a day. Do a pedicure and manicure. Make sure I get sun protection. Keep taking my multivitamin and my hair supplement. Do hair masks twice a week. Take my pills. – It wasn’t so bad.
Don’t sleep too much. – Let’s not talk about this.
Cook healthy meals. – Not always but we have.
Never let food spoil. – I don’t think we let anything spoil.
Make breakfast for Rui and leave his clothes prepared every night. (I like taking care of him and he has a lot of responsibility and stress at work so I like to help as much as I can so he can focus on work); – Never thought about this again. Poor guy.
Spend more time with friends and family; – Not much.
Spend more time outside; – Definitely have.
Drink less coffee, eat less sweets and fast food; – I have.
Try new baking recipes; – Haven’t baked for 2 reasons: So we don’t eat sweets and to save because our stove and oven are electric (some are gas) and they use up a lot of energy.
Study hard and in an organized way for my exams; – Doesn’t even apply anymore.
Reach out to people I haven’t talked to in a long time; – No, but I have asked a few to be my friends on Facebook and to follow me on Instagram.
Send postcards and letters; – Still haven’t.
Wash dishes after dinner; – We bought the machine and have been good at putting it to work every day.
Eat three meals and three snacks each day, be more consistent with meal times. Do a food journal. – No food journal but I think I’ve been eating better.
Do a habit tracker; – Done.
Get more plants; – Done.
Try to cut back on laundry and spend less water and electricity (we’re paying too much); – Done.
Slowly get back to work. I’ve got some students already and I’m happy I’ll be able to work from home; – Maybe now in July. Rui and my doctor are kind of reluctant about this.
Save money; – I have spent almost nothing, if you don’t count medical expenses. Which were over 200€.
Help Rui with the veggie garden; – I haven’t.
Work on our relationship (we are fine but we’ve been better. We’re both stressed out most of the time and need to focus on being nice to each other. We rarely fight but we can really say mean things and be nasty); – We have tried.
Celebrate my mom and grandmother’s birthdays; – I was there for my mom’s, not for my grandmother’s.
Start taking my driver’s license; – Definitely in July.
Call people (family and friends) more often; – Nope.
Invite people over; – Nope, I’m pretty much a hermit.
Work hard on accomplish all of my goals. I know I can do it if I’m more organized and better with my schedules. – Not at all.

You guys must think: What a failure she is, so many goals and almost nothing got done. You know I would like to be more inspiring. But I had a bad month or even a bad year. But I will keep making goals and I don’t care if I fail them. I do them so I have something to work for.

In June, for my blog, I wanted to:

Get to 15,000 views. – Didn’t happen.
Get to 1,250 followers (currently at 1,118) – I did. Currently at 1397.
Have a guest post every Sunday – I did:

Clothes Sizes by Ella May Garrett (4th)

“So What If I Want Something Else?” by Lyz – Stephanie

The 5 Ways To Happiness by Maggie

“How I came to be” by Jane Love

Post every day – I did, usually 3 or 4 posts, actually;
Post something useful (maybe tips or an informative article) and maybe some poetry or short-story) – I don’t think I did. But I have plans.
Meet new bloggers; – I have.
Keep my “Perfect Party Series” going. – Yes, today is the last day. I’ve written 19 posts on 19 different bloggers.
Help new bloggers kick-off their blogs. – I think I did?
Catch up on Awards – Only one or two.
Do my cleaning challenge – I totally forgot about this. I mean to do it this month.
Share more photos taken by me – Definitely!
Keep up my “Thursday meal planning and recipe share” posts – Kind of slacked.
Write the following posts: My morning routine, my night routine, my body routine, my makeup routine, what I’m wearing this Spring with no shopping, what’s in my bag, day in the life, studying schedule;

I’ve done an internet cleanup:

I announced on my personal Facebook that I would only use the account that I use for my blog. I followed everyone I was interested in, asked them to like my Pink for Days page and then received a few friend requests. Again, I’ve only accepted the ones I wanted to. Then, last night, I deleted my personal Facebook account that I had since 2010. Didn’t even blink. I couldn’t manage two so, using my blog account, I can post both for my real friends and family and for my followers at the same time. Everyone can see what I post and what’s going on the blog.
I announced on my personal Instagram that I was going to shut down the account and keeping only the one associated to my blog. I followed who I was interested in keep following, unfollowed some people I didn’t know in real life or from the blogging world (otherwise I don’t have time to focus on your Instagram posts, the ones I WANT to check) and then, a few hours ago, I deleted my old Instagram account.
I unfollowed a bunch of people I didn’t know, on Twitter, just to clean up a bit and to be able to keep up with you guys.
I announced on Facebook that I have a YouTube account, in case anyone is interested in subscribing.
I deleted all of my phones old photos. No, I don’t save my meal or plant photos.
I unfollowed blogs that were inactive;
I unsubscribe to junk mail on all of my email accounts (I have 6 but only really use 3 or mostly 2 right now, since the other three are for work and the other is for my university emails)
I unfollowed a few people on Bloglovin.

I’ve also been more present on social media and gaining followers.

Next post: Plans for July

Thank you so much for reading, if you were able to read that much!! xx

Pink for Days

My Colors are Blush and Bashful

Tag: #Summer

Photo dump – Spring and Summer 2017: Plants, gardens, landscapes, backyard, beach

Day by Day – Health Journey (27.07.17) I got the job!! + Vacation Plans

I would love if you’d tell me what makes you feel blessed at the moment or, if you’re going to a tough period, what’s going on, so we can talk and pray together.

Days of June – A monthly wrap-up