Hello 2020!!
Happy New Decade everyone!
Hope you all enjoyed your New Year's celebrations and took sometime to reflect. I spent New Year's in Miami with my mom and sister. Here's a little recap on my thoughts for the new year and what we did for New Year's Eve...
Dear 2019,
Thanks for being so good to me and for all the diverse experiences you gave me.
I started of 2019 with one of the most memorable girl's trip to Bali, where we spent 10 days exploring the island. From there, I launched this website in February and have been creatively challenging myself to produce better content and enhance my writing skills. During the spring semester of freshman year, I was juggling full-time school, part-time work, my real estate classes, this website/blog, and my monthly work as a Contributing Editor for QP Mag. I also got to travel with my bestie, Malak, to LA and Palm Springs.
I spent the full summer in NYC working as a licensed real estate professional. This was one of the most interesting summer's for me because it was my first time working as an independent contractor within the New York City real estate industry. I am so proud of myself for everything I learned, experienced, and accomplished during this time period; I learned many valuable things that I would not have learned inside of a typical classroom setting.
From there, I continued my work in real estate throughout the fall semester, but my schedule intensified immensely as I also was juggling full-time school, two other jobs (in fashion and journalism), and this blog/website. I, thankfully, ended both spring and fall semesters with a high GPA and can look forward to continuing my studies in the new year.
2019, you taught me how to time manage like a beast and maximize my days so that I can successfully handle school, work, and my social life. I learned that my body and mind can handle more than I thought it could, and that with high levels of mental and physical stamina I am able to achieve/experience many things.
Looking ahead into the new decade and 2020, I do wish to continue on with my academic journey and my creative/freelance work. However, in contrast to the crazy schedule/life I was living in 2019, I plan to change it up and focus more on travel and the extracurricular activities of my interest. 2020 will be the start of a very adventurous and thrill seeking decade for me, and I can't wait for all of the new experiences to come.
In regards to goals for the new year, I normally set a few concrete ones but this year I decided to set a general mindset for me to follow and use as a source of inspiration. Of course, I also set some general goals/desires in regards to work and school, but I want to begin this new decade with a very open mindset that is ready to embrace surprise opportunities. Thus, this is my mindset for 2020: "to live freely and happily".
New Year's Eve: Bye Bye 2019!!
During the daytime, we ran some last minute errands around Downtown and Brickell. In the afternoon, we went to Pura Vida in the Miami Design District to have coffee and take pics for the agenda article I just published under "lifestyle".
Then, we went to one of our favorite Japanese restaurants called Sushi Siam. We used to always eat there when Ale (my sister) and I were little so we thought it would be cute to go back! We ordered some of our favorite dishes: miso soup, ginger salad, special fried rice, and chicken teriyaki.
Then we went home to bake some sweets and watch the ball drop on TV. We are pretty lucky because our balcony overlooks greater Miami, Downtown Miami, Brickell, and Miami Beach so we had an awesome view of the fireworks and the city. After the countdown, we chilled and ate lots of sweets and ice cream.
Make a wish!
Ale had the idea to use the sparkly candles we had in storage to take some cute pics with our New Year's Eve outfits. Strangely, though, the candles weren't working and didn't give off the sparkly effect we wanted, so I ended up just making a wish.
Well, cheers to my first article for 2020! Crazy to think that I just launched this website about 11 months ago. Time flies but I have been having fun sharing my thoughts and experiences with you all; looking forward to all the surprises that are to come!
Happy 2020! Love always and forever,
Vale