On Saturday, Lili and I ventured into Boston but with a twist. One of her friends from New Hampshire joined us. He's a nice guy. Engineer, loves golf and likes to shop. Basically, he's our new male best friend. We spent the day together starting on the Common. It was nice to hear blue grass music and drink coffee. After several long conversations, we headed to eat at a Thai Place in Chinatown. OMG this place was amazing. Very hole in the walk but I enjoyed my meal and would for sure go back. It's called My Thai Vegan Cafe. I got the Lemongrass Chicken and a coconut bubble tea with no bubbles.

After some eating, reading and people watching. I headed back to Trader Joes to grab my groceries for the week. I got some good stuff! Apricots and Nectarines are such a lovely treat this time of year. I also got some other fun things for my lunch this week. I went home and did laundry (the bane of working in a food factory is the flour that gets everywhere) and went for a run in my new shoes. They make such a difference. Real running shoes vs. whatever was on sale at Payless is a major difference. The support and how my ankles feel after is a world of difference. I lost like 15 seconds of time on my mile, just due to how nice these shoes make my ankles feel. 

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Something that I have been doing recently that has been helping me stay stress-free is making time for myself to do the things I love. In the mornings on the weekends, I wake up early, cook breakfast and read on my Nook Color. At night before I go to bed, I read at least 15 pages of a book to help me wind down. Also, I light my Sugar Blossom candle, occasionally glance at the flickering flame, and enjoy the time to myself. JF always makes fun of me for having a nighttime routine but I think that it's super important to me to make sure that I carve out time to relax my mind.

Recently, I started reading Mindy Kaling's book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns). It's a good laugh for me and I really enjoy her insight to being a young woman in college. I'm only on page 65 but I am really enjoying the book so far! I will have to write a review when I finish the book.

 The second thing that I do to relax is that I always exercise, everyday that I can, to also relax myself and destress from the week. As I mentioned before, I am a very busy young woman on campus and I really want to make sure that I stay healthy this year by keeping myself happy and healthy. Last year, I ran myself into the ground a lot and it was really bad. I was getting sick, snapping at people and generally just not in a good mood during my most stressful weeks. I don't want to be that person again. It wasn't good for me and not fair to the people around me.

The last thing I do to relax is blog. I really enjoy writing this blog, even if just a couple people read it (cough cough my friends who I trust to not make fun of me). It's nice to express myself in writing and in pictures with the world, even on a small scale.

Overall, I think that mental health is very important and maintaining a stress free zone is really good for you. When Donna O came to talk to us for G4.0, she said we had to have a stress relieving activity. I have several but the idea is the same. The most successful people in the world make time to do what they love. Whatever it is that makes you happy, you need to make time for it. End all, be all. We are all too young to me having mental breakdowns or lots of anxiety attacks when we can make time to help our mental health by doing the things we love. My friend from home, let's call her Sticky, she had a lot of panic attacks when we were in high school. The doctor told her that she needed to get outside half an hour a day and do what she loves for half an hour a day. She didn't have a panic attack for like two months, when she did that. SO I KNOW THIS WORKS! I know that making time for yourself is not easy but it's necessary for you to be healthy :]