I’d been trying to get ALL of my friends together for a weekend camping trip for months now (before I was rudely interrupted by fire season), and it finally happened!
Several of my local Flag friends and I spent this past weekend camping at Ashurst Lake.
Yukon had his first National Park adventure this past weekend!
I’m kind of on a mission to stay at every campground on my forest.
I mean, it makes sense. I want to know as much about my forest (the Coconino National Forest) as possible, and that means… visiting as much of my forest as possible.
When I first started, my boss was cool enough to take me on field trips across the forest, which was dope! But, given that I have weekends? Cue the camping trips!
This past weekend’s trip? Manzanita.
Hi! It’s been a hot second since I shared my skincare routine.
By hot second, I mean almost five years, which is honestly kind of a lifetime when it comes to 20s/30s skincare.
Within the past few years, I moved from Chicago to overseas (where my fancy Korean skincare products weren’t available) to Michigan (where I was unemployed for six months and not about to spend my COVID-relief checks at Sephora) to northern Arizona (desert weather!) and I’ve been switching up my skincare routine accordingly.
I figured it was due time for an update — especially now that I’m living in an entirely new climate.
Well guys, I did it. I survived my first wildfire season here in the southwest, working as a Public Information Officer on a National Forest in Arizona.
It was a bit busy.
So, just in case you didn’t think I could possible cram myself anymore into the Flagstaff stereotype mold…
…I finally got around to joining the local climbing gym.
*Shocked Pikachu Face*
Well, it’s probably well past due time for this post.
Meet Ryan!
He’s my boyfriend, and — my soon-to-be roommate.
How exciting.
Is there anything more depressing than waking up in your own bed and going to an office to work after a great weekend camping trip?
I mean, yeah, lots of things, but also? Having to wake up and go to work (thankfully I’m working from home, still) after waking up the night before in a tent in a forest at the rim of the MOTHER EFFING GRAND CANYON is still pretty damn depressing.
I was lucky enough to spend this past weekend camping up at the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park with a few other Northern Arizona Returned Peace Corps Volunteers!
Sooooo.
Getting outside of my comfort zone has historically been pretty easy for me. Just hop a flight to wherever and bam, instant personal growth!
Sometimes, you just kinda quit your job and move to a new country, to get outside your comfort zone, too. It happens.
Anyway, thanks to COVID and house arrest and social distancing (which — by the way — I am totally in favor of, don’t get me wrong!) it’s been a little harder to get outside my comfort zone lately.
Enter… this past weekend!
My college friend Vandy strapped me to a pair of skis and sent me down a mountain for the first time ever on his birthday weekend. Wild!
So, I have a new fur child.
For now, kind of.
Meet Yukon Johnson!
