August has been a challenging month for me. There have been a lot of changes at work that have left me frustrated, isolated, and feeling inept. Luckily the solution is on the horizon and things are looking up for September! The stress and anxiety trapped me in a little bubble world for the last month though. I've spend most of my time alone having marathon sessions with various television shows (Pushing Daisies, Suits, and Supernatural). Frankly, all that alone time did was cause me to lose focus on all the things outside of work that bring me joy. So the time has come to prioritize friend dates and to work on rediscovering my hobbies and interests outside of working constantly. In the last week or so I've had three friend dates and I truly feel like a happier person because of it!
For example: on Thursday, Kenneth and I hard-boiled several dozen eggs and began the process of pickling them! We stuffed ten mason jars with eggs, various peppers, onions, garlic, spices, and pickling salt. In one month (on our wedding day, actually) the eggs will be ready to eat! Kenneth made these a few summers ago and I've been craving them ever since. In the second picture you can see the plants that we are nurturing in our aquaponics system! The left leaves (with the red stalk) are lettuce leaves and the long ones to reaching for the sun are squash plants. Kenneth is talking about transplanting the squash to planters and seeing how they fair on the balcony. The red plant is my shamrock that I have (luckily) managed not to kill in the three years he has been mine!
