life lately :: jubilant june

jubilant = (adj.) feeling or expressing great happiness and triumph

If May was full of Mayhem, then June was it's exact opposite. A month full of lots of small wins turning into big victories. And really how could June not be good when it represents that official transition from spring into summer?

alligators in the everglades

Everglades National Park is well known for hosting a unique range of animals: alligators, crocodiles, even jaguars. So my hopes were high with expecting to see lots of wildlife. We only had the morning to spend in the Everglades as we had afternoon plans in Biscayne National Park, so I was the most impatient thing ever with searching for wildlife.

boating biscayne

Lucky for us that within 3 days time, we managed to visit all 3 of Florida's national parks. And Biscayne National Park is one of those hard to access ones solely for the fact that it's a protected coral reef with 95% of the park being underwater. 

There are so many unique options for exploring the park, but we ultimately decided on doing a boat tour with sightseeing and island hoping all around Biscayne Bay. Crystal blue waters and sandy beaches, it was a no brainer. 

older & wiser

I love birthdays, I always have. 

The idea that every person has a special day-all their own. Over the years, I've been so focused on the fun of celebrating birthdays that I hadn't really noticed how much older I was actually getting. But I recent marked my 28th birthday and for some reason, this one felt like a milestone. It was the first time in a long time that I've really reflected on the decisions I've made these last 28 years and how they'll impact my future. But more than ever, I felt my age this year. I had grand plans to visit Martha's Vineyard, but ultimately decided against it and decided to relax and catch up on sleep in lieu of going on some grand adventure. I have this contest fear of missing out, but in this case catching up on self-care was so much more important. It feels like I've completely shifted my focus of where I want my future to go and what what I hold most important as I gotten older. 

a day in the life of a dental student: spring break

Dental school is year-round, which always makes me jealous of my med school friends. As such, it makes the few breaks that we are given so precious. This year, I did my spring break just right with mixing in a short southern road trip (Tennessee & Kentucky) with relaxing and still being productive and getting lots of work done. Before summer officially begins tomorrow, I thought it'd be a perfect time to share a rare glimpse of a relaxing day in the life of a dental student. 

mountain zip-lining

Every trip needs an incredible adventure to go along with it, one stand out experience that sticks with you forever. While everything we did during our camping trip was amazing, zip-lining through the Blue Ridge Mountains was easily the highlight. 

the struggle is real

300 

That's the number of African Americans that will become dentists in the Untied States this year...in the whole entire country, just 300. And let's not talk about how many of those are women. It's an impossibly small number, but it's not lost upon me. I've chosen to join a profession that historically tried to keep people like me out of their profession and organizations long after so many others had integrated. Now in 2017, I've had to deal with dentists telling me they don't want to work with me, classmates insulting me, and patients refusing treatment from me. It's unbelievable how much people chose to judge my competence by my blackness. So when I say the struggle is real, I mean it. Because it's not my personal struggle I'm referring to, but a systematic one against so many. But I can't be angry or upset about my struggle, it does no good. Instead, I keep pushing, keep fighting, keep working towards my goal. 

linking up for Show&Tell Tuesday 

memorial day in the mountains

This past memorial day weekend was made perfect by the fact that I got to spend it with my little sister; just the two of us. It was a waterfall chasing, s'mores making, bear encountering, mountain zip-lining, hiking, camping kind of weekend.

We headed to Asheville, which is a true gem of a mountain town in North Carolina,  located right along the famous Blue Ridge Parkway. And since it's only a few hours from my parents home, it was the perfect place for us to head for the weekend. We split our time exploring Pisgah National Forest, Chimney Rock State Park, and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

It was actually Jada's first time camping and I blame that on me. We have more than a decade between our ages. When I was little, I complained every single moment of every single camping trip. I hated it! Ironically, it's now one of my favorite things to do and I can't get enough of it. But with Jada being even more girly than me, my parents pretty much assumed Jada would hate camping too and never took her. But she loved it and was a real trooper too because we camped through one of the worst storms I've ever encountered and had some pretty close calls with black bears right outside of our tent every single night.

Mayhem in May

May was full of so much work and chaos, really just pure mayhem, as evidenced by the fact that I'm just now writing about it. We're getting pretty far into June, so I questioned whether or not I should even bother to write a recap for May, but if ever a month needed a moment to step back and digest it all, it would be this one.

 This past month was a bit of an adjustment period with getting used to treating patients all day. While it's incredibly rewarding, it's also beyond stressful and exhausting. As a result, some things in my personal life suffered a bit...ahem this little blog. I even cancelled a trip, which you guys know is so unlike me, but I was really just too busy to take a break, even a much needed one. But in spite of how busy I was, May was a really good month and deserves to have all those small moments highlighted. I will remember it most for my transition into the dental clinic, but I want to remember it also for the small things too.