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     I know it's been awhile since I've written anything for this still unnamed blog. I am a champion at procrastination, but I do have good intentions at keeping this current from now on. For the past few months I have been busy working, vacationing and hanging out with my friends. I turned 30 in April, and it seemed like the celebration lasted a whole month. There were 4 cakes, 3 wild nights out with friends, 2 parties, and 1 trip to the city to see the New York City Ballet, which I've always wanted to see at their home base in Lincoln Center. I think that is definitely enough. I am officially done toasting to my 30th!

      Besides all of the festivities, I've been working a lot over the Spring holidays and I went to Bermuda. It was beautiful, and by far the best beach vacation I've ever taken. Bermuda is a very quiet and relatively conservative British island off the coast of the Carolinas. I stayed in a cottage right on the shore. I have never seen such amazing beaches in my life. The sand is literally pink and the water is bright turquoise, like in a painting. Best of all, seagulls and other birds are almost nonexistent. I am deathly afraid of birds, and have been for as long as I can remember. Whenever I'm at the beach in the U.S. (Cape Cod, Long Beach, etc.) I'm constantly on alert to make sure they're not creeping up on my blanket. This can make vacations that are intended to be relaxing very stressful. In Bermuda I was actually able to fall asleep right on the beach! I spent the trip swimming, reading, tanning and exploring the island. I came home feeling great and totally revitalized. It was nice to spend a week focusing on myself, and only doing things that made moi happy. A lot of people forget to do this from time to time, or they feel guilty about self-indulging. I have found that taking a break from other people can be extremely productive. You are able to really focus on what you're doing and discover new interests without anyone else's  influence. I don't think this is selfish at all. Monks practice this when they spend long periods of time in silence, studying and praying. The purpose of this is to learn and develop an inner sense of peace, which in turn actually makes you more sensitive towards others in a real and genuine way.

     A vow of silence is impractical for me to try to do in my life, however, focusing on reading, hiking, writing (this blog on a regular basis, hopefully!) and learning French this summer without getting too distracted by boys, parties, and other peoples' drama, will make me a more calm and balanced person. This is my goal for the next few months. We'll see what happens!