I've had a crazy couple of months. Drove to Texas, volunteered on a prescribed burn, moved to Hawaii, and volunteered at the HURT 100 ultramarathon. These have been amazing experiences and I've met so many great people!

This is super duper uber overdue but I really wanted to write a little blog post about these experiences. Once I knew I was moving to Hawaii, I decided I would embark upon a free roadtrip to Texas (the saved cost of shipping the car there vs Florida was about equal to the cost of the trip). I wanted to see my friend Rayven, go herping in Austin, and see the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge. The day I was set to visit the refuge, Dr. Jared Wood called me and asked me if I wanted to volunteer on a prescribed burn. What could I say but YES ABSOLUTELY!

I met so many cool people and got to see F35s and a B52 Stratofortress (!!) flying over which was an added perk. This only happened because I sent a message to a LinkedIn connection asking to chat. Asking is so powerful. In this age of technology and LinkedIn, you can reach out to so many people that you otherwise might never be able to. I was able to get a phone call with Dr. Jared Wood, the Manager/Director of the Refuge through my conversation with Jeremy Jordan, who worked at a company I applied for. I connected with him on LinkedIn and reached out because I wanted to ask about what working at his company was like and if he had any tips for me. This led to an hour long conversation about his work, career path, and some advice for me moving forward. If I hadn't reached out on LinkedIn, I never would have had that opportunity. If you're early career or even mid to late, I think it's so important to reach out to people in your field and ask for advice, mentorship, or just to chat. You never know what opportunities might come from it, even if that's just a cool conversation. I now have a herp connection in Austin through my conversation with Jeremy!


On my second weekend in Hawaii I volunteered at the HURT100 Ultramatathon!!! This was an amazing experience with even more amazing people! I volunteered at the Manoa aid station which was pirate themed so of course I dressed up. So many other people were embracing the theme too which I really appreciated. I'm at my core a people pleaser so I thrived getting the runners their bags and helping them in any way I could (including rubbing sunscreen on an old dude). I loved keeping track of my runners (any that didn't have a crew and I recognized) and cheering them on as they left, especially in the middle of the night. When I signed up to volunteer it was for the 36 hour slot, which in hindsight might not have been the smartest decision but definitely a novel experience and I wouldn't trade it for the hours of sleep that I missed. I was so tired and my feet hurt (I didn't knowledgeably sign up for 100 miles okay so I am not comparing myself to the runners) but I housed coffees and energy drinks and kept going til maybe 2am? Crashed on one of the cots, slept for less than 2 hours, and existed in a zombielike state until the sun came up and I went on a hike to Manoa falls with one of my new volunteer friends. Definitely a cool hike and 7am was a great time to do it because we beat the crowds. When we returned we could smell breakfast which was DEFINITELY a pick-me-up. When I tell you that I ate more fried rice than any other person, and perhaps more than all of the runners combined, I am slightly exaggerating but not by much. I was literally told by the guy cooking it that they watched me eat at least an entire pan of it. They then showed me how to FRY THE RICE! I now am actually able to make some delicious fried rice at home (the trick is FRYING the RICE which sounds stupid because yeah it's in the name but seriously, let that stuff crisp up then flip it over and do it again). I had so much fun and I can't wait to volunteer again next year! I also want to run it one day but maybe should work on a marathon first.


When I got to my new apartment in Hawaii I cried. Within the first hour. I had been driving a rental car (stressful), it was raining (stressful), we couldn't find the place in the dark while it rained on us (stressful), and I hadn't eaten much that day. The straw that broke the camels back was opening up the toilet cover and seeing the toilet seat covered in mold. I ran out to the living room and asked my little sister (tearfully) "what did I do???" I just ended up just going to bed because it had been a very long day and I had stressed myself out enough for the both of us. And wouldn't you know it, the next day it was better! We got a coffee, walked along the shore (not a great shore but we found one of those later), and went to get a tour of my new office. We then went on a sick hike, snorkeled, and had an overall great day. It really has been pretty smooth sailing since then. I've seen the volcano fountaining 4x, hiked, snorkeled, surfed, caught hecka lizards, found chameleons, surfed, ate more ramen and beans and rice and tofu than any human should, ran like 200+ miles which may be impressive to some and underwhelming to others but I'm proud that I'm building, went to Mississippi, went to San Diego, disc golfed, seen tons of planes, chased big waves, and just overall had a blast.




Photo by Lily Gullett on Unsplash