I can't believe it is the last day of 2015! This year has flown by! I had one of the best years but also one of the hardest of grad school I think, caused hitting a slump and really struggling to get thru the last couple of months because of stress and experiments gone wrong.
I traveled a lot this last year, I got to go to Boston for an amazing conference, Barcelona for another amazing conference and further growing my network, Cyprus to visit family, sequoia national park with the boy to relax and enjoy nature, and back to Boston to spend the holidays with family.
I am going to be sappy and say that I really struggled with stress the last 6 months. If I'm real with myself, it started in June when I really started to put a lot of pressure on myself to finish and advance two projects faster, and beating myself up when those projects didn't go as planned. I then went on my trip and didn't give myself any time to actually relax, as I felt I had to be productive every single day. And then when I got back, I went straight back into work mode and I was so stressed when many things went wrong (thanks, science!), my anxiety kicked in and I had lots of headaches, month long migraines, and weight gain (anxiety and stress kicks cortisol production into overdrive, leading to weight gain, in addition to working long hours, not making time for myself to work out which I love and not having time to cook healthy food). While I'm in no means fat or anything, I am unhappy with myself when I look in the mirror, and I think it stems from me not taking care of myself and not taking time to relax. I went to a neurologist and they gave me drugs for migraines, but after just resting during thanksgiving and Christmas, I noticed my migraines and headaches went away! For real! The second I started feeling stressed again I felt a headache coming on. That made me immediately tell myself relax etc. and it helped! It really shows that you have to take care of yourself! That is my number one goal and resolution this year!!!
. I then wore my black Fabletics Leggings that I have literally been wearing every day since I have been home because they are so COMFY and WARM! I subscribed to fabletics a while ago to get a cheap outfit and I stayed subscribed but just make sure I skip the month every month, which can be annoying but I avoid getting charged 50$. I would cancel but I like seeing the monthly selections and the clothes are actually super comfortable and stylish! So I really don't mind it, even though some people have complained that it is a scam. Want to know a secret that I do tho? When I enter my credit card info I use Bank of America's shopsafe feature which gives me a limit to how much can charge on a generated number so even if i forget I wont get overcharged because it will get declined if I forget to skip the month! Shhh don't tell anyone I told you that! If you want to check out Fabletics you can see their selections 
, as I can't remember the brand!
). It is kind of nice to find these old/new pieces because I was starting to get really bored with my wardrobe and been itching to go shopping, even though I don't have money! Accessories I pulled together this gold bracelet from Charlotte Russe, a neutral tassel bracelet from the Yayoi Collection at Boyajian Trend Gallery, and some earrings also from Charlotte Russe.
, there are too many cute ones on amazon for me to just link a few!
