Nearing the End

August 19th.

I have not posted in three weeks, and all for a good reason.
Although I manage to update Facebook and Instagram (@annikadaph) with the convenience of my cellphone, I have not had the time to actually sit in front of my laptop and just simply write.

After my weekend in Los Angeles, I have been busy with mainly three things:
1) Phlebotomy Externship,
2) My older sister's bridal shower, and
3) Spending last moments with my friends.

Starting with my phlebotomy externship, I worked at a Women's Center as a phlebotomist-in-training. At first, I thought, "This shouldn't be hard at all. Eight and a half hours of watching another phlebotomist stick other people will be a piece of cake."

However, once I got to the site, my supervisor wasn't even a phlebotomist! She was a medical assistant. And I didn't just watch her - I had to do it!!! The very first patient on my very first day, and I had to take their blood and make sure not to mess up! At least I got my own work station...

Man, was it nerve-wracking.

For the most part, the externship was boring. I would sit there and plan my older sister's bridal shower whenever I did not have a patient to take blood from. My supervisor was very nice and informative; however, she would teach me "short-cuts" that are used in "real-life phlebotomy" that I know my school teacher Ms. Watson would be very angry at me for. At times, it got confusing because my supervisor would want me to execute a draw in a way that wasn't proper and would get angry at me for not listening to her. It was okay, though; I knew that by executing a draw the way they thought us in school was the best and safest way to do it.

As for my sister's bridal shower, things got quite stressful. Let's just say that I have never been to a bridal shower, I'm a teenager, and I had barely any time to plan this at all. The thing I was thankful for the most was that my little sister also helped out and two of our other friends at church did the decorations!

 My mom also wanted to be highly involved, especially with the food and organization of the gift bags, so a lot of things were taken off my plate.

The shower was a success! My older sister was able to see and celebrate with her friends and I'm pretty sure she teared up a couple times (in this case, it's a very good thing). She's getting married in about 6 weeks, so it's quite an exciting time for my family!

One thing I must say, though: I hope I never have to plan another one again. My older sister can do my little sister's because I am so done with the responsibilities of a maid-of-honor!

... let's just hope my best friend decides to choose another person, too. ^_^

jr bridesmaid and flower girl

my sister and me!

Aside from phlebotomy and the bridal shower, I have tried to hang out with my friends as much as possible (which is not much because everyone is busy at work). During the past three weeks, many of my friends are slowly getting ready to leave or have actually left - across the country, just a couple states away, or a couple hours away. Either way, the butterflies in my tummy have slowly been getting more obvious as more and more of my friends leave.

So far, I have been successful in seeing all my friends that mean the most to me. I have gone out on lunches, dinners, coffee dates, and picnics with the friends I truly wanted to see before I go off to San Diego. There are only four girls I have not (and will probably not) seen because our schedules conflict. But it is all okay - we still have winter break to see each other!

As for my bucket list, I am a little bummed that I did not get to do everything I wanted to do, like fishing, going to the museum, the OC Fair, the Sawdust festival, the Shakespearean plays and the movie nights. Since summer isn't exactly over yet, I already have planned to go to the zoo tomorrow with some church friends, and go camping at the beach and have a bonfire over the weekend. I am 100% sure that I will be able to those on my last weekend before the stress of college begins!

I also did not exactly finish one of my summer goals: lose 15 pounds. However, on the bright side, I lost 8 pounds and my Body Mass Index decreased by 2.6! That is enough for me to celebrate and keep on going until I reach my healthy goal.

It is not quite the end of my summer yet, so I'll be posting another article before I start posting college-related things (moving in, roomies, academics, SDSU life)! Boy, am I excited!

Since I am writing this quite late at night, I still have all of tomorrow to say goodbye to a couple friends from my middle school, church, and of course, my best friends (I'm seriously not ready for that one). I'm not really saying goodbye to family until Friday morning, so let's save that for later, too. We're not very sentimental, though, so I'm pretty sure all we'll say is, "See ya next month!"

Summer has treated me very, very well. How was yours?




Much sun,

Annika. :)