And it’s June.

And just like that, the month of May is done and we’re onto June. You know what that means, don’t you? It’s time for my monthly recap!

Networking – For the past few months, I have been helping the San Diego chapter for the Association of Women in Science (AWIS) plan a STEM conference called WIST (Women in Science and Technology). I decided that being involved was better than not so I put myself out there and worked with other scientists in all different fields. Isn’t that what networking is about? Putting yourself out there and hoping you make an impression? I don’t know if I have made an impression on anyone yet, but I think I’m bettering myself just by going to these events.

All of the months of preparation culminated in a conference with inspirational keynote speakers, motivational workshops, and enthusiastic attendees. I walked out of that conference inspired and ready to jump into new experiences (even scary ones) head first. “If they could do it, why couldn’t I” was the mentality I had walking out of there.

At WIST’s non-bench career panel

Graduate School – Thank goodness for attending the WIST conference. Ever since attending, I feel like I’ve been more productive. It also helped a lot to hear about other scientists’ struggles through graduate school and beyond. There are still moments where I worry about my future, but I tell myself to just put one foot in front of the other and before I know it, the scary part will be over. At least that’s how I’m approaching my committee meeting deadlines. So far it’s worked for me and I hope it will continue to work in the future. 🙂 *Fingers crossed*

Preparing for my committee meeting

Traveling – It’s been awhile since I last traveled. This month, I went to Austin, Texas for a few days to visit the boyfriend. He actually lives outside of Austin so I got to experience a lot more countryside. It was a nice change of pace and I enjoyed walking around the area. I even saw fireflies by the Colorado River!

While in Austin, I went to Sixth Street and went into a few bars to escape the heat and listen to some music. There were some cool bands and I’m sad I wasn’t able to stay longer. The heat just drained me and I napped a lot while I was in Texas.

Walking down Sixth Street

LOL. Maybe I’ll drop by again on my next visit. I also did another escape room called The Escape Game Austin and did not escape. Womp womp. Despite not escaping, it was the best escape room I’ve ever done. I would recommend this room to anyone in Austin. The puzzles were extremely clever and intricate. There was so much teamwork involved and I never felt left out of the group.

Prison Break!

This visit was just to get my toes wet. I will actually be visiting again this month and I will be better prepared for the heat. Any suggestions as to what to do there? 

Running – I didn’t run any races this month, but I did hit my monthly mileage goal of 83 miles. I actually ended up running 90.7 miles! Woohoo. I think it was easier to hit this month because I started doing more group runs. Movin Shoes, a San Diego based running shoe store holds weekly runs and I’ve been able to make a few of their weekend ones. I even started my memorial day with a 10k run up and down a monstrous hill. I also attended a few other group runs with Run North County and Lululemon for their #morethanmilestour and have found them to be more exciting than running alone. Six + miles isn’t so bad when there are others running it with you. 🙂

We got free lululemon apparel for participating in their tour too!

This is good news guys and gals. It means that I won’t be running alone during my long runs this summer! Hooray! I expect to run some long runs alone, but at least I’ll be mixing it in with group runs too. Yay!

That sums up my month. How was your May? Anything interesting happen that you’d like to share with me? 🙂