Where I've Been + What's to Come

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Clearly I've been a little MIA on the blog and social media lately, so I thought I would finally address my absence in all things citrus and style. Blogging has always been something that was so fun and therapeutic for me, but lately it has felt like more of a chore than anything. It pains me to say that, but at the moment, it's the truth. First semester, I was so swamped with adjusting to college classes, joining organizations and making friends that my blog had to take a backseat in everything else I was doing. I loved getting involved in everything and got so busy that I would come back to my dorm exhausted every night and pass out in my bed, wake up and do it all over again day after day. In high school, I was able to finish my homework by 11 or 12 at night and then work on my blog before bed. I also had a lot of time on the weekends to shoot outfit posts, find fun things to photograph for Instagram and answer emails. Now, I spend nearly every minute on work for my classes, and use extra time to make new friends and explore campus. As much as I would have loved to dedicate my little free time to c&s, it just wasn't possible.

On top of it all, I just don't feel as inspired as I used to. Some of my classes required me to be in the computer lab or at the library into the wee hours of the morning, so instead of spending my extra time on Pinterest or reading other blogs, I would use that time to get just a couple more minutes of sleep. I felt like I had no balance in my life. I had little, if any, time to work out, I was surviving off of mochas, I constantly got sick, my skin was so broken out from stress and overall I just felt groggy and in a big funk. Other than 2 classes, I was loving school and was super interested in what I was learning. But in those two challenging courses, I had to dedicate all my time to gaining as much knowledge as possible to get through them.

So you might be asking yourself: what's to come for citrus & style? Well, I can't make any promises, but I am really going to make a big effort to set aside more time to blog this coming semester. After a lot of thinking, I decided to change my major to Apparel Merchandising with a minor in Marketing (the opposite of what I intended to do at the beginning of school). Why the sudden change? A big part of it is because the retail industry is where I know I'm meant to be. I remember sitting in my Intro to Retail class when a panel of professors came in to talk about the courses they teach in the major. I kid you not, I literally had tears in my eyes because I was so excited about the topics they were describing were covered in their classes. I had a big realization that I didn't want to spend 4 years in business requirements like law and finance that just didn't interest me - why was I forcing myself to take those when I could be taking ones like product development and sustainability? I also learned that I could get the same job by majoring in Apparel verses Marketing, and I would be able to gain more retail experience as well. On top of that, I would have more time to get involved in the Retail Studies Organization (which I plan to do now that I was chosen to be a social media director!), spend more time on c&s and overall feel a lot more balanced. As someone who craves balance and routine, I know this change will benefit me both in the short and long run.

I've felt so guilty for not being present on here for so long, and I really look forward to getting back in the groove and feeling more inspired. Being surrounded by so many stylish and entrepreneurial minds in my classes has been incredible, and I can't wait to get more involved as the semesters go on. Now that my course load will be more up my alley, I can't even tell you how excited I am to get to study things I'm so passionate about for the rest of my life!

As always, thank you to each and every one of you for visiting my little corner of the Internet. It means so much to me!

xoxo