April, For Me

The venue for the Empowering Women with Tech was beautiful 😍

MAIN HIGHLIGHTS

  • πŸ’» I fulfilled my childhood dream of buying paulinenarvas.com (yes, I’m still not over it)
  • ✈ Continuing on mine and Hamdah’s travels, we went to Amsterdam over the Easter weekend. It was an interesting experience.
  • πŸ‘©πŸ»β€πŸ’» I attended another inspiring women-focused conference in Leeds as part of the Leeds International Festival.
  • πŸ‘©πŸ»β€πŸ”¬ I experienced my first Hackathon that focused on solving medical and healthcare problems.
  • 🍝 I ate a lot of Italian food throughout the month with the best company.
  • πŸ’ƒπŸ» Finally had an excuse to dress up in a red dress at my annual ball (that I always blog about each year!)
  • πŸ’Ό Work has been pretty busy as usual, but more so with the final few weeks before the end of another academic year.  My placement has flown by and although I am working over the summer until August, I am always shocked by how quickly the academic year flies by!
BMS Ball 2017
HackMed17 with Matt

Things I’m HAPPY about

Life lessons

  • Things didn’t always go right for me this month, there was a lot of stress and negative emotions triggered by the past but at times like these, I’m always supported by the kindest people around me. I’m grateful for everyone who has spent long hours on the phone with me or having lengthy conversations over lunch, calming me and reminding me of the great things in the present moment. My colleague, Bryony had said a few weeks ago (about a project but applicable to life in general), “If things are always easy, nobody would ever learn anything.” And she’s right – you have to go through some of the most difficult things to grow. Everything always has an important lesson.
  • Hamdah and I travelled to our final stop in Amsterdam as part of our EU trip. Although I’m sad it’s over, I have made the best memories and learnt a lot about travelling from the experience. I’m much more confident in flying, travelling and interacting with locals in the country. You can watch the video summary here:

Technology

  • My fellow CF:G organiser, lead instructor, role model (I could go on), Tejay invited me to the Empowering Women With Tech conference and exposed me to another bigger women in tech community in Leeds. I am so thankful for her introducing me to amazing women who are leading in their field. A more detailed post on the experience is in the works – so keep an eye out!
  • I was mentioned in GitHub’s newsletter, which was pretty rad. Thanks again, Joe!

Blogging

  • After work, I was stopped by a student at University who told me that he reads my blog. As you can imagine, I was really excited that he did and had to ask him for a selfie. Some of you may remember that this happened a few months ago on my way to work with a girl telling me about how I inspired her to get into meditation and that it’s helped reduce stress. I was ecstatic.

Next month

Goals

I have 3 main goals for the next month and although they don’t really change that much each month, I like setting them to keep myself accountable.

  1. Health and well-being – Continue pushing my physical limits, lift heavier and become stronger and fitter. Also under this is to continue my routine of waking up early, to meditate and practise gratitude to improve mental health. I believe that this has all helped me create a more positive mindset.
  2. Work grind – I have to admit, I’ve been a little stressed at work. With a lot of changes underway, I feel a little overwhelmed by the extra workload sometimes but it’s given me the chance to practice adapting better under pressure so it always has it’s positives! My goal is to complete all my projects at work to the best of my ability and really give it my all for the reminding few months.
  3. Online space – Going to the conferences recently and meeting a lot of people in the digital industry has inspired me to invest some time in my online space. In the past, people have complimented my online presence which has been great and I’m so thankful. I want to improve this further by spending a bit more time in my projects online and hopefully see growth from this!

Events

Next month I’ve been invited to an event I’ve always wanted to go to for the last two years but never had the chance to so I’m grateful ✨

MONTHLY FAVOURITES

✏ I’ve been using the Five Minute Journal every day for a month. It’s been my favourite activity to practice gratitude and thankfulness. Always an awesome start to my day.

πŸ“š How to be a Bawse by Lilly Singh has been a favourite read – such a life motivator.

🎢 RAC – One House

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

14 responses to “April, For Me”

  1. Thank you so much for lifting me and supporting me this past month, it’s meant a lot. πŸ’–

    I love the video that you put together that documents your EU trip. I’ll have to do something similar when I do my cross-country trip.

    Looks like you’ve had an exciting month and I’m so proud of you for going to the conference and hack-a-thon and for aspiring to do more.

    I’ve been trying to improve my online presence as well, starting with posting some of the stuff I do for my classes on GitHub. I think I’ll also buy my name as domain so I can use it for a portfolio or online resume.

    1. No worries Cassidy! That’s what we are all here for, I believe in you. You’re going places <3 Don't give up!

      I'm glad that you enjoyed the video and inspired you! I would love to see what you come up with πŸ˜€

  2. I love your video from your Europe trip! You’re so good at video editing – it looks amazing! Glad you had a great time!

    Sounds like you got to do loads of exciting things this month! The women in tech conference looked fantastic and I’m so gutted I couldn’t go. Hopefully next time! Glad it really inspired you to up your game and keep going!

    It’s so cool that someone recognised you from your blog! I’ve never had that happen to me before. I imagine I’d find it quite awkward if it did! I wouldn’t know what to say.

    My online presence is so inconsistent. Sometimes I use social media every day and keep up with blogging, other times I disappear for three weeks. I’d love to be someone who regularly posts, but it’s difficult to fit everything in. Good luck with all your online projects! Hope it all goes well!

    1. Thanks Amy! I’m still trying to work on my video-editing skills, it’s one of my goals for this year πŸ˜‰

  3. Sounds like its been a pretty great month for you! And you’ve done so much awesome stuff! I hope the next month is just at awesome!

    1. Thanks Maroon! πŸ’–

  4. Yay for fulfilling childhood dreams! πŸ˜€ That’s a great domain and so fitting for you ^^

    April sure was a busy month for you! Travelling, conferences, Hackathon . . . whew! Not to mention good food and wearing a gorgeous dress — so much excitement πŸ™‚

    It’s good you tried to stay positive and that saying about things being easy and we’d never learn anything — never thought of it that way, but that makes so much sense!

    Hope you will have a great May πŸ™‚

  5. Your post thumbnail gives me life! 😍
    Congrats on buying a domain name in your own name! That’s really rad!
    I love reading about your women in tech posts because it’s so empowering to see women involved and leading in technology. I wish there was an organization like that in my uni but sadly, there wasn’t :/
    Your red dress is super gorgeous! I voted for red in your Twitter poll because it’s my favorite color, and I’m so happy it looks good on you πŸ’–
    It’s cool that your first hackathon was focused on medical and healthcare. I think it’s more enjoyable to make something that will help a lot of people.
    β€œIf things are always easy, nobody would ever learn anything.” – I love this quote because it’s totally true. I treat my failures as lessons so it doesn’t sting that much as I am a perfectionist πŸ˜‚
    Aww, it’s so cute that student stopped you when he recognized you! Your blog is definitely touching people’s lives 😊
    I miss lifting weights πŸ™ I stopped going to the gym because it was too far from home but I found a closer one. Hopefully I get back this month! I hope you find balance in your workload this month and that you improve your online presence further. I know you will, gurl! 😊
    Those are truly inspiring words. Michelle Obama is such an icon πŸ’–

  6. Congratulations on upping your level in the professional realm with the personal domain! It’s cool that you traveled to all sorts of places!

    Good on you that you focused on medical/healthcare problems on your recent hackathon. I feel like we have a lot to improve on in regards to the non-patient facing aspect of technology. Hey, you’re kind of combining the best of two worlds (with your major). I still can’t believe how fast time flies! I remembered when you first announced you joining the placement.

    It’s great that you have supportive people around! I agree with your colleague. I realized I grew from the *difficult* times I’ve faced. Keep on kicking butt, Pauline!

    I remember watching your video summary when you first announced it XD. UG I need to visit Europe someday! It’s cool that people from school are reading your blog!

    Have a great May~

  7. Another great month for you Pauline! πŸ™‚ And congrats on getting that domain, finally! <3

    OMG haha it's so amazing that you're running into so many readers! I guess this shows how good you are at what you're doing and how inspiring you are to other people! πŸ˜€

  8. I always love these posts because the whole month is always so busy for you and so full of life and experiences. You look smashing in that red dress!

  9. I can’t wait to see what you do with your new domain!

    Honestly, also, what, girl, damn – I will say this every single time. YOU LOOK SO HOT IN THAT RED DRESS. Like, damn girl work it 😍

    I’ve been learning that the people around me are there for me, I just have to let them in. I’m glad you’ve got that support system, and always know I’m here too! ALSO I GET TO MEET YOU ON JUNE, SO CAN CATCH UP ON ALL THE TIMES I’VE WANTED TO HUG YOUUUUU.

    Love the video, btw. You look so good in a bikini, damnnnn. (I sound like such a perv in this comment, haha) I also the photobooth shoots of you and Hamdah – so cute!

    Good luck with your goals – you are amazing and so inspiring in all ways, and I know you can achieve everything you set your mind too.

    I’ve also been meaning to read How to be a Bawse. I used to watch Lilly on YouTube allllll the time back in the day.

    Have an amazing May, and I’ll see you in June πŸ˜‰

  10. Wow you are so active and into so many things it really makes me want to work harder at that. XD Good luck with your May goals! I need to work on my fitness too, I haven’t done weights in ssoooo long. I really enjoy reading your blog entries, they are so well thought out and put together. XD

  11. You invest a lot of time in your online space already Pauline πŸ™‚ Especially with your live-tweeting and your inspirational tweets. I feel like you barely have to make a change to be honest! But it’s always heartwarming when you meet other people who give you a thumbs up or some kind of recognition. I have had that a few times and just heart-eyed the fuck out. πŸ˜†πŸ˜

    Bryony totally has a point. I think someone famous said a similar thing too – if life was easy then no one would really be here and we wouldn’t be progressing. You have so much support from a lot of people, Pauline, but if you ever need someone to rant to then feel free to shoot me a message – you know where to find me πŸ™ƒ

    I gotta admit, I was never interested in getting a domain name with my last name in it. 😞 I just didn’t like my name enough. But I am really happy with my current blog URL! As for my georgieluhur.com domain, I do have some pretty outdated LinkedIn-like stuff on it, and honestly I was just going to redirect it to my blog since I don’t mind sharing it with my professional presence.

    I really enjoy reading about you attending all these events too and inspiring women in tech! πŸ™‚

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