Travel

waikiki shaved ice

Ultimate Foodie Guide to Waikiki & Honolulu

Top 10 Pintxo Bars in San Sebastian + How to Eat Like a Local

🤔 𝐃𝐨 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐃𝐇𝐃?

1 in 20 adults in the US is living with ADHD. So it’s not uncommon for someone reading about my ADHD journey to wonder if they have ADHD too.

I've been diagnosed w/ combined ADHD (hyperactive-impulsive & inattentive), but I feel most affected by my inattentive symptoms:

✨ Messy workspace and often lose things like keys & phone
✨ Lack of follow through, starts new projects while leaving projects half done
✨ Easily distracted by noise/ppl & need isolation to get work done
✨ Procrastinate & put off tasks until the last minute
✨ Forgetful in daily activities, such as paying bills, or returning texts

🤔 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞'𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐃𝐇𝐃 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬

A common misconception is that “everyone's a little ADHD these days”. We live in a distracting environment and can all use more focus.

If you ever decide to get officially diagnosed, the healthcare provider will look for a few other signals:

✨ Symptoms present before age 12
✨ As adults, they experience at least 5 symptoms of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity
✨ Several symptoms are present in two or more settings (e.g. at home, school or work; with friends or relatives)
✨ Symptoms interfere with the quality of social, school, or work functioning

Any person that’s having a bad week or feeling stressed might experience symptoms of ADHD, but the key difference is that you’ve felt these symptoms through childhood.

Growing up w/ ADHD, I feel a deep sense of shame for being messy, a procrastinator, a bad student, my whole life. I thought these were character flaws about me, but as I’m in my mid-30s, it does not feel like who I am meant to be.

Through therapy, I’m developing techniques for deconstructing these stories I have about myself, and catching myself in negative self-talk.

There are many layers here in my ADHD journey, but I hope this gives you insight into the difference btwn someone who experiences symptoms of ADHD vs someone who actually has it.

As always, I’m here to chat if you have more questions! I’m still learning so much myself, but happy to share what I know with you so far. ❤️

#adhdwomen #adultadhd #mentalhealthadvocate #womenintech

🙇🏻‍♀️ “𝐎𝐡, 𝐬𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭.”

3 years ago, I started going to a therapist and that was the conclusion I came to during our last sessions. I was losing my passion for life and I was hoping therapy could help me find my spark again.

We started with the heavy topic of death in the family and coping w/ life transitions. Therapy was nice because it gave me a chance to process my feelings. But, after a few months, the topic we kept circling back on was the fact that life as an adult is hard.

The reality of increasing adult responsibilities was weighing me down.

🙇🏻‍♀️ Starting a new job is hard.
🙇🏻‍♀️ Commuting 2+ hours a day is hard.
🙇🏻‍♀️ Managing home renovations is hard.

There was no end in sight. I felt burnt out.

At that point, I decided to stop going to therapy because I didn’t want to complain anymore. I wasn’t feeling 100%, but going to therapy didn’t feel productive. Looking back on it, there was no way my therapist could have known what was wrong with me.

I wasn’t depressed. I was dealing with undiagnosed ADHD.

Fast forward to today. It's been 6 months since my ADHD diagnosis.

For the first time in years, I know where to look for answers to the question of why I was feeling so “blah”. I'm discovering new things about myself that I never had the words to describe.

October is ADHD & Dyslexia Awareness month.

ADHD is so much more than hyperactive boys in school. We find that many females are under-diagnosed. Also, women with ADHD are often misdiagnosed with depression.

I was diagnosed w/ ADHD 6 months ago and I know that I still have so much to learn. I want to use this time to share what I’ve learned so far, and to raise awareness for ADHD in women. Even if what I share helps one person, I will be so happy.

To those who have reached out to share your experiences, thank you! It has been so helpful to hear a wide range of stories and coping strategies.

If you ever want to chat about this, feel free to DM me. As you know, I'm an open book and I’m here for you!

#adhd #adhdwomen #adhdawareness #mentalhealthmatters #womenintech #burnout #worldmentalhealthday

📧 𝐎𝐎𝐎: 𝐈'𝐦 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐨

📧 𝐎𝐎𝐎: 𝐈'𝐦 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐲 @loandsons . 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞-𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧.

Oh, don't mind me. I'm just rehearsing my Euro-style OOO message. 😂

Now that the borders are opening up, J and I are getting antsy about travelling abroad again. I've been looking through pictures of our trips and it's clear that my @loandsons is my most well-travelled bag! We're attached at the hip. (🥁!)

I bring it everywhere because of how durable, lightweight and functional it is. After 5+ years of heavy use and many international trips, it's still as new as the day I first got it.

Here's my favorite features on The Pearl:

✨ Saffiano Leather doesn't scratch up no matter what I do with it
✨ Zipper sections on both sides of the purse so I can easily store my passport and important documents
✨ Key hook so I never lose the keys to my airbnb
✨ Adjusts from a crossbody purse to a clutch easily so it's multi-functional
✨ It looks discreet and doesn't make you look like a tourist
✨ J likes it because it can fit all my stuff and it still has room to hold his sunglasses 😂

I can't wait to travel with it again! Do you have any trips coming up? J and I def need some inspo!

🏃🏻‍♀️ We've all heard the saying befor

🏃🏻‍♀️ We've all heard the saying before:" 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁, 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗻."

I don't know about you but life as a marathon feels EXHAUSTING to me. I feel like I'm only at mile 3 and I'm ready to just pull over to take a nap. 😴

So, when I heard this reframe: "𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗻, 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀", I had an A-HA moment that I wanted to share with you. Breaking life into sprints has been critical in helping me find motivation to just get started.

As someone with ADHD, I am a goals-oriented person. I like to have a good understanding of the end result. But, a downside is that I lack executive function to break things down into linear steps.

🧠 I'm a big picture thinker but my projects these days are TOO big. I'm often overthinking things which leads to feeling overwhelmed and I'm paralyzed with inaction. The longer I wait, the longer my to do list becomes which then turns into feelings of burnout.

My cognitive behavior therapist told me to try 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗼𝗿𝗼 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 as a way to just get started. With the pomodoro technique, you're breaking your day up into mini-sprints with breaks sandwiched in between. It's been a great way to keep me focused and a great tool for energy management.

At home, I've started doing tasks that I've been putting off in 5 minutes increments. Don't want to clean the kitchen? I set an alarm for 5 minutes and tell myself that that's all I have to do.

🧠: "You can do anything for 5 minutes can't you?" 🙃

𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘁: even if it takes me longer than 5 minutes, the act of starting and trying to do something as fast as possible has given me a tiny boost of motivation. It's the getting started that's hard.

Now that I'm thinking about things in a focused sprint, I know that if I'm running in the wrong direction, I can just take a break and course correct.

How are things going for you this week? Are you in a "sprint" mood, or are you taking a break?

Remember, the best part of a sprint is that it's totally ok to take a break afterwards. 😊

🤗 SHARE this with a friend who might benefit from this mindset shift! ❤️

🤗 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤-𝐢𝐧: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝?

Alright, alright, alright. It's July 1st. So you know what that means: we're halfway through 2021! Where does the time go?!

🕧 These days we go through life not having too many 𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝘀 to help represent the passage of time. Having these markers are important for motivation.

You know, like the boost of motivation when a new school year starts? Or looking forward to summer break. Nowadays? It's just all the same shit on a different day and sometimes I don't even remember my own age. 🙈

🙋🏻‍♀️Am I the only one who feels that?

📆 So that's why July 1st is particularly important. It's a halfway mark that helps signify to my ADHD brain: hey, a new milestone! If you've lost some momentum completing your new years resolutions, NOW is a good time to check in on what you said you wanted to accomplish for yourself.

By the way, goals don't always have to be achievement based. It can just be things on your mental to do list that's been nagging at you. Something that if you don't get done, it will just keep taking up mental space.

I hope that this is a good reminder for you to take some time over the long weekend to think about the rest of 2021. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭? 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲?

For me, I have 2 priorities for July:

1️⃣ clearing out my pandemic-stocked pantry and freezer -- doing more meals at home than takeout
2️⃣ pushing my contractors to finish this remodel job -- bathroom, I'm looking at you!

Let me know what your goals are and if you need any help from me to keep you motivated and accountable! 🙌🏻

---

I'll end this post with one of my favorite motivational quotes:

"The great majority of people are wandering generalities rather than meaningful specifics. The fact is that you can't hit a target that you can't see. If you don't know where you're going, you will probably end up somewhere else. You have to have goals."

- Zig Zigler

Love this reminder to live your life with more intention. To be a "meaningful specific".

Hope you have a great day! ❤️

🍳𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞

🍳𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐤𝐢𝐤𝐢 🍳

Friends don't let friends waste calories, amirite? That's why I put together this foodie travel guide for you! It's live on the blog now, link is in my bio.

🤗SAVE this post and SHARE with a friend who you know is going to Waikiki.

J and I spent 8 days in Oahu back in May and we tried ALL THE EATS -- you might have saw on stories. I've nailed down the top favorites by location. We stayed in Waikiki without a car, so that's how I've arranged the recommendations.

Here's the food I'm still dreaming of 2 months later:

// WAIKIKI
✨ @magurobrothershawaii - the best quality chirashi bowl for the price, the wait is ~1 hr
✨ @tonkatsu_ginza_bairin - super convenient if you're staying in Waikiki, get the juicy katsu sando
✨ Sushi Sho - the best omakase in Oahu, rivals experiences in Tokyo, ressies book up to 3-4 months in advance though

// HONOLULU
✨ @ono.seafood - the best poke, the fish is super fresh and higher quality than other places we tried
✨ @diamondheadmarketandgrill - super casual place, but they had the best charred taste on their loco moco patty, also their lemon crunch cake is out of this world!
✨ @giovannisshrimptruck - everyone tells you about this garlic scampi truck in North Shore, but did you know they opened up a location at a food court in H Mart nearby? Less lines, less travel if you can't hit up North Shore!
✨ @kokoheadcafe - i want their daily special, a beef luau stew, served in an iron cast skillet w/ crunch rice. the luau sauce is a hawaiian speciality, taro leaves cooked down in coconut milk. never had a sauce like this!

//OAHU
✨ @pkbsweets - snow puffies, you need this in your life
✨ @kahukufarms - the only spot here to serve farm to table acai bowls, but i'm staying for the amazing lilikoi butter mochi

That's my top eats. More recommendations are on the blog! 😊

🙋🏻‍♀️ Did I miss any of your favorite Oahu eats? Let me know what else I need to try on my next trip!