Here we are. Another week deeper into my time in San Francisco and another week closer to its end.

When I was in DC, it was hard saying goodbye. Not just to where I worked, but also my friends, church, even just the city itself. I dreaded my last day and felt truly “uprooted” when I left.

San Francisco is different. It’s been a good time, for sure. Work has gone swimmingly, I’ve made connections at church, and found a CrossFit box, but there’s something different about these months versus the months spent in DC. I don’t feel as rooted, as invested here. I feel more like an air plant than an oak tree.

Personally, I think it’s God’s way of telling me that there is more planned for me than San Francisco. If I were to be tempted to stay by the beaches, the fresh seafood, or any of the other perks, it’s His way of protecting me from the heartbreak of leaving. I don’t know what His purpose was in bringing me here, but from what has occurred thus far, I imagine these three months were designed for an internal refining. It kind of makes me excited to see where He’ll take me next and what He’ll do in and through me while I’m there!

Speaking of DC, this week, I bought my ticket to the Edelman Fetal Echo Conference in DC in October! My next step in furthering my career is to get board certified in Fetal Echo (which is essentially doing an echocardiogram on a fetus).

It is a very specialized and intricate subject matter, let alone board exam, so I want to get as much help as I can to prepare!

I attempted an Edelman conference for another board I had to take and found it super helpful! I can’t wait to feel equipped as I head towards the daunting standardized testing giant and see all my DC peeps while I’m at it!

While grocery shopping this weekend, I saw the sun setting in the distance and knew I had to take a closer look.

I drove as fast as the speed limit would allow to the shore and sat on a wall while watching the sun lower deeper and deeper into the deep blue waves.

Being on the west coast has made me realize that I miss seeing the sun rise over the ocean. While sunsets like these are surely beautiful, I think I’ve finally answered the age old question: sunrise or sunset? Lauren’s answer is sunrise.

As I have undergone this health journey, I’ve realized that once the goals are met, I am going to have to continue what I have started. Not only to maintain what I’ve accomplished, but also out becoming informed. I can now no longer go back to eating how I would without a conscience weighted in the knowledge of what I am putting in my body.

I’m not sad or mad about this. A-month-ago-Lauren might have been.

I want food to make me feel good, she would have said. Now I know that food is for energy and there’s a lot of good-tasting stuff out there that’s also good for you.

I deserve to eat what I want, she would have said. Now I know that what I REALLY deserve was washed in the blood of Jesus and that I should get over myself, even if it “just” junk food.

Eating food is a part of traveling, she would have said. Well, that’s what refeed meals are for! I get to enjoy meals and the taste of the city without losing anything resembling self-control.

You get the picture. However, I’ve decided that my health isn’t just made up of my nutrition and fitness. The small things I use in my day-to-day also affect my body and hormone levels. I’ve come to the conclusion that with the resources and the knowledge I have been given, I’m in a position where I need to make changes in that area as well.

So, I am undergoing a Ditch and Switch movement, where I am steadily replacing items with chemicals and artificial fragrances with all-natural products. Since I have started using Young Living, I am going to be using a lot of their products in this exchange because I know, thanks to their Seed to Seal policy, that their products are trustworthy.

One of the first things I am doing the D&S with is dryer sheets! Something so simple, but is being used with my clothes, which have constant contact with my skin daily!

Instead of using dryer sheets, I am using Young Living Wool Dryer Balls. These do the same job as a dryer sheet, but with zero additives or chemically-concocted fragrances. Also, with a couple drops of essential oils added, they make my clothes smell heavenly!

Saturday, I ate lunch at probably the most adorable, feminine, dainty place I have ever known. Otherwise known as Sip Tea Room.

The place was decorated with chandeliers, tables covered in white sheets, and freshly-cut flowers in sweet little vases. The teacups were by far the sweetest thing there though. I mean, how can you NOT smile while drinking out of a cup that looks like this?!

I had originally reserved a table, but as it was a bustling Saturday afternoon, I was asked if I would give up my table to sit at the “Friend Seat” (a.k.a the lone high chair at the end of the bar where the tea is prepared). I initially agreed out of a desire to be helpful, but I soon found out that I had gotten quite the trade.

Nothing can empower a person quite like sipping on a cup of tea while being seated a foot higher than (and being able to survey) everyone else in the room. If I had been wearing a crown and been addressed as “Your Majesty”, I think I would have felt like it was a typical Saturday. Teacups and high chairs just have that kind of effect on people, I guess.

While everything on their menu looked delicious, the decision was quite easy: the Traditional English Afternoon Tea service. A large pot of loose-leaf, choice tea (English breakfast was mine, of course!) accompanied a three-tiered display of two types of tea sandwiches (smoked salmon and cream cheese/curried chicken were my picks), coleslaw, choice of scone (why try to fix what isn’t broken? Traditional currant, all the way!) with cream, jam, and lemon curd, topped with samples of desserts.

Apparently, there is an art (and somewhat of a debate) between how one eats their scone. There is the Cornwall style and the Devon style.

Out of a spirit of curiosity, my scone was broken in half, each being prepared in one of the styles listed. I honestly didn’t think there would be a difference, but there truly was! The winner, by my judging, is the Devon style.

If you don’t believe me, perhaps you should visit Sip yourself and put it to the test.

Later that afternoon, I went to get my haircut at a salon a couple of blocks away from where I live.

Now, usually, I’m a Great Clips girl. There is a location near where my parents live that is superb. They always did a great job. When the $7.99 coupons come in the mail, I’m off to get one of the max three haircuts I’ll get a year.

Since the word “salon” was in the name of where I went, I figured $7.99 haircuts were not to be found there. I figured it’d be $25, $30 tops. After all, all I was getting was a trim and some styling.

A scalp massage and the most intricate scissor-snipping I’ve ever witnessed later, I go to checkout and learn two things:

1.) This haircut was going to cost me $55, not including tip.

2.) They only accept cash.

I walked two blocks over to the local grocery store’s ATM, all the way wondering why the heckity heck I didn’t do more research beyond my own assumptions.

Oh well. My wallet is a little lighter, but so is my head. I assure you, the lesson has been thoroughly learned.

Time may be flying, but I think it’s quite evident I’m having fun along the way.