Girasol

Alright lovely humans, let's just get right into it. This is exactly what it looks like; a 23-year-old woman's travel blog. I have NO intention of launching my influencer career here, but come January 8 I'll FINALLY make it to Sevilla, Spain and begin an adventure almost 3 years in the making. This is my way of taking the people I love with me. So if you're here, hello, I probably love you. 

I'm calling this little online scrapbook "The Girasol Archives." Let me explain, "girasol" is sunflower in Spanish. Aside from the fact that I'll be living in a SPAIN for 3 months, I prefer the Spanish name for sunflower because it translates directly to "turns toward the sun." In the last year sunflowers have grown to mean a lot to me. Over the summer I was more depressed, anxious, and unsure of myself than I can ever remember being. My birthday wasn't exactly an exception (leading with the heavy stuff, I know, but I'm going somewhere with this). 

On my birthday one of my best friends (you know who you are) gave me a little square painting. It's small, no more than about 5"x5", and it portrays a beautifully ordinary Utah landscape with a field in the foreground and mountains in the back. The highlight of the painting though are three bright yellow sunflowers in the top left corner. They're small, but the bright yellow against the blue sky and dark mountains makes them immediately stand out as the focal point of the painting. When my friend gave me the painting she told me it reminded her of me because during some very challenging times in her life I had stood out as a bright spot against the dark. It was exactly what I needed to remind me to turn toward the light when I was at such a low point in my own life, and to see and invest in that light in myself again. 

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that sunflowers are my "thing" now. And if there is anything that I want for my 90 day Spanish adventure, it would be to find all the good that I possibly can about the people, culture, food, art, history, and myself while I'm there. So if you want to share a little bit of that with me, you're in the right place. 

Thanks for reading. Also welcome. 

<3 Kayla