Lucky Girl Syndrome | Stephanie's Aug 2025

August in my heart was another full and eventful one where I felt so lucky for everything in life. It was a month of enjoying the things in my daily life locally, while also getting the chance to travel and reunite with Jin where we truly felt like we manifested being the luckiest girls as we beat the odds. Stay tuned for the recap! — Stephanie 

---

Lifestyle, Lessons, Lows

Professionally, my coworkers and I had gotten a lot closer than I’ve ever been with coworkers at any job. This month was quite a month of revelations work wise and bonding, and its wild I am writing this now in Sept because my notes in August was all about bonding but now in Sept its sad to hear that one of my favorite coworkers that I lowkey trauma-bonded with is now not on the team anymore. I wish her all the best in her next chapter. This really had me self reflecting as well, how can I switch things up in my current role or is this my push and sign from the universe to start thinking about my next move?

This month I tried hard to do things differently, which I think was well received and re-energized my spark - from bringing stakeholders together who typically do not work with us to analyzing research across the entire lifecycle. I received a lot of heartfelt kudos that I feel undeserving for.  Our intern also wrapped up her summer internship here, I’ve learned so much from her and I can’t believe that her internship came and went just like that. From her professional drive to her stories about her friendships and bonds with the other interns, it reminded me a lot of my autodesk crew (that I am excited to reunite with v soon!). I also ended up picking up a mentee who reached out online, as I help prep her for her next internship and full-time role search as she embarks on studying abroad soon, it reminds me a lot of my younger self. We can learn so much from those younger than us. And now I wonder where my reflection will be at next month when it comes to career? 

Relationships-wise I feel like the luckiest girl because of the different relationships in all aspects of my life. Starting with friendships, I started my August with my monthly catch ups with Christina W, where we spent a full day of corepower yoga, eat, coffee, and long therapeutic yaps. This one in particular was especially heart-to-heart and I didn’t expect to open up the way we did on both ends. I also got to bust an all-day mission with Tammie - from hot pilates to the office happy hour, meeting Lou, the Giants game, to learning our sweet spot on gametime to get last minute concert tix (though we ended up not going to Keshi because that was how we learned our lesson on the sweet spot time) - all in all it was such an eventful day and I had so much to look forward to. I know we just talked about career in the previous section, but I also truly felt friendship outside of work with certain coworkers who opened up to me so much this month. Of course ending the month with the biggest bang and long awaited reunion with Jin! This trip I truly felt the epitome of how lucky I am, not just for this trip but for our bestie friendship over the years (almost at the 10 year mark!). A week prior as I was getting ready to pack, I was distraught checking the weather app full of rain and thunder as our itinerary was filled with outdoor festivities at Disney and Universal. Despite the humidity, my period on this trip, and the rain - we were so so lucky with the weather. To the point that everything truly fell into place, every time we went outside it would be warm and dry, whereas every time we had an activity indoors or ate a meal, it would be raining. We truly avoided the rain and had perfect weather and I couldn’t feel any luckier through this trip with Jin. Had we switched the dates of Disney and Universal - I’d still be thankful for the weather, but it was so perfect that the Disney day that was filled with the food+wine festival (all outdoors) was on Saturday where it didn’t rain at all, whereas Universal was the next day where it did rain a bit but never during the time we were on rides. It was also nice because lines were much shorter, I rode way more rides than I expected to and I am v proud of myself for riding. I was and am still scared of roller coasters and drops so I felt a sense of pride with all the rides I rode, I had so much fun in the process too - but I have to admit that if it wasn’t for Jin I definitely would not have found the confidence to push myself to get on as many rides as I did. If I had another friend who was down to wait out, I would’ve easily caved in. Because of that, I am especially thankful to Jin for always inspiring me to be brave. Theme parks aside, I’ve also learned from her to be more open and vulnerable especially in relationships, and this trip had no shortage of laughter and never-ending yap sessions about anything and everything. 

Romantic relationships-wise, yes I am still seeing the person I’ve been writing about (lol), and I feel like this past month has been filled with a lot of growth for the both of us. He has been experience an unfortunate experience and is in transition, and as unfortunate as the situation is - it also helped us grow stronger on how we show up for each other during a difficult time. Seeing him put effort and care and provide despite his circumstances, has really showed me how lucky I am. A couple of favorite moments together this month include: vibing with Luna Li together, play chess for the first time, getting really into AoT together, SJ day and kickin crab, and a number of homecooked meals from him. While I do not know what’s in store for this month, I have faith it will be another one filled with growth and fun memories. 

Family-wise, to be honest I wish I got to spend more time with my family this month which is an area I can improve on. Things have been getting better health wise for my mother which I feel relieved about. They’ve also been visiting my house more and it was touching to see my dad voluntarily do things to improve it - from ordering custom window shields to chopping down an overgrown tree in the yard -- I once again felt so lucky to have my parents volunteer to do so much without me ever asking, and it makes me happy to see that he’s starting to want to do something with this house voluntarily as I hope this means one day he can accept the house too. 

---

My pick of the month: Velocicoaster

The night before I had to mentally prepare myself on what rides to go on and I watched tiktok videos about how the Velocicoaster is not for the faint of heart LOL and I got scared because I mentally and physically do not enjoy the feeling in my stomach from huge drops. I told Jin that I was down for any ride but NOT this one. LOL . Then she kept persuading me to line up for this ride and that line in itself was an experience (listening to the convos and some sus guys who cut lol story for another time) and then getting on the ride that truly flew me by. I feel a sense of accomplishment and pride for putting myself in situations I initially was afraid of, but I equally admit that I wouldn’t have done so without the support and company of Jin. Dare I say after riding this, I even unexpectedly volunteered us to ride another ride with a drop LOL where we got to witness the cutest little boy who was also so afraid of drops and came out feeling so accomplished. 

Aside from my pick of the month, honorable mention for this month’s pick though would be Rusteak - honestly did not have huge expectations that the food would be amazing bc it was american lol but each dish was so flavorful and so so large in portions. Why is Orlando food highkey underrated? Spicy Girl gets a second honorable mention.

As I am reflecting on my month of gratitude and luck - it hits even more that this month I am coming up on my 1 year since getting the keys to this house! Feeling all sorts of emotions of lucky - more to come in next month’s write up. 

As we start to enter Fall, I hope everyone has a wonderful September!

— Stephanie