Re-Entry Day(s), Election Day

Hello again this morning.

We landed at 6 am yesterday.

Yesterday (and a little of today) are re-entry day(s). Unpacked, reorganized. Tending to life, but nothing extraordinarily crazy -- just some basics. Trying to get sleep and eating times back to this time zone. No easy feat for me. 

Today is a hardier mix of life-back-to-normal. Yesterday was very basic. Ripping the bandaid on the jet lag. 

Chores this morning ...

Watering indoor plants (ugh).

Tending to a very, very grown garden (yea).

Picking up my porch plants.

Fun this afternoon ...

Pedicure (I go after a beach trip, not before because sand ruins toes immediately!)

Picking up our grandson (I missed him).

Evening tour of their new house (exciting).

I read 7 books over vacation. 2 books each flight. Most were excellent. One was a bust and I left it at the hotel LFL. (Miss Benson's Beetle -- great reviews, but I hated it).

(The flight out is so long ... 2 books 2 movies, and an hour nap). 

I ran out of books, so I got one from the hotel LFL exchange and one from the airport (horrible selection in Hawaii airports and $$$$$). 

Read first Pride and Prejudice for my June book flight.

Remembered to send a postcard from Hawaii to my book penpal. Had a lot of books to list! 

Today is Election Day. I'm hopeful, and a bit nervous, and a bit excited. 

Okay, best get moving. Lots to do this morning and I got up 2 hours later than normal. 

Have a good day! Later gators. 

We're Back

Home sweet home.

(And the bots are back. They come and go -- shocking numbers when they arrive.)

The trip was great. Kauai is my favorite Hawaiian Island -- the beauty is unmatched. I keep a travel journal with all the details day-to-day. 

Quick highlights ...

River flooding in the National Park closed the park so our BIG hike was canceled. Probably a good thing. That area is extraordinarily steep elevation and muddy and it wouldn't have been very fun hiking. We did a smaller steep, muddy hike twice and that was crazy -- slip sliding away, up and down to a beach.

We got in 2 other hikes -- gorgeous and fun. 

Thankfully no spiders.
The path was thick.

All day boat ride with snorkeling. 

We swam with turtles and 2 small sharks (eeek). HUGE swell out of nowhere and I had to ride it up and up. I was scared it was going to break on me, but it didn't. Everyone was a little freaked out. 

When we got to the Napoli Coast the water had such chop from unusual wind directions that over half the boat was puking their guts out. We were fine and we hung out with some nice people. Excellent staff and food too.

Some whales are late heading north and we saw a breach and a blow -- incredible. 

Didn't take many pictures because the northern part of the trip was so crazy. We were flung up, down, slide ways. I didn't want to drop my phone. Very fun, slightly scary. 

Before the waves

Phone took a candid lol.

Excellent food. I ate poke 9 times haha!!

Fresh catch.

Virgin spicy margarita 

GF, vegan, rice pancake
dessert from Farmer's Market

Fancy poke

Local "dive" poke

Acai bowl and nitro

Just for fun. Never really
good though.

We visited 2 Farmer's Markets. This was incredible. Farmer freezes bananas and pineapple from their farm and it gets whipped -- nothing else in it. Tastes like ice cream. Macadamia nut whipped honey (also from their farm) on top. 

Best thing I ate -- I'll
dream of this!!!!!

Lots of goodies not pictured. I ate VERY well. 

Lots of other fun things, but I won't bore you with it all.

Flights were long. 

Jet lag is no joke, both ways. 

Someone hit our rental car. 

Shoulder is "out" again after snorkeling and swimming (appointment next week). 

All worth it. 

AND glad to be home like I can't even tell you!!!!!!  Later gators.

Distraction

A little chat.

Kids are under contract with their new house. Exciting!! They have a lot of work ahead of them  -- inspections, selling their house, moving, etc. This will be some work for us too, but we're happy to help.

Mother's Day was a fun afternoon with the kids and lots of playing cars. 

Did I tell you I had a name change? My grandmother name is "Granny" -- I've wanted this name forever and used it for years with the dogs. Merch everywhere to prove it lol. My grandson re-named me (not anyone else). Not prompted by anyone AND he could say Lamborghini and Grandpa and almost any word. So this wasn't a matter of not being able to SAY Granny. 

He calls me Gee-Gee (not GiGi), but wouldn't call me anything to my face. Ever! As soon as I started referring to myself as Gee-Gee, he says my name constantly. He held out until I made the change. 

My son loves it and says I get the honor of being named by him. It IS very sweet AND I wish it was Granny. We're counting it as a nickname right now and Granny is still my FORMAL grandma name hah.

No matter what he calls me, I adore him, of course.

This chat is sponsored by DISTRACTION as I try to ignore Travel Anxiety. 

Lord help me. It's absolutely annoying that I do this to myself every big vacation. As I said, since I haven't had a big trip for a couple of years, the anxiety is out of control. 

Best get in the shower. See you in 10 days. Later gators.

T-Minus One Day

It's now or it's never on the trip prep today.

The kids want to celebrate Mother's Day too. Love that they suggested getting together -- timing isn't great. I'd like nothing more than to have today to get "life" in order, but ... choose the bigger life?!?! Yep.

We had a really nice night yesterday. Dinner went off without a hitch. Super easy supper -- everything prepared ahead and only oven baking before they arrived (aka very few dishes and cleanup). Beautiful weather, great seats (you're welcome). Other friends joined too and we had fun conversations and some easy listening music. 

Sunset behind our chairs.

Kids put in an offer on a house and the realtor said the sellers would sign the final offer. Didn't happen yet, but fingers crossed. It's about 10 minutes from our house. Lots of conversations about the negotiations and status yesterday. 

It was a good day. 

Now for a little prickly part. "That" person was at the concert too. She's lived in this town for 4 years and never went before we invited her last year. I wondered if she was going. She knows where I set up and knows our Steelers chairs. She set up right next to us -- ugh. Unavoidable awkward conversation. She was particularly odd -- seemed nervous about talking to us. Hubby and I both had that experience. 

The mean-girl part of me was happy about it. Let her feel uncomfortable. She's been awful. Also, I wonder why she set up her chairs next to us (of course, that location is the best lol). I wasn't uncomfortable and that's a big step for me. More and more practice toward not giving two sh*#s about her. 

Time to get going. Travel anxiety through the roof. Ugh. Have a better day than me hah! Later gators.

Friday Vibes

Packing is going well.

Prep for a casual dinner with friends is underway.

Free concert under the trees tonight with beautiful weather. 

Not bad. 

Yes, still a vacation wreck, but I'm trying.

I spent the evening at a political protest yesterday. Made a quick sign, sported a political shirt, and spent hours sign waving, hanging with friends and others. The timing wasn't ideal, but I was glad to participate. 

A little plant moment. The plant with flowers is NOT the plant that flowers. The vining plant attached to her neighbor and bloomed her flowers next door. Now if that's not the definition of being a good neighbor, I don't know what is.

I've been trying to figure out what the pre-vacation anxiety and dread is about. I'm not afraid to travel or fly. I am afraid of the ocean up close, but I get this anxiety going to Europe too. I enjoy the vacations once I get to the gate -- never had a traumatic vacation.

I HATE to pack, but that's different from the dread I feel. 

I'm sad my dog is sad, but he's staying at a house, sleeping in her bed, and is totally pampered.

Something about the length of time being away. Longer flights mean longer vacations. I'm not flying to Hawaii or Europe for a long weekend. 

Leaving the safety and security of home and routine? Maybe. Shorter trips mean I return to that security more quickly and therefore much less pre-trip dread? Maybe. 

I guess it could be the combination of all of it. 

I don't know if I'll ever understand it. It's good that it goes away and doesn't ruin the trip, but I hate the lead up -- waking up in the night feeling a panic. Dread every time I think about going. Wishing the trip would get canceled. Add in the "work" of leaving and it's not fun. 

I keep telling myself, you're not vacationing again until the fall. You have all summer without vacations. Focus on that.

 

Seriously, what's wrong with me?!?! THIS IS A VACATION for crying out loud. 

Anyway, best get moving to pick from the garden for the salad tonight (greens, peas, radishes). This is a super casual entertaining dinner with friends before the concert. It totally fits the "carefree and unbothered" vibe of summer (after I get back from this "dreadful" vacation hahaha). 

Have a good one! Later gators.

Hello, Travel Anxiety

The hike worked out really well. It was overcast (and rained the last mile). I hiked half with my friend and half solo. I took a shorter route back because of the rain -- 8 miles (instead of 9). My back felt fine once I got upright from the car ride.

My friend gave me little jars she had leftover from an event. Little jars are one of my love languages. They're darling. She knows I like to give away jars with herbs and flowers.

Came home and walked to lunch with hubby. Another 2 miles on my feet. My back held, but every muscle, joint hurt by the end of the day. I think my testosterone is low again.

I have a fever blister. It's not huge, but it's in the painful stage. Probably pre-vacation anxiety. I've had this my entire life. As soon as I'm through security and at the gate it goes away. It's been a minute since I've gone on a big trip and I'm waking up in the middle of the night in anxiety panic. Keep reminding myself this is what happens and it doesn't mean anything.

Remember the 2 trips to Europe with shingles? Same thing. 

I'm in the phase where I'd give anything to NOT go. Every single blessed time this happens. I guess it's a bit extra this year (fever blister) since it's been a long time since I've taken a big trip. Why do I do this? Dang. Trying to add some "carefree and unbothered." The fever blister says hah, not working.

I went to bed early and slept in this morning. Excellent sleep stats and I can feel it. My body was screaming for recovery. No workout today -- not chancing my back with lifting and my legs need a rest day.

We are getting hella rain right now. Huge storms all night. Wish it wasn't so hard (doesn't soak in the ground as well), but happy for rain, happy we kept power. I staked all the summer loves in the garden so I think everything held up.

Little harvest from the final show from the shelling peas. Snow peas are still going. I HATE frozen peas and I LOVE fresh peas. Light blanch in the shell, salt ... delicious. The peas won't last long in the coming heat in a full sun garden. 

I started elements of packing. Got the electronics ready yesterday. Chargers, noise machine, headphones, etc. 

I also picked books -- 3 are coming with me. Is this enough? If I can fit a fourth I might. The plane ride is good for at least one book. That leaves 2 books for 9 days and flight home (overnight so I won't read as much). Doesn't seem like enough, but sometimes I don't end up reading as much. Decisions, decisions. 

Today is beachwear and toiletries. That means trying on a swimsuits and coverups. 

It's also plan the days now that we are closer with the weather, etc. 

Starting early and little at a time does wonders. I can't actually PACK until the last day, but it helps to have everything ready to go. It also calms some of the anxiety.

I have a full, full day ... but a slow roll morning. That makes such a difference. It's my last slow roll until we are in Kauai and I'm enjoying every bit of it this morning.

Hope you're having a good week. Later gators. 

A Morning Chat

Let's talk about "that" person ... briefly-ish, I promise.

She's at it again, but with someone else. It's interesting to watch her dynamic from afar. She's done this many times over the year+ I've known her, but lately, it was just me. I guess I've pulled back far enough that she needs another conflict. It's her behavior with other people that led me to pull back, that led to her to start coming at me, and so on. 

If you treat others this way, it's only a matter of time before you treat me that way. Yep. 

I'm still (obviously) in the processing phase of letting go of this relationship. I'm still trying to see what that looks like within the group dynamics. I'm questioning whether I want to be friends with people who accept this behavior from someone. 

I'd love to know if others see her behavior as a problem. Her pattern is she attacks, then ignores. She waits for people to beg back and once they have, she rewards them compliments, adulations, attention. While she's attacking and/or ignoring, she over-the-top showering others with high energy, over blown attention.

I'm getting better about not having a reaction to her. The more I watch her behavior, the more I understand her insecurities. It's all bravado. On some level, I feel sorry for her. That's a lot of work to play games with so many people ... all of the time. And, the more she does, the more I KNOW she's not for me and I'm making a good decision to back away. 

I also make predictions about her behavior and I'm good at it (or she's really predictable). It's kind of fun -- probably shouldn't be, but it reinforces it's not about me. Lightens my attitude about it too.

Okay, that's enough about her. 

In the name of putting my energy into people who I want in my life, I asked another friend to hike today. She responded and I promptly threw out my lower back. It's all muscular and it's okay-ish this morning. Hurts to sit and it's fine walking. I'm a little apprehensive about hiking hills since that often stiffens my lower back, but I'm giving it a go. We'll hike one 4.5 mile loop together and I usually hike the loop a second time -- I'll see today.

I also think I might be getting a fever blister. Crap!!!!!!!!!  Falling apart before vacation. 

I had a wake-up panic attack about all the things I need to do before our trip. Then I reminded myself I'm experimenting with carefree and unbothered. Can I pull that back into this week? I did (at least for now).

I'm "deep diving" a bit into this adjustment and part of that is listening to back podcasts from The Lazy Genius. Practical, balanced suggestions. Her brand is focusing on what matters to you (be genius) and letting the rest go (be lazy). That's the balance I'm striving for. I don't want to be carefree about EVERYTHING, just the things that don't really matter to me. She has a lot of practical suggestions for figuring out WHAT matters to you -- different for everyone and different in different moments. 

I best wrap this up. I have lots of little "chores" to finish up before the hike. 

Have a good day. Later gators.