not necessarily in this order

I  met a penguin (and possibly a ghost), my child lived her best outdoor and sparkly life, and we made it back! So many kind words on my last post; it’s so nice to know I’m not the only one who gets nervous traveling. I really do hope to get better at it (but hopefully in hotels or places where I can have some alone time haha)! Oh so many stories from such a lovely week; but here are 5 snippets : -Making my own smoothies was such a failure. I use this contraption that blends the heck out of what I’m making, but they had the singleserving little tiny thing that really didn’t blend anything so all I was tasting were plant protein powder lumps, ew. On day 3, it started to  smell like burning  when I was making my smoothie; I decided that was the end and moved on to other breakfasts. -We went to the Ripley’s aquarium in Myrtle Beach; Luke almost paid extra for me to pat a penguin - I just really love penguins - but it was crazy $$ so I said no. after we explored the entire aq...

aka anything & everything & nothing  We are going on our first family vacation in FOUR YEARS tomorrow and I’ve spent the last week overwhelmed and over it - and, in a bit of a pit that this is how I am about something that’s meant to be fun, sigh.  This is not the role modeling I want to do for Lil Momma! She and I have been on a number of “girls only” adventures the last few years which have only gotten more enjoyable as she’s gotten a bit older . Gone are the years where she would only eat fast food, Olive Garden, and Dunkin Donuts or fall apart 5-minutes into a museum or aquarium or walk. She’s all curiosity and up for new and different, which I love, love, love… But, the difference with this trip is that it’s not her and I exploring a new city - we are staying with my guy’s sister and her fiancé * I’m the epitome of an only child without much extended family - my dream was to stay in a hotel and have a place to get away from everyone’s haha! We’ve stayed with her...

A totally makeable dentist appointment for 2 of my girl’s teeth to be pulled… A well-planned afternoon commute to grab her from school… What could go wrong? One  I got caught up in work. It was just one more email response. It took 5 minutes - and it felt so good to get it done! Besides,  I had built in buffer time.  40 minutes to pick up Lil Momma; 75 minutes till the appointment (which was 30 minutes away from LM) Two  Well, not two, but  three detours . I’m directionally challenged, but I know the area. I have worked in the same building for 18 years. I used to live down the street from it. But I ended up on a street I’d never heard of before and nothing looked familiar. I started my GPS to  check my LM arrival time and it had added 15 minutes  - my buffer had gone poof!  15 minutes to pick up Lil Momma; 45 minutes till the appointment  Three  Somehow, I made up time and arrived at school with us only 5 minutes behind. As they called ...

Aka: oof Q1    For a year all about steadiness, the first three months were full of bumps (COVID, injuries, caretaking, post-COVID exhaustion, so much grey weather)… but, onwards and upwards?   1  find some  hobbies . I’ve lost track of all my interests after a few years of constant caretaking. Here’s to books and biking and baking and other things that aren’t as alliterative!  Well, not a total wash. I’ve been reading and writing on the regular, made a new pie, started planning my garden and next bread adventure, and found some ways to get back out in the world that I’ll be going for.   2  hang stuff in the house. My guy loves minimalist bare walls; I love  pictures  and  art  and  memories . This is the year we find a middle ground.  Not YET, but still moving forward on the decluttering to make this an exclamation point on a big project   3  cut my  phone screen time  by 50%. I distract myself an...