Vacation Prep Mode

Part of the fun of vacation is planning for it, right? 

The anticipation of the upcoming fun? 

I get massive anxiety, even though I'm excited. 

Things that bring me great joy can also bring me a ton of anxiety. 

I started packing lightly about 10 days ago. Just putting a pile of things together in the dining room. 

No organization. Just piles of stuff. 

I'm trying to find all the different "Limited Edition" flavors they have out this summer.

I kept adding to the pile until I realized that we may not be able to fit it all in our vehicle. Steve's truck is having some issues with its suspension (airbags) so she's been riding low after sitting for a while.

And it's just getting old and crusty.

So we decided to take my truck. Ok, so much less interior space for stuff. Our cooler, luggage, and allllll the things. 

We're strapping the Lily Pad to the roof.

And then I find out we're also towing our friend's Jet Ski because he didn't want to bring his pickup truck. And his wife's SUV doesn't have a hitch.

Apparently, I need to invest in some packing cubes. 

I've been doing it like this:

Plastic baggies - two outfits for each bag. Plus swimsuits, towels. I reused the bags from last year so there is less waste.

I have a few more things to do before we leave tomorrow, including running some errands during lunch and after work today. 

We leave around 10am tomorrow, so we do have the morning to get ourselves packed. 

We are planning to meet at a diner for lunch, which is about an hour and a half from our house. Then from the diner, we have about an hour left of our journey before reaching our destination. 

Me and Rich have been stalking the weather apps for like the last week and it's been disappointing to say the least.

Rain for most of the time we're up there.

However, as of TODAY, it looks like we'll have maybe 2 decent days up there. "Decent" meaning partly cloudy and mid-70's. 

Sunday the 4th looks to be the best day at 79 and mostly/partly sunny. Monday looks great at 84 and partly sunny, but that's the day we leave. UGH. 

I'm really hoping that we get a break from clouds and rain - the percentage is below 50% each day of possible rain. We've had the same forecast here in town and it's been kinda wrong. It has not rained as much as it's been forecasted to. So maybe? 

Anyway, busy day today! I need to finish up my full day of work and get to finishing up prep. 

Here's to vacation! 

Kicking Off Summer the Right Way!

We have had a VERY busy few days over in our parts.

Starting mid-last week, I had a marketing event (first live on in 15 months!) and since I since on the board, I was running the registration table. I got to see so many familiar names and people from my 17 years in this industry. 

Not only was it amazing to see real people in real life, we kicked off the event by winning the "Digital Marketing Award" for one of MY clients. 

So I got to prance up "on stage" (it was held at a comedy club) and collect the beautiful award with my teammates. I will do a separate post on it later.

Steve went to my mom's during the day to help her out with some chores and brought the girls with him. They wanted to stay there after he was done, so I picked them up on my way home. We didn't get home until 9pm! 

The girls had their last half-day of school Thursday (which is why they couldn't sleepover) so they went for 2.5 hours. 

The day was absolutely gorgeous, so after school and lunch, I packed up my work stuff and we spent the afternoon at the pool. 

Steve was supposed to work Friday but ended up taking the day off so he could spend it with his sister and her family. They went out to Clyde, NY where their grandparents lived and where his uncle and aunt now live. 

I opted to go to my GF's house to start working on my T-shirts for the kids for vacation! 

I'm obsessed with my Cricut!! I cannot wait to make more crafts! 

Saturday our friends had an end-of-the-school-year party at their house - a beautiful area with land, a pond, a pool, and gorgeous outdoor space. These are the same friends we are vacationing with this week and the husband, Andy is one of my friends from grade school. 

I gave the girls a choice - they could either come with me to the party or stay back with their cousins (Steve had to work). 

They agonized a little but ultimately decided spending time with cousins outweighed the party. I didn't mind it at all - I love that they love each other and selfishly, I was able to enjoy the party alone! No checking on people. No getting people food or drinks or having to deal with any whining. 

Yes, that's a zipline into the water! 

After the party, I headed home to get prepped to have 4 girls sleep at my house! Steve picked them up after work and we put a movie on for them in Mila's room. 

Sunday was a scorcher and we had planned to go to an amusement park that day. It was hot, but thankfully we had some cloud coverage and a nice breeze coming in from the lake. 

Despite being up the night before having a sleepover and NOT going to sleep at a reasonable hour, all 4 girls were in good moods and hung in there during a very hot day.

look at that smile!

Ava actually went down on this by herself! She's to the right of Steve in this pic, so she's being blocked by the wall. But she did it! 

And now I have 3 days to prep for vacation and finish up work for the week. I'm launching a big thing on July 1st - the day we leave, so yeah...stressful for sure!

Summer vacation is off to an amazing start! 

Last Day of School Y'all!

The girls have successfully completed 3rd grade and Kindergarten! 

It was a fucked up year to say the least and they both missed out on normalcy. 

Ava didn't get to start her real school journey until May 3rd of this year. 

However, once they started back full-time, it was glorious. 

For them and for us. 

And I'm super proud of these girls for being resilient and for getting through the really weird year. 

It was a beautiful day - 79 and sunny. Not a cloud in the sky. So after I picked them up from their half day (so like 11:30am), we did a quick lunch of hot dogs and french fries in the air fryer (I had a shake) and we went out to the pool. 

I still had to work...so...I brought it outside with me. #workanywhere

HAPPY SUMMER VACATION!!!

We are so busy the next 2 weeks and I'm super pumped about it. Steve and I are doing a lot of shuffling around to make sure everyone sees everyone.

With Steve's sister's family in town, we wanted to make sure the cousins got a chance to spend as much time together as possible. They are all around the same age (almost 11, almost 9, 9 and 6.5) so they really do get along well. 

We also don't have any sort of childcare this summer, except for two weeks of summer camp in July.

Steve took the day off today (Friday) so that he could spend time with his sister and all the kids. I have to work.

Then tonight the girls are spending the night at my mom's house because I have two appointments tomorrow morning - eyebrows and eyelashes. 

After that, our friends are having an "end of the school year" party at their house - they have a pool and pond. I was going to bring all 4 girls with me to this party, but my SIL is a bit uncomfortable since it's all people they don't know at all and we likely won't be wearing masks. So I totally get it and I likely wouldn't go either if the roles were reversed. I am not at all offended. 

But then I thought more about it and thought to ask my two girls if they'd rather come with me, or if they'd rather stay with their cousins on Saturday. 

It was a tough decision apparently! I figured it'd be easy for them to choose spending time with cousins because they don't get to see them often and they always have so much fun together. 

They did ultimately choose to do family/cousin time and NOT come with me to the party. 

Totally fine. I may be a little lonely and end up sitting by myself...but that's ok. 

I'll also be the lucky one sitting alone and responsible for no one but myself. That rarely happens!

Sunday we are all going to the local (small) amusement park, SeaBreeze. It's going to be a hot one. 

Monday I think is a day off for everyone (I have to work) and then Tuesday they are going to the larger amusement park (Darien Lake).

Then we leave for vacation Thursday. And we're leaving for the islands a bit sooner than I thought. Check-in was originally 3pm. But we also thought about staggering our arrival times because we aren't picking up our boat until Friday. 

And we have a lot of people to get to the island.

One boat; one jetski.

We thought it'd make sense to NOT all be there at once, so there's less waiting around. But, we figured out a way to get all the people to the island first, then the 3 adult boys will go back and forth and shuffle luggage and coolers/food, etc. 

And then we also found out we could check in a little early - like 1-1:30pm.

So I pretty much lost my morning on "getting ready for vacation" so I'll need to do a bulk of my packing and shit Wednesday night. And I work a full day on Wednesday. 

Ugh.

But! So much fun stuff coming up and I'm super excited. 

HELLO SUMMER! 

He Got Hurt

Not Steve.

My friend, Rich. 

He really hurt his hand badly.

He sent me a text last week with a photo of his hand all wrapped up.

Apparently he was out working in his shop using a crowbar and slipped or something and it cut super deep, through two tendons on the outside of his hand, near the base of his thumb. The tendons got severed so he couldn't move his thumb at all.

On his left hand. 

He is also left-handed. 

So....yeah.

He was back to work before scheduling surgery, so I told him I'd stop over after surgery to bring him dinner so his wife wouldn't have to cook - she could focus on dealing with his bad attitude. LOL. 

So I made some stuffed shells! And I made a shit-ton of it, because they are a family of 6 and they have 4 boys. LOL. Yes. That's a lot of people and those boys can eat a lot!

And then I had to make Steve his own pan, too.

Nothing makes me happier than cooking for people. I made them 2 pans plus extra sauce and meatballs, plus 4 huge hot sausages. Oh and some Pane Italian bread because...duh. 

I had some when I got home and it was delish.

Rich should get his splint off the day we leave for vacation and with physical therapy and rehab, he should be fine.

I delivered the food Saturday and spent the afternoon over there. The girls play so nicely with their boys and we always have a good time.

He should be getting the stitches out the DAY we leave for vacation. 

Family in Town

It's been a year and 4 months since we've seen Steve's sister and her family. They live out in California and prior to the pandemic, they visited once every 6 months or so. 

But then COVID.

So it's been a long time.

We got to celebrate Father's Day with Steve's family and it was a lovely day! 

The kids got to play and swim in the neighbor's pool and jump on their trampoline. We got to catch up.

It's amazing to see how fast the kids have all grown.

The next few weeks of Summer are going to be busy! I'm excited for it.

Family/cousin time for the next 10 days until we leave for vacation.

It'll be super busy next week, as I we try to spend time with them and fit in planning and packing for our trip. We will be bringing all our own food and water (the water on the island is not drinkable) so there are a lot of logistics. 

Anyway, the girls had fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa's neighbor's little girl, who is a couple years old. They have a pool and trampoline, etc. so they all had a great time. 

So between now and vacation, we will be busy! There will be a lot of things going on, with the end of the school year for the girls - only 2 half days left! And planning and packing for vacation.

Let the Summer fun begin! 

New Tattoo

It's time! 

I'm so excited but nervous too.

This is going to be a rather large tattoo and it's the first one I'll have that is significant in size. All my other tattoos are small and very small.

I want it to be on my side, on my rib cage.

It's 5 lines of text.

Working Out - ONE YEAR Into My Fitness Journey

YOU GUYS.

52 WEEKS COMPLETE. 

ONE YEAR??????

HOW THE????

I cannot believe it.

Here's me at week 48 (May 20, 2021)

Almost 40 and feeling the best I ever have. #hardwork #consistency

I'm roughly 112-114lbs on any given day - although I really try not to focus on the number on the scale too much. I feel strong, I'm lifting back to what I was before surgery and I'm feeling good. 

Now that we're legit in summer, I'm trying to eat cleaner again and focus again on nutrition. 

I'm super proud of myself for changing how I lived, how I ate, and how I plan to live. I am more confident now, even as I get closer to 40. 

I stopped over at my mom's over the weekend, like I do almost every weekend....and my sister was home. She recently had surgery and isn't able to work out and likely won't be able to for several more weeks. So I asked if I could borrow her 20lb dumbbell.

I've been using my 15's for a while now and now that I've built back up after my short hiatus, I wanted to try going heavier.

Looks like I need to invest in some 20lb dumbbells.

This sucker is HEAVY! My shoulders were on FIRE. 

And dude. I need 20lb dumbbells! 

These are legit - hitting failure and almost dropping it on my head (ok, not really) but it felt GOOD. 

New Water Toy

Ever since we got a pool, we spend money each season on new pool toys. Mainly just the stuff that isn't really meant to last more than a season, like pool noodles or cheap floaties. Plus, where we live, a lot of our stuff has blown around and has gotten kinda gross. 

We have to find a better system for keeping the toys secured to the deck. 

Anyway.

Last year when we went on vacation, I saw a ton of these floating "pads" that were huge and could hold several people.

Some were being towed behind boats, some were just floating with people on them. 

I really, really, really wanted one for this year.

I thought we'd have a boat this year too...but that didn't happen.

When I brought it up to Steve that I wanted one of these Aqua Lily Pads.

He was pretty much appalled at the price and said this to me:

"So after vacation what are we gonna do with it. Seems like overkill. We won't use it a lot. I don't think we need it."

Mind you this is after I already confirmed with my friends that we'd be getting one. LOL.

I tried to find a cheaper one.

I was also anxious because of the timing. We're getting close and I'm afraid of things not arriving in time. 

WELL.

We went to dinner one night and he pulled up the thing on another website that was about $70 cheaper. 

And he pulled the trigger!

We got the 15' x 6' one.

And it arrived this week.

This thing is massive. LOL

They LOVE IT. 

Hands down the best investment this summer. Steve agrees that he didn't know much about it when I asked about it and now that we have it - it makes total sense. It works great in the pool, obviously and will be amazing on vacation. 

I was texting with my friend Rich and we were just saying that over the course of the next couple of years we'll have a ton of fun toys for vacation.

Rich has the boat and tube. Andy has the Jet Ski.

We have this giant thing (we will have to strap it to the roof of the truck because we won't be able to fit all our stuff in the truck WITH this thing in there). And hopefully we'll have a boat next year. At least we can rent one. 

18 days!