Feeling a bit…..something this morning. Not exactly sure what. Sort of a mix between overwhelmed and frustrated. Maybe a touch of anxious and…irritable? I don’t even know. I feel conflicted, too. About several different things.
The weekend was awesome- truly, as you saw in my post yesterday, Ethan’s birthday was such a highlight. But I did find the whole weekend kind of exhausting, too! It honestly really wasn’t, but I kind of perceived it that way. I think mostly because I am really not used to having like, “deadlines” (if you can call having balloons blown up and presents wrapped by a certain day a deadline) anymore.
That’s one problem for me with this pandemic- I feel like with the big slow down in life, any amount of more intense activity now suddenly feels like I’ve just hiked to Machu Picchu. Hahaha.
Dilemmas:
So yeah, just started the week feeling a bit tired and then on top of it all, I’m just feeling torn and kind of lost on a few things:
#1: Trip
With our Europe trip definitely cancelled in August (sad sad SAD!!!), we had been talking of going to our favorite place in Panama City Beach, Florida (road trip). That seemed like a safe alternative, considering the place we always stay has full kitchens and is on a quiet end of the beach (not a huge high rise place or anything- usually no one near us on the beach plus we could cook in our room and basically socially distance once we got there).
Well, with our luck, Florida, of all places, has turned in to quite the epicenter here of covid….I mean, seriously?! Come on! So now we are trying to decide WHAT to do. The trip would be in mid-August. Ended up spending a big chunk of time over the last few days considering our options, looking into maybe going to a friend’s up north lake rental here in WI instead (though the available trip dates at her place were not working out the best for us unfortunately)… But I think we all had been craving some ocean and beach time in PCB since we didn’t go last year.
I don’t know. I’m tired of this dumb virus disrupting everything and I’m tired of thinking about it and trying to predict what is going to happen! I just feel frustrated and annoyed. The county we would be in in Florida is nowhere near the real hot spots, but still…it’s hard to know. Then again, stuff is on the rise everywhere it seems (even around home!), so I don’t even know what to think.
#2: Time
Also feeling conflicted about my TIME this week. I felt very unproductive yesterday, just thinking about too many things and trying to figure out this trip stuff. I have so much to do this week, I’m supposed to take Asher to the pool today, he has a drum lesson later and my parents are coming tonight to celebrate Ethan’s birthday, I have an electrician coming tomorrow, plus we are going up north on Thursday to Upper Michigan for the weekend and I’m not at all ready. I missed my workout yesterday which always makes me crabby and I feel like I don’t have TIME to do it today either! I have lots of work work to do, which needs to take priority today but I feel like I can’t decide what to even start on first and I feel anxious that I’m basically just going to run out of time.
So, yeah! Just kind of a mess at the moment, though nothing is actually a big deal. This is why I love that gratitude podcast I shared the other day- the episode this morning talked about a woman who lost her husband, then was diagnosed with breast cancer, then remarried and lost THAT husband (omg!!!!), and THEN lost one of her sons to an accident at 20 years old. And, she is still thriving in life and is a big proponent of gratitude….holy Toledo. Hearing that made me want to just shut my pie hole immediately. 😊
Going to wrap this up and spend a few minutes planning my day and prioritizing what needs to happen first. Gotta shake off this dazed and confused feeling and get organized!
Travel Tuesday:
Seems fitting, with the dilemma at hand…. today’s pick is Panama City Beach, Florida. A place I’ve been going since I was a kid, and my parents went back before they even had us. We’ve been there maybe 5 times with our family now too (lost count! Not every year, but we’ve gone a bunch of times). It is our true happy place, the easy, relaxing trip that requires zero planning and no stress.
Daily Gratitude:
I’m grateful for some big pink perennial flowers that are growing in my wild and crazy flower bed back by my shed. I don’t even know what they are, but I planted them a few years ago and they are tall and beautiful. They are in full bloom right now and I can see them from my kitchen window. I’ll snap a picture later. I’m grateful for them since they catch my eye every time I look out across the yard.
GRATEFUL KAE 
I love the gratefulness mindset!
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Wow, that woman's story of all that she has lost is crazy. And then to think she is still very grateful! That's impressive. I try to remind myself that others have way worse things to deal with and that helps me put things in perspective when I get whiny/down about things. This summer has been better than the spring since we can be outside and I've been seeing more friends since it's safe to gather outdoors. PCB looks gorgeous! We have gone to the gulf coast of Florida twice with my parents. If it was easier to get to the PCB area (we prefer to fly – we are not road trip people!) we would go to that area or somewhere else on the panhandle as I've heard the beaches are awesome there. But those areas seem to require a connection in Atlanta and I can't handle connections with a toddler! For our vacation this year, we are spending a week at my parents' lake home. I can't wait for that week. We haven't taken much time off this year so we both really need a full week away from work. I don't see us taking a trip in 2021 since we'll have a baby and traveling with a baby is just so much work and not really worth the effort. But maybe in 2022 we can take a spring break trip? We'll see!
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I can totally understand your "feeling something", i was like that on Monday when i was super busy and overwhelmed and frustrated of not seeing an end to this virus. no summer trip for us this year either, at least I'm not planning one until i know it's safe and allowed to. meanwhile just a lot of pool time and do things that make me feel good with the girls. Kids are very resilient and easy to find fun into daily things. one day at the time is my new mantra. Also, the essentialism book really reminds me to figure out what's essential and drop everything else that doesn't add value to my goals. Once this is clear, then I don't feel not doing my long to-do lists because they are not essential :)hope you feel better tomorrow.
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I would LOVE to go to the beach right now but I think because EVERYONE is heading to the beach states that's why we're seeing an increase in numbers … you should look into going to the Mountains! I recommend this place … https://www.simplysteamboat.com/CL3204 its where we stay whenever we go! Also, they have hot springs and its not too bad of a drive from the midwest! 🙂 Shoot me a message if you would like more info!
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That looks beautiful! We thought about heading west somewhere, maybe Yellowstone area, but didn't really want to have to do much "planning" and also were unsure about closures at national parks and stuff like that. We actually did a big Colorado and Utah trip last August, though we skipped RMNP intentionally as we wanted to focus on Utah and SW Colorado instead that time. I feel like my husband doesn't really want to do another mountain trip right away again since we just did that last year! We liked the idea of just getting somewhere (like our place in Florida) and basically just hunkering down alone, at the beach (away from people- like I said, the area we go is never a busy beach, since it's private)…but I don't know for sure what we'll end up doing, if anything!
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