I've got a double case of the Sunday blues tonight, because I'm down to the final hours of my precious vacation. Reality sets in again bright and early tomorrow morning, but tonight I'm reminiscing about my wonderful week of freedom.
Because I'm so Type A, I thought I'd make a list of things I accomplished on my vacation:
1.
Rest — I slept when I wanted and blobbed out on the couch when the mood struck. Resting was the No. 1 goal of my vacation, and I'm happy to say I did it!
2.
Cleaning — A week off work gave me the time to do the deep cleaning that I just can't make myself do on weekends or after work. Although cleaning is never fun, at least I could do it in bits and spurts throughout the week, rather than wasting an entire weekend doing it.
3.
Decorating — Never mind that we've been in the new house for three months now, I finally got around to unpacking the last few boxes (although I will admit, one box remains, but I'm OK with that) and hanging a few things on the walls. It's hard to stay motivated to unwrap knick-knacks and decorate when you move as often as we do, but it does make the place feel homier.
4.
Sewing — I finished a project and started another! No photos yet, but I'll post some soon.
5.
Trip to Lafayette — Although it was cut short by several factors, we did make it down south and visited family and friends. We even shopped a little! Alas, no king cake. But, my hips are thanking me. We did eat well — very well — while we were there, though.
6.
Problem solved — A problem with extremely red and irritated eyes threw a little bit of a kink in my vacation bliss, but happily, by the end of my week, we'd solved the problem. Even though it means forfeiting my contacts (after more than 10 years!) and going back to glasses, I'm OK with it. It was time for me to get a "new look" anyway.
So even though vacations aren't meant for "accomplishing things," I cannot, by nature, allow myself to bum out completely unless I'm on the beach. All things considered, my vacation was a smashing success. The only bad thing is it had to end. Oh, and it wasn't on the beach. Maybe next year. But this time, a stay-at-home vacation wasn't so bad.
In London, 2001, patiently waiting for my hair to dry sans hair dryer.
Bad haircut plus no hair dryer equals bad hair day on an England vacation.
Back in May of 2002, I was a college journalist celebrating the end of another school year at a crawfish boil with my fellow journalism majors. Pictured here is the 2001-02 staff of our college newspaper with our advisor, and my mentor, sitting there down front. (I'm sitting in the second row, third from the right.) People in this group went on to become reporters, editors and designers. There's even a politician-in-the-making there! Our advisor recently announced his retirement after 40 years, so here's to him — I wouldn't be where I am today without his guidance and wisdom.
Remember last summer's happy flowers? Allow me to introduce this year's edition: Tidal Wave Petunias in my favorite shade of fuchsia. Although I don't have the space or the energy to recreate last year's flower bed, I had to do a little something, and a nice big pot of blooming flowers always makes me happy on a hot summer day. Let's hope these babies do as well as last year's!
For the past two weeks, my sewing machine has replaced my computer on my desk. The set-up is a little cramped, but not too bad. When you don't have a kitchen table, you've got to get creative.
A close-up pic to give a tiny preview of some Christmas gifts I'm making. Can't show more than this until the gifts are given.
True Tampa Bay Rays fan that he is, Nick went and got himself a mohawk or, as they're calling them, a rayhawk. Now, if he could only get some tickets to a game ... In case you haven't heard, this haircut is now the Rays' signature, and it even got a kid suspended from school. Cool! He said he got some strange looks at the barber shop, but it was worth it!
These little beauties finally arrived in the mail today all the way from New Zealand! I ordered them from this awesome site from this seller. What a great surprise in the middle of an otherwise hard week. They're perfect for my second earring hole.
Nick says it's a grasshopper, but it's like no grasshopper I've ever seen (then again, I'm not quite sure if I've ever been up close and personal with a real live grasshopper). Anyway, it sure was cozy on my sunflower leaf this evening.
Look what happened! Months ago I dumped a packet of sunflower seeds (which I got for free for making a pledge to my local NPR station) into a shallow trough I dug by the back patio and what do you know — it actually worked! I feel like a second-grader whose bean plant just unfurled in its Styrofoam cup sitting on the classroom windowsill. Ahhh, the magic of nature. Sadly, they won't last long. But, they're glorious while they're here.
Here's one of the main reasons Nick and I are excited about going to Saints Training Camp at Millsaps College this weekend: Jeremy Shockey. Nick has been a big fan of his since he was with the NY Giants, so he was especially excited when Shockey signed on with the Saints earlier this week. And me, well I think he's cute. It's a win-win.
Finally! Remember that bare patch in my backyard flower bed I blogged about here? Well, take a look at what we've got going on there now! This, my friends, is our very first sunflower. And, there are many, many more to come. It looks like they're just days away from bursting forth in all their sunflower glory. I promise to post pictures when it happens. For now, though, this little guy is making me happy.
The zinnia seeds I planted about a month ago finally are ready to show their stuff. This is the first bloom of the summer, but many more are on the way! I can't wait to see how many different colors will soon be spotting my backyard garden. The celosias and lantana have been thriving; I've just been waiting patiently on the zinnias and sunflowers (hopefully, they'll open up soon too).
