Staycation.

It has been officially 3 days back at work since my week-ish long “staycation” and I am JUST now catching up, oy vey! I checked my emails and voice mails pretty regularly and even came in to work twice in the evenings to check on files, so I did not think I was going to be this swamped when I came back- butttttt all is good now!

My week off was pretty freaking awesome. I almost love staycations more than regular vacations, so much can get done! I did my monthly deep clean of the house, re-organized all my closets, drawers, kitchen cabinets, cleaned out the fridge etc. I spent lots of time at my local coffee shop, walking Wyatt along the river and worked out as many times a day as I wanted- pretty amazing. I even made it up to my family lake house to spend some time with a good friend and my family.

My 27th birthday was also a good one, Shain got me tickets to a Trace Adkins concert at a new venue that just opened up in Aurora. So we spent the beautiful summer night drinking beers, eating messy BBQ food and listening to country music. What is better than that? We even had the opportunity to get front row seats!

In the 5 years I have worked at AU, I always take a week off in the summer, however this is the FIRST time I did not work at another part time job during my staycation. Typically I would use this week to babysit for a few more hours or train a few more clients so it wouldn’t really feel like I was relaxing at all, but I was bringing in a little extra money which was nice. Since I made the hard decision this year to let go of working so much part time and putting more focus into my job at AU and grad school, I feel like my life has changed completely. I did not realize how fast of a pace I was going until I finally slowed down. I was never able to NOT rush anywhere. I found myself becoming short with people, just because I didn’t have time to listen or I had a million other things on my mind. That’s not who I want to be. I want to be present in all the special moments in life. I can drink my coffee slowly, taking in all the aromas. I can sit on my back porch for hours with my nose stuck in a book, not worrying about other things I should be taking care of.

If I need to stay later at work to finish up a project, I can. I spend my weeknights after work reading, making good fresh dinners for Shain and I (as opposed to cooking for hours on Sunday), long walks by the river, bike rides, etc. Things I used to never have time for. Instead of having a race that takes up every weekend, I can really focus on the quality of my workouts toward my goal for Boston this fall. As good friends of mine are starting their own families, I am excited about the thought of being able to spend time with them and help out during this chapter instead of being too busy for it. I am also *hoping* that I will get to spend more time with my niece if my brother and sister-in-law move back here!

I didn’t think it was possible for me to love life anymore than I already do, but the simpler my life becomes, the happier I am.

As my favorite Zac Brown Band quote states..