A blog about my life, fitness and fun! (...and maybe a few cat pictures...)

A blog about my life, fitness and fun! (...and maybe a few cat pictures...)

Monday, July 1, 2019

Beach Week with my Girls!

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Last week, four of my very dear friends and I spent a girls weekend at Dewey Beach. We are all music teachers, but we are different ages different stages of our lives. I learn so much from these incredible women. I'm so glad we got to spend five days together!

On Monday morning, Karen, Cat, Andrea, and I loaded all of our stuff (I definitely over packed!) into my Mazda and headed to Delaware. Laveena would join us the next evening as she had a work commitment.


The trip down flew by because we jibber jabbered the whole way. I was thrilled to get compliments on my driving from all of my friends. My new Mazda is very roomy and handles quite well! I was very efficient as I zipped down Route 1!

Our AirBnB was about a 10 minute walk to the beach. It had three stories. The first floor had a common room comprised of a couch, table, and kitchen. There was also a half bath. On the second floor was a bedroom shared by Cat and Laveena as well as a full bath. On the third floor there were two bedrooms. Karen, as eldest, got her own room. Andrea and I shared the room with two sets of bunk beds. 

Funny Story: Due to the bunk beds, Andrea and I joked that we were in prison and called each other "Cellys". We also assigned prison nicknames to each other. I was Moscato Mama because I'm older and I drank moscato all week. I dubbed Andrea Snoop Dog because anytime we needed something in the Air BnB (toilet paper, extra coffee mugs, etc) Andrea would go digging around in closets and cabinets and find whatever we needed.

Even though there was only one common room, we never felt crowded and we never got sick of each other!


Outside, there was a pool. I was convinced it would be swarming with children, because that's usually the case. But surprisingly, we had the pool all to ourselves each day!


We quickly fell into an easy, relaxing routine. Each morning, we would wake up whenever we felt like it (usually around six, since apparently we were all still on "school time"), drink coffee, make breakfast, and just chill out for a bit. Then we would all go off to do our various workouts for the morning. My friends did a lot of walking while I got my runs in.


Around 11 it was time to hit the pool and start daaaaaay drinking! We had stopped by the liquor store on our way down so we were all loaded up with our drinks of choice. I was drinking "Moscato Mamas", which is my own concoction of grapefruit seltzer water, moscato, and vodka.



Each day, someone made lunch for the group. This was an awesome way to try new recipes and save money. I made quiche, Laveena made toasted cheese with homemade tomato soup, and Andrea made gyros with French fries. One night Karen made us a yummy salmon dinner and another night Cat made chicken wraps. The other two nights splurged and went out to eat!


After our lunch, we would head down to the beach for more relaxing and day drinking. One night we even stayed at the beach until seven! We had perfect weather all week. I definitely got a bit of a tan.



In the evenings, like I said, we'd either eat out or eat in. Sometimes we would head to Rehobeth to check out the boardwalk and shops. But we always went to bed tired and happy.


 
  





On our last full day, we switched things up. Instead of hitting the pool and the beach, we went to a winery for a tasting and then Dogfish Head Brewery.








By the end of the five days, some of us were more ready to go home than others. I myself found it to be the perfect amount of time to be away. I was ready to go back to reality and back to the KITTIES!

This whole vacation was Karen's idea and I'm so thankful she organized it. I really hope we get to do another girls vacation next summer!

Sunday, June 23, 2019

Our New Lives

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What I am about to say will not come as a shock to my "real life" friends, but I realize to most of my blog readers, what I'm sharing will come as some unexpected news.

Many of you have noticed that Paul has been absent from the blog for the past several months. This is why. We filed for divorce in March, he moved out in April, and our divorce was finalized a few days ago.

Believe me, I never thought Paul and I would get divorced. When I got married, I intended for it to be forever. But no one can predict how life will turn out. We think we know, but we don't.

Life is long. I know Paul and I will both find happiness. Our separation was amicable. We remain friends. I just talked to him on the phone for 45 minutes the other day and it was wonderful. I think we are both adjusting to our new lives as well as can be expected.

That's not to say things haven't been difficult. I can't speak for Paul, but the past nine months have been the most difficult time in my life. My close friends know this. They have been there for me and I can't thank them enough. I feel like I have been taking from my friends. But that's what friends are for, right? They're supposed to be there for you when you need them the most. I feel incredibly lucky that I have so many people there for me when I don't have the energy to give anything back.

My family is extremely supportive as well. I was so scared to tell my parents our decision, but of course they support us and just want us to be happy. They love both Paul and I.

Here are some of the logistics, because I am sure you are wondering. I am remaining in our house with the cats. (For now, I am hoping Paul will accept half custody of the cats because they miss him! But that's a whole other story.) I refinanced and am officially a single girl homeowner! Paul bought a house that's a half mile from his NEW JOB! (So he is a single boy homeowner!) He is an Account Acquisition Specialist for Healthy Hemp Solutions. Paul loves his house and he loves his job. He loves living alone. 

I love living alone too, but that's not to say I don't get lonely. I know divorce is the best decision for both of us but it was really, really hard. These past several months have sucked so bad. 

Paul and I do NOT regret our 10 happy years of marriage. We would not erase them. Getting married was not a mistake. It was just time for it to end and move on.

Obviously, this whole life change is one of the reasons I have been absent from the blog for a long time. First of all, I was very sad and anxious a lot of the time and didn't have the focus to write. And everything that was going on in my life wasn't appropriate to share with the internet. 

In the future, I do intend to write more about about my new life and some of the difficult feelings (and happy feelings!) I am going through. Paul knows this. And he knows I will never, ever violate his trust on the blog or share anything that would be inappropriate or was intimate to our marriage and separation. I hold our relationship in very high regard, so I won't share things that would go against that. But I will open up more about my new life and how I am adjusting.

I hope you'll stick around for the ride!

Monday, June 17, 2019

Weekend Wrap Up!

 


Even though I don't blog every day anymore, Weekend Wrap Up posts are still my favorite to write! I hope you enjoy the peak into my life...
I could have slept forever on Friday! I have found the MAGIC dosage of pills to ensure I have a good night of sleep... 1 trazodone and 25mg of dyphenhydramine. This helps me fall asleep and fall back asleep when the cats wake me up. Unfortunately, it also makes me not want to get up in the morning, but that is okay. Once I'm up I feel fine. Yay! Now let's see how long this lasts...

Because I willed myself to get out of bed, I was able to get 60 minutes on the arc trainer before meeting Andrea for lunch. I watched the Aerosmith/Nsync Superbowl Halftime Show to pass the time. People at the gym probably think I'm nuts!

Andrea and I met at Namaste in Lemoyne. Their lunch buffet had lots of options and was only $10.95! We tried a little bit of everything and went back for seconds for the things we liked the most. I don't even know what I was eating, but it was 
good.



Andrea and baby Louis!


After lunch I ran 2 miles because the crazy part of my brain made me feel like I had to after eating all of that Indian food. 

Later on that afternoon I headed over to my brother's house to hang out with my family! It was me, my parents, Tyler and Debby, and their three kiddos. We laughed so hard!


Clementine and I did our Snapchat thang!

 Clark calls his xylophone a violin...
It is adorable!!!!


Clark and Grandpa sumo wrestled...


That evening I made my first old fashioned... bourbon, simple syrup, bitters, a cherry, and an orange slice. Divine!

I had no plans for the day. Literally, nothing on my calendar. It certainly was nice to sleep in and have no agenda but soon I was getting antsy for something to do.

I decided to tackle one of my summer goals- hike/run up Flat Rock at Colonel Denning State Park. I hiked this trail with Andrea a few months ago but I wanted to do it on my own. It was pretty in March but I have to say it was even more pretty in June. Everything was so green!








It gets really steep toward the top. 
The pics don't do the grade justice!





I was ravenous when I got home! I ate a bunch of tofu dipped in BBQ sauce (I eat tofu now!), a Greek yogurt, and a bunch of pretzels!

That evening I just did all kinds of housework and chilled. I was looking for a new show to start watching on Netflix. All my Facebook friends recommended Dead to Me, so that's what I started. So far I am enjoying it! I've always liked Christina Applegate.

I was supposed to meet Allison for a trail run this morning but my foot felt a little crunchy so I decided not to. Instead, I slept in with the kitties. Then I headed to the gym to lift and break a sweat on the arc trainer.

I'll be honest, I didn't feel great emotionally today. I was just kind of blah and depressed about nothing and everything. I still tackled my to do list which included cleaning the shower. So the day wasn't a total waste.

However, the day ended well. I headed over to Bree's for sushi. It was great to spend time with my friend. I really needed it!

Tell me something fun you did this weekend!