June 27

Today is my last day of vacation before I return to the working grind. And I'll return big time -- a couple of overtime shifts already scheduled and I'll be hunting for more to pay for an unexpected trip to Texas in August.

I returned home from a magnificent trip to Las Vegas on Saturday evening. I went with three other girlfriends from college, and it was a much needed trip for all of us. Three of us are very similar -- we sense other peoples energies very easily and are very low key. We're also all struggling in various ways in our lives -- we're all broken. We all feel isolated and slightly lost.  So to spend time together, to talk, to heal and mend -- it was exactly what we needed.

Sunday after I returned home, it was a mad dash to make it to lunch at Grandmas, then immediately to a baby shower for my soon to arrive niece (yet to be named), then immediately to the grocery store. By that point it was dinner time. And we squeezed in a walk with the pups.

I was anticipating that Daniel and I would have these few days together, and I was greatly looking forward to them, since I'd been gone for a week.  But during our walk, I found out that was not going to be the case. Turned out that he had training both Monday AND Tuesday -- my last two days of vacation.  Womp womp womp.

At first I was more than annoyed -- I was so mad that my plan and expectation had gone awry. But there was no choice in the matter, so cest la vie. There was nothing to be done about it.

And I didn't realize how much I needed these two days to myself. I have so thoroughly enjoyed myself!!

Bella got to go to the dog park both yesterday AND today (which means she also got a bath upon returning home both days and was so exhausted from the fun that she's slept both days away). I got a little quilting done. I got to sleep in. I chose to do living room Zumba DVD's for my workouts because I frankly didn't even want to leave the house.

So what have I been doing on my last day of vacation?

Today, I took myself out on a date for lunch.  Went to my local Mexican restaurant and pulled out my Kindle and just enjoyed the meal, the table to myself, the quiet, and my book.  I'm reading such a wonderful little book -- The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. So so so good. It's so lyrical, and witty, and relatable, and sad. It's literary but not too difficult to read or understand. It's got simple and complex characters. It's detailed but it skips years in his life. It's everything I want in a book. So it was nice to get lost in AJ's life for too long at the restaurant.

I bought new make up (I always leave Ulta with more than what I went there for! But I found some great products in addition to what I went there for).

I bought new kitchen tongs.

Opened my new Coach purse that was shipped to me from Vegas. Ooo so pretty.

Dog park.

Zumba.

And not once have I watched TV (except for my Zumba DVD of course). And now I'm listening to cool jazz on Pandora and blogging.  This has been such a peaceful two days, that I'm not even sad anymore that my husband had to work.  I feel so rested. So peaceful. And yet I think I could take a nap right now. Ha. Maybe cool jazz was a bad idea.