Babyshowers, Book Club, and Bunco

After my fun filled week at the beach, and checking in on my overwhelming anxiety about the state of the work, I decided to schedule a guilt free “ME” day! I listened to my book, drove down to my parent’s house for a morning chat, and attended Cecily’s baby shower! I can’t believe one of the girls I used to babysit is having a baby! Does that make me a grandma? The shower was at Robyn’s gorgeous beach house and everything was phenomenal and beautiful. I’m kicking myself now for not taking a picture with my “Main Moms” who were all there: Robyn, Lisa, Amy, and Tiffany! Doh! Oh well, they were there, they were exquisite, and they are still #goals. It was so fun seeing them all and catching up a little bit. They all made me feel like a million bucks. “Me” day was off to a great start!

From there, I did a little shopping for a Ella at Childrens Orchard with the store credit I had banked. I then went back to my moms to work on some things: journal, reading, emails... I got a lot done but not everything because when I’m alone with my parents, we like to TALK! I had an eye appointment at Costco and got my eyes checked AND picked out a new pair of sunglasses and regular glasses. “Me day” just keeps getting better!

“Me day” ended when Tanner met me back at my parents house and we had a date. Not that is was a bad date, but I had to compromise and navigate his thoughts and feelings about everything. I was in a bad place last week and Tanner seems to be in a bad place now. He is frustrated with work and not getting paid his bonuses (per the usual) but also, his nurses are quitting because they aren’t getting paid what they were during the height of the pandemic and that hurts Tanner’s feelings. He takes it personally when they quit and he feels badly when the patients are left without care. It’s just super stressful and I don’t blame him. We tried to talk about how he can create his own “fortress of solitude” where he can step away from everything, gain some perspective, and feel his feelings. Managing ones stress is an ongoing battle. Sleep, healthy eating, exercise are all key factors to staying balanced. But sometimes you need an extra boost by taking a “me day” or a hot bath or going for a super long run. Whatever floats your boat! Errr whatever your fortress of solitude looks like. 

We grabbed Nalu’s Hawaiian food and ate it back by Robyn’s house while watching the sunset. When we were leaving, we saw Cecily waddling across the street loading her car with her baby gifts so we stopped to help and were able to chat with her and her husband, and Mont and Robyn for a bit. It was nice!

The rest of the week was filled with school work (I Teach Kindergarten and 1st grade now!), a shopping trip to Trader Joe’s, face time calls with Tanner’s parents to talk about our travel plans (will Hawaii even happen???), I hosted bunco which was sooooo fun! I love having these amazing women in my home! I love that we can get together and laugh and play games and eat good food and grow from each other. It’s just the best. The next night I went to book club where I was blessed with more of the same: more empowering women, more intriguing dialogue, and more opportunity for me to fill my cup! Tanner took the kids on a hike to Pumpkin Rock with Paul and Robby and their kids and Erika with her kids! (Erika was the matriarch of the group!) They had a ton of fun and Rayleigh impressed everyone with her trade mark trail running. 

I was not doing too well at the start of the day when I realized I’d contracted a UTI. But Jill and Erika pulled through with some AZO for me (I’d never heard of it or taken any, but that partnered with rest and a ton of water cured me!) I also had a telemedicine call and was able to get a prescription which I’m saving for “next time”. And thankfully my kids were sooo incredibly sweet and attentive to me and by that I mean, they left me alone so I could read under a blanket all day. So nice!

Tanner has a big party at work on Friday where they brought in a Habit food truck and he was pretty stoked about the whole affair. We went to dinner with the Hundley’s and Duncan’s and Bladh’s and it was a nice cap to the week!
Tanner is still waiting on all of his bonus money. We are still making plans with what to do with said bonus money.  And still getting frustrated. I helped him send an email to his boss... let’s see if that gets us anywhere. 
Stay tuned!

Ella plays so sweetly by my side and is hardly ever a dare devil like my other daughter. She quietly played with Sadies My Little Ponies the other day when we all were over there swimming.