Life Lately June 2022

Honestly not sure how it's already the end of June. It really seems like yesterday that I was so excited it was June because that meant summer break was around the corner, and now it's already July tomorrow.

There's not much to report that I haven't already shared - I have a new job, we went to another lantern festival, I was reunited with some treasured friends after a long time apart, the school year ended, and we went to the Dominican Republic. Then we spent the last week of June trying to recuperate from COVID. Given how bad it has been for others, I feel terrible even complaining at all, but it's been a very challenging recovery.

I have a random smattering of photos from throughout the month, so that's as good as this post is getting because I'm still not feeling great.

C's second favorite team for
the past quarter century has been
the Colorado Avalanche,
so them winning the Stanley Cup
was a very bright spot in a terrible week

bought these new awesome Crocs

which also matched one of my cup cozies

one of my best friends bought them as well,
so we wore them to school so we could match each other

our roaming neighborhood cat paid a visit

I'm pretty much of the opinion that
99% of meetings should be emails

this was my birthday text from my best friend
from back in May, but I didn't get to see her
until the last day of school

this is what she gave me...so perfect!

also from her!

I bought these adorable Up mugs, which I love,
but I was really on the hunt for one particular mug

that C found for me!

accurate description of every day at school this past year

our new doormat!

We went to a concert at the Kennedy Center - The National Symphony Orchestra played the score for Jurassic Park as the movie was shown above them. John Williams was there in celebration of his 90th birthday and it was an incredible performance!

Finally, this one pic sums up the past week:

SO.MUCH.GATORADE.

July has amazing potential, so hopefully I'll be able to share some fun things!

Happy Tails to you!

Celebrating & Hydrating

Every June 27, we celebrate our engagement because on this day in 1993, we were sitting at home, talking about the future, and we decided to get married. Nothing planned or choreographed. We don't have any photos of that day. Just two kids choosing each other forever. Easiest decision ever!

I had plans to celebrate today, but seeing as we now both have COVID, we spent the evening at home, planning some upcoming travel, just the two of us. Not particularly exciting, but still somehow perfect, as it was reminiscent of where we were and what we were doing 29 years ago when we got engaged. We'll celebrate this day any way we can - even if this year it meant toasting with Gatorade instead of champagne. Sick or not, it is an important day on our calendar each year!

I heard this on an audio track on tiktok a few weeks ago and knew I wanted to share it on this day because the message is so beautiful!

I refuse to believe that the words I love you

are like birthday cake.

Three words reserved for special occasions,

 only to be given out topped with

candles and frosting at the perfect moment.

I use the words I love you

casually and recklessly at times.

But I've found that birthday cake is better at midnight

and I love you is better when you don't hesitate,

when you don't wait for an occasion to say it, so here it is.

I love you, and not in the special occasion kind of way.

In the coffee in the morning on a Tuesday kind of way.

I love you in chalk on a sidewalk,

in little post it notes,

and extra smiles when you come home.

I love you in the language of everyday things,

in seeing you at the end of each day,

and listening to every word you say.

I love you in the language of birthday cake

when it's nobody's birthday.

- Whitney Hanson -

I'm including this pic of us even though I've shared it before because neither of us is up for taking a photo in our current state! It's one of the earliest pics I have of us and happens to be one of my favorites!

Happy Tails to you!

Terrible Souvenir

Since March 13, 2020, we've traveled quite a bit, always taking precautions with masks, social distancing, and hand sanitizer whenever possible. Each time, we were exceptionally careful because of my mom's health.

Over the past 27 months, we've been to Vero Beach, Shenandoah NP, Hilton Head, Hawaii, WDW (four times!), all 50 states, 6 MLB baseball stadiums, 2 NHL hockey arenas, a month-long road trip, Canada, Portugal, a Disney Cruise, Puerto Rico, and most recently, Dominican Republic.

Over the course of that travel, I took 26 flights and spent 93 nights in a hotel room.

Not once did I get sick. Until now.

Guess what I came home with from Punta Cana?

COVID-19.

This past Wednesday was the final night of our vacation, and I had a slightly sore throat, but honestly didn't really think much of it. I didn't feel particularly great on our flight home - lots of pressure/ear pain, which is unusual for me - and I wore a mask because of the sore throat the previous evening. After getting home on Thursday night and sleeping in my own bed, I felt pretty good all day on Friday, but when I woke up yesterday morning, I was super congested and it felt like there were knives in my throat.

Since my mom was scheduled to come back home yesterday morning after spending a week at B1 & S1's house while we were away, I took an at-home COVID test and it showed a positive result almost immediately. I texted my mom right away and then took another at-home test (a different brand), which produced the same result. Obviously, my mom's return home was canceled, as was the family weekend visit we had been so looking forward to all week. Both C and I scheduled PCR tests at Walgreens yesterday afternoon, and while his results were good news, mine were not.

I'm hoping the symptoms aren't too awful and that they don't last long. I had all sorts of things planned for the upcoming week, which I'll have to cancel, but I'm so fortunate that school is on summer break right now so I can focus on getting better.

not looking good

definitely not good

yikes

Happy Tails to you!

Dominican Republic 2022

As I've written about in the past, I make a distinction between trips and vacations. Trips are for doing things and vacations are for doing nothing. This was most decidedly a vacation!

I really don't have that much to share because we didn't do anything other than enjoy the quiet bliss of the resort. It was an adults-only resort and very sparsely populated - unlike how I have to get creative when taking pics at WDW due to crowds, what you see below is really how it was! No crowds at the beach, or the pool, or the restaurants, which was amazing, and the weather was perfect the entire time. Our suite also had a huge balcony that had a a wonderful view of the beach and we enjoyed a lot of time out there as well! There was a partner resort for families that had a shopping area, a casino, a bowling alley, and the only thing we were really interested in - a sports bar, where we were able to watch hockey on a huge screen! Overall, we truly loved our resort and would go back there in a heartbeat, and ended up liking our first "all inclusive" experience more than I had anticipated! Our flight home after five relaxing nights was made even better by an empty middle seat, which seem to be in short supply these days, and it was super easy to spot our beautiful luggage on the carousel! And yes, I will be forever obsessed with our yellow suitcases!

Happy Tails to you!