Burn Out and Taking Time Off

The Pier at Avila Beach, CA

Burnout, specifically where work is concerned, is such a real thing. I pretty basically worked without a break for three years straight. I do my best to take weekends off like a normal person and most major holidays, but when you have your own business, it's hard to take true time away. For many reasons. First and foremost, when I take time off, I don't get paid. It's not like I have a vacation plan, lol. I only get paid for the actual hours that I work and I certainly don't get paid vacations. Secondly, it's just hard for me to step back and let things slide. I have a responsibility to my clients and they have expectations.

In the last three years, the family has taken two vacations to the Outer Banks and one trip to Ohio, and I also flew to Ohio by myself to be with my dad when he had surgery a while back. During each of these events, I either had work to do or school work to do or both. During our family trip to Ohio, I took a business call in the middle of a corn field. When I was at the hospital with my dad, I took a call outside of his room in the hallway. Working from home and being a business owner has made it incredibly difficult for me to separate my work life and my personal life. Even when I'm not actively working or "on the clock", I'm thinking about things that I need to do for my clients. It kind of sucks, to be honest and it resulted in burnout. I hated my business, the work I was doing, and my clients. I was unhappy all the time and I started having insomnia again, and migraines. I hadn't really felt like that since Vermont.

So, I took some real time off. The Mister and I took an honest to god vacation to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary earlier this month. I gave my clients plenty of notice, (one of them had a year's notice and still bitched and complained when it came time for me to "leave".) both of us left our laptops home, and we went away by ourselves for a week to Paso Robles, CA and then another week just to be home and off of work. I didn't check my email, personal, business or otherwise, the entire two weeks. It was fantastic. Out of this world, fabulous, straight out of a dream, GREAT! We ate too much fantabulous food, drank too much wine, lounged by the pool and read books, and generally we were lazy slugs. We stayed out as late as we wanted each night and slept in as late as we wanted each morning. I can't even remember a time when I had absolutely no responsibilities. Oh. I forgot to mention that our mothers (yes, you read that right) flew out from Ohio to stay with the girls the first week while we were in Paso Robles. So that first week, we were able to do what we wanted, when we wanted, without having to worry about work or school, or about getting dinner on the table for the kids. I need to remember to do this more often than once every three years, lol.

How's the burnout? Well, to be frank, the jury is still out on that. Personally, outside of my business, I'm feeling fab. Then, when I sit down in my office to take care of client tasks, I start to wonder in which direction am I headed. Do I still like the work that I do? I'm starting to wonder if my vacation, rather than solving the burnout issue, it gave me some perspective instead. Time will tell.

Oh. In addition to the pic at the top, I have uploaded vacation pictures to my Facebook account if you'd like to see them. Central California is beautiful.

OBX Vaca 2009: The Pictures

Cotton field on the way to the OBX.

The living room/kitchen at the house. This is the 3rd floor.

Living room/nook. 3rd floor.

View off of the 3rd floor balcony.

1st floor rec room with the pool table, Captain Hook, and the foos ball table is behind me.

Bridge out to Cape Hatteras

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

The original site of the lighthouse before it was moved in 1999.

A crab that came up to our front door.

 

Currituck Beach Lighthouse

A Great Blue Heron that I caught on film fishing. Cool!

So, I’m Out

Looks like I’m out of the running for NaBloPoMo. It totally wasn’t my fault. We lost our Internet connection at our beach house. Seeing as how we were in the middle of Nor’Ida, there was no getting it fixed. We were stranded for two or three days. That’s why no blog updates on our vacation. It sucked, not being able to blog, let me tell you. Now, to catch up.

After our day at Cape Hatteras, the weather deteriorated pretty quick like. The next day, we drove into Corolla and went to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse again. It was close and we wanted to do a little something before it started raining. The lighthouse hadn’t changed since last year, BUT, this year the youngest was brave enough to climb it with the Mister and the oldest. We were pretty proud of her. I didn’t climb it again. Honestly, I’ve climbed several lighthouses in my day and they all look pretty much the same from the inside. For me, it’s enough just being there and taking pictures from the outside.

That was Tuesday. Wednesday, it was raining and the wind was blowing like mad. We decided to drive to Duck to go shopping, hehehe. We got some souvenirs and I got some more jewelry at The Mystic Jewel. I love that store. I’ll still be able to shop online when we move, but it’s really not the same as being able to go into the store and peruse all the many glittery cases. Last year I got a moonstone pendant (mine is a moonstone in this setting) and a blue lace agate (mine doesn’t look exactly like this one, but you can get the idea.) pendant. This year I got a charoite pendant (my pendant actually looks like these earrings but as a pendant, not earrings.) and an opal dragonfly pendant. They’re pretty and fun and easy to wear. I’m not a really fancy kinda person and jewelry from The Mystic Jewel fits my personality.

That brings us up to the heart of the stormy weather. For that, I’m going to write a new post.

OBX Vaca 2009, Day 3

Today was a pretty great day. We got up, not so bright and early, to drive down to Cape Hatteras. In the previous years we’ve been to the Outer Banks, we have never been to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. It was quite a drive; about 65 miles or so.

We went through Rodanthe but I didn’t take any pictures. Frankly, it wasn’t all that impressive to me and since I have never seen nor read Nights in Rodanthe, I didn’t know what Nicholas Sparks thought was so special about the town.

We also drove through Milo Beach. Milo Beach was scary, at least to me. The beach was too…EVERYWHERE! There was sand on the roads and you could see where people had shoveled sand just so that they could get to their houses. The ocean was just a little too close for comfort in my opinion.

Our final destination was, of course, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. It was really beautiful and majestic. It’s closed for climbing this time of year but I just enjoyed being there and taking pictures. Also, it was about 73 degrees and beautiful today. Perfect for walking outdoors.

On the way out, we stopped at the original lighthouse site and walked on the beach for a bit. All in all, a great day.

Again, tomorrow’s plans are up in the air. We’re being very casual while we’re here this year. I just want to enjoy being at the beach and not worry about cramming activities into every spare moment.

NaBloPoMo 2009, post 9 of 30.

Outer Banks Vaca 2009, Day 2

The Mister ran his marathon today and cut 1/2 an hour off of his old time. Yay!! While I was waiting for his shuttle to drop him off at the local Walmart, I watched several bus loads of runners limp their way off the buses. It was pretty entertaining.

Afterwards, we went back to the house and relaxed on the balcony. The weather today has been beautiful. The girls and I walked to the beach while the Mister was running and the sand was warm on our toes. I am in heaven I’m telling you. The beach is my Paradise.

Tomorrow, we’re not sure what we’re going to do. It depends on how sore the Mister is and what the weather is like. I know that I promised pictures but I wasn’t thinking. The software for the camera is on my PC and not my laptop. Pictures will have to wait till we get home.

NaBloPoMo 2009, post 8 of 30.

OBX Vaca 2009, Day 1

We made it safe and sound to the Outer Banks. We always overestimate how long it takes to get here. Check in wasn’t until 4 pm and we got here at 2 pm. We had two hours to kill which isn’t a big deal except that we had the dogs with us which makes it hard to do things since we can’t leave them in the car for very long.

The first thing we did was stop at this deli that we ate at last year. They make a to-die-for crab cake sandwich. YUM! Alas! They closed early for the season this year. :( Big bummer. Instead of eating, we checked out some of the shops that were in the same little shopping area. We were about to leave when this guy flagged down the Mister who was wearing an Ohio State t-shirt. The guy told the Mister that he had something in his store that we just had to see. We followed him back to his very nice, outdoor-type clothing store. He goes behind the counter and hauls out this really long necklace made out of buckeyes! It was so funny. He was like, “Do people really wear these? Even men???” Growing up in Ohio, I remember making similar necklaces in elementary school for the Ohio State v. Michigan game. And yes, everyone wears them, even men. He was amused and still a little skeptical but put on the necklace anyway explaining that a friend of his had sent it to him, heheh.

Anyway, he was a very nice man and told us that if we donated $5 to the Wounded Warriors that he would give us a 20% discount. The oldest child has had her eye on a North Face jacket for the longest time and she didn’t have a “winter” coat yet so we figured that it would be the perfect time to get her one. It turns out that the 20% of coupon is good for a year and that we can use it online or call and talk to Betsy in the store and still get the discount. PLUS free shipping. Woot! He was hosting the donation drive and had homemade cookies and hot apple cider which we enjoyed while shopping. The cider was wonderful! Like apple pie in a cup.

It was finally time to check in after our little shopping excursion so we headed to the check in office. We picked up our keys in Duck and drove to the house in Corolla. This house is massive!! It’s three stories and I’m not sure how many bedrooms and bathrooms, lol. Seriously. I can’t remember. I know that it has four master bedrooms and I can remember seeing at least three other bedrooms. The 3rd floor has a huge open floor plan with a sitting area, dining area, and beautiful kitchen. We were going to eat out tonight but once we saw the kitchen with the huge granite topped island, lots of additional counter space, and Italian tile floors, we decided to cook tonight. It was great.

The house isn’t directly on the beach but the walkway to the beach is right across the street and you can see and hear the ocean from our house. I’ll take pictures tomorrow when we have sunlight.

The Mister will be running in the 4th Annual OBX Marathon bright and early tomorrow. We picked up his race packet while waiting to check in so he’s all set to go.

Oh. One funny thing before I go for the night. There is a life sized pirate statue next to the door right when you come in the house. I knew it was there because of the pictures I had seen of the house online. The Mister, however, didn’t and it scared the crap out of him when we walked in!! It was so funny. There is also a life sized chef statue in the kitchen (Why? I don’t know. It’s the ultimate in tacky decorations.). Hannah couldn’t figure that thing out and kept standing up to it and whining. She seriously cracked us up. We also have weird mermaids coming out of the walls. But I’ll show you all that tomorrow. Laters.

NaBloPoMo 2009, post 7 of 30.

I’ve Got Stuff to Say!

I’m excited. I have stuff that I want to say on my blog. Woot! It’s a lot and I don’t feel like dividing it up into multiple posts so hang on to your panties and keep up.

First of all, have I mentioned yet that we’ve rented our beach house and have November 7th circled on the calendar? Yup. We’re headed back to the Outer Banks again this year so that the Mister can run in the OBX Marathon. This is the second year we’re going and the closest thing we have to a tradition, lol. No word on whether or not anyone is coming with us though.

Also!!! The Mister found out today that U2, (You know, the music group??) was in our town last night and ate at the same BBQ place that we love to eat at. How cool is that? They weren't in town for a concert or anything (::snort:: Like U2 would come to my town for a concert.)

And you know how people are advertising to buy gold jewelry all over the place? Well, I did that today and it was great. Not because I made a lot of money but because I got rid of some things that had bad memories attached to them or jewelry that was broken or bent but that I couldn’t make myself throw away. Instead, I sold it to a jewelry store nearby and got enough money to pay for a new watch battery and to have my favorite ring repaired. Two things that I had put off doing for about three years. It doesn’t seem like a big deal but it was for some reason.

Another thing…I made chili for dinner tonight. It’s a cold weather dish and it’s not cold here yet but I was totally craving it so I made it anyway. It was GOOOOD!

The oldest child’s punihsment for breaking the garbage disposal has been completed. As a result, I have a spotless kitchen from top to bottom. I made her clean out the cabinets and put everything back in an organized manner. I made her wipe down the outside of all the cabinets, clean out the fridge, clean out the microwave, and mop the floor. It took her two days. Plus she was grounded to her room when she wasn’t cleaning. She’s been an angel for the past few days, heheheh.

Both the Mister’s Twitter account and mine were hacked. He had to make an all new account (caseyj7760) and I just had to change my password. Makes me wonder if anything else was hacked of which we are unaware.

I LOVE my marketing class. I’m learning a lot and it’s just fun.

I cleaned out my bedroom closet yesterday and decided to reorganize it and my dressers. 60 hangers later and it’s complete. It’s much better and I found clothes that I forgot that I had. How nifty is that?

If you’ve ever thought of joining www.bagborroworsteal.com I would really appreciate it if you would use me for a referral. Just so you know, I love my membership. My newest rental is a Fendi bag and it’s FABULOUS!!

NaBloPoMo is right around the corner and I have no idea how I’ll do it this year. Should I even try?

Ok. It’s time for bed. I have other stuff but I’ll get to it another time.

The Grind

Pardon me while I whine and vent.

I need a vacation. Not the pseudo-vacation that we took to Ohio where the only person that might define that as an actual vacation would be Hitler or maybe Stalin. I worked almost every day that we were there and I was stressed out beyond belief. That was not a vacation. I’m talking the variety of vacations where there are no kids, no relatives, NO EMAIL, and limited access to a phone. What there is, is lots of books to read at my leisure. sleeping in until I feel like getting up, staying up as late as I want because I know that I won’t have to get up the next morning, and nobody for company except for the Mister. I need that. Seriously. I think I’m getting an ulcer and I know that I get migraines way too often. I’m about sick to death of hearing my incoming e-mail sound on my BlackBerry. That thing never freaking stops. I hear it in my nightmares. I can be reached way too easily and too many people know that.

Do you know the last time that I had a real vacation? A vacation where work and/or school wasn’t hanging over my head? That would be March of last year when I visited Jennifer in California for my spring break and even then I was thinking about having to hit the books when I got back. I suppose that’s not so bad when I look at it. It’s only a year and a half ago. Whatever.

A vacation. Seriously, And soon. I need one or you might be hearing about some crazed lady from North Carolina in the news.

Vaca Visiting the Fam Finale

So, we’re home. One day later than we wanted and one day earlier than planned. Get that? We had planned on being home 8/22, decided to leave on 8/20 and actually left on 8/21. The youngest child ended up getting a fever so we left on Friday. We left earlier than planned because we were ready to come home, lol.

This trip has made me reevaluate how I feel about Ohio. For the last 12 years, I have said that I hate Ohio and anything to do with it. This was a totally unfair assessment. Ohio is a pretty neat state. There is a lot to do with the Columbus Zoo (voted #1 in the nation), Cedar Point, Kings Island, The Wilds, Old Man’s Cave, Lake Erie, and tons and tons of other things I haven’t listed (not that I got to enjoy any of them while on this trip). In addition to sight seeing and other activities, there’s lots of shopping and dining opportunities in Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati, and their surrounding suburbs (which I did get to do.). Funnily enough, I also realized how much I miss seeing miles of soybean and corn fields in the summer. It’s almost a Zen type of thing to look out over the rows.

The reason I have always said that I hate Ohio is because of how much of a PITA it is to go there. It’s either a 6 hour flight from California, a 13 hour drive from Vermont, or an 11 hour drive from North Carolina. Then, once you get there, the entire fam expects you to continue to traverse the entire state to visit them since the Mister and I have family pretty much all over the state with the exception of the very northern parts and we probably have family up there that I’m forgetting. I have decided that I’m not going to Ohio again unless it’s in an RV that we rent. Then we’re going to park it in some campground and everybody can come to US!!! We always end up pissing people off because we spent too much time there and not enough time here or vice versa and with an RV, it’ll be their fault if they don’t make it out to the campground. Ingenious, right?

Do I have pictures to share? Just a few with some animals. I didn’t get any of my grandparents house because the youngest was sick and we didn’t make it out to say goodbye like I had planned. I’m actually glad that I didn’t. I was almost in tears several times thinking about it and I know what kind of a fool I would have made of myself if I had actually known my last time there was my last time there. I think it’s best this way.

Now we’re home and trying to get back into a routine and get the kids started at school. Their first day is tomorrow and today will be hectic to say the least. It’s not even noon yet and I already feel like I’ve had a full day.  The Mister goes back to work tomorrow too but my first day back is today and I have a bit of catching up to do.

Vaca Visiting the Fam Pt. 2

Let's see. We left our house last Friday so today makes ten days since we've left home. I'm ready to go home. It's not anyone or anything but I guess I'm just homesick. I miss my bed, my house, the peace and quiet, my office, my Internet, my phone charger (I forgot the wall charger and can only charge my phone when we're in the car which is a major PITA!!), and most of all, I miss my sleep. Everyday that we've been here we've been up late and I've been woken up by either kids, dogs, or my sister's alarm going off at top level for an hour. I'm not exaggerating either. I am whining but I'm not exaggerating.

As a result, we're heading home a few days early. Just a few but enough that it'll be nice. We're not going to be able to go to the zoo, Cedar Point, or COSI but who cares. I want my house.

Anyway, enough whining.

I don't really have too much to say though. We haven't done anything. We did get to go to this petting zoo thing that had a giraffe, llamas, alpacas, goats, kangaroos, camels, and some other animals. What was cool about it is that you could feed and pet everything there except for the donkeys. I got to feed and pet a giraffe which was way cool. I also got to pet the kangaroos which was neat too. We had a lot of fun. Other than that, all we've done is hang out, shop, and eat. We discovered The Cheesecake Factory which is our new favorite restaurant. We've been twice and got something different each time and shared. Great food, HUGE portions, awesome cheesecake, and a nice environment. My only itch about it is that the menu is so big that it's hard to decide cuz everything sounds good and so far I've tried five different entrees and liked them all.

Despite my sister's alarm clock, I have truly loved staying with her. It seems very grown up to stay with my sister and her family, lol. I introduced her to my favorite wine last night and we enjoyed a bottle together. I also introduced her to Dooney & Burke, Coach, and Burberry but that's another story. ;)

Tomorrow we're leaving my sister's to visit some other fam. Then, we're headed back to N.C. first thing Thursday morning. We're driving straight through since staying in a hotel didn't really work out last time, heheh.

If you're tweeting me, leaving me Facebook messages, or comments on my blog and I'm not answering, I'm getting them, it's just hard to respond on my phone which constantly needs to be charged and I can only get on the Internet sporadically. I love and appreciate them though so don't stop!!

Vaca Visiting the Fam Pt 1

We've had a pretty good trip so far. We haven't really done all that much yet except for visit. We've been gone six days and gotten gas four times already. That's how much driving we've been doing.

Sunday, we met my cousin Mandy, my brother, my niece and nephew, and my grandparents for breakfast. The last time I had seen my cousin was nine years before at my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary party. I was honestly shocked when I realized it had been that long. It was so great to see her again. She had to leave that day to drive home to St. Louis and I really wish we had had time to visit longer.

After breakfast, we drove out to my grandparents' house to visit for a while. Bittersweet is the only way to describe it. Anyway, my grandma has this table that she got for her 50th birthday in Italy. The table is inlaid and is six triangles that fit together to make an entire table. Each triangle piece of the table opens up and plays a different song. Because my grandma started my music box collection, she told me that one day that table would be mine. Well, since they're moving, she told me it was time to take my table home. I absolutely love this table and we are having it shipped home. I was also supposed to get this ballerina, harpist musical statue thing that was my great grandma's but my uncle snaked it from me. I'm not happy but what can I do? Had he taken my table, I'd be in Iowa right now beating him up for it, lol.

We've been staying with my sister while visiting. She just bought her first house so it's been a real treat to stay with her. It all feels very grown up, lol. Also, she loves my dogs so they've been welcome in her home. She and her husband actually have an appointment set up with a breeder to look at Boxer puppies, hehehe. I'm a bad influence I guess.

Like I said, it's been a nice visit so far but today was a touchy day. The youngest child and my nephew who is four like to nitpick at each other. Today, he was spitting on her which caused her to lose it which caused me to have a meltdown. I really just wanted to beat on everybody. Now, we're kind of all in our own corners, lol.

So, that's the trip so far. I have no idea what's planned for tomorrow. We're supposed to be going to the Columbus Zoo, COSI, Cedar Point, shopping, and we have tons more family to visit with. It should be an interesting few days. ;)

Oh. I got a cute pair of shoes on sale today too.

Getting Ready to Go

Our first order of business while we're in Ohio is to visit my grandparents. They are selling their house so this will be the last time that I get to see it. I am most unbelievably sad about this. Their house has been the one constant in my life. My grandpa and my uncles built that house. They've lived in it since before I was born. This house represents summers spent swimming with my cousins, Christmases spent camping out on the living room floor with all my cousins, walks in the woods behind their house, walks to the bridge with my great grandpa, just so many memories. This house was a happy safe haven when I was a little girl.

There is a folding door that goes from the den to the hallway that every grandkid has gotten their fingers smashed in at least once, lol. When I was teeny, tiny, I locked myself in my grandparents' bathroom while I was playing in my grandma's makeup, heheh. My uncle had to take the doorknob off cuz I wouldn't let anyone in while I was trying to clean up my mess. My cousins, sister, and I had this kinda traditional game we'd play during the holidays that we aptly name The Wall Game. Basically, it was a game of tag where the opposite living room walls were "base" and you had to run safely between the walls while the cousin that was "it" tried to tag you. My grandma was in a constant tizzy over the hand prints us dirty kids would leave on her white walls. One year, my 6+ foot tall uncle decided to join in and his clumsiness led to a mirror getting knocked off the wall and broken.

I can remember many nights sleeping in the middle bedroom that used to be my great grandpa's before he passed away. Their house is in the country so the silence is very complete at night with the only sounds being from crickets in the summer and the wind in the winter. It was quite different than my childhood bedroom in my house that was on one of the busiest streets in the town where I was born. It was peaceful.

There were also nights that I would sleep in my grandparents' bed with my grandma because my grandpa was working a 24 hour shift at the fire house. In the mornings, I would sit and go through my grandma's jewelry boxes trying on her rings and picking out what I would have liked to have had for myself.

And now that I'm grown with my own kids, I enjoy memories of my grandpa taking my daughters for rides on his lawnmower. Memories of them swinging with my dad in the swing in the backyard. Walking with my kids out to the pond so we could watch the frogs jump in and bluegill swim around the cattails.

Life goes on and change happens but this will take some getting used to for me. Maybe some Xanacs and therapy will be in order, heheh. I'm sad but I'll get over it. I'm really looking forward to seeing my grandparents and their house once more time before they move. It's been a few years since we've been out to visit. Our trips to Ohio don't often coincide with them being in Ohio at the same time since they enjoy travelling and spend their winters in Texas. It'll be a treat if not a bittersweet one.

Our Vacation Revisited

I said a while back that I had more vacation pictures to share and then I forgot to share them. A little late, but here they are.

The next two pictures are views from the top of the Currituck Beach Lighthouse. The Mister, the oldest child, and my stepmom climbed it:

The next two pictures are looking down:

This next picture is looking down the spiral staircase inside the lighthouse.

The next two pictures are of a blue heron that we saw on a nature hike. I thought it was neat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that close before.

The next set of pictures are of the beach in Corolla. This stretch of beach is only accessible by four wheel drive. People live out there and there are beach houses for rent as you can see in the last picture. Definitely not where you would want to be during a hurricane I wouldn’t think.

The next picture is of the most fabulous crab cake sandwich on the earth that I had for lunch from a deli. It was delicious.

This was our view as we ate our lunch:

Nice, right?

I think that’s it.

Back to the Real World

We’re home. We had such a great vacation. I really have no complaints. I didn’t even mind the rain the last few days. We knew it was going to rain so we saved our shopping for Thursday and Friday. Good thinking, huh?

In addition to the lighthouses, dunes, and parks, we also drove my dad’s four wheel drive SUV out on to the beach. That was SO MUCH FUN! My dad was absolutely flying down the beach because a lot of it was soft sand so to go slow would mean getting stuck even with four wheel drive. The kids loved every minute of it too. It was definitely an adrenaline rush even if it means their SUV probably could use new shocks, hehehe.

We also had some pretty mag food on our vacation. We ate at Fishbone’s Sunset Grille which is the place I mentioned in my other post but couldn’t remember the name. We ate there twice and the Mister and I tried steamed oysters for the first time. I liked them but the Mister wasn’t won over. Our house came with a complimentary dozen bagels from Lighthouse Bagels in Duck, NC. I highly recommend their french toast bagels. Then, we went on the North Carolina Barbeque Quest. You would think that North Carolina BBQ would be easy to find in North Carolina, right? Well, this time of year, most of the Outer Banks is closed for the season. The Mister and I drove almost 30 miles and hit FIVE bbq places before we found one that was open. It was Pigman’s Bar-B-Que and it was good! Yum, YUM! They ship anywhere in the U.S. so if you want some, click on their link. On the way out, we stopped at Stack ‘Em High which is a breakfast place for a fantastic breakfast. I could have filled up on half of what they gave me and it was very reasonably priced.

Being able to visit with my family was the best part. I taught my dad how to blog while we were there, lol. I hope I wasn’t too confusing because when I talk about blogging, I get excited and talk fast. I wrote down a lot of stuff for him though so I think he’ll have enough to at least get started.

My nephew, who is three, was a lot of fun. He is too smart and has an answer for everything but he’s funny about it. The Mister put him in our car top carrier this morning when we were getting ready to load up the luggage and my nephew said, “I do not need to be in here.” He also says, “I need to put rocks,” when he has to go to the bathroom. I know, TMI, but it is so funny to hear him say that. He also had fun playing with the girls’ Polly Pockets, lol. He actually got mad this morning when I told him that the dolls needed to be packed.

Oh. And the dogs had a good time too. We let them on the furniture which is something they’re not allowed to do at home but it was their vacation too. They were generally well-behaved and enjoyed romping in the sand. One totally gross thing though…We had a red fox that lives in the neighborhood and frequently visited our yard (Okay. There’s no grass and it’s all sand but what else are you supposed to call it??). It must’ve come by last night because this morning, Hannah broke her fast on its poo. EEEWWW!!

Anyway, I have more pictures but they are still on my camera and the Mister stole the batteries for his keyboard. I will post them when I get them uploaded to my comp.

Long, Fun Day

I guess I’m out of the running for NaBloPoMo. Our vacation house is three stories and the computer is on the ground floor whereas our bedroom is on the third floor. I was too lazy to go all the way downstairs last night to blog so there ya go. Oh well. I’m only mildly disappointed.

So, let’s see.

Yesterday, the Mister, the girls, and I drove out to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse. We didn’t climb it because I was wearing sandals and the Mister could still barely walk from the marathon. I did take some pictures though:

 

Standing at the base, looking straight up.

This picture I took from the ground zoomed in on the top. Is my camera the bomb or what? That’s not even the strongest zoom it has.

After the lighthouse, we headed into town (Nag’s Head) for lunch. We got some pretty great pizza at Stone Oven Pizza. Yum. Then we went back to the house because my family had finally arrived from Ohio. We spent some time catching up then we went to dinner at a fabulous seafood place, the name of which is escaping me at the moment. The oldest child out-ate us all again having a 1/2 pound of crab legs, clams, and french fries. Our waitress was pretty impressed, lol.

Today was FILLED! To begin, we went to the Wright Brothers Memorial. We went there last year but our family had never been. Even so, it’s a really great experience. Here are some pictures:

This is a reenactment of what the flight would have looked like.

A view of the memorial dune from the bottom. Climbing that hill is tiring.

The memorial.

The view from the top looking towards the ocean. Being there and the view make the climb worth it.

After the memorial, we went to Jockey Ridge State Park. It’s the home of the tallest sand dunes on the east coast. They range in height from 90 to 100 feet depending on the winds.

View of the dunes.

A view of the Roanoke Sound from the top of the dunes.

This gives a little better perspective of just how tall the dunes are. You can’t really appreciate it from the pictures, but they were TALL and climbing them was a workout.

After the dunes we went to the Bodie Island Lighthouse which is located on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. This lighthouse isn’t open for climbing but the keepers house was pretty neat to tour.

Bodie Lighthouse

Bodie Lighthouse again.

After the lighthouse, we hit Mako Mike’s for dinner. It was okay but nothing special. Would I go back? Um, probably not because you can get that kind of seafood anywhere.

Now, we’re back at the house. I’ll be lucky if I can walk tomorrow with all the hill climbing I did today but it was a fantastic day and it’s a good kind of tired.

I’m apologizing now for not reading blog posts. I hadn’t checked my reader since we got here and I had over 600 posts to sift through. Some I read, most I didn’t. It makes me miss my bloggy friends though not to be able to read their posts on a daily basis. I also want to tell you all how much I appreciate the comments I’ve been getting even though I haven’t been commenting on anyone else’s blogs. I promise I’ll make up for it once things get back to normal.

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, I have a very short video of the Mister at the dunes. It’s pretty funny and shows the character that he is to a “t”.

We're Here!!

Day 8: NaBloPoMo

We made it to our beach house. It's really quite nice and it's probably twice as big as what we actually need. We also had fantastic weather today with highs in the mid 70's and only a bit of sprinkles here and there but it was mostly sunny otherwise.

You know how people always say that they don't understand how people live on the coast when they'll inevitably be wiped out by a hurricane? Well, after seeing Duck, N.C. and Corolla, N.C. I can understand why now. A place like this is more than just what may or may not happen.

Anyway, I'm pretty tired and trying to blog from the slowest computer on the face of the earth. I brought my CPU but I'm too tired to hook it up tonight. Yes. I had to bring it for work and school. This vacation is a working vacation but it's all good.

I'll be back tomorrow.

Getting Ready to Go

Day 7:  NaBloPoMo

Both the girls and the Mister only had a half a day of work and school today. On the one hand, they were able to help get the packing and cleaning done for our trip. On the other hand, they were in the way of me getting us packed and ready for our trip,lol. It’s been a hectic, nonstop day to say the least.

We put the car top carrier on the Rav tonight. That involved a lot of cussing and hand smashing. It’s very nice to have but it’s a PIA to put on the car. Major pain. Bailey has been all depressed because she saw us packing suitcases. Usually when she sees suitcases, one or more of us leaves and she doesn’t get to go. She misses her people when they leave and she doesn’t understand that she and Hannah get to go this time.

I enlisted one of the neighborhood kids to take care of our trashcans for us while we’re gone. The HOA frowns on leaving your cans where they can be seen from the street and I don’t want our business being put on the Internet which is what would happen if our cans sat on the street for that long. Anal retentive, nosy, busy bodies. You can’t call it anything else.

Wanna hear a funny story? The Mister forgot his running shoes at work. You know, the very things he needs for this trip and the whole reason why we’re going in the first place. So, we went to the base tonight to get them. We have a method for being able to get into his office after hours. Anyway, we get there and realize that we forgot our “method” at home. LMAO!! All was not lost since we stopped at the Dunkin Doughnuts and bought a dozen for breakfast tomorrow. I guess we’ll just have to stop at the base on the way out of town in the morning even though I don’t really think it’s on the way. Oh well.

At this point in the evening, we’re mostly packed, mostly cleaned, and mostly tired. I can’t wait to get on the road in the morning and to the beach house. I’m very, very excited. WOOT!

Oh. And our tenants never sent their rent money and today is the deadline. Anyone surprised?

1 day until we leave on our vacation!!

Keeping Up

I have done exactly NOTHING interesting at all this week. I’m not really feeling sick anymore with just a mild case of the stuffy-s and the sniffles, but I get tired really fast. It’s all I can do to keep up with work and school this week. Whine whine.

We’ve been having the bestest weather. It’s been in the mid 80’s all week and it’s the middle of October, heheh. I don’t miss the cold weather, fall, snow, NOTHING about it at all. Sadly, it’s going to be cold this weekend with highs only in the 60’s.  :( Don’t worry. I’ll survive.

I made my second foray into audio books this week. I’m listening to I Am Legend by Richard Matheson for Readers Anonymous. Listening to him obsess over his lack of a sex life is funny. After I listen to the book, I’m going to watch the movie. We picked it up on DVD on sale last week. From what other addicted readers in my group have been saying, I’m going to like the movie much better. We’ll see.

I’m also reading about Hinduism and Buddhism for my religion class this week. Interesting stuff.

Did I mention that the oldest child is playing volleyball? Her first practice is this Saturday. She’s so tall that she should be halfway decent at it. With her genes, however, it’s really going to be a toss up. Also this Saturday, the Mister is running in a 10k here in our bitty town. With volleyball practice, I’m probably not going to get to watch him though.

Speaking of races, we only have 23 days until the start of our Outer Banks vacation!! WOOT!! I’m beside myself with anticipation.

Sorry. That’s it. I’m drained. I’m so BORING! I don’t even have anything to rant about for pete’s sake. Sheesh.

Can You Say…VACATION!!!

I just got done booking our rental house for the OBX Marathon in November! I’m so excited. We’ll be staying the whole week instead of just the weekend like we had originally planned. The house is giganto and if we can’t get anyone to split it with us, we could sleep in a different bed every night, lol. I’ve invited my dad and sister but they don’t know if they’ll be able to make it or not. I really hope so because that would be a nice time. Here is a link if you’d like to see the house:  http://www.outerbanksblue.com/rental/house.html?ID=158&Avail=11%2F08%2F2008&Stay=7 

FUN!! We haven’t taken a vacation as a family ever. The Mister and I went to San Francisco while the girls were in Ohio and the girls go to Ohio by themselves and we go away for the occasional weekend but never an actual vacation together. I don’t count the trips to Ohio for funerals. :/ It’s going to be a real treat for us and the dogs get to come too. I just need to find someone to feed the rat and guinea pig, heheh.

We’re also going to see about doing the wild horse tour while we’re there. http://wildhorsetour.com/ I saw this on an episode of John and Kate Plus Eight, lol. It looked like a really great time though. All their kids had a lot of fun.

I'm Home Again

I arrived home early this morning, around 2 am EDT. I had the flight from hell on the way home and on the way there, it was worse. Here's the story.

My departure flight was scheduled for 5:50 am. We got to the airport at 5:20 which was cutting it close, I know, but we didn't realize the airport was clear out in the middle of fricking nowhere. I go to the ticket counter and it's closed. The Jacksonville airport is so teeny that US Airways has one person to do everything. The person that does the ticketing also does boarding so as a result, they close the ticket counter 30 minutes prior to take off so that the airline person can do boarding. I've never seen an airport do this, so I had no idea and as a result, I missed my flight...me and five other people. Because of scheduling, I didn't leave Jacksonville until 1 something. In that time, I saw two other US Airways flights depart and they left passengers behind on both of them because of their policy.

THEN, on my return flight, I get out of LAX okay and I arrive in Charlotte 20 minutes early only to sit on the taxiway for half an hour because there was another plane at our gate that was delayed because of backups in New York. Ugh! THEN, on my flight from Charlotte to Jacksonville, we boarded the plane at 9:50 pm and we didn't take off until 11:20!!!! Our plane had indicator lights come on so we sat on the freaking hot plane for an hour and a half. And I'm sick and when I get hot, I start to have uncontrollable coughing fits. I coughed for like 20 minutes until the flight attendant finally brought out water for everyone to drink. I wanted to die.

My whole flight experience was the worst. I've flown many, many times and this was, by far, the most nightmarish and it was also the only time I've flown with US Airways. The only time because I won't be flying with them again. They also advertise their credit card in flight as well. I've never seen an airline do this before. How cheesy.

Anyway, my last night in San Diego was fun. I took Jennifer to Forever Fondue because her birthday is on Sunday. The food was awesome and I had two cosmos that came in full glasses with actual alcohol in them. Fondue restaurants are fun if you've never tried one.

My entire time in California was the best. I can't think of anything that I wanted to do that we didn't do. When we went to Balboa Park in San Diego, we also went to Petco Park which was under construction when we moved, and we drove to Miramar and our old base housing which was neat. I miss our old life there sometimes. Oh. And gas was $3.46 on base whereas it was $3.61 - $3.75 out in town depending on where you are. Here, gas is sometimes one or two cents more on base than out in town which is irritating, but whatever.

All in all, it was a wonderful, fabulous time and I took home tons of great memories. Seeing Jennifer and her kids after almost seven years was the best part. How many people do you know will have you in their home and then drive you all over creation while you act like an insane tourist? We're both hoping that it won't be another 7 years before we see each other again. I'll have pictures up in the next day or two. I'm still jet lagged, not feeling well, and I need to get them uploaded and edited first.