We had another nice day today. We spent almost the entire day shopping. We did have ice cream for lunch, which I do recommend. My ice cream cone, which was technically only two scoops, weighed approximately four pounds. So much delicious ice cream! We went to a very fancy restaurant for dinner, which was as fabulous as we expected – probably more, even. It was a great finish to a great weekend. And now it is 10:20pm and I have to get up at 6:30am and I have just accidentally taken my morning medication instead of my evening medication, which royally sucks because my morning medication includes a strong stimulant and now I’ll be lucky to sleep at all tonight. At least I’ll be home early and I can sleep all afternoon. What a great trip with great company. We need more times like these.
Tag: travel
-
May 16
Siggi and I had a great day touristing around Savannah. We took the trolley tour around town and visited Forsyth Park, St. John the Baptist church, ate at Clary’s, and took a house tour of the Owens-Thomas house. We had a rooftop dinner overlooking the river at sunset. I loved the house tour, and I’m so glad we did it. The weather is absolutely perfect – mid-80s, no humidity, perfectly sunny. I decided that Billy and I need to come here for a date weekend without the kids for my birthday. It’s way more fun without kids. No offense, kids. Trips with you are fun too, but every once in a while, it’s nice to get to just be an adult.
-
March 20
I was on the road and couldn’t fill out a bracket before the March Madness started, so I printed out paper ones for me and Billy before I looked at any scores. Billy had already seen some of the scores, so he got one freebie that I missed (really, High Point?), but otherwise we’re on even ground. I’m having fun looking up all the scores and marking up the brackets. I am a nerd. We were going to go to Sea World today, but Christina still isn’t feeling well. We did come to Orlando (which was a wall of traffic from start to finish, thank you, Florida), but I think we’re going to stay in. Hopefully Christina feels better tomorrow. If not, she’s going to have to find a bench to lie down on because we have to check out of the hotel at 11.
-
March 18
Pretty decent drive from NJ to VA today. There were a couple spots with traffic, but nothing more than a few minutes and otherwise traffic was very light. I hope tomorrow is just as easy, but I take nothing for granted. We got to the hotel pretty early, around 3:15. I spent some time telling ChatGPT how disappointed I was with it (for some reason this felt necessary), did some crossword puzzles. Then we went to the Subway at the gas station for dinner, bought some snacks, played some Uno, called Billy. Now I’ve showered, watching some basketball, and pretty soon I’ll be off to sleep. I’m hoping to get an early start tomorrow. Arriving early enough to have time to relax before crashing is nice. Fingers crossed for another easy day. We’ll see. I’m ready for anything. Kind of.
-
March 17
We had a nice day living the life at Aunt Cathrine and Uncle Bob’s senior living facility. It’s like living on a giant cruise ship. The place has everything imaginable. Today’s highlights included visiting the facility thrift shop, going to the pool, playing Uno, and having a fancy St. Patrick’s Day dinner in the dining room. They seem so absolutely happy here, and honestly, who could blame them? It has been so good to spend some time with them. I’m glad we made the trip.
-
March 16
We traipsed the town today. I learned a very important lesson, which is that ChatGPT is a terrible trip planner. Like, class-Z-minus terrible. Still, we managed to have a good day. Not hard to do because let’s face it. NYC. We had dinner with an old friend and was spotted at random by my old boss while we were eating. What a cool NYC moment. We did a lot. Black and white cookies at Zaro’s at Grand Central, Color Factory, Miniso, lunch and frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity, Chelsea Market, High Line, the Lego store, a stop at Starbucks during the worst of the torrential rain, dinner at Cowgirl, cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery, and back to the Jerz. I am exhausted and wired all at once. And that is why I ❤ NY.
-
March 15
Made it to NJ in really great time. It’s so great to see Aunt Cathrine and Uncle Bob. We spent the afternoon and evening getting the grand tour and catching up on pretty much all the things. They seem so happy in their new place and I don’t blame them. This place is pretty awesome! They rented us the little guest apartment that is right next to theirs and it is really so very nice. I’m truly exhausted, though, and glad for some quiet time before going to bed. Tomorrow will be a long day – and hopefully not too wet. Please?
-
March 14
It was a pretty smooth drive to Virginia today, but oh so long and boring. It was nice to arrive before dinner time so we had time to relax a little before heading back out. I’m loving my new car, which welcomed us to every state we drove through and only needed 1 1/4 tanks of gas to go 500 miles. Not too shabby, little car.
-
January 24
We scratched off another card and took a kayaking tour on the river near Rock Springs in Apopka. It was beautiful! The kids were not interested in the least, although Robin did say on the way back that it was peaceful, which I think was positive. Our tour guide, Nigel, was great. I feel like I’ve been paddling enough times at this point that I should be better at steering, but apparently not. I’m glad we had the day free to do it and that the weather was so perfect.
-
January 22
I got as much done at work as I could before hitting the road for Christina’s dance competition. I’m at least mostly ready for the first day of training. There is still so much to do after that. Trying to disengage for the weekend and accept that whatever happens, it’ll still better than the last few classes. Traffic was amazing tonight and we made it in almost an hour less time than usual. I know the ride back will be different, but I love it on these rare occasions when I can make the whole trip without having to crawl. Our room is pretty nice. We all, individually, announced the presence of a truck in the parking lot with the competition logo on it. Clearly our observation skills are good. Listening? Not as much.
-
September 23
Another long, exhausting day. I’m spending a lot of time meeting with people in different roles, getting a lot of new perspective on what I do and how it fits into the larger organization. Even though not directly tied to what I’m doing, it’s been hugely beneficial, so a worthwhile trip. Went to dinner with the leadership team, which was nice but long. By then I was exhausted and just wanted to talk to my family and go to bed. Which I will do now.
-
September 22
First day in the office in about a year, and it went pretty well. It was nice seeing some familiar faces. Went to dinner with Sarah and Q, which was great. The day was so exhausting, though. I fell sleep at 8:30pm and woke up at 10:40 with headphones on. Two more days!
-
September 1
I’m a little sad after our trip. I wish I felt closer to Rob and his family. I felt comfortable with them all weekend, more than I expected, but since coming home, all I can think of is them talking about me and how fucked up my kids and I are. I can’t help comparing myself to him and feeling like I don’t measure up. He has money and a beautiful wife and happy children and the passion to follow an impossible dream with unending confidence. I don’t know what it is that I think I have to prove to him or anyone, or why I should feel ashamed of my Jimi Hendrix muscle shirt or the fucking fact that I wear glasses. (Seriously, this is something I felt was a defect he’d judge.) It comes from an old hurt I’ve felt for many, many years. I never felt I compared to Rob. He always had friends and made funnier movies than me and told better stories. People always just liked him better. But I love this picture, and I love him whether he appreciates it or not. I backed away from Mom out of fear and I live with that regret every day. I do not want the same regrets with Rob. I guess he’s stuck with me and my Hendrix shirt and my kids who won’t talk to him and my couch with three legs and the Maltese who shits in the house. He could do worse.
-
August 30
More than a year after they moved here, I finally managed to come up and see Rob and Danielle. It was a long drive through more than a hundred miles of relentlessly pouring, torrential rain, but it was so good to see them today, and Bobby and Hailey. They are adorable. Looking forward to the rest of this weekend.
-
August 7
We had a great time these last few days with Sonal, Esha, and Arjun. The resort was fantastic. I never wanted to leave the water. I’m completely exhausted now. It was a long, long, long drive home with so much traffic. If we had pulled over to the side of the road and parked for an hour and 15 minutes with no other traffic, we would have gotten home at the same time we did tonight. I’m thankful for Billy, who very graciously picked up my favorite pizza for me (I mean us) so it’d be ready for us when we got home. And it was delicious. Now back to reality.
Year in Photos 