Feeling Good Friday-Norming Edition

Has it only been six days since I was eating croissants and baguettes with heavily milked deep French roast coffee? It feels like I have been back and fully immersed in real life again...and it feels good. Two weeks is enough of a vacation to totally forget about work, household stuff, and life stressors, but also enough time to gain an appreciation for the life I set aside. Vacations are wonderful for that. Home takes on fresh meaning again. Granted, if I had the opportunity, no money or time issues to deal with, I'd vacation again next month. In my late spring and early summer mental funk, I realized I struggle with detaching from stress and let it consume me instead of dealing with what I can, and leaving the rest for the ones directly responsible to deal with. Vacations that force you to let things rest are good for people like me. I feel relatively healthy, mind and body, so will end my weekdays with a summary of the things I'm feeling good about. 

Family-I truly love mine, in spite of or maybe because of the varied personalities, the different temperaments, and the strengths each of us bring to problem solving. Sure, we all had our melt down moments, except for maybe not my son, who has a vary lasissez faire attitude about life in general, but overall vacationing together went as well as I hoped for. I loved seeing my kids interacting as adults, intervening with us as "aging" parents to slow down. Hmmm on that one though. 

Work-My colleagues and immediate team really carried a portion of my water while I was out, which greatly aided my re-entry without putting in 10 hour+ days upon return. I remember four years ago when we went to the UK when I still worked at my last employer. I paid dearly for a month after by working late and cleaning up issues. On top of the great support, I finally got the result of my bid to have my past job experiences credited to my vacation accrual. I now accrue double the vacation per pay period as of August 7th. This means I am back up to 5.5 weeks of paid vacation, plus my 26 flex days. With DH still planning to retire in five years, but me not for 9 or 10, this extra time will be a blessing in being able to take meaningful chunks of time off in the future. 

Weight and physical appearance-Despite the daily croissant, decadent cheese, wine, and chocolate, I actually lost four pounds on vacation. This is the motivation I need to keep at it. I know some people think weight is all about food and portion control, but I firmly believe physical exercise (while not eating crap) is my key. Walking miles a day and climbing massive numbers of stairs did this body good. Adding yoga and some strengthening in a consistent manner should help my momentum. I do agree though quality of food matters because I was more readily satisfied when the food is of better standards. 

Money-I'm still number crunching, and while I think we will be over my revised budget due to some decision made about ground travel, We are within that 4% margin of budgeting error that is statistically acceptable to me! We paid a lot of DD2's school expenses before leaving, so won't face those in September. Will we meet our 2018 financial goals. Absolutely not, but we are managing to reshape our plan of action and priorities to adjust to what was achieved financially. 

New Opportunities-Finally, I am pleased and excited to share DD1 will be moving back to the Twin Cities area. She interviewed the Thursday before we left and had a job offer, meeting her terms, a week later. She gave notice at her current job and for her apartment lease, though is locked in until November 1. That's OK as she needs to find housing near her job and it will give her time to pack and purge. She starts on September 17th so will just stay with us until she finds a place and fully moves. They gave her a hiring bonus, so even if she has to cover overlapping months if it means losing out on a great apartment here, the bonus offsets that, though of course she would rather not pay two rents.While the cost of rent is higher here, she will still net 30% more in take home even after factoring a significant rent increase. Other costs of living are relatively the same, and might be lower depending on what is included in a new apartment as her utilities were quite high. We are pleased for her and very proud. It sounds like she knocked their socks off in her interview/presentation and was the unanimous top candidate. 

That is life of Sam right now. Tomorrow is September 1st,;my goal list is ready. I'll have a quiet day in the office since it is a long weekend and most people are taking today off. I'll plug in my ear buds and clear my task list, maybe treating myself mid-day to a coffee and croissant to catch that vacation vibe one last time.