Welcome friends. I am cozied up on my grandmother’s couch writing this post and feeling grateful to be here for this last week of August. This Dreamy Vibes playlist on Spotify is perfect for a full moon night and winding down a crazy month.

The first thing to share is that we are safe and we were fortunately spared from the effects of Hurricane Idalia. While my family lives on the Gulf on the Florida panhandle, the storm passed well to the east of us. Also, we were on the “good” side of the storm from a rotational standpoint so the impact from outer bands was negligible.

We have had a bit of rain, some high surf advisories and rip current warnings but nothing to complain about there. A tough thing about living on the coast is that when your area is spared, it’s at the expense of another area being pummeled. Please know that is never lost on us and while we count our blessings, our heart breaks for those who are hit hard and we are acutely aware that it could be us at any point.

I have this post organized in collages so let’s backtrack and I’ll bring us back to present moment to wrap things up.

I’ll start with the Saturday night before we left for Florida. Dorie extended a last-minute invitation to join her for dinner at Puerta. It’s a new restaurant from the 1957 Hospitality Group (Crunkleton, Rosemont, Cheat’s) that is serving Mexican cuisine in the Elizabeth neighborhood of Charlotte. While I had a million things to do from a packing and preparation standpoint for our trip, this night was exactly what I needed. It felt great to get dressed up and try a new, trendy spot. We both enjoyed the food, drinks, ambiance and service. The time together and catching up was wonderful too. PSA: if you love a spicy margarita, Dorie says Puerta’s is her new favorite and the best in Charlotte!

I found myself at Home Depot after dinner buying bubble wrap so that I could transport $45 worth of fresh peaches and tomatoes safely from North Carolina to Florida. As Finn says, “sharing is caring” and my fam can’t get tomatoes and peaches like this in their area.

We had a 5:10p flight out of Charlotte on Sunday. My morning looked like packing, working out at the gym and subbing a yoga class. Finn’s dad dropped him off early afternoon and we headed to the airport. Travel was so easy until we made it to the gate. We had a 90-minute maintenance delay for air conditioning and by the time they had that resolved, the whole airport was on a ground stop for weather. We ended up taking off four hours after our scheduled departure and taking a route that added 30 minutes onto our flight time to avoid weather but we made the most of it. Finn was a champion and once we were airborne, he watched the Mario movie (he says for the fifth time) and I watched Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret. We both relaxed and made the best of it. My sweet father ventured out way past his bedtime to pick us up. I was just SO happy that we made it to Florida on Sunday night and our flight didn’t get cancelled and push us into a Monday travel day. Despite the late night, it was great to wake up in Florida on Monday morning!

I feel like a fun mom on this trip because the water is super warm so I’ve gotten in the gulf and the pool every day with Finn. Our favorite thing to do is boogie board together. The first day there weren’t enough waves so we just floated together for a long time. Once things picked up, we caught some waves! He’s not quite skilled at the technique so we use a big board and ride tandem. I get him way up on the board and then I kick into the waves and pull up behind him. It’s big fun.

Finn has become quite the dog lover and he is so good with them. He adores my parent’s golden Beau who is the sweetest boy. I was cracking up in the photo on the right. Finn got all of Beau’s plushy toys and arranged them all around him. Beau stayed like this this whole time.

My mom and I took Finn and Beau on an outing to a nearby waterfront park one afternoon.

And that night we had the most magical sunset. Finn asked to go down to the pool after dinner and we ended up staying until after dark. These summer days are so special and are quickly coming to an end.

On a less fun note, I have been SO accident prone lately. I feel like all I’ve done recently is bump, bruise and hurt myself. There was even a trip to urgent care for a “does it need stitches situation” about a month ago (we settled on steri-strips because stitches would have required an ER visit and it could go either way).

On this trip I have been eaten alive by black flies (when the wind comes in from the north, it brings them and they are so bad). I have bites all over but I got a cluster on my ankles/feet today and my right ankle is swollen, red and hot to the touch. I’ve been dousing myself in hydrocortisone cream and I’m going to take some Benadryl before bed. And then earlier today, I smushed my pinky finger when I was re-racking a weight at the gym and pulled it out to find a flap of skin hanging off. I had to cut my workout short and my dad helped me bandage it up. It was bleeding a lot but we didn’t think it was a stitch situation and thank god I didn’t break the bone! Finn also very inadvertently opened a door onto my left brow bone and kicked me in the mouth in the gulf so mommy is feeling a little beat up at the moment.

Finn has been a great caretaker and it’s been sweet to see him mimic the ways I take care of him. He’s been so attentive to making sure my finger is bandaged today and tells me everything is going to be okay, be brave and that I need to rest. Haha.

I know this sounds a little out there but I honestly think all of these little things are a sign that I need to slooooowwww down.

Speaking of rest – it’s been the theme of this trip. It’s not uncommon for me to arrive in Florida and fall asleep early the first night we are here and feel a little tired the first day but this trip has been on another level. Our first full day was Monday and I felt like I had been hit by a truck. I had no energy and my body felt so heavy and lethargic. I took a nap that afternoon and finally started feeling a little better later in the day. I’ve been going to bed early every night, sleeping 9-10 hours a night and napping during the day. I thought I’d get a lot of computer work done this week since I wasn’t training clients or teaching yoga but I haven’t had the brain power. Tonight (night four) was the first night I felt the draw to sit down and write.

I love what I do but I think the realization that I have come to over the summer is that the way I am doing at this stage of life it isn’t sustainable. My goal is to get really intentional about my time, focus and goals as Finn heads back to school and our routine tightens up.

Calling it done! Hope you are all well as August comes to a close. <3

QUESTIONS 

Do you ever feel exhaustion when you go on vacation or break from your normal routine? 

Last good movie you watched? 

Do you like checking out new restaurants? Favorite type of cuisine?