10 Things I Loved in May

1) My vacation to Puerto Rico. Spending five days in Puerto Rico was exactly what I needed. My mom and I have taken a vacation together in May every year since I graduated college in 2011. While I missed doing our usual cruise vacation, it was nice to switch things up and actually explore an island we’d stopped on a cruise once. We hiked to a waterfall, rode horses, did a walking tour, explored one of the forts, and relaxed at the beach, so we definitely enjoyed ourselves to the fullest! (But next year, we’re doing a cruise and I’ve already started pricing it out, ha!)

2) Flying for only the second time. Since I’m within driving distance of five major cruise ports and have so many wonderful cities also within driving distance, I haven’t had the opportunity to fly much in my life. My family didn’t have the means to travel when I was a kid; the only vacation we took was to Ohio and my dad drove all 14 hours there. So I was especially excited to fly to Puerto Rico and found the whole experience thrilling. I know, I know, those of you experienced flyers are probably rolling your eyes at me, but I can’t help it! I loved being in the airport, waiting on the ground to ascend into the clouds, the take-off and landing… it all made me so grateful. I’ll actually be flying again later this year when I take a weekend trip to Asheville with some girlfriends, so look at me! Multiple flights in one year. 🙂

3) Finding a new dentist and being cavity free, despite not having had a cleaning in 5+ years. I really hate going to the dentist. I have so much anxiety about it that I haven’t had a proper cleaning in at least five years. Maybe longer. And yet… I pay for dental insurance. I should use it, right? Well, I finally booked a consultation with a new dentist (using ZocDoc – man, I love that site!) and I really loved the dentist I found. The office is just 15 minutes from my work, they do Friday afternoon appointments, and the dentist was super friendly. Plus, I didn’t have any cavities! The reason I finally booked this appointment was because I was having some minor tooth sensitivity whenever I drank cold water, and I was worried I had cavities or some sort of gum disease, but nope. Guys, if you have had a lot of cavities in your life, please don’t think it has anything to do with anything you are or aren’t doing. It has a lot to do with genetics, in my opinion. I take care of my teeth, but I don’t floss daily and sometimes I’m too tired at night to brush them (I’m sorry, this is gross), so it’s alllll genetics for why I didn’t have any cavities after not having a proper dental cleaning in half a decade. I’ll go in for an official cleaning next month, which I’m already nervous about, but I’m glad I finally found a dentist I like and this means I am all caught up with all my medical visits! I have an OB/GYN, a primary doc, a dermatologist, and now a dentist. Woohoo!

4) Mother’s Day brunch. For Mother’s Day, my mom requested brunch and asked me for some recommendations. We ended up at Metro Diner. We had a pretty long wait since everyone and their mother (ha) was celebrating the day, but it was well worth it. I ordered cinnamon raisin pecan French toast that was out of this world. My brother came with my nephews, and my stepdad was in town, so it was nice for all of us to get together and celebrate Mom!

5) Taking a week off social media and reading the news. Last week (starting the 22nd), I decided to take a full week off social media and reading the news. I was starting to feel upset every time I opened up Instagram to see another cute couple photo or scrolled through Twitter to read terrible news stories. I just needed a little break to quiet my mind. So, spur of the moment on Sunday evening, after sending a slew of tweets that I promptly deleted, I removed Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook from my phone. It was the best decision. By Monday afternoon, my mind felt silent for the first time in weeks and it just felt so good to take time away from this need to document my life. I get into this mindset where I think in terms of tweets (as in, how to reframe this thought into 140 characters?!) or in terms of how to Instagram the different moments of my life. I started missing social media by Friday, but it was really nice to just get away and focus on living life off-screen for a bit.

6) Spending a day documenting my life through #lifecaptcha. Erin, someone I’ve known through blogging for a very long time, started this really cool social media experiment called #lifecaptcha. On the 19th of every month, you document your life hour-by-hour. At the 44th minute of every hour, you take a picture and post it to your Instagram. I opted to use Instagram Stories because I didn’t want to clog up my feed with photos and since Instagram doesn’t display photos chronologically anymore, I didn’t want my photos getting out of order. But it was so much fun! I hope I remember to play along again in June.

7) Taking a half-day after a night of miserable sleep. Okay, anyone who is a mother can go right ahead and roll your eyes at me, but indeed I did take a half-sick day after only getting four hours of sleep the night before. First, Dutch didn’t settle down until close to 11:30. There were some extra trips outside and then a lot of him whining and rustling around on the bed. It happens at least a few times a week, so I’m used to it. What I am not used to is waking up at 3:30 to the sound of him peeing on my bed. Isn’t that lovely, huh? I had to get up, strip the bed and immediately put my sheets in the washer. I also had to clean the mattress as best I could. Sigh. And then since I couldn’t exactly sleep on my bed, I was basically up for the day. I felt like a zombie during the morning and I decided I just needed to go home, take a nap, and try to do a little work from home in the evening. Which is exactly what I did and I have no regrets!

8) Buying some new summer clothes at Old Navy. My wardrobe was basically begging for some new summer clothes because I don’t really own tank tops and all of my shorts feel a little too tight to wear comfortably right now. And we’re already hitting 90 degrees here in Florida, so I basically needed some summer clothes in order to walk outside without feeling like dying. Off to Old Navy I went and they were having a 30% off shorts and 40% off tanks sale! I got myself a new pair of jean shorts and three new tanks – all stuff I feel great in. I don’t wear tanks a ton because I don’t like the way my arms look in them, but I’ve decided to say to hell with that and wear them anyway. My comfort > society’s standards for beauty.

9) Healthy lady dates. My friend, B., and I try to get together once a week for a “lady date.” (B. is also my former roomie!) Usually, we end up eating something entirely unhealthy, but B. was the first person I told about my 30×30 challenge and she was completely on board and told me that we’d just have to switch our lady dates from “going to X restaurant and ordering something unhealthy” to healthy lady dates. Two weeks ago, we picked up subs from Publix and went to a local park for a picnic and then a two-mile walk. And last week, she came to my place and we cooked a healthy dinner and dessert. Hooray for healthy lady dates and friends who support your crazy goals!

10) Steam cleaning my carpet. This is so boringly adult, but it has made me so happy. My apartment only has carpet in the bedroom, but after just eight months of living here, it has become really gross thanks to a little senior sausage who has a lot of accidents. There were dark spots all over the bedroom and they seriously stressed me out. I just hated looking at them! So my mom brought over her steam vacuum last weekend and we proceeded to clean the heck out of my carpet. I was skeptical it would work – the stains have been there for months – but it did! There are certain areas that I’ll need to go over again, but it looks so much better. Check out this before and after!

What was a shining moment for you in May?