1 – Ellie was being clingy today, which means I got more snuggles from her than usual. Not complaining!
2 – A negative Covid test. I woke up with a scratchy throat and I was worried it was Covid, and I surely didn’t want to get Covid right before my vacation. All clear!
3 – Our Flexible Time Off announcement! It’s so cool to have unlimited time off. (I know a lot of people scoff at unlimited time off because most people end up taking off less time than usual, but I am most certainly not one of those people.)
4 – I did a fun Target spending spree for some vacation odds and ends.
5 – A day at the dog beach with Chip and Lucy. They did so good at swimming in the ocean with their floaties!
6 – Getting my referral bonus. I will never not love the fact that one of my dear readers was hired by my organization, based on a comment she left on one of my posts asking if my organization was hiring. And we were! And she got a job! Oh, happy day!
7 – Waking up from a dream about Grandma. In the dream, she came down from Heaven to catch up with her family and we got to have a nice, long chat. She told us all about what her and Pops were doing in Heaven. I woke up from the dream sad but also happy that Grandma visited me. And it got me thinking, how nice would it be if we could have these visits from our loved ones every so often? Man, I would love that so much.
8 – Making it to Canada! I was so nervous about crossing the border by car but it was super easy. It’s fun to be in a different country! (And so nice that every time we pay for something, we say, “Well, it’s really not going to cost that much,” with the exchange rate between CAD and USD, ha.)
9 – We spent today in Toronto. My favorite thing from today was successfully navigating around downtown Toronto in a rental car!
10 – Seeing the Horseshoe Falls in all of their glory.
11 – Seeing the Niagara Rapids. They’re so powerful!
12 – Visiting Niagara-on-the-Lake and browsing in an old-fashioned bookstore. It was so quaint!
13 – Cave of the Winds! Maybe the most amazing experience of my life.
14 – Reuniting with my girls! It is so good to be home.
15 – A lazy day at home. I got some reading done, outlined a podcast episode, and wrote the first vacation recap for the blog. And I took a 4-hour nap, too!
16 – Eloise has been so clingy since I came home! She won’t leave my side for anything. She missed me!
17 – Welp. It happened. I tested positive for Covid. Today, I mainly laid on the couch and watched Cheer and MasterChef. At least I’ll speed through some of the shows I’ve been watching!
18 – Day 2 of Covid. My mom brought me supplies from Target like popsicles and cough drops, and left it at my door. It’s good to have a mom.
19 – Day 3 of Covid. Here’s a positive: battling Covid today means I didn’t have time to get sad about Father’s Day.
20 – Day 4 of Covid. I finally started sleeping better after three days of really crappy sleep. Hooray!
21 – Back to work after two weeks off and it feels good to get back to my routine, especially after spending the last four days being a lazy bum on the couch.
22 – I had a day full of meetings, but it felt really nice to do my hair and makeup and wear regular clothes and talk to people again.
23 – A quick fix for my oven. The perks of that renter’s life! (The bottom heating element in my oven blew out as I was cooking a frozen pizza the night before. Called my landlord in the morning and it was all fixed by the afternoon. Easy-peasy!)
24 – Going out to eat with my mom and stepdad. It was so nice to be in public again!
25 – A writing date with Mikaela! Game night with my mom and brother! Feeling like a human again!
26 – Running some errands (a Goodwill drop-off, returning books to the library, returning some items to Target, and doing a grocery store run).
27 – A spontaneous lunch date with my mom! Our fave Chick-Fil-A is finally done with renovations and it looks beautiful inside.
28 – A really helpful therapy appointment. We’ve been working through a lot of the way my past has played into the expectations I hold myself to in the present, and it’s opening some pathways that I didn’t know existed.
29 – Book club at IHOP! We weren’t able to meet last month so we had a lot of catching up to do.
30 – A really refreshing midday siesta. Needed!
There was a lot of good this month to offset the crappy experience with covid! I bet your girls really really really missed you!
That is so cool that one of your reader’s got a job at your company!!
There was a lot of good in this month, for sure! It was so sweet how much the girls missed me. <3
Your ability to find the upside on days when you had COVID is very impressive. I struggle sometimes in my line a day journal to write even one thing that happened in a day, let alone something GOOD. I’m so impressed that you do this every month!
It really is a practice that takes getting used to! It can be really, really hard some days and some days, there ARE no good things. That’s life. But I try my best!
Other than Covid, what a great month for you!
It wasn’t a bad month at all! 🙂
I would totally use the unlimited PTO too. I love taking time off. LOL.
How cool one of your readers got hired by your company!
That therapy session sounds so good. I’d love to hear more about it! I can really see the way our pasts have affected me and Steven. We’ve learned a lot from them but we are still held back in some ways!
I love all the snuggles with the girls! And am so glad you are feeling good again 🙂
Taking time off is my FAAAAVE.
I don’t always realize how my past is affecting my present – like all of the pressure I put on myself to have a great vacation and make it a great one for my mom, and that’s because we didn’t take vacations when I was a kid and I’m trying to “make up” for that.
Unlimited time off = amazing win for you and your coworkers. And, that is so cool that one of your readers now works for your company! Woo hoo! I’d say you rocked June, INCLUDING the COVID time. Your perspective and ability to find joy in and be grateful for every day is so inspiring. <3 I'm not saying it's rainbows and bunnies all the time but you definitely look for the good, in my opinion. And that makes me want to try to do the same. 🙂
Some days are harder than others, but it has been a really good practice for me to find the little bit of good in every day.
Wow, a month with big highs and lows. I hope the good offset the bad. I am glad you’re through with Covid and got it AFTER your trip.
Unlimited time off sounds… great. This whole concept of “earning your vacation and sick time” is so weird to me here in the US.