The high of my week was sitting down with Amber to work through some more London logistics! One of our most-anticipated excursions was cancelled, leaving us with a bit of wiggle room in our schedule. I’m trying to be very careful not to over-schedule us because it’s so tempting to do that on a big vacation like this, but that’s not the way we like to travel. We have limited energy reserves and don’t want to be walking 20,000 steps every day! Plus, we have two day trips planned and those will definitely take a lot out of us. Anyway, it was a great planning session and we’ve nearly got everything figured out. We leave six weeks from Tuesday – ahhh!
The low of my week was nothing? That’s lovely to report! Between all of my medical appointments, depressive episode, and work stress, it feels good to be in a great place right now. The medical appointments are over, I worked through the depression (likely due to the birth control I started, which I stopped taking once I started feeling bad), and work is still a lot most days, but mostly manageable.
I’m currently reading three books! In print, I’m halfway through The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett. On my Kindle, I’m a little more than halfway through Every Summer After by Carley Fortune. And my audiobook is Bad City by Paul Pringle (I have five hours left). All of these books have been exceptional reads! Unless something crazy happens, I think I’ll have three five-star books in a row.
A Reel I loved was this hilarious dachshund Reel from one of my favorite doggo accounts. I laughed so hard!
A show I watched this week was a few episodes of season two of Next Level Chef. I will watch any cooking show from Gordon Ramsey, even if I have no desire to be a chef and hate cooking myself. I’m just always so impressed by these aspiring chefs!
The best money I spent this week was paying off my London balance! It feels so very good to have that monkey off my back (as a refresher: my mom and I always go 50/50 on vacations. She put all of our London expenses, like our flights, hotel, and some excursions, on her credit card and told me I could pay her back slowly.) There will be some expenses coming up, as we still need to book a few more things, but those should be minimal.
My plans this weekend include a lot of fun things! Today, I have a hair appointment and then I might try to finally watch Working Girl. Tomorrow, I’m going to the dog beach with Chip, Lucy, my mom, and my stepdad. And on Sunday, I have my writing date with Mikaela and then a dog birthday party to go to. (How many times can I tease my brother for throwing a birthday party for his dog? SO MANY TIMES.)
What was the highlight of your week?
I’m so excited that you’re listening to Bad City. What a wacky story! Road to Tender Hearts is on my TBR.
Make fun of your brother all that you want! Our old dog’s birthday was Easter, so by default we always had people over. We used to give her a present at our family Easter dinner. If I had it to do all over again, we would have had the whole family over just for the dog! Doggo doesn’t like people as much as Stepdog did, so she just gets extra treats and presents.
As I’m listening to Bad City, I’m just exclaiming “WTF” out loud over and over again. It is SO WILD.
I laugh at my brother because this is the guy who thought it was weird to give my cats Christmas presents but the minute he adopted a dog… suddenly, he was like, “What do your cats want for Christmas?” HE GETS IT NOW.
That is a lot of fun things you have going on this weekend! My brother is passing through town so he’s staying with us tonight. Should be good to catch up with him!
I hope you had a wonderful time with your brother! <3
I’ve been listening to old episodes of Currently Reading, and in season 6, episode 12 they talk about their trip to London and their favorite bookstores there. You HAVE to go to Daunt’s and report back! Pleeeaaase!!!
Glad you had no lows this week! It does sound like your depression was caused by the birth control. And- your weekend sounds fun!
Daunt’s is on the bookstores list! I have three that I’ll be able to go to and I’ll have to be very careful with how many books I buy. The UK covers of books are always SO much better than the US ones, so I’m excited about that!
So glad I was able to pinpoint the reason for the depression. That was a BAD time and I’ve never had that sort of reaction with BC. Wild!
I hope dog seriously appreciates the party!
This weekend I hope to can some peaches and go to the county fair.
I’m so excited for your London Trip. We stopped in London for six hours on our way back from South Africa this summer and it is such a vibrant, alive city. We walked to Trafalgar square and had lunch at Borough Market- the food was amazing! (Some day I will get around to writing trip recaps…)
Everyone keeps telling me about Borough Market! I need to make sure that’s in our itinerary.
The dogs had an AMAZING time at their party. They got so messy and it was delightful. (Especially considering I didn’t have to bring any of them home!)
The highlight of my week was just having a normal week where I was at home, walking my dog, going to work, and not changing time zones. Honestly.
I also had a funny interaction with one of my co-workers when I had to coach him through a disaster and he wrote “Thank you for your candor” in a subsequent email and I was over here thinking I had been so diplomatic!!! LOLOLOLOL.
A normal week is sometimes the best reset. <3
A dog bday party. That is too cute!!
I finished ‘The Road to Tender Hearts’ yesterday! I ended up giving it 4 stars but still really loved it! I also loved Bad City. When I read it, it was on my best books of the year list!
Hooray for no lows!! The high of my week was canceling my trip to MD/VA at the end of August. 2/3 sales ppl will be out of the territory that week so it didn’t make sense for me to go. It will get pushed to October which will make for a more intense fall. But this means I will be home with Phil when the boys are at my parents. Wahoo! It was so nice to have a quiet work together last year so I am looking forward to a repeat!!
I just finished Bad City today! What an insaaaaaane story. And it’s really upsetting that almost NOBODY faced any reprecussions. WTF!
I’m so glad you get to spend the week at home with Phil with NO KIDS. Amazing!
No lows, that’s amazing!! And the kitty on the front- just give her to meeeeee.
For me- a low is that our trip is over! I’m typing this as we get ready to leave for the airport, in about two hours. I do miss home and my routine, and my own bed and, and…. All the things home.
But I’m also feeling wistful since this was a long trip, with 5 regions, and many highs and lows. I will miss France, for sure.
You had such an epic trip, Daria! I understand those post-vacation blues. Sometimes it’s so hard to go back to normal life/routines when you’ve been having so much fun traveling. <3
London baby. So excited to hear it’s taking shape y– and is payed for already.
Hope you enjoy it.
Also three 5* books… you are on a roll. Just finished one a few minutes ago. Man I missed picking up a good book after so many mediocre ones…
I am glad you are out of your book rut! Hooray! That was a long time coming for you.
I tend to schedule a lot in on a big city vacation, too, because there is SO MUCH TO SEE. And then I’m tired and wonder why I did that to myself. Good for you for reigning yourself in.
I LOL’d at that reel. So funny. Poor George, but clearly baby is used to this and doesn’t care.
We used to celebrate Mulder’s birthday, though we never invited anyone over (Which he would have LOVED). One year we were gone during the day, and our neighbors came by to take care of him. They had 2 little girls, and they brought him back to their house, made him a birthday card, and played with him. He had a GREAT day, and then we gave him gifts and treats when we got home.
That’s so cute! The dogs had SO MUCH FUN at their little birthday party. It was a lot of running around and diving into pools and wrestling each other.
Cannot wait for the reports from your London trip! I’ve been a few times and have loved it. So glad you and your mom will be able to experience it together!
Also love the no-lows week. You needed one of those, my friend.