Hi from Quarantine…

wearing a mask and face shield in 2020

It’s been awhile since I checked in around this corner of the internet. WOW! Has 2020 been a weird year or what?!?!

Here’s a quick update on what’s been happening in my neck of the woods this year.

We got a puppy on January 3rd. She has been the absolute best thing of 2020 so far.

cavalier king charles spaniel puppy

cavalier king charles spaniel puppy

cavalier king charles spaniel puppy

cavalier king charles spaniel puppy

cavalier king charles spaniel puppy

cavalier king charles spaniel puppy

I started a new job on January 6th. I did all the training and traveling and all. the. things. for the job from January until March. The job had not been at all what was promised and honestly turned out to be sort of a dumpster fire. On March 18th I came home to work from home and have basically been in social distancing mode ever since. A couple weeks after working from home I was placed on temporary furlough, and with the job really not shaping up to be what I had hoped, I asked for my old job back. I was beyond lucky to have left on a good note and I was offered my job back. I do not take for granted how many people are absolutely not in this same situation now.

For about the last five weeks I have been working one to two days a week at my old/current job. As things *hopefully* get better I will be able to work in person in the office more and more. Right now things are still a complete mess where I live and only getting worse.ย  As a side note, if you are someone who is opposed to wearing a mask in public I would like to know why you never protested having to wear shoes into Walmart?

I have painted almost my entire house. Planted a garden. (It’s mostly dead now but who’s counting?) Gone for MANY walks. And eaten all the junk foods! But y’all I am OVER. IT. Don’t get me wrong I’m still mostly staying home and following all the rules, but I sure wish I didn’t have to anymore.

full moon over the ocean

full moon

cocktails and a full moon

fourth of july fireworks with a full moon

egret in the marsh

In mid May we started to feel comfortable traveling by car to our beach house again so we are VERY lucky to have had the option of changing scenery. It’s obvious that we aren’t alone in needing a new view as I have honestly never seen so many people at the beach. We are able to find a place to keep to ourselves when we go out on the beach and have avoided going inside bars and restaurants so we feel like we are being responsible.

I feel beyond lucky that 2019 was our epic year. We did so much travelling last year and even had a destination wedding go off without a hitch in the middle of hurricane season in Jamaica. I can’t imagine what we would be going through if 2020 had been the year for all of that. I feel for anyone who has had to cancel big trips they planned for months. Planning a wedding was a true nightmare in best case scenario so I feel for you if 2020 was your year!

I had hoped to use all my new found free time catching up on last years trips and photos here on the blog, but we’re officially four months into quarantine and I’m just getting started. Honestly, it just felt so depressing looking back at photos of us travelling and having the time of our life when going to the grocery store now feels like the closest I’ll get to a vacation this year.

#WanderlustWednesday

siesta key beach florida

Siesta Key, Florida

#SiestaKey #SummerDaze #SunnyFlorida

#WanderlustWednesday

Glass beach Kauai hawaii

Glass Beach

Kauai, Hawaii

#hanapepebay #seaglass #hawaii

  • Happy National Carousel Day! Here are the 6 best places to celebrate! Because we need another fake made up holiday to celebrate….
  • The best tips for solo female travel. Where would you like to go on a solo vacay?
  • So just what is jet lag and what can you do about it?
  • Apparently “nacation’s” are trending. I don’t think I’m ready to jump on board with this trend.
  • Singapore Airlines is set to launch the world’s longest commercial airline flight in October. New York to Singapore – 19 hours!! Luckily the seats looks much better than the average commercial flight.
  • Who doesn’t love a good festival. Here are 10 small town festivals that are worth traveling for.

My Summer Reading List

I am loving my Audible subscription. I have “read” so many more books since joining. I spend a lot of time in my car commuting and we’ve been on several weekend getaways and Audible has been just perfect for the car rides. My boyfriend and I have enjoyed listening to some books together on road trips. This is coming from someone who would never listen to books on tape when they were popular because I thought they sounded too boring, but I’m hooked.

So what have I been listening too? Remember I am in MBA school, so some of these books were for school and some were for fun.

img_3419I’m Not Lonely if You’re Reading This Book

I’ve been listening to the Bobby Bones Show in the mornings on my drive to work for a few years now. I really enjoy the show and at this point I’m fairly convinced I am basically BFF with the entire crew. When Bobby announced he was coming out with a second book, I thought what better time than now to read the first one. This was my first Audible purchase, and I really enjoyed it. Because, I listen to Bobby on the radio so often, and he reads the audio book it felt more like listening to his show or podcast, and made me think I could be into audio books. The book is a memoir of Bobby’s life growing up poor in Mountain Pine, Arkansas, and his story of success despite it all, through hard work and determination.

img_3423The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron

I’ll admit I only read this one because my Econ professor kept going on and on about what a good read it was. This books covers the entire story of the Enron scandal. It introduces you to all the major players at Enron and gives the background on how they were able pull off the greatest scheme in American history. The greed is absolutely astonishing. If you’ve ever wondered how the company was able to get away with the scandalous behavior for so long, this book will answer all of your questions. Admittedly though, I only listened to all the number crunching bad behavior in the first two thirds of the book to get to the last part…how did they get caught and what happened to all these greedy people? There’s also a documentary made from the book, if that’s more appealing to you.

img_3420A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership

If you follow the news at all, you’ve heard about this book and all the drama associated with the author, James Comey. Comey served as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and was deputy attorney general under President Bush, before being named the FBI director in 2013. I thought the book was a very interesting read. He gives his own personal perspective of what was going on behinds the scenes in the investigations of the Bush administrations torture policies and the Clinton email scandal. He makes himself a real person who was vulnerable to mistakes, but attempted to give the country his best with his service.

img_3422An American Sickness

Another, if we’re being honest I only read this for MBA school. However, that being said I cannot recommend this book enough. The author is a former emergency room physician and former healthcare correspondent for the New York Times. Shes takes you behind the scenes of the American healthcare system, and gives an eye opening perspective on what has happened to healthcare in our country. As someone who has spent the last eight years working in hospitals I was even surprised by much of the book. While I do believe that she uses the most outrageous examples of negligence and greed in her book, the fact remains that all the examples she uses are true. It’s a great read if you want to be a more educated consumer of your own healthcare.

img_3421Fail Until You Don’t: Fight, Grind, Repeat

So, back to Bobby Bones. Don’t mind me, I’m just over here fan girl-ing. I liked the first book so much that, I went back for more. This book covers Bobby’s own success mantra – Fight. Grind. Repeat. I think it is a great reminder that most successful people don’t get lucky. They work their tails off. He gives great examples of wildly successful people who have failed their way to the top, they just never quit showing up. I couldn’t have come across this book at a better time for my own personal reasons. It was a quick read and I really enjoyed it.

img_3418When Life Gives You Lululemons

This book is from the author of the Devil Wears Prada. Remember Emily, the trusty assistant that got the shaft on the trip to Paris fashion week? Well she has moved to L.A. and now runs her own personal image and branding business. The book centers on Emily and her new life. She has landed a client of a lifetime just in time to rebuild her struggling business. I enjoyed the book, it is narrated by Laura Benati and I thought she did a great job. It was fun to reconnect with the characters from the past. This would be a great summer beach read.

 

Summer Can You Hear Me?

Anyone else feel like this was the longest winter of their LIFE? I’m a summer lovin’, flip-flop wearing, beach days and sunshine girl! Summer is by far my favorite season. With the warm weather FINALLY making an appearance it seems like summer may actually be on its way. Without further ado…. my favorite things about summer.

ONE. I am lucky enough to live a short drive from the beach. The beach is my happy place, and I am looking forward to many weekends spent by the water this summer.

TWO. Wearing allll the summer things. I do not like winter clothes. Never have, probably never will. Give me all the bright colors and flip flops.

My Post (3)

romper / top / dress / bikini / sandals / earrings / sandals / straw bag / earrings

THREE. With the days getting longer and the weather getting warmer I look forward to long walks through the neighborhood to wind down the day. It so nice to be able to de-stress, spend some time outside, and get in some extra exercise. Win, win.

Asics

FOUR. Besides weekends at the beach I have a few trips already planned this summer. I always look forward to summer vacations when the weather turns warm. I’m excited to share all our summer travels with you!

img_3207-1.png

FIVE. My final favorite thing about summer is being able to have cocktails outside on a patio, roof top, beach, or porch. I have been very into the Aperol Spritz since the weather turned warm. It tastes better with a side of sunshine. What’s you favorite summer cocktail?

summer wine