Tag: vacation

Home is where?

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, Date night, Marriage, relationships, restaurants, the beach

Recently my husband and I took a vacation. This is news, because it was OUT OF STATE. Way out. Like, in NJ. Just getting the same days off from work together to go took weeks-and an aligning of the planets AND and act of congress.

What was better about Atlantic City than Wells, ME? Not much. I had to really think hard  for things.

  1.  The seagulls had black heads. Kind of cool.
  2. The ocean was WARM. WARM. The OCEAN.
  3.  The ocean was very close to the hotel; you could walk to it. There also didn’t seem to be very much
    variation between high tide and low tide.
  4. There were some different kinds of seashells from what I find here in Maine.

That’s about it.

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The best thing about Atlantic City? We were on vacation! We were together! That is all we needed.

Time: is it on my side?

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, Midlife Crisis, no fear, Turning 50

I made a decision the week that I turned 50 and also was on vacation: I wouldn’t wear my watch. I had a couple of goals.

1. To stop being so ruled by the time of day it was (eg: “time for breakfast” or “time for bed”)

2. To make my vacation feel longer.

So for about 10 days, I didn’t wear my watch. It turned out that on the few occasions when I tried to guess the time, my guesses were usually pretty close: within 15 minutes or so of the actual time. Of course, for the first several days, I looked at my watch-less wrist to see what time it was, but then when I remembered that I wore no watch, I just said, “Okay, I don’t know what time it is,” and was okay with that.

I didn’t start wearing my watch again until today. I put it on this morning, then after i looked at it for the third time and realized that it still said 10:12AM (not to mention that it was also a day behind on the date!), the ugly truth was revealed: THE BATTERY STOPPED.

Really? Really?

Is the Universe sending me a message?

Souvenirs

by Karen, posted in family, friends, health, Midlife Crisis

I want to go to Italy, but so far have not managed to pull this off (I’ll be a walking cliche and say it’s on my bucket list). Instead, I surround myself with some Italian inspired things.

Souvenirs so far:

  1. The Amore Dish, affectionately referred to by the gifter as “The Poison Plate” because once purchased and brought home, he (my son) realized that one may not eat food off it. (Note: I am a person who is quite partial to food). I solved this problem by keeping some of my heart rock collection (and other mementoes) on it.
  2. Coaster, pictured above (also from my son), which I love and have used every day I am at my desk since I received it.
  3. Gorgeous multicolored Italian pasta, Farfalle, almost too pretty to cook and eat. I love to look at them every time I open up my pantry door.
  4. A map of Italy, which my husband laminated for me. I hung it on the wall in my kitchen where I look at it every day. I wonder if any of the others in the family even see it?
  5. An Italian Santa Christmas ornament, which is on my book case in my office. I bought my grandmother one years ago and although this isn’t the same one, it reminds me of her, so I keep it there year round.
  6. Italian language books and CD’s. I used to listen to them when I was between audio books when I commuted to work. Now I just think about listening to them.
  7. Many Italian cookbooks. Many. Italian. Cookbooks.

Here’s the thing: I’m getting ready to turn 50 this year, and I suddenly realized that this was the year my friend Karyn and I were going to take a trip to Italy together (if I remember right; see here).

It also dawned on me that the time to complete any bucket listed items is getting short(er). Time to get crackin’.

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