Gratitude*Tuesday

We're back from our trip and I'm slowly coming back (begrudgingly, footdraggingly) to the real world. To say our vacation was wonderful would be an understatement of massive proportions, it was one of the greatest and most memorable weeks of my life. So much happened while we did so little. I'll have two posts coming up; one where I write about what I'm calling my vacation "brain reset", fear, happiness and changes I'm making and the other will be a bunch of pictures of pretty stuff.

Like I said, baby steps back in to reality. I want to keep the warm fuzzies wrapped around me for as long as possible. So, without further adieu...

This Week I Am Grateful For:

* Scratching "Travel to another country" off the Bucket List!
* Breathtaking Sunsets for a week straight.
* Only having one very mild anxiety attack on the plane and only one burst of white hot anger (deservedly so) at the airport. Flying makes me feel ill and airports give me massive anxiety due to the noise and commotion, but I managed both extremely well.
* Celebrating 5 years of marriage with my amazing husband.
* Making Connections with some of the Jamaican locals; we now have penpals who I hope we'll keep in touch with and see when we eventually make it back!
* Trying new things: Snorkeling, Kayaking and dancing on stage in front of an audience!
* Forgetting about anything and everything except the beautiful surroundings and each other for a few days.
* Fresh Red Stripe.
* Getting to swim amongst the tropical fishes and feed them from my hand!
* Laughing. So, so much laughter.
* And tears. Good tears.
* Coming home and feeling so rejuvenated and energized that we got a fuck-ton of things done around the house including installing a new giant bookshelf, doubling our attic storage space, cleaning out the spare room, filling the freezer with food and decorating for Hallowe'en.
* Still holding on to the warm fuzzies and "no problem" attitude 4 days after we got home.
* October weather! It's unusual for it to be chilly here and I'm LOVING it!

Flying Away

Our bags are packed and we're ready to go! Currency has been exchanged, devices have been charged up. To my husband's surprise I managed to pack my week's worth of clothing into one small (24x12x12) carry one bag. Some women would be appalled by my simplistic approach; I packed 3 dresses, a pair of dress shoes 4 tops, one pair of shorts for sleep and one pair for the beach... And clean undies for 8 days. But me? I hate lugging stuff around and I have a teeny tiny wardrobe anyhow. :) 

We landed in Atlanta an hour ago, our plane begins boarding an hour from now. Then that's it; radio silence for the next week! I'm looking forward to it, even if it means I won't get daily Luna updates. Man, I miss that mutt already. But, she's in good hands being puppy sat in our home by a friend and it'll be like vacation for her too!

Cutting this short to conserve power. Enjoy your week, I know I will! Cross one more thing off my bucket list, please!

Welcome October & A Bucket List

It's the most wonderful month of the year! Time for pumpkins and crunchy leaves, for skeletons and witches a'plenty! Time for me to stock up on decor items for all year. ;-) What? I'm a little Hallowe'en centric, cut a girl some slack. I'll be in the land of Eternal Summer for a week celebrating my anniversary, not that I'm even remotely complaining mind you, but there's plenty of time in Autumn to play and enjoy all of the sights, sounds and smells.

That said, I've made a bucket list for Autumn!

* Visit the pumpkin patch
* Find our way through a corn maze
* Bust out some Hallowe'en craftiness
* Visit the Carolina Renaissance Festival
* Star gaze in the hammock
* Collect pretty leaves
* Drink warm apple cider
* Wear my fingerless gloves
* Go on a hike
* Roast Pumpkin Seeds
* Have a Bonfire
* Go on a Ghost Tour
* Throw my annual Hallowe'en Party
* Try a few different pumpkin beers

What will you be up to this October?