I’m not sure FFF means anything but I was delighted to note the alliteration.
I hit Inbox Zero yesterday. It had been a while (maybe 3 weeks)! But the feeling of having all of my tasks captured in a logical/strategic manner is so worth it.
And I’m really excited for March!
Monthly recap coming tomorrow or Sunday, but for today, here’s a list of things I’m excited about in the next month . . .
- A balanced work schedule!! Actually, one that is skewed away from clinical (Feb was very skewed towards clinical and April will be too). 11 clinical days total and no call or weekend work. Hooray!
- First organizing session. As previously mentioned I ended up choosing a local KonMari expert and she’s coming over soon to start work on Category #1: Clothing. I’m honestly so excited!
- Heat game! We are going to a MIDWEEK Miami Heat game (as a family) because my cousin (okay I think we are 2nd cousins once removed but still; my dad is first cousins with his grandmother) PLAYS FOR THE BROOKLYN NETS. Yes, I have a blood relation who is 6’11” (I thought 7′ but I his stats say 6’11”). (As you might imagine . . most of his height genes come from the other side.) My dad has texted his grandmother on Facebook and we are HOPING to see him for a pic after the game, but even if not, how cool is that?!
- C’s bday party. Or more of a ‘friend gathering’, but still looking forward to it.
- Girls’ weekend (at home, not the friend kind of girls’ weekend) with A or A+G. Josh is taking either C or C+G (they haven’t decided yet) camping so I will be solo with the girls for a night or two. I think we’ll have fun, honestly!
- Recording trip with Laura. We have our annual recording retreat coming up! I am excited to do some deeper thinking about projects and podcast topics and more.
- Tiffany concert. I mean, need I say more? Vanilla Ice will be there too but really I’m going for Tiffany. (T shirt, ordered.)
- Book club. We will see how many people actually finish The Great Gatsby. Haha.
- Fam Disney trip with my sister and niece!! We planned this many months ago — super excited to see it actually approaching! Based on the incredibly inflated airfare to Orlando (tickets from Philadelphia are $700!?!?!?!) I am nervous the park will be insanely packed but I guess that is what we get for booking spring break. At least the weather is usually decent (I rejected my sister’s initial proposal of going during summer). ALSO, I anticipate my niece may be pretty fast-ride-averse so we probably won’t be trying to get on some of the most popular attractions, so that helps?! We are doing a day at MK and a day at Epcot and I’m looking forward to it!
A lot of fun packed into one month, right!? And I am determined to stick with the “2 date nights per month” cadence so there will be more.
I don’t know, I don’t want to call this my “Year of Yes” or anything but . . . in some ways it is looking that way. Is it a reaction to my diagnosis (almost exactly one year ago – post on that to come)? Maybe. But also I think it’s the phase of parenting I’m in. I truly do feel like I was patiently waiting for this phase for so long, and now it’s here, and I really do love it as much as I thought I would. I feel super lucky that I am able to do things alone/with friends, with Josh, and with the kids, and ALL of these are fun in different ways.
Is EVERYTHING perfect? No. There are things I definitely don’t blog about, things that are stressful or I worry about or ruminate on. But for the most part, things are as good as I could have hoped.
(I should bookmark this post to read when PMS comes around in a few days!)
23 Comments
You have another fun month ahead of you! The Tiffany concert will be amazing!! What a nostalgic event! While you are having your year of yes, I feel like it’s the year of no for me. I am not choosing the bigger life because it makes my pulse race too much to have too much on the calendar. I am not sure if this is PTSD from the fall incident (which has really lowered my capacity for stress) or the sort of tough re-entry into work travel but I am finding I need less on my calendar. I am still doing fun stuff, but I said no to a college reunion trip next October because I know I travel the following week and I know future Lisa will have a hard time being gone 4/6 days. I am in a slightly different era of parenting with a spicy 5 yo, though. And saying yes to things makes life harder for my husband who is going through a really hard season at work with the death of a senior leader at his company. I feel kind of bad about being in the season of no but it’s what feels right at this time. Good thing I have therapy this am. 🙂
I totally get it!!! There are seasons for lying low and this may be one of them. I hope you can figure out some way to see college friends though at some point – those trip are so much fun and I know you’ve loved doing them in the past!
Yes I do make an effort to do an every other year girls trip with blogger friends. I haven’t done a college trip in probably 20 years, though. The thought of going to a big reunion event was not at all appealing!
As I was sitting in the waiting room waiting for my bone marrow biopsy yesterday in the cancer clinic, I was struck by how sick and frail most — no, all — of the other patients seemed. I am personally terrified about earning less money at 0.6 FTE and have long had difficulty with spending money on vacations and experiences (why is everything so expensive???), but I can always go back up on my FTE, and I will probably never be this healthy or have this much time with my daughter again. So, fully agree with you about saying “yes” more often. I am resolved to chill out a bit and try to roll with things a bit more, including doing regular date nights and maybe even enrolling in a dog agility class for myself once July comes around. Looking forward to hearing how your month goes!
We paid $600 a ticket for our spring break flights from Denver to Orlando which I thought was ridiculous, but $700 from Philadelphia to Orlando is insane. It used to be incredibly cheap to fly to Orlando! We are heading to Universal instead of Disney this trip. Hope you have a great time with your niece at Disney!
I am thinking about having her fly to WPB and picking her up the way, or fly to us. . . but i’m not sure we all fit in one car w the luggage.
YES to all that. I do feel like I’ve heard you talk about more fun things lately (like the PR trip) and that is awesome! You really do only live once (and I’m seeing my parents in their 70s be pretty content NOT doing so much, so I think the time to be active probably is next few decades for the most part. IF lucky to be healthy that long which medical experiences definitely make you wonder about – I totally get it!!!)
As Sarah’s dad, I have to issue a correction to the above blog post: her cousin’s (Danny Wolf’s) height comes (to at least some extent) from OUR side of the family. Danny’s grandmother (my first cousin) is quite tall, as is her son (Danny’s dad). Even Danny’s great grandmother (my aunt) was quite tall for a woman.
ahahah ok. WELL. I clearly did not get any of those genes!!!!
I love your not-quite “Year of Yes.” As the parent of an only child who in second grade, I relate to that deeply. We’ve been anticipating so much for so long in terms of independence, reading, critical thinking and engagement with the bigger world around them. There was so much we couldn’t do, and now it’s like the world of possibilities has opened up and we want to do everything (and are privileged to have a lot of options). We’re going skiing in Colorado in March and to Japan this summer.
P.S. Erica and Kelsey just mentioned Tiffany on their podcast about their personal discographies this week. Tiffany and Vanilla Ice both feature prominently in mine.
omg I LOVED her discography ep!! Tiffany AND the Postal Service!?? Her picks were so good!!
I loved Danny Wolf when he played at Michigan (I’m an alum)!! So cool you’re related!
omg!! Yes! And he’s so young too only 21. Who knows how long his career will last, but it’s fun to watch. I hope I can get a pic with him after the game – working on it!
In our family, Triple F stands for Forced Family Fun. When my three kids (born less than three years apart) were teenagers, a lot of outings were labelled FFF! They are all adults and have a close relationship now, so even though FFF was painful at times (re: three moody teenagers), I hope it worked to strengthen familial relationships. 🙂
have fun at Disney! Have you been looking at the app, meal reservations, how to book ride reservations, etc. or are you more of a go with the flow type? I did a lot of research before going in 2024 and had a great time, but then they changed everything about Lightning Lanes so my knowledge is now useless, lol!
We did book the meal stuff we wanted (1-2 per day) at the 60 day window and got some fun character meals and stuff! Rides we can only do lightning lane 7 days out I think (I’ll check closer). We do try to plan some stuff but are NOT maximizers whatsoever. We don’t rope drop or stay until close! The closest thing we have is an 8:50 character breakfast at MK.
What a fun month coming up – love hearing about your year of yes. My youngest is now 5, and is an “easy” 5 year old in many ways, and he and his 8 year old sister are besties, so we are definitely moving (slowly) into the golden era of parenting. Grateful for that.
Definitely drop the $$$ and pay for lightning lanes during spring break. It really allows you time to enjoy and savor the fun moments because you aren’t stuck in line!
yes def planning to do lightning lanes – just not that crazy upcharge (premier or whatever?) that gets you into everything! that one is beyond my pay grade!
My husband wanted to go to Disney but he waited too long and well now it’s too late.That’s what you get when you don’t plan in advance, yes? I listen to your podcast and he doesn’t. I just bought out tickets to Venice Italy and they were $700 per person. Which is a steal! We will rent a car for the Dolomites are but the rest is train and bus. My kids are old enough to understand that we don’t need a car for whole 24 day trip. We rented a car in France for 28 days and it was quite expensive.
ooh well it all worked out – your long european trips sound amazing!
I just read about new book The 27th Mile about transitioning out of running and thought of you!
https://www.gcp-balance.com/titles/dimity-mcdowell/the-27th-mile/9780306837357/
ooh super interesting – thanks for sending! I will definitely read it!