The Joys of PTO

As you may have noticed I haven't posted in a while! I was enjoying some much-needed R&R on vacation with my husband! We soaked up the sunshine (through our SPF 30, of course), and basked in the glory of sleeping late, having a beer with lunch, and I personally plowed through 3 beach-reads! It was a great trip. You know how management always says to "recharge your battery"? This vacation truly felt like that for me. Before I left I was wound so tight at work that I just couldn't relax, and the slightest rumble from a client sent me reeling into anxiety and frustration.

My first Monday back was great - I checked my emails, only 4 voicemails (!!), and touched base with coworkers covering my accounts in my absence. No disasters, no catastrophes, it's what you want to come back to! I actually felt excited to dive back in... but from a more relaxed angle this time. I'm trying to not let the little things get to me - which is tough when you want to do the best job you can - because things are going to go wrong.

Another thing that helped - we scheduled our vacation perfectly - we were gone for the whole week. We bookended our trip with a weekend on each side. That really cut down on all that last-minute-trip stress right before you leave. I was able to focus on wrapping up work before I left - and didn't even give a thought to packing or anything until I left work that Friday afternoon. Then, having a weekend on the other end was perfect timing. I don't know about you - but I always feel like I need a vacation to relax from the vacation! Having a weekend buffer before going back to the real world was ideal! We had two days to catch up on the big household tasks, grocery shop, unpack, do laundry and take a few naps, too!

In honor of being back to work - I think it's time for vacation Rants & Raves! I'll start with the raves... so I can end on a positive note :)

Rants

* We went budget on our hotel... and while it was a very nice place, it's not what we're used to.

* When hotels are U-shaped and all the balconies face the pool. People have no concept of volume control!

* The hotel had "complimentary" valet parking - which really meant "mandatory" to them! It was the weirdest thing. It was not a big parking lot - we're talking at most, 20 steps to the front door. So we never used the valet. They started roping off huge sections of the parking lot leaving only a handful self-park spots available. So we just drove around and parked in the valet section. The valet guy actually ran out to our car as we were getting out and told us we had to go back and he had to park it for us. Seriously? You're not a 5 star resort... the jig is up.

* Sunburned scalp. Next time I go on vacation, remind me to spray SFP along my part.... Ouch!

* Florida Tollway System. In the probably 10-12 mile drive to the airport - we passed at least three $1 tolls each way! Thats ridiculous. (And this from a Chicagoan!)

Raves

* Disney World really is the happiest place on Earth!

* I couldn't help but notice their level of customer service. Every single staff member I saw was smiling, cheerful, and looked absolutely thrilled to be doing whatever they happened to be doing. Even the people emptying trash, directing foot-traffic around the parade... you can't help but get goose bumps :)

* Space Mountain... enough said!

* Listening to little kids experience their first flight. The squeals and cheers at take off & landing were priceless!

* Funny Flight Attendants. When they can work little jokes into their safety speeches - it just makes everything more fun.

* Sitting at the pool with a good book.

* SUNSHINE!!!