Travelling

About a year ago, Alex and I committed to trying to travel more. As young folk, we were very poor (can we buy a ladle this week? No? Ok, the coffee cup will work for another week... ) We had lots of fun and had dinner parties and went camping a lot. Then we bought a house at 23 and poured all our energy and spare money into renovating it. After that, we had kids. No time, no money, no energy.

So, here we are. We work like crazed people at the Bistro all the time. Most people don't know that we start dealing with stuff from home by about 9 am and usually don't leave work until midnight. I stay home with the kids during the day and we have our adventures in homeschooling. Generally life is very full and we really felt it was time to start travelling. It seems like a good way to unplug and recharge our batteries. Also, about two years ago, we figured out that our kids are fantastic travellers and they are all game for an adventure.

In the past year, we've been to Montreal, Toronto with the kids, Toronto without the kids, Vancouver with the kids (we are avid air miles collectors now!) This week, Alex and I are in Napa Valley and San Francisco. This trip was a gift from both our families to Alex for his fortieth birthday. We have talked about this trip, fantasized about this trip, since we were 18 years old. And now we are here!

Of course, all trips come with hiccups: our flight was delayed out of Calgary so we missed a bunch of stuff that we wanted to do in San Francisco yesterday. And, they lost my luggage. Which has meant not only am I without my things, we had to waste valuable time yesterday shopping for socks and underwear and a toothbrush for me. But we are here! And today we are going to go on 3 VIP wine tours that TIna Jones from Banville & Jones organized for us. I am just in awe of this whole experience. I plan to try to chronicle it as we go. But, who knows, I may just be eaten up by the moment.

I am very grateful that Alex and I have shifted away from buying things for each other and toward creating experiences. It also seems to be rubbing off on our kids: our son asked that no one give him any gifts for his birthday or Christmas. He asked for people to donate money instead. As a family, we decided to also pool our resources to send him on a trip to Vancouver to see his cousin and his buddy. I hope he has the adventure of a life time.

No fucking balance. None. A mess; that is me. I'll figure it out tomorrow because I cannot stand to me a weeping pile of yuckiness anymore today. I am taking a bath and sleeping.

Some days I wake up certain that I can accomplish anything. I bound out of bed (well, that might be a slight exaggeration), I grab coffee, make lists, organize, activate, enact my life. It's a great feeling!

Today, I woke up feeling anxious. I live my life mainly based on intuition and I really despise the anxious days. I know something is coming and I haven't found out what it is yet. I can rationalize that I am tired and the folk fest hangover has hit but part of me knows something weird is coming. sigh. Well, not much I can do but carry on and find out what it's going to be.

On the positive side, after running and doing free weights yesterday, I also cycled 12k. Slowest cycle ever on the way home. Some guy on his girlfriend's clearly-too-small-by-at-least-3-sizes granny bike passed me!

Today, kids to dentist, party planning, camp packing, cycling, bistro-ing, maybe running? Running definitely alleviates the anxiety.

Another blog? Really?

It seems that I like to write as a means of processing life. I have another blog here: bistrogal725 which is mostly about my life at Bistro 7 1/4 and as a restaurant owner. I have realized though that there is more to my life that I need to sort out and this is a great medium for me.

Three years ago, I was asked if I was pregnant one too many times and felt hurt and frustrated by my body. I was also going through a terribly emotional time in my personal life and experiencing an enormous amount of change, leaving my work as a therapist and moving into full-time restaurant worker/owner. I decided I needed to do something about my body. I bought Bob Greene "The Best Life Diet" and took the project on. I started running and I renewed my relationship with the gym. I shed 50lbs and felt like a million bucks.

Here I am, three years later and 20lbs have crept back on, I have a foot injury, and I have discovered that I prefer a glass of wine to going to bed at a reasonable time and getting up to go to the gym. I have a million reasons for not excercising: I own a busy restaurant, I homeschool 3 kids, I am in negotiations around new projects and I run the folk festival kitchen. The biggest excuse I have is my hubby! Our relationship hit the skids in a terrible way last year, to the point that we discussed separation and divorce, but instead we found a different path and have fallen madly, deeply in love again. So, I just want to do fun things with him! We go on dates and goof around and plot and dream a lot. Way more fun than working out by myself. My husband and I cycle home from work together but other than that, we don't work out together. We also feel sometimes that at least one of us should be home with the kids if at all possible and working out feels like a luxury. In the end, a lot of inertia ensues.

All of this unfolding of situation has led me to write. I feel that if I engage this process through words that I may in fact create some accountability and internal change for myself. I don't yet know what this looks like but I am looking forward to sorting it out. For today, it meant, writing a blog, running for 3k (baby run! mentally difficult) and doing some free weights.