Mom-cation 2011

So, on Friday, August 12th, around 5 p.m., I said good-bye to the fam and traveled 15 minutes down the highway to the Courtyard Marriott where I had a room reservation for 2 nights. ALL BY MYSELF.

View out window. Close to all sorts of STUFF.

You can bet your bottom that the

do-not-disturb sign went up the minute I got there

First night: LONG shower, shaved (hence the longness of the shower), colored hair, painted toenails, plucked eyebrows, ate some dark chocolate, watched Dinner For Schmucks on HBO (giggle fest), read a little, and took some sleeping pills (which totally didn't work because of the all the caffeine I drank that night and the fact that I'm still recovering from a really bad UTI).


Saturday: Got out of bed around 10, went to a yard sale and then got seriously lost for about an hour (thanks to Pittsburgh detours that just kinda forget about you halfway through the detour), took a 4-hour nap (ahhhhhhhh), visited the new LA Fitness and got a visitor's pass so I could work out, read the paper and people watched in the hotel lobby, ate a Wendy's salad for dinner, saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes in the theater, read a book, and then took another sleep aid. Damn UTI again.

Oh, let's not forget the little "fight" with the hubby...
Hubby: "I told the girls you'd be coming home Sunday morning."
Me: "WHAT?!?"

OMG

Sunday: Took my precious time getting out of bed and packing (checkout was at noon, my ass was out the door at 11:55) and then proceeded to run errands until 3.

I learned a lot...

1. Pussy willows are awesome. Actually, I've always known that...I even have some in my home. I just always forget they're there, which is sad 'cause they're one of my favorite plants. I need to pay attention to and appreciate the small things.


2. I need to stop feeling bad for splurging on nice things every once in a while. So what if we can't pay a few bills this month or have to live on Ramen for the next couple weeks?!? $109/night got me a really nice room and maybe I deserved it. Um, right?

3. I need more friends. I felt lonely at one point and wanted to talk to somebody, anybody, maybe even go out for a drink, but the only number programmed in my phone was the hubby's work number. I had no computer, no facebook, no means of connecting with anyone. I cherished that at many points during my weekend, but when the moment hit that I wanted someone, boy did it suck to realize I didn't have them. I think I need to put myself out there more, make more of an effort to connect with people, stop perseverating on the feeling that I don't fit in anywhere.

4. I apparently have lost the ability to relax. All weekend I worried about what was waiting for me when I returned home. The laundry, the dishes, the dust bunnies, the monotony. I could not clear my mind of it all. I don't quite know how to deal with this one.

5. My Starbucks habit could pay for a gym membership. So, to that end, I have decided to break up with Starbucks and start a gym relationship. I visited 3 gyms with kid klubs, narrowed it down to 2, and plan to drag the kiddos to both of them this-coming week for a trial run and sign the papers by the end of the month. If I quit Starbucks totally, I'll actually be SAVING money by joining a gym. That's some fancy budgeting right there.

6. I love going to the movies by myself. I need to do it more. Perhaps put up a calendar and label one Sunday afternoon per month as Matinée Day.

Did I have a good time? Yes. HOWEVER...I think I went into the weekend with expectations that were way too high. I have to admit that I thought this weekend would fix me. That it would unscramble that part of my head and heart that has felt so funked up lately. That I would have an "ah-ha!" moment, find my patience once again, shed the elephants that seem to be forever roosting on my shoulders, see the chocolate container as being half FULL.

I didn't come away with any of that, but that doesn't mean the weekend was a waste (my god, at $109/night it COULDN'T be!!!). I feel as though my reserves have been filled. Maybe not to the top, but something is better than nothing. I can look back on my weekend and remember some pretty awesome things...the feeling of stretching out on a bed all of my own, the lack of a baby monitor whirring in the background, the novelty of living in a space with no toys or kid paraphernalia littering the floor, the freeness associated with total privacy...


Hopefully those memories can hold me until Mom-cation 2012...