Family - Pocketful of Joules

Officially Giving up on Trying to Be Cool

I’ve always been a bit of a dork about home decorating. I love collecting magazines and catalogues (especially West Elm, Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn) and am totally addicted to a few decorating blogs out there. I have a very particular aesthetic and I need things to be homey and soft so that you feel comfortable kicking off your shoes and snuggling.

I don’t like to just buy everything at one store though and tend to search around for awesome deals as they pop up. I also love to DIY my own projects – whether it be refinishing a side table from Goodwill or sewing pillows out of fancy napkins.

Although I’ve allowed myself to purchase and create a few things for the baby’s room, I’ve really held off on buying anything new for our house since we weren’t really sure where we would land. Not knowing the size of a future family room, means that it’s pretty stupid to spend time looking for that perfect ottoman.

Well, now that moving into our new home has become a reality, I’ve really stepped up to the next level of crazy and have gone into full-on decorating mode.

It might be partially because I’ve held off for so long, or it could be magnified by that pregnancy nesting thing, but I have been completely and totally fixated on our new house since the moment I first saw it (and took about 100 pictures).

My first obsession was to find the perfect rug for our new den. Now a normal person would look around to find a rug they liked, buy it and be done with the whole thing. Yeah, not me.

I found a rug that I LOVED on the West Elm website, however it was $250 which I felt was a bit much to pay for something you’re going to be walking on. I then spent a ridiculous amount of time on the internet searching for similar rugs. I mean hours upon hours of searching. On top of that, I made my husband go with me to outlets an hour away to check and see if they had anything we liked. I could think of nothing except my obsession for finding this perfect rug.

This isn’t normal, right?

Anyways, I finally found one that I loved almost as much as the original and it was only $120 with free shipping. So I ordered it, it came within a week or so, and I love it so much I want to kiss it and hug it and make sweet baby rugs with it (which I guess would be doormats…).

So, onto the next obsession – a really comfortable chair that will sit on this rug. In my imagination, I wanted an oversized leather “library-type” chair that I could snuggle up in to drink a cup of hot chocolate in front of the fireplace. Everything I found online was so expensive, I just couldn’t justify spending that much money on just a chair. Finally, my husband and I went to a local store to check out their clearance center and holiday weekend sales. We probably sat on 50 different chairs (which is really difficult when you need someone’s help to get up each time) and found one that we both loved.

And it’s a recliner.

Yes, a recliner. Now, when I think of a recliner I think of my grandparent’s house. Everyone likes to sit on a recliner because it’s really comfy, but it’s so freaking ugly that you wouldn’t really want one in your own house. It’s like the moment that you give up and choose comfort over fashion.

Have I really reached this point? Should I pack away my high heels, get out an old scunchy and never bother with makeup again?

Now, granted this recliner is actually quite attractive – it’s big and fluffy and made out of black leather. I kind of love it, especially when I wake up in the middle of the night with bad acid reflux and need to fall asleep somewhere half-sitting up.

However, I still felt like I’d waddled past the sign that says “Over the Hill” into the “I Don’t Care Anymore” territory.

Well, I felt that way until I walked into the living room yesterday and saw my husband reclined in the chair with our dog lying on his stomach.

In that instant, I didn’t care anymore about whether a recliner was cool or not. All I could think was that in a few months my husband is going to be dozing in that chair with our baby on his chest. Not long after that, our baby will be a toddler and he’ll sit on our laps while we read him his bedtime story. A few years later, he may sit there all by himself… maybe with Potter beside him.

So, if I’ve officially taken my ‘old card’ by purchasing a comfy and not-so-cool recliner, I don’t care. Because I guess I AM kind of old now… I’m going to be somebody’s mother. And that’s scarier than all the scrunchies in the world.*

* Well, scary and awesome and terrifying all at the same time.

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The Yea & Nay of Our Caribbean Cruise

As I previously mentioned, my husband and I went away for a last minute vacation cruise right after Thanksgiving.

After a super stressful Fall, we were looking forward to the chance to get away before the beginning of the crazy holiday season. The fact that we were limited on when we could travel due to my pregnancy (they will not allow you to cruise after 24 weeks), meant we had to jump on the cruise train – um, boat – as quickly as we could.

So, although we were self proclaimed Royal Caribbean snobs, we decided to take a chance on a 7 day Carnival cruise to the Western Caribbean. The price was right, the timing was right, so we went for it.

All in all, our vacation was awesome! We had plenty of time to relax, hang out with each other and eat a ton of food. The food was especially great because I could totally blame any weight gain on the baby having a growth spurt!

The Yea

The customer service was excellent! Everyone from the room stewards to the servers at dinner really made you feel welcome and as if they really did love their jobs. As a customer, it is so nice to have positive people around you who are actually disappointed when you don’t order more than one dessert.

Two of our stops were absolutely gorgeous – Belize and Isla Roatan in the Honduras islands. We went on a jungle hike in Belize and then floated down the river for our cave tubing excursion.

In Honduras, we took a chair lift (just like the kind you use to go skiing) to the beach and enjoyed the clear water and warm sand. There was nothing I would have changed about either of those days, they were perfect!

palm tree — The view from my lounge chair in Honduras

My husband is awesome. Not to brag (okay, just a little), but I really chose wisely when I married Travis. By the end of each day my mouth hurt from smiling and laughing so much. The chance to spend 7 uninterrupted days with him was priceless.

Me and T — Travis & Me before our cave tubing adventure in Belize

Did I mention the food? The last time I cruised on Carnival I remember thinking that Royal Caribbean’s food was so much better. Not this time, there were tons of buffet options, delicious FREE room service and amazing dinners each night. The fact that it was all included in our original price was even better, because you could order what you want and not what you felt like you could afford.

The Nay

The weather. As much as you’d like the weather to be perfect and sunny for your entire vacation, sometimes that just doesn’t happen. On this trip, we had a couple rainy days. On our stop to Cozumel, Mexico it was so overcast that we abandoned our plan of going to the beach and just did some exploring and guacamole-eating in a fun bar. Of course, the positive side of this is I’m pretty sure that this is the first vacation in my entire life where I didn’t end up with random sunburn.

The rocking ship was not awesome. I don’t know if it was due to the time of year we cruised, our itinerary, or the weather, but our ship was rocking like a teenager’s car at Makeout Point. I pride myself on my stomach of steel and have never, ever gotten seasick. Unfortunately that streak is now broken due to a ship that rocked so hard that the pool was sloshing onto the deck and our room was creaking. Travis was feeling a bit green too, but it was pretty much under control with some seasickness pills. I’m going to blame my seasickness on the baby, perhaps he’s seasick, not me…

The flight home was AWFUL! My husband is 6’4” and flying is typically pretty uncomfortable for him, so I usually take the middle seat to give him a little more room to stretch out in the window or aisle seat. The flight to Miami was so cramped that we decided to upgrade to first class on the way back, but it was full so we resigned ourselves to a slightly cramped ride back.

This would have been totally fine, if the person who sat down on the other side of me wasn’t a 350ish pound man. He literally overflowed from his seat, over my arm rest into my area. Once he sat down, my left arm was pinned and I couldn’t move it to lift a drink to my mouth or turn the page of my Sky Mall magazine. He was so large that he couldn’t put down the little tray in front of him, so he balanced his family-sized boxes of Pizza Hut wings and cheese breadsticks on his stomach and then proceeded to eat every one of them within about 6 inches of my face.

Now I’ve been pretty lucky with my lack of morning sickness until this point, but I truly thought that I was going to hurl. I can not believe that the airline did not require him to purchase two seats. The moral of this story is that we are definitely splurging on business class tickets next time we fly!

So the trip was totally worthwhile and we would definitely do it again with the one change of upgrading our flight. Oh yeah, and a little extra for the “Yay” column:

While in my post-vacation haste to do laundry, I accidentally threw a few pairs of clean, coupled socks into the washer and then dryer. So when I was folding the load of laundry later that evening it was as if happy little laundry ninjas* had started folding for me. While appreciated, I’d really like them to finish what they started and do the whole load…

*These are apparently the opposite of those douchy sock stealers who live in the dryer.

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All Packed Up & Ready to Relax

My bags are packed (mostly) and all that is left is for us to eat some Thanksgiving leftovers for dinner, have a good night of sleep and drive to the airport in the morning.

The last three weeks of unemployment have been much busier than anticipated. Every single day I’ve had a long ‘to do’ list of stuff – from freelance jobs to grocery shopping. However, starting tomorrow when I step onto that cruise ship I am doing absolutely NOTHING but relaxing.

For anyone who knows me, I’m sure you are not even a little bit surprised that we’re going on vacation. Vacations are my weakness and I love getting away to someplace new, or even better, someplace sunny with turquoise blue water and clean, white sand.

What may surprise you is the fact that we decided to spend the money on a vacation when I’m unemployed and pregnant.

Believe me; I really, really love to look at money just sitting in my savings account. Oooh, or even more, I love adding money to my savings account. It’s like my little safety net that allows me to sleep at night without waking up and hyperventilating that we’re going to be homeless and hungry.

So, why on earth would we decide to purchase a 7 day cruise to the Caribbean? Well, a bunch of reasons actually.

First off, if you’ve been reading this blog you know that we’ve had a really stressful few months. Finding out that I was going to lose my job of more than 6 years was a real bummer. Selling our house was pretty awesome, but packing up and moving within 60 days was pretty crazy. Add on top of that the fact that I’m preggo and you’ve got a ball of super-stress going on in my body.

My husband has been going through everything with me (even some of the pregnancy symptoms…hmmm…), on top of working 6 days a week. We haven’t even had a chance to see much of each other, and we’re those crazy kinds of people where we really LIKE each other and want to hang out.

So stress is definitely the top reason that we decided to go away for a week. However, this is also pretty much our last chance to get away before our baby is born. Most cruise lines won’t even allow a pregnant woman to cruise after her 24^th week, and I’ll hit the 21 week marker while we’re on our trip.

Lastly, that freelance work I mentioned pays really well. On top of that, we even got a couple unexpected checks back after the sale of our house. So instead of adding that money to our savings account like a demented squirrel hiding away nuts, we decided to get a little crazy and actually spend it.

Oh yeah, there is one more reason I’m not freaking out about spending money on a vacation right now. I got a job that starts up the Monday after we get back. And not just a job like, “oh, it’s work and it pays money, so I’ll take it”. I mean a JOB that I’m super excited about and can not wait to start! I’ve been holding back on mentioning it until I get my written offer (which will be coming next week while I’m sunning myself on the beach), but since I have a start date I feel pretty secure in announcing the awesome news. I’ll share more info when I return.

The moral of the story is that sometimes you need to just give yourself a break.

If vacations are your crack, go for it. If buying a new transmission for your race car and ripping the thing apart is your thing, have at it*. We’re only on this earth once and sometimes the best choice is the one that will make you happy. The funny thing is, I planned this trip a few weeks before I knew I’d be coming back to a job. In fact, I was prepared to go with the worst-case scenario of not working until after the baby is born. So, this is proof that things really DO happen for a reason.

With the holiday season coming up, most of us get stressed out with the shear magnitude of tasks that need to get completed on top of everyday life. So, I’m giving you permission to go and do something for yourself with the sole reason of making yourself happy.

*Pretty much the only reason I feel comfortable using this example is because my husband does not read my blog. Otherwise, he would come straight to me from the computer and jump up and down with excitement that he’s getting a new transmission.

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