Category: Lifestyle Design

My Vacation Recovery

Hey there, friends! As I posted last week on my Instagram page, I didn’t release a blog post last Friday because I was on vacation. I didn’t want the hassle and stress of trying to release a blog post on vacation. So I didn’t! It was freeing.

What I did do was decide to take a recovery day on the tail end of my vacation. I had great intentions to write a complete blog post on that day, to be able to release it today as usual. However, the universe had other plans in mind. So today, I bring you instead a short blog post with some pictures from our vacation and some musings on my first experience with a “vacation recovery day.” Because that’s all I’ve got in me this week. And I’m letting that be ok. I hope you enjoy!

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What Did You Love To Do As A Kid?

Whenever I’m in a situation where I’m explaining to someone that I plan to (sooner rather than later) downshift when it comes to work, they are immediately baffled. Almost every time, without fail, I get some version of the same question: “but what would you do with yourself if you weren’t working?!”

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Letting Go Of Perfection

Can you believe it’s already February?! Where did January even go? I hope everyone’s February is off to a good start!

Since the start of the New Year, I’ve been writing a lot on the blog about my goal process and how I reflect on goals from the previous year before I set new ones. Because of this, I’ve found myself reflecting on my journey with perfection: how it has affected me, how it’s changed, and how it’s made me who I am.

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This Year I’m Prioritizing Friends and Family

Ah, January. A long month with 5 whole weekends in it. The month right after the holiday season. Some may think of it as a let-down month. Others may subscribe to the Blue Monday way of thinking (did anyone else not hear about Blue Monday until this year?). And even others yet may be so focused on their New Year’s Resolutions that they don’t have time to be down. For sure, January is one of the harder months for me, especially living up in cold, dark Vermont at this time of year. And although I’ve never gotten into setting resolutions, I do set yearly goals, and I just happen to do them in January or late December because that’s when I find I have the most time to reflect. With a busy holiday season, this year I got to setting my goals a bit late, and I was surprised by what I discovered.

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Harness The Power Of Enough

Well, I had planned to post this last Friday, like I always do, but the Vermont winter weather had other plans. Although we only lost power twice for 30 minutes each (many of our friends and neighbors were without power until Christmas Day!), we did lose cable and internet, and hadn’t gotten it back by the time we left for a mini vacation to Portland, Maine. So, I’m posting this now with some free hotel Wi-Fi. Such is life, right? We roll with the punches.

When I had originally planned to post this, Christmas was arriving in two days (for those who celebrate), and the blanket term “holiday season” was officially upon us (doesn’t it seem to get longer and longer each year?!). I wanted to bring you this short post with some musings for you to ponder (or not, my feelings totally won’t be hurt) on what is “enough”. This holiday season, I’ve been thinking a lot about this concept, and how we can harness it on our FI (financial independence) journeys.

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Dare To Say No

As we push past Thanksgiving (in the US) and go barreling into the Christmas season, many of us will be thrown into social obligations and situations with friends, family, and loved ones. Some events we look forward to, others we may not. It can be mentally and physically exhausting to do all the things, fulfill all the responsibilities, and still stay true to ourselves. When we got back from our time away last week for Thanksgiving, Mr. Dink told me it was his favorite one ever in his life. I told him that I wasn’t surprised. Because for the first time in our adult, married lives, we did exactly what we wanted to do for the holidays. And not only that, but we did it without any guilt. We said no to the things we didn’t want to do, and yes to the things that spoke to our hearts.

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The Best Thing You Can Buy With Your Money

If you’ve been reading the blog, you know that I’m still working away in my 9-5, with plans to downshift to part-time work as I gain more financial freedom. Instead of the traditional path to financial independence (FI), where you hustle your way to more income and grind away in your day job until you have 25x your yearly expenses, I’m taking more of a slow FI path so that I can enjoy life along the way. I’ve designed my days in such a way that I really am enjoying the journey, but there’s still room for improvement. It’s still not perfect. The main thing I daydream about in my 9-5 is having more time. More time to do more of the things I love to do, that make me feel alive. Time, my friends, is the thing I’m saving up all my money for.

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Everything Is Better At Home

Last week, I traveled via plane for the first time since COVID-19 hit our globe. It was time. I had avoided it for so long, mostly just because I didn’t want to deal with the extra hassle I assumed COVID had brought to travel. But I wanted to go to a work conference in Denver, and when my company supported it and said they would pay for me to go, I decided to go for it. I’m so glad that I went, but upon reflection after returning, I keep coming back to this whispering feeling: everything is better at home.

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Meal Planning, Grocery Shopping, and Hannaford Rewards, Oh My!

When friends and family find out that Mr. Dink and I cook 95% of our meals at home, we get a lot of wide-eyed stares. We LOVE to treat ourselves occasionally to a fancy dinner out, but eating out for us is rare and typically for a special occasion or celebrating small wins (and we like it that way).

Even though the numbers are down from pre-pandemic levels, a new survey shows that 7% of people eat out an average of 4 days per week, 16% 3 days per week, and 44% one day per week. No judgement at all, and by all means, if you have the money to afford this and eating out truly brings you joy, you do you. But if you’re looking to decrease your eating-out habits (whether for monetary, health, or other reasons), I’m hoping that sharing our process of how we plan and shop for meals with you today might give you a little inspiration!

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Is It Time To Get Rid Of Expectations?

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about expectations. How we all have them. How unhelpful they are. How Buddhist thought says they are a major cause of human suffering. How they relate to my financial independence journey. We are all littered with expectations every day. But how does that go for us? If expectations are met, we are left feeling happy and fulfilled. But if our expectations aren’t met, which so often is the case (because, let’s be honest, usually we have no control over this), we are left feeling at best empty and sad and at worst resentful or even depressed. So, what’s the point? Is it time to get rid of expectations for good?

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