Vacation Blues – I’m entering the second half of my vacation and I have a bit of the blues. I think that is totally normal but I still have to grapple with the feelings about going back to work. This year, I’ve been able to relax more on vacation, at least mentally, because I’m still pretty new to my job and haven’t gotten fully immersed yet. I can recall having some work related issues coming up on past years which required me to engage at work a little. This year, I’ve been pretty disconnected except I did return a work email today. Hopefully it doesn’t trigger more emails. My last employer was a little more high intensity and it was common for people to send and receive emails on vacation, which I disliked. I was encouraged this year to disconnect which I’ve mostly done. Last year, we stayed a couple of extra days because my employer allowed us to work remotely. It was great to not have to rush home and deal with weekend trafffic, but the kids were bored and pent up and it took the magic away a little. It was great to spend a solid 2 weeks at the beach, and in some respects fulfilled a lifelong dream to find a way to live and work at the beach. I guess I felt like I missed out a little as a teenager by not living and working at the beach for the summer like many of my peers. I was always at home working jobs I felt paid better or had a boyfriend or needed to take summer classes. All this to say it’s been great to come to beach and slow down a bit and not be totally focused on work and getting the kids to where they need to go. We didn’t get to come down in June and most of July because of summer swim team and calendar conflicts. We are planning to come back to Ocean City for Labor Day weekend. We still have quite a bucket list so it feels like the right thing to do.
Nails – I got my nails done today. I was very overdue. In fact, it had been almost a month. I took a two-year pause form getting my nails done regularly during the pandemic. This was mainly due to nail salons closing for about 2 months but I was relieved to stop paying the regular tab for stylish nails. The costs can add up! I worked from home for 2 years and 2 months after the pandemic and did not see the point in getting my nails done when I wasn’t seeing anyone regularly. Now that I am back to work in the office, I like to have colorful, manicured nails but I was hesitant to get back in the nail salon cycle.It is still really tough for me to escape kids and responsibilities to sit at a nail salon for a hour. I also hate the regular expense. With tip, it probably costs $100+ a month. I try to only get a few pedicures a year excuse I’d try extra time and money it takes to keep up with the toes. I went with a pretty hot pink color. The person that painted my nails was really nice. He was a young guy from Kathmandu in Nepal who is studying in the United States. I also painted Farah and Kendall’s nails when I got back.
Ice Skating – It seems a little off-season to go ice skating in August but the kids like to go to the ice rink at the Carousel Hotel when it is cloudy and rainy. At $10 each for skate rentals and rink time, it seemed like a steal in 2022 pricing terms. We like to ice skate at the Inner Harbor in the winter so this will be a good warmup for when the rink opens at Thanksgiving time. Loren wasn’t too into it today and Kendall was a little timid but Farah have it a few good spins. Even John took a few laps around the little rink. Conditions were a little slushie but it was pretty close to closing time so that could have been a factor. I set about learning to skate about 2 years ago so I would be useful to the kids when they needed help. Plus, it’s something active to do during boring Baltimore winters.
Vegan Maryland Potato Salad – I whipped up some potato salad super quickly today. Here is how I prepared it:
- 2 red potatoes, cooked and chopped
- 1 stalk of celery
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 1 TBSP chopped pickles
- 2 TBSP Vegan Mayonaise
- 1 tsp yellow mustard
- 2 TBSP – red wine vinegar
- Old Bay seasoning to taste
- Mix! Chill!Serve!
Old Blog – I thought my first blog, A Couple of Cooks, was lost in an internet void but “Johnnycakes” dug it out to show my mom. I wish I would have kept it going all these years. Happy reading! http://coupleofcooks.blogspot.com/?m=1
Charm Citizen 
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