Love to Travel, Hate to Pack

I love to travel. There is something intoxicating about discovering new places and seeing parts of the world most only read about. 

Tomorrow my kids and I head to the land where democracy, the Olympic Games, philosophy, math, science and drama were born. We will be able to enjoy sun, sand and explore Mt. Olympus, mythical home of the Greek gods.  And I am looking forward to every second of this adventure. 

What I DON'T love is the pre-travel crap that needs to get done before I lock my front door and embark on my journey.  

This past month has proved to be busier than most. On top of all the regular running around, there were a few more items that I added to my schedule. As you read in a previous post, I had decided to redecorate my bedroom. This entailed moving things around, purging and moving furniture. The last item in the big overhaul is painting one more dresser, which will be completed today. I have resigned myself to the fact that the finishing touches will have to wait until I return. 

My day job has been quite busy also. I have tried to cram 2 months work into 1 month to ensure there is no lapse in momentum. Montreal and Chicago were also added to my agenda as meetings were booked. There was a point where I thought I wouldn't get it all done but I prevailed and everything should run smoothly while I am away *crossesfingers*

The best part of being a mom are the last minute requests that are thrown at your perfectly scheduled time management plan. This week, in my mind, was supposed to be filled with finishing up laundry, packing, cleaning the house - you know crossing all the T's and dotting all the I's. As the saying goes, the best laid out plans... Monday night at 9pm I heard the frantic cry of "Mom, I need a fruit platter for tomorrow!"  So I shut down the computer and off I trekked to the grocery store.  Wednesday night, the only night where there are no activities, had been booked to take my daughter to a punk rock concert. What was I thinking? It was a school night, the weather was uncooperative and it was LOUD. I sat through 4 hours of musical "bliss", feeling the beat of the music pound in my ears and chest and mentally going through all the stuff I still had to get done before Sunday. Friday night was the annual "End of Year School Bash" at a friend's house that I completely forgot about.

And so where does all this leave me? Well it's Saturday afternoon and I'm still not packed. Our plane leaves in less than 24 hours and I am still pondering if I should buy a bigger suitcase. My laundry is still drying with items that need to find their way into my luggage. And I'm sitting at the tennis courts watching my kids finish their lesson and writing this post. 

Will I get it all done? The stuff I need to do - yes. Everything else?

I. DON'T. CARE. 

I'm officially on vacation. 

See you in a couple of weeks with stories of turquoise water, ancient ruins and hopefully a steamy tale of a handsome Greek tycoon!

Taking Back Control

By nature I am a person who likes to stay busy but somehow in the past little while the busy has taken over. Life is coming at me in all directions. Usually I would be absolutely giddy with excitement and tingling all over knowing that things were happening but not so much lately. Somewhere in the middle of doing all the things I must do, I lost control and bedlam set in. Well, guess what?

I. WANT. CONTROL. BACK.

Perhaps it is time to slow down, after all, the spring in my step is becoming more of a 5lb weight. The problem is I don't want to slow down. I want to stay busy. Whether it is writing or redecorating or travelling the globe, even tackling obstacles in my day job, I thrive on momentum. It is like being on a bicycle, finally getting your stride and feeling the wind brush against your flushed cheeks and the sun kissing your skin. It is a feeling of possibilities. I love being on that metaphoric bike, pedalling up and down the hills and valleys of my life. It makes me feel alive.

Unfortunately, I was pedalling a bit to fast and one of my feet has slipped. So what to do? It is always difficult to just place your foot on the pedal and continue at the speed at which you were travelling. You have to reset. And that is what I am going to do. Lucky for me this slip of the foot has happened right before a wonderfully planned vacation. I leave for Greece in a few weeks and this is the perfect reset. In the meantime, I have become the Queen of the To Do list.

There is a household list on my fridge - wash the floor, pick up dog food, move boxes to storage, pick up wood glue and clamp, finish painting and so on. Then there is the work list - prepare budget, do mid year review, send out sales materials, pack from upcoming business trip, you get the gist? The kid list is composed of enrol kids for tennis lessons, look at summer swim lessons, buy birthday gift for upcoming friends birthdays, take the boy for a haircut. And finally there is the personal list and this is the one that most often gets pushed aside and probably is the one that is most important for that regeneration of the soul. This list includes: book a massage, get to the gym, eat breakfast and lunch (something I don't normally do, bad Audrey!), get a mani/pedi, take a bath, finish reading my book, write another chapter of my book, read blogs, write post for my blog, go out with the girls for dinner and some beverages and maybe, just maybe, go out on a date!

Why does that final list get pushed aside first? This is the list that is supposed to help keep my feet on those pedals at all times. These are the things that make me catch my breath even if it is for one smidgen of a second. All of these help me stay in control of my life by allowing me to take care of me. Yet I don't. I could sit here and say that starting tomorrow I am going to get up early and go to the gym. But I won't because I will have gone to bed late doing all the items on the first three lists. I could say that I am going to soak in a tub after the kids fall asleep but chances are I will drift off into a happy slumber sitting on the sofa before that happens. I will open my book tonight but, again, I won't read more than a page because I will fall asleep before I get to the end of that page.

Ask me how many of the other lists have items crossed off? All of them. Funny how we work.

BUT...I can cross something off my personal list today because I posted something on my blog *doeshappydance*

Talk to me! Do you make lists for everything you do? How successful are you at completing them?