the giraffe life

Time for a goals update! Financial   •  Save $300 per pay  - Yes! Easiest goal ever because this was automatically deducted from my paychecks! Personal   •  Attend more than 67 yoga classes  - Nope! I stopped attending yoga classes in June because I was modifying so many of the poses to accommodate my growing belly that it seemed silly to pay to take a class that I wasn't fully participating in. I couldn't find any local prenatal classes so I switched to DVDs from the library until the very end when just cooking dinner felt like a work out. How do pregnant women who already have children do it?? •  Read 52 books  - Yep, a total of 70 . It was a banner year for reading actually, considering almost all those books were read before September. Now baby girl and I listen to audiobooks (electronically downloaded from the library to my cell phone) during some daytime nursing sessions when I want to read something. Plus I read a kids book to...

Sunrise on Sunday Mr. G and I decided to go on one last little trip before the baby arrives (called a babymoon around here) so we drove to the beach on Saturday morning, stayed the night, and then came home Sunday evening. It was the perfect short break from work and getting things ready around the house. We spent a lot of time walking and talking, and of course ate way too much like we always do on vacation, haha!  The weather was perfect, sunny and in the 70s (about 22-24° C). The ocean was chilly but it felt good to my hot pregnant body (I've never been a warm person until this pregnancy) and I was happy to get another wear out of my maternity swim suit!  A little less than 6 weeks til my due date! Crazy to think that on our next beach trip we'll have a baby in tow! Are babymoons common where you live?

We've returned from our trip to St. Michaels!  The weather was a warm, comfortable temperature for the whole visit, but there were some wild thunderstorms and a little flooding. To be expected this close to the water, I suppose? Many of the roads had ditches cut beside them to hold excess water and runoff so the sidewalks and roads were in good shape again pretty quick.  Most of our time in St. Michaels was spent walking around town. There are a ton of cute shops (we saw one with handmade three-dimensional wooden maps of various coastlines around the world) and lots of places to eat. I was impressed that one of the restaurants, Ava's Pizzeria , even offered a vegan cheese and veggie pizza! We spent a lot of time in the water too, since our B & B had a great pool. They also upgraded our room to a suite with a soaker tub next to the bed. It was awesome! I've never used one, but my pregnant self loved all the space and how light I felt. Super relaxing! ...

Back in February, I mentioned that Mr. G and I had started considering locations for our anniversary trip in June. In years past, we've vacationed in Daytona Beach and California .  After finding out I was pregnant though, we decided to pick somewhere within driving distance. Not only will it be cheaper, but it's good for peace of mind because the thought of flying makes me a little uneasy. (I had to take a ferry ride for work a few weeks ago and it couldn't end fast enough.)  Coincidently, one of my friends at work was raving about her vacation last year and how she can't wait to go back this year. Of course my ears pricked up and I asked her a million questions, then brought home her suggestion to Mr. G, who loved it. We've booked our stay in June to  St. Michaels, Maryland  - a small town on the bay.  We're excited! They have walking trails along the water, lots of seafood for Mr. G, museums, kayaking tours, and the place we're staying has a pool...

Yay Groundhog Day! Groundhog Day isn't a holiday with a festive greeting like Christmas, or even a special food. It's just an excuse to discuss the weather and hope for an early spring. But it was always at least a guarantee of a coloring page or arts and crafts project at school and that makes it a good day in my book. (Maybe one day Mr. G and I will go see the official groundhog in Punxsutawney.) Today I'm at work as usual but dreaming of spring, and even better, summer! Yesterday I bought a new pair of swimsuit bottoms from Hurley , a company that was everywhere in California last year. And one step further, Mr. G and I are going to start planning our annual June anniversary trip. We're considering lots of places, but leaning toward the Caribbean or maybe Colorado? How's your Monday going?

2015! It feels like a good, round number for some reason. I'm excited to share my goals for this year - a couple familiar carry overs and some new ones. Financial   • Save $300 per pay - Continued from last year . And to make it easier, I'm having it automatically deducted from my paychecks.  Personal   • Attend more than 67 yoga classes - Super random number, right? Last year I attended about 67 yoga classes (can't be 100% sure because I didn't start keeping track until late July) so I just want to beat my previous record. I'm going to use this daily goal calendar  - black Xs on days I do any kind of exercise (probably a walk), purple Xs for yoga, and left blank for no exercise. This method is quick and very visual so I think it'll work for me.  from the make29 shop • Read 52 books - A book a week (or so). Aiming for 50 books pushes me to make reading a priority without pressuring me to choose short books to inflate my numbers. So I just ...

Side note: Thank you so, so much for your comments last week. I truly appreciate all the love and kindness - it warmed my heart. Mr. G and I visited NYC over the weekend. We are lucky to live close enough to make day trips there by bus. In the past, we've taken some very early buses. But getting up at 3:30 in the morning is AWFUL and the sleep deprivation makes me hungry (and a little cranky) all day. Not worth it.  This year we took a later bus and didn't get into the city until 11. We had a little less time but I felt like a normal human all day! Three cheers for sleep :) The bus let us off at Radio City Music Hall, so we decided to visit Central Park first. Central Park holds a special place in my heart because that's where we got engaged (on another November day trip). Mr. G tricked me into standing on this rock with him to take a picture and then when we got up there, he proposed :) After our trip down memory lane, we walked to Doughnut Plant , home of the C...

Do buy souvenirs when you go on vacation? We usually do. We chose this because it's somewhat practical (but also fun, especially when we have guests) and reminds us of our Lego Land trip. linking up for wordless Wednesday

Just when you thought I was finally done with California posts :) This is my last one! I just couldn't resist writing about some of the things that were so different from my everyday life on the East Coast. Weather. We stayed close to the coast for our entire trip so we woke up to fog every morning. It burned off by about 10 or 11am, followed by clear blue skies for the afternoon, but I didn't like it. I'm a morning person, and being greeted by overcast skies when I woke up was a bummer. But I guess that's the trade off for having pleasant temperatures year round. :) Driving/traffic.  Traffic where I live is minimal because it's a rural area (the population just broke 2,000 in 2010). But we've experienced big city traffic in our travels. California traffic was different. We weren't in any dense city traffic, more like lots of stop-and-go highway driving. The carpool lane was new to us and thankfully saved us many times. Also surprising was the f...

The last leg of our California trip! Getting from LA to Big Sur was the longest driving portion of our trip, about 4.5 hours. Unfortunately, what google maps doesn't tell you is that you're driving by some of the most beautiful scenery and will want to stop every 5 minutes to get out and enjoy it. Our drive took 8 hours (though some of that time was spent eating lunch and filling the gas tank).  Worth every minute. :) Our favorite of the impromptu stops was Estero Bluffs State Park off Highway 1. At first we just saw trails leading to shrubbery: It got better. It's hard to tell, but those white blobs on top of the rocks were seals! This little walking/exploring break was unplanned, but so lovely. We'd been in the car for a while at that point and stretching felt so nice.  We eventually continued on to Big Sur. Along the way, we also saw gorgeous views at Nepenthe, a restaurant on the side of a mountain. It's very busy between 11am (when the fog ...

June went fast, right? Can't believe the year is already half over! I'm still feeling good about all my goals though :) This month I was able to cross off two goals - traveling twice and learning something new. We visited Ocean City for a friend's birthday, and then spent 9 days in California. (I'll post my final recap on Monday.) We still plan to fit in a day trip to NYC in a few months. Learning something new was surfing  lessons! I've already met my mortgage goal for the year, but I've decided I'm going to continue to overpay. I'm in the habit of putting extra money toward it anyway, so why stop? $2,330 total - yay!  As of the end of June, I've read 35 books this year so I'm on track for 50. This month's reads: The best was Daughter of Smoke & Bone , hands down. Bread & Wine - Memoir mixed with favorite recipes. I loved that she advocates inviting people over for dinner even when your house is a mess - been ...

After Legoland, we drove up the coast to San Clemente. The view from our hotel was the best.  The next day we took surfing lessons (a first for both of us). It was awesome! Our instructor had us practice on the beach for a while to start (Mr. G picked it up right away, but it was super tough for me) and then move out into the ocean. (Sidenote:  I LOVED wearing a wetsuit. It was so nice to be warm in the water and not have to worry about a big wave taking off part of my bikini!) Mr. G heading out for a wave: We both stood up on several waves and even rode in together on a couple. (And I was worried beforehand that I wouldn't even be able to stand up!) What surprised me the most was how physically demanding surfing is! We were exhausted after our 2 hour lesson and spent the rest of the day relaxing and recuperating. I was sore the next day too, haha.  Thankfully we were still able to walk around town to enjoy all the exotic (to us) plants in everyone's gardens...

Happy July to you! I'll get to my regularly scheduled monthly goals update post sometime this week, but I figured I'd do a few California updates first. :) First up:  Legoland! We flew out to San Diego (see our lovely view above) and drove to Carlsbad that afternoon. It's about a 35 mile (56 km) trip and gave us an introductory taste of the California style of driving and traffic jams. We enjoyed a lazy pool day on Friday and then spent all day Saturday at Legoland.  Thankfully our hotel was super close and we were able to walk to the park, which saved us $15. Our tickets were also free through a hotel promotion, but they're normally $83 + tax each.  My husband was ecstatic just walking through the gates! (I played with Legos as a kid, but don't enjoy them nearly as much as he does.)  There were so many cool sights - and most made completely of Legos!  A couple of examples . .  The fairy tale creatures on the log ride: Many...

I'm writing this on Sunday night, after getting in from the airport late last night (about 3 am because of weather delays), and regretting my decision to go immediately back to work tomorrow. Here's a time zone map to illustrate my plight: I live in the yellow area, and every vacation I've ever taken has been in the yellow area (except a 3 day weekend in Texas). On the other hand, my husband has traveled quite a bit, and even been deployed to areas 2-10 time zones away. He adjusted without a problem -  but I was tired by dinnertime for the first week or so of vacation. It was like Daylight Savings Time but more intense. Here's hoping I adjust back quicker than expected! Does jet lag bother you?

We are flying to California today! Woo!  My laptop will be taking a vacation too, so I (probably) won't be posting or commenting much for the next ten days or so. But I'll be sharing some pictures via  my instagram page  (also visible on the right hand side of my blog) if you're interested. :) Dottie helping us unpack last summer

Do you read on vacation? I read every day (if not books, then certainly magazines and/or newspapers), and vacation is no different. Of course, it's something I enjoy so that makes it an easier decision.  Since I stopped buying books, I've brought library books and magazines on trips without a problem. I just made sure I put them back in my suitcase whenever I wasn't reading them so they wouldn't be left behind. But last summer, knowing we'd be at the beach for 5 days, I was hesitant to bring a library book with me. Sand and salt water are not paper's best friend, and I definitely didn't want to ruin something I'd borrowed.  Unfortunately, I didn't think about it until 2 days before our flight, which wasn't enough time to scrounge up a replacement. I ended up taking a library book and leaving it in the hotel room. In the end, it wasn't a big deal - I filled my time chatting with Mr. G and people watching. This time around I wanted to ...

We are slowly easing into summer time temperatures around here. It was 80° (27° C) on Monday, then cooled back off, and only a high of 56° (13°) yesterday. I've started checking the forecast in California too (three more weeks!), and wow, San Diego has some of the most consistent weather I've ever seen: Nothing new to cross off this month, but all's well. We are still working steadily on our savings goal and finding a book to read together ( Beedle the Bard didn't pan out).  This month wasn't anything special in the solo reading department either. I only read 4 books, partially because we started watched Modern Family, and partially because nothing really grabbed me. Everything was just okay.  I'm ready for June!