It's hard getting back to the swing of things - cooking seems like a chore I never want to take on again so we've been having ‘easy’ suppers: salmon fillet with rice & green beans; pasta with tomato sauce; leftover from the freezer caramelised onion lentils & rice with butternut squash… this afternoon I spent some time in the kitchen prepping for a bean and cabbage soup with lots of onion, celery, pumpkin, red peppers, diced tomatoes, and of course beans & cabbage! It felt like a huge effort but it's enough for 4 suppers.
I suppose I'm still recovering from everything and I do have to remember that I wasn't fully energized before we left… I still have to isolate side-effects from laziness! I have been sleeping like a log since we've been home and haven't been woken up with a hot flash for a few days - it feels like a miracle.
The dogs have settled back into a routine of napping through the days… Lupa is rarely far from my lap… that's not a big change for her though!
I thought I'd do a review of what I did and didn't wear as there were a few things that I didn't put on and a few things that I would have worn if I'd only checked to make sure they fit before packing them…
What I didn't wear: leggings & t-shirt - instead I'd throw on shorts or silk lounge pants to dash out of the room; speaking of lounge pants - the black & white ones were way too big and should have been excluded from my bag!; also a few ‘daytime’ t-shirts that were too huge for me, plus we spent more time by the pool and less in the bowels of the ship so it was much more casual. I never wore the dressy pink top. I brought a pair of blue crushed velvet pants that I only wore once - I probably could have worn something else a second or third time, but I wanted to bring them! They are so cool :-) I didn't wear all the t-shirts that I brought - could have brought one less tank top. I also didn't wear the blue polka dot skort - again, not much time spent dressed up during the day.
What I did wear: navy linen shorts - perfect for excursions and around the ship; short shorts - mainly because the other casual pair I brought were way too big; exercise clothes; light sweatshirt - perfect for throwing over a camisole to dash to the buffet for coffee; cream linen pants - a break from dressing up and also good for morning trip to buffet; black silk lounge pants were perfect for chilling in our room, although on the first sea day I bought a thick black ‘wool’ shawl thing that I could throw over myself in between tub and getting dressed for supper; black flare leggings - I wore these a few times with different tops, comfy and pack well. I wore all four dresses that I brought, including the coral sequin dress and gold silk gown! I also wore both the purple and black cocktail dresses but could have worn the black one twice - I'd still bring both though - when else could I wear it!
I wore the white jeans once or maybe twice, but I think I’d skip bringing these even though they looked nice. I wore both 2 piece bathing suits a few times. I wore the black camisole bathing suit once - I'd still bring it in case I wanted to wear more than a bikini. The other bathing suit I didn't wear at all. I mostly wore a short pink & white bathing suit cover up - could have skipped the black one as I only wore it once. I wore the blue dress coverup to the beach in Sint Maarten and would have worn it on the Turks and Caicos as well.
Shoes? I could have skipped bringing the brown keen sandals as my black platform shoes are comfortable for long walking and I'd just use my pool sandals to dash to the buffet. I wore both the black and the gold wedges. They were both comfortable and looked okay with dresses - I could do the stairs in them! I didn't bring my uncomfortable kitten heels - I just couldn't bear the thought of them!
I had bought a small refillable container to bring bubble bath in, but at the last minute threw in what was left of the bubble bath that Kirsten gave me for my birthday - I used almost all of it as I had a bath in the afternoon every day! I loved having a bathtub 😀
We used the elevators only when we got onto the ship with our carry ons… from 5 to 16 was a bit much burdened with suitcases… but otherwise, it was the stairs all the way. We'd usually do them 2 to 3 times a day. We were a lot more intentional when we went down to the piazza and would plan a longer stay! When going from 5 to 16, we'd do 2 flights on the piazza stairs, then across to the forward stairs, up and up with a pause at the 12th deck… on the last few days I could skip the pause on the 12th!
Since getting home I've done 2 days on the treadmill, adding an additional 6 minutes on the bike, but today I wimped out and indulged myself with yet another afternoon of reading. Surely my energy will return soon!
This summer I started eating 2 kiwi fruit every night… they are fussy to peel and a bit of a pain… but! Somewhere this vacation I found out that I can eat the skin! It's a bit weird but it is so much easier!
Awesome!
“my sunspot on the sofa“
“clean house 😱 “
“pets”
