things i do right before vacation

Plan each outfit for the entire week. Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this? I check the weather, anticipate every planned activity, and then lay out every outfit on my bed before trying each of them on. I have absolutely zero tolerance for my own personal freak out mode on vacation, so I feel like having an idea of what I'll be wearing each day keeps me zen. Fewer options = fewer freak outs.

Decide that I need 234985 new things. Like 3 new gray tank tops when I'm going some place where the highs are in the low 60's. You know..."for layering." Also, it's definitely time for me to replace all my makeup and get new shoes. My internal budget fairy takes her own little vacation just a few days before I take mine, so my brain is all #YOLO and #TREATYOSELF. 

Research every single restaurant for every single meal. Well, within reason. I'll make a running list for different types of meals and outings. I'm all about going with the flow, but it is my firm belief that if you're paying more than $10 for an entree or beverage, that shit better be worth it. I've had far too many experiences where we've picked a random place just because we were tired and hungry and it sucked and we still had to dish out $50+. Nah, man. I Yelp it UP!

Clean the entire apartment approximately 10 minutes before our departure. How am I supposed to be chill AF on vacation when I know that in just a few days I'll be coming home to an unmade bed?! A coffee mug in the sink?! Sweaters hanging from the doors?!?!?! Blasphemy. I don't need that kind of stress in my life upon returning from my five day life of luxury (kidding. Or am I?).

I feel like this post makes me sound like a bit of an organizational freak, which is laughable because in most everyday situations where I should absolutely be on top of things, I fall short. But give me a vacation where everything is supposed to be relaxing and I will 10000% make sure that a mental breakdown over "hating all my clothes" or "not being able to pick a restaurant" will absolutely not happen.

At any rate, I am so excited for this weekend. We will be in Almond, North Carolina to watch one of  my best friends since high school get married! Following three nights in a mountainside cabin, we'll stay one night and two full days in Asheville before heading home. It's been a solid four months at the hospital, and I haven't been on a trip since Europe in August, so I am pumped! I'm treating myself tonight and getting my nails done for the first time since January, followed by a spray tan for the first time in nearly three years! #YOLO and all that. Plus, I got a Groupon for the spray tan, so it's basically a financial investment. Our flight leaves at o'dark thirty tomorrow!

What do you absolutely have to do before leaving for vacation? And also - where are you heading next?!

Summer time, I love ya.

Post-acadamia life is crazy. One second it's 7:30 a.m. Monday morning and it feels like your feet are tied to cinderblocks getting out of bed; then you blink and it's Friday afternoon. Every. Single. Week. Time flies when you're having fun (and even when you're not).

It's impossible to make time stand still, so I think it's important to make every day count. I'm the kind of person who always needs something to look forward to - otherwise life becomes this monotonous routine of eat, sleep, work, work, sleep, eat, work, work, work...work? Okay, great, you get the picture. If I don't have something to count down the days for, I'll go nucking futs.

Thankfully it's summer, which means there's SO much to look forward to: paid days off, vacations, weekends on the beach. Here's what's going on with me the next couple of months:

• May 24th - Tampa's Margarita Festival. Um, hello? Day drinking margaritas all day in a sundress on a hot summer day in Florida? Sign. Me. Up.
• May 26th - Memorial Day, aka paid day off of the summer #1. 
• June 9th - Kaylee and I can officially move into our new apartment. Since move-in day falls on a Monday, I don't think June 9th will be "the day" but we get the keys and we get to paint! 
• June 24th - Oh heyyyyy, it's my birthday. The big 23. And no, I will not be annoying anyone with a caption that reads "Nobody likes you when you're 23." I think that was played out after the first person who wrote it.
• June 26th - 30th - NYC with Ryan to visit his sister! I haven't been to New York in almost two years, and I've never been during the summer months. We'll be staying in Brooklyn and Long Island, and then probably one night in the city. Five days and four nights, can't waiiiiitttt.
• July 4th - Hello, it falls on a Friday this year, aka I get a three day weekend. Most likely on the beach. With hot dogs.

I'm hoping to jam pack my calendar a little more, but this is a pretty good start. Can't wait to see what the summer has in store. XO