Consequences

We’re home, though you might have figured that from the picture of snow on my instagram feed. We walked through the door late Tuesday night, and things have pretty much been on fire since then.  Taking a week off seemed like a good idea  – well, truth be told it was a good idea, a great one even, but Joe and I are both self-employed, and we don’t get vacation time, and nobody does our jobs when we’re gone, so we both walked back into our lives so far behind it would make your head spin. This morning Joe sat on the edge of the bed and contemplated another 14 hour workday, and turned to me and said “I want to go back to Costa Rica.”   I didn’t say anything. It was wonderful to be away, but by Monday night I could feel the work I wasn’t doing breathing its hot fetid breath on the back of my neck, and I don’t know how much longer I would have lasted.

We did have an amazing time.  In the span of a week we hiked the rainforest, swam in hot springs (which are not as hot as you would expect, what with being fed by a volcano and all that) ate our own body weight in fresh fruit every day, snorkelled at Isla Juanilla (I got stung by a jellyfish, which made me feel like a serious snorkeller) rented a 4×4 and drove to the top of a volcano, hiked through a chunk of Rincon de la Vieja National Park, saw 2 deadly snakes, got bitten by ants, ate Gallo Pinto (rice and beans) with just about every meal, drove on white roads, swam at least 10 times a day, drank champagne in a hot tub (a few times) had whole conversations, saw monkeys, walked on the beach, and took several nauseating selfies a day to send our children.

wind 2016-01-15 holdsock 2016-01-15 brocolitree 2016-01-15 hummingbirdnest 2016-01-15

It was amazing. It was the perfect mix of adventure and margaritas by the pool, and after a few years of learning Spanish, I had the satisfaction of being told by one gentleman that I spoke “as well as a nine year old.”  (Considering that Luis speaks Spanish a thousand times better than I do at three, I know this to be a lie, but it was a flattering and charming lie, so I took it.)

hike 2016-01-15 plains 2016-01-15

We slept, we ate, we saw things we’ve never seen before, and we came home planning the next one.

bigtree 2016-01-15 swimhotsprings 2016-01-15

Other than the mess it left our regular lives in, I can recommend it.  I did knit lots too, but I’ll show you later. It’s blocking.

 

70 thoughts on “Consequences

  1. That smiling man, holding your sock: is he an astronaut, an actor, or just the lucky recipient of your next pair of socks?
    (Because, I’ve followed long enough to know there’s gotta be a story there….. 🙂

  2. You sure look happy in the pictures. So glad it was a great week. The work back home will get done against the backdrop of the memories of this week.

  3. Happy to hear of your lovely time away – you both look rested and gorgeous – and very happy to see you back here, too. Cheers, and good luck catching up. Let me know if you ever actually achieve that (because I never do, even when I’m NOT on vacation)!!

  4. The photos are great, and it seems Costa Rica is a fabulous place to take one’s first vacation together in 17 years! And you are planning the next one – so it’s all good. Welcome back – tonight the rain is going to melt all this snow. For now…..

  5. WOW looks like you both had a great vacation. Looks wonderful and you both looked relaxed. Yes, coming back to life as you know it was I’m sure a bummer but now you can look forward to your next getaway vacation!! Thanks for the pictures.

  6. The sage advice is that this is the week to “book” the next holiday, but planning sounds good too.

    After being self-employed for the previous 9 years, getting holidays is one hard thing for me to get my head around, first having the idea of where I will go away to is the biggest one. The whole thing, like many things, obviously needs practice. Any suggestions for my upcoming week, got to stay in New Zealand and I am Auckland-based. Though the object I have to click to post the comment is an airplane!

  7. Welcome back.
    We ordered the snow specially. 🙂

    That sounds like a wonderful week – I have no idea how you managed to squeeze in any knitting with all those other things going on.

  8. The picture of the two of you near the end of your post shows exactly why this was the perfect thing to do. Work will always be there, but one’s ability to adventure with a loved one may not. Glad you had a grand trip.

  9. Of course you had a lovely time, but I’m not sure about being bitten by ants or stung by a jellyfish. Didn’t you meet up with those horrid white faced crazy bipolar monkeys in the end, after the warnings you received?

  10. Welcome home? Perhaps not. I know exactly how you feel when you have all these things looming over your head but you’re having a lovely time…….too bad my looming things are just self-imposed deadlines for design work and finding my house under all the mess.

  11. I went to Costa Rica this past summer for 10 days with my family. Hands down the best. vacation. ever. As you noted, the perfect mix of lazy and adventure, and I loved every minute. I have spent more minutes than I care to admit aloud daydreaming about going back ever since I got back home. 🙂

  12. So glad you had what sounds like a most happy week.
    Now, about those ant bites – NEVER leave home on vacation without tea tree oil! (Actually, I have one small bottle that lives permanently in my purse. Just in case.)
    Don’t know if it would help with the jellyfish stings but it is unbelievably effective and fast acting against all kinds of nasty biting critters. I know firsthand it works against red ants and beestings and horsefly bites.

  13. You survived! Must not have visited Isla Nublar and Isla Soma off the coast. You do know Jurassic Park was off the Costa Rican coast, don’t you?

    Seriously, welcome back. The Blog missed you. I’m sure the cat missed you, in her own way. If the refrigerator and cupboards are empty, I’m also sure The Ladies missed you.

  14. Looks like you two had a fun vacation. That’s some beautiful scenery and those are some happy faces! If the knitting thing doesn’t work out for you, you could probably go into the tourist brochure business ; )
    I think it may be time for my husband and I to start planning our next trip…

  15. Definitely welcome home!
    I loaded on 276 stitches, worked 4 rows, and promptly ripped out 276 stitches. ( read the pattern as k2t, and it was just k2.)
    This tells me my guru was not in her assigned place!

    I’m with Ms.Kitty. Home is where the heart is!

  16. So glad you did that and you sooooooo deserved it. I’m especially jealous of the “…spoke Spanish like a 9-year-old.” That is great!

  17. Welcome home! My daughter just spent a wondrous week in China and arrived home after 11 days away from her middle-school classroom, so she can totally relate to the “work I wasn’t doing” monkey on your back, but the memories are so worth it. Book that next trip soon, okay?

  18. Wecome back. We missed you. Being your own boss is a bitch and a half. Stitches South is in 74 days and I’m about to spend 2 weeks at Disney World. This is not how you get ahead of the work curve.

  19. “Had whole conversations…” Sigh. We are in the weeds (wild flowers?) of child rearing right now with a 5 year old and a 10 month old. This is what I envy most of your vacation. Finding time to have an actual, uninterrupted conversation takes such effort right now. I can’t imagine the luxury of having multiple, spontaneous conversations in a day. Ah well, the day will come long before I’m ready for it, I know.

    • Yes, that was exactly what struck me too. Our little tornados are 2 and 5, so lots of competition for the airwaves here too.

      Steph, I’d say that was a well-earned, well-enjoyed trip to boot. Thanks for sharing.

  20. That green plant hanging off a branch looks like someone’s lace shawl run amock. Or perhaps inspiration for a new shawl design. Love your big smiles! Totally worth whatever you came home to.

  21. I often row through swarms of jellyfish … that is about as close as I want to get. Hope the sting wasn’t too bad! Nothing like a relaxing winter vacation … the work will wait (sort of!).

  22. Was that a hummingbird nest you found? Very cool!

    And in truth, even if you work for someone else, not yourself, going back to work after a vacation is always chaos. With practice, though, you get used to it.

  23. Welcome home! We missed you.

    And, when you work, the hot mess that you return to after vacation is pretty daunting.

  24. Even with the work backlog, the experience has to be totally worth it! And I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had a moment at work where there didn’t seem to be a mountainous backlog. So, stepping away was completely the right thing to do. What an amazing, intriguing land it appears to be!

  25. Glad you had such a great trip & am pleased to see the OSMHASP (obligatory standard muggle holding a sock picture) that I’ve come to expect from you. Although, if the dude saved you from certain death, I’d expect that that sock you were knitting up will be sent to him.

  26. Very glad that you and Joe had a fantastic vacation and that you are safely home. Missed your blog. So sorry about the snow! Welcome home.

  27. You two look like siblings,did you marry your brother? Or you are just so close you are morphing into each other. So glad you had a wonderful time.

  28. What fun! I cleaned my house before I went on vacation, came back, and the suitcases exploded a giant mess. Not sure how that happened. Good luck getting things back in order!

  29. My husband and I postponed our Costa Rica trip that we had planned for this weekend, mostly because we didn’t have enough time to enjoy the country. What do you recommend? Where did you stay?

  30. Welcome back!
    Did you get to Tortuguero? There and Arenal are my favourite spots in Costa Rica! Oh, and that little bridge over the river, can’t remember the name, where all the iguanas are, and traffic has to stop & wait for them to cross 🙂

  31. Glad you had such a fabulous time — an inspiration to us all, especially those of us who are self-employed and feel that taking a holiday is a species of SIN ….I would wager that the backlog you met when you got back pales in comparison with the fun you had. Now I just have to persuade myself to follow your example ….

  32. On your comment about speaking Spanish like a nine-year-old, do indeed take that as a compliment! After two years of studying Korean in order to converse better with my beloved, I was told, “Oh, Bess! You’re so good! You’re on the first grade level now!” I have a fierce envy of your nine-year-old proficiency level.

  33. In looking at the photo from your first day in Costa Rica, and comparing it with your last post from CR, it looks like the trip did you a world of good. You look so much more relaxed and happy! Good for you. Now try not to get too cold in that -20 degree weather.

  34. Glad to see you home and glad to read about all the wonderful activities you did and the wonderful sights you saw and the wonderful time you had with Joe!
    I see a sock in someone’s hand! A Guide?

  35. Imagine my surprise to come here after some crazy weeks (work is insane, home remodel finishing up 2 months late, the usual kids and home melee…) and 1 week of utter respite in Nicaragua to learn that we were both enjoying our break in relative proximity! I’m so happy you (and I) took the break. It was amazing, no? And my favorite thing (if I were somehow required to pick) was the trees!!! So amazing and full of life. I truly enjoyed learning more about the amazing trees and plants.

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