Move in weekend trip recap

We've gone back & forth on letting Nick have his car in Boulder this year, but we agreed to have him wait until second semester. As a result, we needed to arrange flights & a car rental for move in weekend. This is what I consider a "logistics" trip, and definitely not a vacation, so here's how we optimized to keep costs in check. 

A few weeks before the trip, my mom asked if she could join, so that's also reflected here. 

Note that this doesn't include the actual costs of moving Nick in (grocery runs, etc) as that's included in his college budget. 

Flights: $637.18

• One way flights for me + Nick: $279.36. The rest was offset by various travel credits on United. I booked the flights this way so Nick could have access to my checked bag allowance I get with airline status. The United flights were about $10 more per person than Southwest, but the free bags I get make all the difference & more than offset that cost. 
• One way flight home for me - $280
• Flight for my mom from Portland to Denver: This was largely covered by my United miles, but I got her a better seat & the rest is taxes on the miles -  $77.82

Transit: $319.08

• Car rental: $228.04. Pretty steep, but it's move in weekend, so cars are in high demand. I also will be moving a bunch of stuff, so couldn't rent a compact car. I actually got upgraded to an even bigger car, which was incredibly helpful for moving things around, but also quite hard to park!
• Gas: $56.04
• Tolls: $35 (estimate). Not completely sure, as this will get billed through the rental car company.

Lodging: $0

• Staying with a friend one night, so we can hang out & I can also get Nick's stuff out of her garage
• Using a Hyatt free night award for the second night. The location make this easier for the second night, as her house is a drive from Boulder, and the hotel is down town. 

Food: $295.80

• Chipotle on Friday for lunch for myself, my mom, Nick & his friend - $33.05
• BFF provided dinner & appetizers for dinner on Friday & breakfast on Saturday - $0
• Shared an order of fries & a water with my mom on Saturday as "lunch", because we had absolutely zero time to do anything else, bought Nick lunch -  $18.98
• Took Nick, my mom & two of his friends to dinner on Saturday night - $166.97
• Had a coffee & a piece of toast for breakfast (included) at the hotel with my mom - $0
• Planned to have lunch with my mom & Nick before the airport, but ran out of time, so my mom & I got food & a glass of wine at the airport. - $76.80

Total spent = $1252.06

Price aside, I have absolutely zero regrets of flying in & helping Nick set up for his next year of college. We were able to drive him around, get what he needed for his apartment, spend time with his friends, & ensure he was ready for the year. Because we had a car, we also took his friends to various shops with us, and helped them with their move ins as well, and we are so happy we can help them out.

I'm exhausted - lesson learned for next year! Definitely need an extra day, plus also need M! 

Frugal Friday

Nick & I are heading to Boulder for move in weekend, which I anticipate to be very pricey! Getting someone set up in a new apartment tends to be that way, even though we've gotten really lucky on a few fronts. His apartment is mostly furnished & my BFF has a few items she's giving him that her daughters don't need. Those will both make a nice dent in our spending needs. I'm also just grateful we don't need to carve out time to try & cobble together furnishings in an apartment, and then figure out what to do with them at the end of the year. 

Saving on things we buy

• Picked up a few things we needed at Trader Joes (my favorite yogurt, mini cucumbers for Nick, and the peanut slaw mentioned below), as well as mini cones for Nick's last week before he heads back to college. I uploaded the receipt to Fetch & iBotta, for the $.25 cash back offer. That's pretty much the only offer I use with iBotta, as we don't buy many brand name items. 

Earning money

• I have a count down on of how many full-time paychecks I have, as well as how many part-time checks I'll be receiving before my employment ends. I'll be very excited to "retire" (I may pick up future part-time work), and have a clear plan for how we will handle our finances until I can tap into my 401k. 
• On a related note, my employer matches the first $1k you put into a college account per year, up to two dependents. Based on my understanding, that match doesn't happen until late January, and I thought I would be ineligible because of the timing of my departure. But, I jumped through a bunch of hoops & filled out the paper work. It turns out that if you are already at $1k by June 30th, they match at that time, and then if not, they match at the end of the year. So, my early planning & saving resulted in a $2k match from my employer for college - which I'm absolutely thrilled about!
• I went to the bank to deal with a CD that was up for renewal. My banker pointed out that if I added a bit from savings to the CD, I would qualify for a higher tiered interest rate. The current CD rates that are paying the highest at my bank are 4 months, so still ample time until I need my savings after my last paycheck. I'll earn another $400 in interest, which is great for no work on my side. 

Avoiding spending

• I attempted to get free car charging at work, but in a frugal fail, my charging app wouldn't log me in & I couldn't reset my password. So, frugal fail on that front. 
• Arranged for M to drop us off at the airport on his way to work today, as Nick & I are headed to Boulder - let the second year of college commence! 
• I was finally successful in getting Nick's health insurance waiver approved for school, saving us close to $3k. This was a multi week journey, and a huge time investment, thanks to some technical hurdles. DONE!
• Took advantage of my 3 free checked bags on United (thanks to status), for all of Nick's stuff. 

Eating what we have

• With the cost of food, we have amped up our attempts to reduce food waste even further. It's not exactly the season in our lives for a lot of elaborate meals, or complicated recipes. But, we have been attempting to stretch our meals further, get creative about incorporating leftovers, etc. On Friday for example, I paired leftover rice with chicken meatballs (TJs) & then topped with a peanut slaw, which really makes the dish. The original "recipe" calls for TJs fried rice, but I preferred M's leftover rice. 
• I found a few small tomatoes that the squirrels somehow missed! So, that makes 4 for the season. ;-)
• I also picked a bunch of fresh herbs for the chicken M made on Saturday (so delicious), and lemons for the chicken. M marinates it for hours before grilling. It's a family favorite. 
• I had leftovers of the rice/meatball/peanut slaw dish above for lunch after my Saturday workout, ensuring no waste. 
• We had eggs that no one was eating, so I made a double batch of egg bites (inspired by Kristen at The Frugal Girl). I included: spinach (had to buy this), cottage cheese (needed to be used), shredded cheddar (purchased for another recipe), diced red peppers (found in the pantry, no idea why it was purchased), green onions (garden) & some salt & pepper. I made a double batch & they were fantastic. Need to work on the cooking time a bit, as they were a PITA to get out of the pan. Sam had some in the late afternoon when they came out of the oven, as he was headed to work. I froze a bunch, and now easy breakfast is in the fridge. They are also really high in protein, and largely used up things we already had on hand. 

For others

• Nick's friend is joining us on our flight to Denver, and then are giving him a ride to where he parked his truck for the summer, to save on transit flights. I will also feed him of course on Friday, as we will be together in transit all day. 
• Hosted one of Nick's friends who doesn't have anywhere to stay for a few days. 
• Offered to check some bags for Nick's friend, who was joining us on our flight, as we still had additional bags we could check for free. 

What about you? Any wins to share? 

Micro organization projects

When I was in Greece & Tokyo recently, I was gobsmacked by how messy my toiletries bag had become with medicine, and various travel antidotes (Tums, vitamins, cold medicine, etc). I really wish I would have taken some "before" photos, but you will just have to trust me that my old system (I had 9 ziplocks in my toiletries bag & then 5 ziplocks in my travel backpack) was ... not the best. 

I also knew that my habit stacking reminder of setting out all of my medicine at home each day & then putting it away when I'd finished taking everything was... also suboptimal. For home, I bought a larger medicine organizer at CVS using rewards, and put everything I need for the week in it, by day. This is particularly helpful as my lupus medicine is 2x as much on odd days vs even. That's the actual prescription, which seems strange, and can be difficult to remember. 

Here's my home solution:

 

For travel, I wanted a couple of options, so I could have one organizer in my toiletry bag (in my roller suitcase) & one in my travel backpack. I very rarely check a bag, but it does occasionally happen, and in case that gets lost a long the way, I want access to my medicine. 

Having a few pain relievers and the like in my back pack also means I can more easily access medicine on the actual flight, instead of trying to dig into my roller bag. This is more about organization than frugality, but all of my prescription medicine is quite expensive. M

My previous process was a bunch of ziplocks, medicine mingling in & I recently had something spill in the bag that got everything damp, and it all had to be tossed. I promised myself that I would invest in a better travel solution, particularly now that I take multiple medicines, and carry other things like sleeping medicine (if needed), as well as what I take if I get a mosquito bite, to prevent an outsized immuno response. 

Let's hope this saves me time & money in the long run. If nothing else, it's absolutely delightful to visually see what I have, vs the ziplocks  As you can imagine, this is a pretty big step up. 

Toiletry bag organizer. This came in a three pack set, and also came with labels. I haven't gotten around to adding those, as I typically recognize everything I take, and they are quite differently sized/colors, etc. 

Size reference of both organizers:

And, here's what I'll keep handy in my actual travel backpack. My travel purse is tiny, so no medicine is stored in there. 

This project cost me about $10, given I had the CVS rewards for most of the larger organizer. I also bought a travel jewelry organizer, as I was previously using a small bag. As you can imagine, there have been a lot of tangled necklaces. I haven't used that yet, but will report in if I like the organizer I purchased.

Have you done any mini organization projects lately? Sometimes it's the little things that put a smile on your face, or make every day or travel life easier!

Fitness Monday

 Finally, a week with four strength training sessions! I'm very pleased, as that's my overall goal. I'm hoping to see some downward movement on the scale soon. 

Weight: 149.5 - down the pound from last week, which makes me even with my lowest weight of the year. I am also finally feeling like I'm getting back into shape, and focusing on building muscle, so I'm hoping this is a sign that things are trending in the right direction & I'll see some actual downward movement on the scale soon. 

Calories: 1,281/day, so definitely about where I should be for weight loss, as a menopausal woman attempting to lose weight. 

Steps: 11,888 - very close to my goal! Should have tracked this earlier in the week a bit closer, so I could have hit my target.

Workouts:

• One 60 minute elliptical workout
• Two days without workouts (in office day + a day I had to go to the tire shop 2x for Sam's car)
• 4 very hard workout classes (combo of cardio & strength training)

Other health related things:

• Set up an eye doctor appointment, which I'm required to have every year or so to keep on top of an macular changes, due to a medicine I take. 

Goals for the week:

• Three strength workouts
• Staying the course with healthy eating & lots of protein
• Hitting my step goal for the week, in spite of my trip to Boulder for Nick's move in

What about you? How did you do with your health & fitness goals last week? Any wins to share? 

Menu Plan

 Another week with plenty going on, as we help Nick get ready to go back to school.

• Friday - mostly from Trader Joes: teriyaki meatballs, soyaki sauce, peanut salad slaw, and then leftover rice
• Saturday - grilled chicken + rice
• Sunday - Nick & I are having dinner with one of his friend's mom, as a thank you for us hosting her son many times. Which is super sweet. No idea what's on the menu. I asked what I could bring, but was told no. I will probably bring flowers, as I'm not sure she's a wine drinker. 
• Monday - ground beef tacos
• Tuesday - leftover grilled chicken + rice
• Wednesday - leftover tacos
• Thursday - any remaining leftovers
• Friday - I'll be in Boulder with my mom, Nick, my BFF & her family. I will pay for takeout or something at my BFF's house, as a thank you to her for storing Nick's stuff all summer, and letting us crash at her place on Friday night. 

That's it from our side. What's on your menu this week? Are you trying anything new? 

Saturday Happenings

I'm looking forward to a productive day today, and I got to sleep in a bit this morning, which is always a treat! I've had a lot of early work mornings this week, so I appreciated the extra time to catch up. 

After being out of town last weekend, our house is most definitely not clean. Nick was also home alone for most of that week, if that gives any clue about its state. ;-) 

I'll be meeting a friend for a workout later this morning, and M is in charge of dinner tonight. Hurrah.

Here's what else I'm going to get up to today:

• Clean the house
• Workout class
• Laundry
• Pick up prescription + use CVS rewards before they expire
• Drop off an Amazon return
• Freeze the leftovers of the chicken & rice dish I made

That will probably take up the majority of the day. What about you? What are you up to today? 

Frugal Friday

 Combining a few weeks, as we were at the beach last Friday. 

Travel planning/savings

• I'll post more about this trip in the recap, but my sister, parents & I are planning a trip to Palm Springs in the fall. I'm trying to keep costs very low all around. Neither of my parents had enough Alaska miles to cover the flights, so I creatively booked two one ways out of one account, and one out of another. Alaska doesn't allow for free miles transfers, or a cash + miles option that would have made this entire process easier! Nonetheless, it saved a bunch of money. I also booked the hotels using Hyatt points, so it should end up being a reasonably budget trip. 

Saving on things we buy

• Went to the dermatologist for a yearly skin check (good for everyone, but extra important as I'm both pale, and the medicine I take makes me even more sensitive to the sun). This is making the list of frugal wins, as I've already hit my deductible for the year, which means I may as well squeeze in as much as possible. 
• Uploaded receipts to Fetch & iBotta ($.05 cash back offer that they run semi regularly). 
• Picked up a prescription at CVS & rewards to offset the cost of sunblock (one for me, one for Nick, who burns & is working outside a lot this summer). The "retail" value was $15/each, and I paid $10.75 for both, after the rewards & coupons. I wouldn't have paid $15 for sure, but the actual retail (according to a quick search is around $12-15).So, a good deal on something we needed. I try not to be enticed by the frequent CVS offers they send out, but if I'm already there to pick up a prescription, and we need things, I can usually do much better than a sale price. 
• The reasonably priced wine I like to keep on hand was on sale at Costco. If I buy at case at the grocery store, and it's on sale I can get it for around $14. It was $6.99 at Costco. I bought two cases, as it doesn't go bad!
• I filled out some mileage updates for our car insurance, and our policy dropped by $550. Note that Nick also dropped out of the under 18 category for most of the year, which also helped a bit. Insuring the boys is very pricey!
• I bought a large canvas print of my BFF's daughter's engagement photos with her fiance, as an engagement present. I used a 50% off Shutterfly coupon, clicked through Rakuten & also used a free shipping coupon, bringing the price down quite a bit. 

Earning money

• Just my regular check, plus the boys working their standard summer jobs. 

Avoiding spending

• Met a former coworker for lunch, and she invited me to the office cafe, which is free. It was a real flashback to be back at my former office!
• Bought iced tea for myself + my sister on our way from the Oregon coast to my parents house. I used expiring Starbucks stars & a gift card for the rest, so no out of pocket spending. 

Eating what we have

• Made chicken curry for dinner, using up a bag of rotisserie chicken from the freezer. That's not what the recipe called for, but it turned out great & made the recipe even easier. Yay! Included the last of a bag of snap peas that were leftover from a veggie tray during the World Cup finals. 
• Made lunches for the boys when they were around, in use it up mode. 
• While we were at the beach, we went through quite a bit of food, but my sister & mom were able to take home all of the leftovers, which is awesome. No waste!
• Had the curry (above) for dinner the following week. It was in the freezer, so still good! M made rice.
• M picked up the Costco street tacos for dinner on Sunday, when we got home from our trip. Next time we will just buy the prepped chipotle chicken meat, vs the taco meal, as the sides aren't worth the value. However, still cheaper than takeout for sure. Sam & I had the leftovers for a second lunch. 
• Turned the leftover sides from the street tacos (plus some rotisserie chicken meat that M also bought on Sunday - we knew it would be a lazy cooking week) into this easy Southwest Chicken skillet. Bonus points that it used up chicken broth (freezer), diced tomatoes & black beans (pantry) & green onions (garden). 

For others

• Had a call with one of Nick's friends who is going through a breakup, and doesn't have a lot of other family support. Nick also brought her flowers & made her brownies to cheer her up. 
• Referred a couple of folks for roles at my company, connected with two other people on LinkedIn (through coworkers), who are job searching. It's a tough market, so I try to help out where I can. 

What about you? Any wins to share? 

August Goals

 Let's hope August is a bit more stable than July, because I'd really like to make progress on a few things, and work on my overall fitness. Here's what I would like to accomplish this month.

Financial:

• Stay on top of food waste by using up 3 pantry or freezer items
• Continue to track net new savings for 2026
• Finalize part time adjustment & exit date
• Make $100 in side hustle
• Find one expense to optimize
• Adjust post work budget & plan, depending on exit date/benefits
• Determine whether it makes sense to switch spending to a different credit card through EOY (evaluate ROI)

Family:

• Continue to help the boys navigate college & life
• Get Nick moved in & have fun with my mom. Minimize cost
• Monthly date with M
• Continue planning for our next big trip (M's 60th)

Fitness:

• Lose 3 lbs
• Research & finalize medicine selection
• 10 strength workouts
• Track nutrition
• Average 13,000 steps/day
• Sort out any medical appointments before EOY

Personal:

• Make list for part-time schedule (to dos, fun, etc)
• Declutter 50 items
• Get together with friends
• Try something new/say yes to adventures
• Get to know our neighbors
• Try a new recipe

What about you? What are you hoping to accomplish in August? 

July Goals Recap

Buckle up, because July was a wild ride! I was in Lake Tahoe for the 4th, work trip to Tokyo, got cellulitis (a foot infection) & couldn't work out & was sick. Then I was at the Oregon coast. I also started a new drug for lupus that had quite an impact on my energy level.

Financial:

• Stay on top of food waste by using up 3 pantry or freezer items - we had our very hungry house guest & used up some stuff, but I didn't track it at all.  
• Continue to track net new savings for 2026 - yes, this has continued
• Give notice at work & set an exit date - YES!!!! This is done
• Make $100 in side hustle - I made $0 in July, as I had eBay largely shut down due to being in & out of the house & not consistently in town. 
• Find one expense to optimize - yes, our car insurance. Filled out some low mileage forms & got that submitted. We are saving over $500 this year (take that with a grain of salt, because insuring the boys is extremely pricey). Some of the discount is due to the low mileage, but likely more of it is due to Nick turning 19. 
• Finalize post work budget & plan - yes, more details on this to come. 

Family:

• Continue to help the boys navigate college & life - yes. As always, plenty to do here. 
• Finalize Nick's move back plans - this is sorted, and my mom asked if she could join last week, so I've added her to the trip. Should be fun. She wants to spend as much time with the grandkids and kids as she can while she's still able to comfortably travel. 
• Monthly date with M - we had several in Lake Tahoe
• Reschedule family dinner - we've had a few more impromptu dinners lately, which has been really nice.
• Continue planning for our next big trip (M's 60th) - lots of discussions, but nothing booked. Depending on another friend's 50th birthday trip, we may do the Dolomites in September. 

Fitness:

• Lose 3 lbs - I'm exactly the same. Not exactly shocked, as I was unable to work out for much of the month & super low energy due to my new medicine. 
• 10 strength workouts - 3/10, and I'm definitely feeling out of shape.
• Track nutrition - yes, I've continued to do this. 
• Average 13,000 step/day - 12,638, which is not too shabby given for almost a week I couldn't wear shoes.

Personal:

• Do well at Japan external event- session went extremely well. Getting a foot infection was a lot less fun. 
• Declutter 50 items - 21/50
• Get together with friends - went for a hike with a friend
• Try something new - Rented a house for the family & planned out Oregon trip + some work excitement in Japan
• Say yes to adventures - pretty much same as above. Added my mom to Nick's move out trip, which will be a bit of an adventure
• Get to know our neighbors - we tried hard to find a date to get together with our neighbors before our kids both go back to college, but couldn't find options that worked. We are getting together for dinner after school starts. 
• Try a new recipe - I honestly can't remember? 

How did you do with your July goals? 

Cost for a family trip to the Oregon coast

We've been trying to get back to the Oregon coast with my family since we sold our place. It's taken a while, and it was definitely hard to get all of the cousins together. We ended up with a great group, and finished it off with a family party at my parents house over the weekend. We were there for 5 nights & 6 days, total. 

As we left the airport yesterday, Sam said it was one of his favorite family trips, which was so nice to hear. My dad said something similar. All of the boys/cousins are at an age where they are adults & very enjoyable to spend time with, plus they all get along great. 

The Oregon coast, on a stunner of a day (Wednesday, I think)

Flights: $301.72, for four flights

All of the flights were broken up a bit, to use some United credits. Why were they all different costs? No idea. Mine is slightly lower likely due to a company discount I can use for personal travel.

• My flight ($556), completely covered by a United credit, from the time United stranded me overnight in London, and then dropped me from business class to a middle economy seat. Good times. ;-) Bonus, I got upgraded to first class on the flight from SFO to Portland, which was an unexpected treat!
• Sam's flight ($566), completely covered by a United credit, because Sam had originally planned to go to family weekend in Boulder last year & then couldn't make it due to work.
• M's flight  ($611), completely covered by a United credit, leftover from my London debacle. 
• Nick's flight to Seattle ($264), used Alaska miles. Paid $5.60 for taxes. Nick flew to Seattle on Friday, hung out with friends & then his friend drove him to my parents house. 
• Nick's flight home ($353), covered partially by a United credit. Outstanding amount we paid = $296.12 

Transit: $434.88

• Pre-paid parking at SFO airport - $96. Unfortunately, we had to fly in & out of SFO to use our United credits (United doesn't fly that route from our closer/preferred airport), and the cost to get to & from the airport is higher. I did research, and this is the cheapest option, by quite a stretch. This is also the "far away" parking, that requires 20-30 minutes of transit. Our flights were at reasonable times of the day vs late at night or super early, which made the less convenient parking more appealing. 
• Car rental in Oregon - $228
• Gas - $38.91 + $71.97

Food: $362.60

• Groceries = $102.59 + 97.01+ 1.50 + 4.29 
• Pizza = $120
• Airport meal for the boys - $16.51
• Beer - $13.05
• Ice cream - $7.65

Lodging: $2443.32

I paid for a very large house on the Oregon coast, & covered the cost for everyone (family, plus my BFF + her daughter). This was much cheaper than finding hotels, which are in limited supplies on the Oregon coast, or finding several smaller, separate houses. We had a total of 11 people & spent 3 nights at the beach. 

Activities:

• Walks on the beach
• Meals out (largely covered by other folks)
• Family party
• Poker games
• Happy hour on the back patio

Total spent for the trip = $3,542.52

Considering how many people we had, I think it was a pretty great deal! Of course, not captured here are the food costs everyone else spent, lest you think anyone went hungry. ;-) 

Fitness Monday

I started feeling more like myself on Thursday, which makes sense, as I was just coming off of the antibiotics. I was also able to wear shoes by Thursday (hurrah), which meant walks, and getting back into my workout class. 

Weight: 150.9, up about a pound from the last time I posted. 

Calories: 1,378

Steps: 13,884

Workouts:

• 2 - 30 minute elliptical workouts
• 1 - 45 minute elliptical workout
• 1 three mile walk
• Two hard workout classes (yay for getting in strength training again!)
• 1 seven mile hike with a friend

Goals for the week:

• Keep the calories in check
• Take advantage of the vacation & family time & get in lots of family walks

Another health & fitness win: Going to the dermatologist today for my annual skin check up, which is important for everyone, but particularly me as I'm quite pale & take a medicine that makes me more sensitive to the sun.

What about you? How did you do with your health & fitness goals this week? 

Menu Plan Sunday

 We will be on the Oregon coast with family for most of the week, so this represents a bit of a hybrid menu plan. We did plan out our meals when together, and have rented a house with a kitchen.

• Friday - M & I had leftovers - fried rice, meatballs in teriyaki sauce, topped with a peanut slaw
• Saturday - easy chicken curry + rice
• Sunday - Philly cheese steaks
• Monday - leftover curry & rice
• Tuesday - My parents are making & bringing lasagna & bread to the rental house
• Wednesday - M is grilling burgers. My mom is making potato salad
• Thursday - My is grilling hot dogs & my mom is making macaroni salad
• Friday - we are heading to my parents & having additional folks join, celebrating my BFF's daughter's engagement. We are having pizza, cake & champagne
• Saturday - family party. M is grilling chicken, and we are doing a make your own pita wrap buffet, with pita, feta, tomatoes, onions, cucumber & tzatziki. There will also be fruit salad, green salad, maybe a few more sides (definitely appetizers before hand, & dessert afterward)

What's on your menu plan for the week ahead? 

Frugal Friday

 Future travel planning

• I booked a hotel in Palm Springs for M's upcoming 2027 days off in March. He prefers to line up his time off for the freebie vacation days, which is fine. We had originally discussed Sedona (booked with Hyatt points), but landed on Palm Springs instead, so we can also go to Joshua Tree. I've never been to Palm Springs, so I'm looking forward to it, and it sounds like March will be a great time to visit. I used Chase travel rewards to book a Hyatt hotel, and after the rewards, it came out to $540. I also received a $250 statement credit back for the type of hotel I booked, dropping the price to $290 total, for three nights. The reservation also came with a $100 resort credit, which I'm sure we will use for a drink by the pool, or something like that. 

Saving on things we buy

• Used my $10 CVS rewards, plus a few cash back offers to restock some of my travel toiletries, while I was waiting to pick up a prescription. 
• Went to the store to pick up a few things, and noticed Ben & Jerry's on sale for $2.99. I also had a $2 off coupon when you buy two, so I bought two containers for a total of $3.99, which is a pretty great deal. Since I was at the store, went ahead & picked up the weekend freebie, which was some sort of gummy candy.
• Uploaded all of my receipts to Fetch. 
• Earned a $2 cash back reward on my credit card for gas.

Earning money

• Just the usual around here, but also met with both HR & benefits to understand timing of leaving & impact to end of year type things. 

Avoiding spending

• Used a BOGO free entree to buy lunch for myself and Sam at Chipotle, and paid with a gift card. It's been rough coming back with jet lag, and not feeling good. Cooking has been low on the priority list.  
• I ordered a new Kindle when mine stopped working. I read A LOT, and it's a daily activity at my house. Luckily, M was able to repair it through a variety of technical workarounds. We were both pretty surprised, as my older edition is no longer supported. I returned the newly purchased Kindle, but it appears I've received a temporary free subscription to Kindle Unlimited, so I will definitely take advantage of that and ensure I cancel again. I really enjoy Kindle Unlimited, as the library doesn't have a tremendous selection of Kindle formatted ebooks. I will binge read in the mean time!

Eating what we have

• My appetite has been a bit low, thanks to the infection, antibiotics + jet lag. As a result, the Chipotle bowl above served as three meals (two lunches, one dinner) for me. Definitely not bad. 
• I also made the most of the Costco grain salad + rotisserie chicken, and that was multiple meals as well.
• One night, we had bonus diners, so I added a bag of Trader Joes fried rice to the dinner, which easily stretches things out, even if it wasn't very "on theme" for the rest of the meal. 

For others

• Provided meals & a place to shower for one of DS19's friends who is in a bit of a family transition. 

What about you? Any wins to share? 

The road to recovery

 I find myself quite impatient at the moment, even knowing that this is part of the process, and recovering & getting back to "myself" is a bit of a journey. 

I finally updated my fitness tracker. I've been in a bit of denial, and tracking it made it feel a little too "real". Rather than my typical every day some kind of workout, it's been much more hit or miss - many weeks where I've had 1-2 lighter workouts. I had a one week work trip to LA, a week trip to Tokyo, and two weeks in Greece. Greece included plenty of walking, but I didn't go to the gym once while there. And now recovering from the foot infection.

I really enjoy hard workouts, and they (typically) give me energy. Without them, I feel a little blah & lower energy. That said, the lower energy is also related to the new medicine I've started, so there are lots of physical adjustments happening, at the same time my schedule has been absolutely wild. 

Unsurprisingly, I've lost no weight over the last couple of months, and I feel like I've lost muscle mass. As an impatient person (always, always impatient), I keep reminding myself that my body is going through things, and I've also had life. But, I am committed to getting back into shape & feeling more like myself. 

For visual interest, here's a photo of someone (Nick) who is very active & adventurous at the moment, preparing for a camping, climbing & backpacking trip to Yosemite. This is ultimate boy style packing. ;-) No list, just chaos. 

As my health has evolved & changed, I mentioned that I'll be "retiring" soon, and by retiring, I mean no longer having a "big career" job, but taking some time off, and then perhaps working part time, or volunteering, etc. We are lucky that we have saved a lot to prepare for this time period, and I want to make my health a top priority. That's very difficult to do with my current role (I traveled 8 times in less than a year!) & the expectations, hours, etc. I'm still finalizing details & timing of leaving, but it is in motion & conversations have begun. 

I'm looking forward to the next adventure, and taking care of my health & frequent workouts will be a core part of that "new" life. 

Would love to hear how you weave health & fitness into your life, whether you are working or retired!

Minimal Fitness Monday

 Let's just say that workouts have been hard to achieve lately, as well as few & far between. I did work out on the Saturday I flew to Tokyo, and then got in two elliptical workouts at the hotel gym before I realized I had an infection & felt unwell. 

Today was my first mini workout since I got home. I did a 30 minute slow workout on the elliptical, with shoes but no socks, to reduce friction with a shoe. I've been dying to get in some sort of a workout, so this was a little mini something.

Otherwise, I've been focused on sleeping & eating well, and have done a decent job with both. I'll be back with an actual proper fitness update next week, so fingers crossed I can get in a few more workouts, some walking, & strength training - which I'm really missing.

Hope you are all doing well with your health & fitness goals! 

Menu Plan Sunday

I have jury duty this week, although I'm already off for Monday. I'll call in each evening to find out if I need to report the following morning. It makes planning a bit challenging, thus an easy to prep & heat menu plan for the week ahead. 

• Friday - leftover Chipotle bowl (me) + shrimp (DH)
• Saturday - rotisserie chicken + grain salad
• Sunday - grilled hot dogs
• Monday - leftover rotisserie chicken + grain salad
• Tuesday - leftover hot dogs
• Wednesday -Southwest chicken skillet
• Thursday - other leftovers, or TBD
• Friday -  leftover Southwest chicken skillet

What's on your menu plan for the week? 

No Frugal Friday this week

I got home yesterday & went straight to urgent care. My left foot got infected & I have cellulitis, which isn't a huge deal, but requires antibiotics. I spent most of yesterday hanging out at urgent care, the pharmacy (a whole fiasco ensued there) & then resting with my foot elevated. 0/10, do not recommend any of this with jet lag & overall being exhausted. 

I chatted with the family yesterday & then headed to bed at 6 pm. I slept for 11.5 hours last night, so I was apparently very tuckered out. ;-) Will be back with more updates, but if you have any wins to share, please comment! I will live vicariously through all of you.

Mission accomplished, & other Tokyo things

I was able to secure a bra! One of the commenters suggested it, but Uniqlo was also recommended by a local, so I made my way there on Monday. Sam also sent a few requests, and I found some things for him. And yes, the sizing is... not even remotely close. Local helped me figure out how to translate & figure out something that would work. It's actually quite a nice bra, so maybe it will become a staple! 

I wore my very regular flats to walk to the stores, and because it was so hot & humid, my feet swelled up ... A LOT. As a result, I have two huge blisters, and it's very uncomfortable to wear any shoe. I need to find more band-aids today, but it's a busy day & I'm not super jazzed to get outside in the heat & humidity with my work clothes, makeup & presentation look to try & track down some band-aids. I am also absolutely wrecked tired. 

Practice presentation was a challenge, as the setup wasn't working & the tech support folks only spoke Japanese. We used a lot of translation apps to try & help us communicate. But, all of the practice worked, because first round of the presentations went well yesterday. Second & final round is today.

On deck for today:

• No workout, because my feet are toast with the blisters
• Morning meetings x2
• A few work projects
• Presentation
• Meeting with the skip boss
• Source band-aids
• Pack & check in for flight

Also, breakfast this morning. Fruit is again delicious. 

Tokyo time

Trip recap to far...

I slept for about an hour on the flight, but the JAL business class was better than I remembered. I didn't eat much on the flight, and by the time I was hungry, they were done with meal service. My mistake. Immigration was an absolute fiasco. Taxi line outside was hot & sweaty & also surprisingly long. I'm shocked by how many tourists there are in July - July is not a month I'd recommend to visit Japan, with the heat, rain & humidity. 

Got to the hotel & was put on a high floor (yay!), which definitely helps with sleeping, as you can hear street noise (ambulances, in particular) if you are on the lower floors. Ordered room service, unpacked & took a bath. Went to bed at 7 pm. Woke up at 3:30 am, because #jetlag.

Went to the gym, then stopped by the club lounge to get breakfast. Club access is available with my Hyatt Globalist benefits, and is super valuable. It saves me from having to do a bunch of expense reports (and, saves the company money, I suppose). The fruit was delicious. 

On the less great side, I wear a sports bra (with additional clothes over it!) when I travel on international flights, to make it more comfortable for potential naps. I've now come to realize that I forgot my bra. Folks, I have all dressy business wear & they definitely need a bra. I'm also in a place where I don't wear, shall we say, a standard Japanese bra size. Oh good lord. How is this going to go?! I need to move some meetings & find a shop that will work. Sweet mercy, wish me luck!

Saturday Happenings

 I slept well (hurrah) & got up & had a bit of time to enjoy my coffee & then get in a workout. I've just finished packing & checking over my "last minute packing" list, and am heading to the airport in 30 minutes or so. 

When I arrive in Tokyo, it will be about 3 pm local time. This is actually pretty ideal from an arrival standpoint, as I will attempt to follow my standard plan: check in, work out, unpack, eat a light dinner & head to bed. My goal will be to stay awake until 8 pm, but that will be heavily dependent upon how/if I sleep at all on a flight. I'm flying Japan Airlines, and their business class (at least on the route I'm taking) is quite a bit smaller than United, for example. They also still have the business class where someone has to climb over you to access the aisle, if you are asleep. I believe this is also the kind with an ottoman vs full lie flat, but it's been awhile since I've flown on JAL, so I can't recall all of the details. It will definitely be an improvement over the ~9ish years I had to take economy at my former job! I was able to book business only if it fit within a certain budget, so it was much more rare. I often upgraded myself, using points or personal cash.

Enough procrastinating - time to get this show on the road.

Hope everyone has a great week ahead! 

Frugal Friday

I have no idea why I didn't put the pieces together earlier, but I went on a new injection lupus medicine last week, and it's known to cause exhaustion, headaches, etc for the first 2-3 weeks. That explains why I've felt so exhausted this week. Fingers crossed things level out. 

On to our frugal Friday recap. DH & I took Nick & 9 of his friends to Lake Tahoe for the 4th of July, so some wins related to that. 

Saving on things we buy

• I originally used United credits for our trip to the Oregon coast in a few weeks. Because Nick can't come until Friday after work, Alaska had a better schedule than United. I cancelled one way for the United trip (kept the return) & sorted his outbound flight with miles (details below). That meant I received a United credit back. Nick is not driving his car to Colorado, so he & I are flying to Denver/Boulder, renting a car, moving him in & then I'll fly home alone. For the outbound flights, we both had United credits that I used to offset the flights, saving $331. 

Earning money

• Both boys are back at work, with Nick filling in for a water sport camp (he normally leads a mountain biking group), & Sam back at the restaurant & donut shop. 

Avoiding spending

• Nick can't join for the Oregon coast portion of our family trip (work), but is joining for the weekend gathering at my parents house. I used his Alaska Air miles to book a one way flight to Seattle. He's meeting up with friends on Friday night, and then they are driving him to my parents house (north of Portland). Crazily, the business class seats were less miles than economy, so he will be flying business class & I'm sure will feel quite spoiled. ;-) 
• For our Lake Tahoe trip, we optimized a bit, as we had quite a few teens joining us. Ended up with three free rooms, which saved a huge amount, given 4th of July weekend is peak season in Lake Tahoe. (We used hotel comps. I will do a post about where the comps come from at some point, & how we track & manage them). 
• I also used a $10 coffee offer from the hotel app, and M used a $100 yearly dining offer from his rewards app for our Friday dinner. 

Eating what we have

• Continue to make Nick lunch to take for work. I don't do it every day, but try to help out when I can, as it also has the extra benefit of me getting items I'm looking to use out of the fridge. 
• I made myself lunch out of yogurt, granola & berries, plus cheese & crackers. It used up what we had & sounded good & light, so it worked. 
• We've been eating fridge & freezer leftovers. I've used up the last of a Costco package of tortillas, which was enormous. 

For others

• Did some additional work to manage the finances for my special needs aunt. 

What about you? Any wins to share? 

So tired

 Not sure if this is my body just catching up from jet lag, or starting to catch a bug, but I am definitely struggling with my energy this week. Just in time for an international work trip :-(. Fingers crossed I have more energy tomorrow.

Otherwise, I'm plodding along on work goals, getting ready for my trip, and of course trying to fill in with some home goals as well. We have about five weeks until I take Nick back to Boulder, so I also need to start a list of what we need to bring, buy there, etc, as he's in a furnished apartment vs a dorm this year. He's not much of a chef (although he did do a lot of our cooking during COVID!), but has some skills & could make himself food when needed. 

Hope everyone is doing well & having a great week!

July goals

 It's time for more goals! I'm late, but still tracking for July. Here's what's on the list for the month ahead. 

Financial:

• Stay on top of food waste by using up 3 pantry or freezer items
• Continue to track net new savings for 2026
• Give notice at work & set an exit date
• Make $100 in side hustle
• Find one expense to optimize
• Finalize post work budget & plan (health insurance through M's plan is the biggest to do)

Family:

• Continue to help the boys navigate college & life
• Finalize Nick's move back plans
• Monthly date with M
• Reschedule family dinner
• Continue planning for our big trip next year, M's 60th

Fitness:

• Lose 3 lbs
• 10 strength workouts
• Track nutrition
• Average 13,000 steps/day

Personal:

• Do well at Japan external event
• Declutter 50 items
• Get together with friends
• Try something new
• Say yes to adventures
• Get to know our neighbors
• Try a new recipe

What about you? Any goals for July? My big one is definitely giving notice!!!

Menu Plan Sunday

 It's another wild week, and I leave for Tokyo on Saturday & then come back to jury duty! :-) 

• Friday - dinner in Lake Tahoe
• Saturday - 4th of July party in Lake Tahoe
• Sunday - ground beef tacos
• Monday - once again, one pan Mexican chicken and rice is on the menu, as it wasn't made last week
• Tuesday - leftover tacos
• Wednesday - leftover one pan Mexican chicken & rice
• Thursday - any remaining leftovers
• Friday - TBD

What about you? What's on your menu this week? 

June Goals Recap

June was quite a month. I finished my Stanford class, had a week in LA for work (this undersells how much prep work went into this event), and 10ish days in Greece. As you can imagine, a lot fell by the wayside between all of that. 

Anyway, not recapping goals even on rough months isn't particularly helpful, so I'll stay the course & share how I did. 

Financial:

• Stay on top of food waste by using up 3 pantry & freezer items. - Freezer is looking lean, and we've done a good job of using up: meatballs, lots of buns, leftover chicken, etc. 
• Continue to track net new savings for 2026 - yes, and we are finally back in the green after taxes, thanks to my annual bonus. 
• Make $100 in side hustle - nope, I made a paltry $20, thanks to a settlement + one eBay sale. I had my sales turned off for the majority of the month. 
• Find one expense to optimize - nope, did nothing on this one
• Create post work budget & plan (health insurance through M's plan is biggest to do) - I did track down the info, but haven't finished the budget. 

Family:

• Continue to help the boys navigate college & life - this is an ongoing one, but it continues
• Sort out Nick's move back plans - still on the fence about some logistics that Nick & M are working out. 
• Monthly date with M - I think so? Pretty sure our date night landed in June? 
• Host family for dinner - this didn't happen & needs to be rescheduled
• Make progress on Iceland planning (next year, M's 60th) - eh, we are still in exploration mode & may swap to Italy. I love travel planning & the good news is that we are still in research mode on this stuff. 
• Have a fabulous trip to Greece - yes, done! It was fabulous. 

Fitness:

• Lose 3 lbs - I lost 1 lb, and came in at 149.5. 
• 10 strength workouts - 6/10
• Track nutrition - about 1/2 the days of the month, not when I was in Greece. My average (including Greece estimates) was 1,354/day.
• Average 12,000 steps/day - Definitely not. I was at 9,298 for the month. Two full travel days (long flights, no steps) & then a work trip where I was trapped in a hotel for another week didn't help. Plus, minimal official workouts or hikes. 

Personal:

• Do well at external event - went very well. 
• Declutter 50 items from the house - made no effort on this, but managed 3 items out of the house by sheer luck. 
• Get together with friends- girls trip + a hike with friends + one workout with a friend. 
• Try something new - Greece!
• Say yes to adventures - the ferry situation, lots of adventures, caldera hike, etc. 
• Get to know our neighbors - no progress
• Try a new recipe - tried a new recipe with rice & meatballs that was quick & easy. 

Let's hope for a better July! How did you do with your June goals? 

Frugal Friday

 This is a recap from a pre-Greece week + the past week. 

Saving on things we buy

• Uploaded two Costco receipts to Fetch & iBotta, as the latter had a $.05 on any grocery receipt cash back. 

Earning money

• I'd fully maxed out my 401k by my last paycheck, so it was bigger than normal, which was a nice treat. 
• Both boys are continuing to work a lot, trying to earn some cash ahead of school going back. 
• Received $250 deposit back from Nick's dorm room, which is a testament to how much time & effort I spent helping him + his roommate clean & pack back in May. 
• Also received my annual bonus + a retroactive raise from April. 

Avoiding spending

• Oh my, we spent plenty, that's for sure. Greece was not a cheap trip (see trip recap for details!)

Eating what we have

• A few weeks ago I'd been home for just a day (LA work trip) & hadn't reconciled myself to grocery shopping yet, so we had a (mostly) freezer dinner. All of our dinners are served with salad, but the shrimp & fried rice were both from Trader Joes & stashed in the freezer.
• Used up a small ziplock of strawberries, and the very end of frozen berries to make a smoothie for Nick. I added an incredibly ripe banana, some yogurt, protein powder & a splash of oat milk. He's been working outside in the 90 degree weather, mountain biking, so he appreciated the cool treat when he got home.
• I also made Nick a quick dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches, made on leftover hamburger buns & sliced cheese I found lingering in the fridge. He was between a gym workout & a pickleball match, so he appreciated the quick & scrappy meal. 
• Made the boys various breakfast items before work. 
• Nick's friend is staying with us for a few days, and oh my goodness that guy can eat. He's 6'4" and a college athlete, and eats more than double my guys combined. I've spent a lot of time in the kitchen, making sure there are easy meals prepped for them, as they are out & about. We have no leftovers in the fridge this week, that is for sure! :-) 
• Nick & friend weren't supposed to be home for dinner, but came back early from the beach, so I whipped up a large spaghetti & meatball dinner, using fridge & freezer staples. Added in a loaf of bread, and they were good to go.
• I also prepped a large lunch for everyone (6 chicken patty sandwiches on ciabatta buns - both from the freezer), chips leftover from a previous teen party, a big bowl of fruit + veggies. All was eaten minus one chicken patty sandwich, which served as Nick's lunch the following day for his job. 
• I went to make lunch on Wednesday, and noticed it was slim pickings for protein to go on my salad (see above with all of my hungry diners), so I opted for the freezer/pantry salad. Salad base + olives & garbanzo beans (pantry) + edamame (freezer). Delicious & easy. Edamame & garbanzo beans both have a good amount of protein. 

For others

• Provided some career guidance to an acquaintance who was laid off, referred them to roles, and made some introductions that I hope will be helpful. 

What about you? Any wins to share? 

Greece, a very non-frugal trip

I'm trying to create more trip recap reports, and it's important to me to show the splurge ones as much as the frugal ones. The frugal trips enable me to spend more flexibly on the splurge trips. We went to Santorini, Naxos & Paros.

Some things to note:

• The trip was a shared 50th birthday celebration for myself + my BFF, with my sister
• I paid for my sister's travel expenses, so my cost is for two people
• We originally had a fantastic deal on flights, using British Airways miles, but they changed the flights & they no longer worked for our group, which was frustrating. We then had to buy revised flights & they cost quite a bit more than they did when we originally priced them. The original flight cost was around $1800 total, so seeing the end number really hurt. 
• This trip had A LOT of logistics. M & I have agreed that Greece, while incredible, is challenging to get to from our location & we don't love a trip where we have to move around a lot. Hence how this made it to the girls trip list. 
• My BFF had a very limited set of dates available, so we had minimal flex on timing to save on cost. She's a school principal & can't adjust vacation days. We ended up needing to adjust our flights & shave a day off the last stop (Paros), as my sister found out that her SIL was getting married the day after we returned. 
• If you've ever traveled with 3-4 people in Europe (and, many places in Asia), you know that finding a room that can comfortably fit that many people is a challenge. There is either an option for a suite, or two rooms, and this is expensive regardless. 
• We were shocked by how expensive transit was, and should have done more research. We booked a hotel on the quieter part of Santorini, and they offered a shuttle service, but it didn't run during the majority of the day. Uber was more expensive than the hotel transit (they arrange for a driver to come & get you). We would still not decide to rental a car, as none of us would have been remotely comfortable driving, but the transit was the biggest area I hadn't budgeted enough for. 

Hotels - $1094.73 (remaining costs covered through Chase rewards)

• We split this up by having me book & pay for two of the hotels (Santorini & Paros), & my BFF paid for the other hotel. 
• $637.09 - food & transit booked with Santorini hotel. I didn't bring home a receipt to break out the transactions that were a few meals eaten at the hotel vs lots of transit around the island.
• $457.64 - food & transit booked with Paros hotel. Same as above, I didn't bring home a receipt to break out the transactions that were a few meals eaten at the hotel vs lots of transit around the island.

Transit - $270.96

• We had two ferry rides, to get between the islands. For two, the ferry costs were $260.72
• We also rode the ferry from Paros to Antiparos, which was a whopping $10.24 (three round trip tickets)
• See above, as the majority of this is captured under Lodging

Food - $190.75

• While we mostly ate at lounges for our airport transit days, I bought drinks for the flight from Munich to SFO (from a vending machines) to carry on the flight ($6.27) & coffee for all of us at the Frankfurt airport, ahead of our flight to Athens ($23.78)
• Dinner in Naxos- $134.44
• Gelato in Paros, x2 - $14.3+11.96
• The majority of the rest of my food was covered by my sister when we ate out, and we had few meals at the hotels (covered under Lodging, as I didn't get the receipt to split out transit costs & food). 

Activities - $243.60

• We booked a cooking class - cost for two was $243.60 
• We also did a distillery/winery tour at a Citron family owned business, which was super interesting. My sister paid for my ticket. 

Flights - $10,613.44

• I flew my sister to/from Portland, so we could be on the same flights from SFO & reduce logistics. I normally do a really good job optimizing, but we had fixed timing & airport/airline requirements that complicated things. This flight was insanely priced at $665.23. 
• We also paid for flights to/from Athens to islands, & my cost was for two of those tickets. - $623.55
• Moving on to the big ticket items - two round trip flights from SFO to Athens. The flight class varied a bit - we were in Premium Plus from SFO to Frankfurt, regular economy (I think?) from Frankfurt to Athens, business from Athens to Munich and business from Munich to SFO.  - $9324.66

Travel insurance - $96

• At my previous employer, health insurance was international, which means I didn't need to buy a policy when I traveled. My current company policy only provides coverage for international work travel. I did not need travel coverage for delayed flights & the like, as that's covered by my travel credit card. I used Allianz insurance - $96

Other - $630.97

• Gifts from M + the boys, two pair of hand made sandals, some stunning pottery from a local vendor in Paros & a necklace for my mom 

Total spent = $12,917.65 for two people (or $6,458 & change per person). All in all, no regrets on the spending except for the flights, which as noted above, was originally supposed to be largely covered by British Airways miles. Hopefully we will get a chance to use them soon. 

Naxos to Paros and home again

I  left off with our last day in Naxos, so I'll pick up with our ferry adventure from Naxos to Paros.

Wednesday 6/24 - Naxos -> Paros

• Grabbed breakfast & coffee near the hotel
• Made our way to the ferry port in Naxos Town
• Because we knew what to expect, this ferry adventure was a bit easier. Both ferries we took were delayed, but I got the sense that's kind of the norm. We met a couple in line behind us from Oregon, and gave them a lot of tips on how to navigate the ferry process. The ferry we boarded was quite large (1,300 people), but the number of folks boarding in Naxos was much smaller than Santorini. There was still a ton of chaos with the boarding process, and baggage, so that was an adventure. We had great seats, however, that put us right near the exit ramp & made grabbing our bags during the chaos much easier. Oh, and no one checks your ferry tickets until the boat is well underway. On our ferry from Santorini to Naxos, we stopped at Ios, well known for a younger party crowd, & picked up a few hundred folks. Maybe 15 minutes after we were underway, they were going around scanning tickets, and a large group of folks from the island were on the wrong ferry. No idea what happened from there, as they gathered them all together & went to find a supervisor. This is one of the challenges when you have a chaotic boarding process, and don't scan tickets upon entry. Just no way to know. ;-) 
• We got picked up at the Paros terminal by our hotel & made our way to our final destination. And, it was so incredible. We were originally supposed to have one more night at this hotel, but needed to shave one night off so my sister could attend a wedding for her partner's sister back in Portland. I'm so bummed it was a night in Paros that got removed, because this was my favorite island by far & we had an amazing time, but didn't get to see everything. 
• Our room wasn't quite ready when we arrived, so we sat by the pool & enjoyed our welcome cocktail, and shared a lunch. The weather on Paros & Naxos was much warmer than Santorini (just down to a weird mix of weather patterns, I don't think that's typical), so we were able to get in the pool & enjoy that as well. 

• Checked in, enjoyed a snack from the hotel & got ready for dinner.
• We went to Naoussa, which is a town that is exactly how I envisioned Greece would be. Gorgeous cobblestone streets, cats everywhere, and amazing views everywhere you look. We had our best meal of the trip that night at Mare Nostrum, where we had a sesame/honey/feta dish that I will attempt to find again, a shrimp pasta dish & of course, Greek salad. We took lots of photos & did a bit of shopping, wrapping up the evening with gelato before we got the shuttle back to the hotel.

Thursday 6/25 - Paros

• Got up & had breakfast & coffee at the hotel. Breakfast was good, but couldn't beat the breakfast options at the Santorini hotel. Quite a step up from the Naxos hotel, however.
• Took the ferry to the very nearby island of Antiparos. This ferry ride was one of my favorite parts. It costs about 1.50 Euros each person, per trip & you just walk on. It's a gorgeous 10 minute ferry ride to Antiparos, which was my favorite part of the trip. (Views from the ferry, below).
• Antiparos was gorgeous, tiny, and we spent some time talking to a local pottery shop owner. He & his wife have been making pottery for 40 years and have incredible pieces. I'm not one for a lot of souvenirs, but these were so lovely and worth bringing home, so we could remember a bit of Greece. We had lunch at a lovely restaurant & finished off the trip with a gelato, running to catch a ferry that was about to take off.
• We came back & hung out by the pool, where I finished the last of my books (that includes all of my Kindle library books, 2 paper books I picked up from the hotel's "free" counter, and a book from my friend). I ended up buying a very expensive book at the Munich airport, to see me through the rest of my trip. My Kindle is extremely finicky to connect with wifi outside of my house, so getting new library books wasn't an option. I tried, and failed, repeatedly. Met a really nice woman at the pool & gave her some tips on Santorini, where she was headed next.
• Had dinner in Parikia, and celebrated our last night on the island. 
• Packed up & had an early night, as we had to be up at 5 for our flight. 

Friday 6/26 - Paros -> SFO

• Got up at 5 to finish packing & get ready for our 5:45 car service to the airport. Checked out of the hotel.
• Got to the very small & jam packed airport (one gate, one terminal) for our 7:00 am flight, which was delayed. Flight itself was uneventful & short.
• Got to Athens, picked up our bags & dropped them off at the respective luggage counters. We then had to say goodbye to my friend, as her flight left from a different terminal, and coming with us would require her to deal with security/etc twice.
• Hung out at the lounge in Athens, as we budgeted quite a bit of time for security and the like. Flight from Athens to Munich was around 3 hours, and went smoothly. We were fed a nice lunch.
• Got to Munich, bought a book, cleared a very long immigration line. We were eventually pulled out to use the automatic machines, which got things moving quickly. Went through another security check at our gate.
• Flight from Munich to SFO was 11 hours, and we were in Lufthansa business class, which was really nice. I'd heard it wasn't comparable to United or British Airways, so I had low expectations, but it was actually really great. Service, food, space, etc. My sister had never flown business, and was completely thrilled with the space. Dozed, read my book, watched two movies, ate some dinner.
• Landed on time at 7 pm in SFO, breezed through immigration with Global Entry, but then waited an hour for my bag. Sad goodbye to my sister, as she was carrying on to Portland. M picked me up, I came home & immediately fell asleep!

Friday was a super long travel day, but the trip was so much fun. Lots of adventure, lots of memory making, lots of chats you don't get if you don't see your friends often. Gorgeous scenery, incredible meals, and met some really lovely people. Travel logistics aside, you can't ask for much more than that!

Santorini to Naxos trip details

When I left off, we had just finished our last full day in Santorini. Caveat, entire trip was filled with laughs, experiences & memory making, so absolutely worth doing, but I'll share the highlights & the lowlights. 

Sunday 6/21 - Santorini to Naxos

• Got up in the morning & had breakfast at the hotel & packed up
• Headed to the port for the ferry, which was ... an adventure I won't soon forget
• The thing about the ferry is it's so much chaos without any organization, and 1200 people attempting to board a ferry while workers are shouting in Greek. That would maybe be okay if everyone was going to the same island, but the ferries from Santorini go to numerous islands, and you need to leave your luggage in the designated area for your destination, Cue an absolute insane amount of chaos, dragging your bags up an enormous ferry ramp, trying to sort luggage, sirens going off, whistles being blown & just... a lot. ;-) I would not repeat the ferry experience unless absolutely mandatory. (This is specific to Santorini. We also took the ferry from Naxos to Paros, and combined with the fact that we knew what to expect and the much fewer number of people boarding, it was easier to navigate, although still...chaotic, shall we say.) 
• We got picked up in Naxos Town by the hotel transport, and made our way to the hotel. The hotels in Santorini & on Paros were really fabulous, but this one was ... more of a let down. The room was tiny, despite being a "suite". We had the sofa made into a bed, which meant there was no room to sit, no place for three bags, etc. The other disappointment was the hotel pool area. In the photos online, they showed a pretty spacious pool area, as well as what they described as a pool terrace. There were a total of six chairs for the entire hotel, and they were all in full sun for the day, and I'm not sure what happened with the pool terrace, but no such thing. We heard later that the pool photos were taken with a drone & then selectively edited... I also wouldn't stay in the location we were in, and would stay in Naxos Town if I ever came back. We were in Prokopios, which had a lot of touristy type restaurants, and it was harder to find places to eat, etc. 
• We had an okay dinner on our first night, as the place we wanted to go to was sold out, and we wandered around looking for other options. That said, the view was gorgeous on the beach. Just a stunning location. 

Monday 6/22 - Naxos

• Tried the hotel breakfast, which was not an experience we would repeat. 
• Rented lounge chairs at the beach, read two books & ordered cocktails & fries. Lunch of champions. ;-) Absolutely gorgeous views & some fun people watching. We hit maximum relaxation by this point. 

• Went to dinner in Naxos Town & did some shopping, & had a lovely dinner at Avaton 1739, which is located on the Old Monastery and School of the Ursulines (a historic complex built directly into the stone fortification walls of the medieval Venetian Castle, according to Google). The view was again super fabulous. 

Tuesday 6/23 - Naxos

• Went out to breakfast/coffee & skipped the hotel breakfast ;-)
• Had no plans, as we were supposed to be on a kayak tour, but wind meant that wasn't an option for us. We weren't quite sure what to do, so after checking with the hotel staff, we ended up on a distillery tour. I'll admit that I had zero expectations for this, but it turned out to be so much fun. The distillery makes Citron, and that type of alcohol is only made in Naxos, by two family owned distilleries. The host made the experience - she was so much fun, we drank wine, lots of Citron, ouzo, and limoncello. 
• Went to a great dinner in Naxos Town at Scirocco, and enjoyed shrimp orzo & then went shopping a bit down town. I do really like that the shopping area is open so late. 

I'll be back with the details of our trip from Naxos -> Paros, and our time in Paros + travel home. Naxos is described as a favorite island by many, so if I go back & try it again, I would make a bunch of adjustments to where we stayed & our planned activities, as I don't think we did it justice & would like to go back & experience it again. 

Not the usual Fitness Monday post

Because, other than my workout class yesterday, fitness has been pretty limited to walking during my vacation. On Saturday, I mostly just slept & lounged around on the couch, trying to convince myself to be productive. ;-) 

I'll try & do a trip recap instead (and, I've got a trip cost post coming, with more details on that). 

My sister + BFF flew in on Monday, so we could all depart SFO together on Tuesday. 

Tuesday 6/16- travel day

• We worked during the day on Tuesday morning, went for a quick walk at lunch, and then cleaned up & headed to the airport. 
• I redeemed my two free United lounge passes for myself + my sister at the SFO United lounge. I've been to the domestic terminal lounges (nice), as well as the Polaris international lounge (amazing), but never to the international lounge/non-Polaris. It was pretty disappointing, and I wish I hadn't redeemed my pass vouchers, but c'est la vie. We had a glass of champagne & chatted while we waited for our flight.
• Our flights left SFO around 7 pm. We were all together in Premium Plus. I managed to sleep for 4ish hours, which isn't too bad for me. 

Wednesday 6/17 - travel day

• Time zones make this challenging to recap, but after an 11 hour flight to Frankfurt, we got off the flight, cleared customs (the line was crazy, and a bunch of people missed connections). 
• I grabbed coffee for everyone, while we took turns using the bathroom & stretching our legs a bit.
• We had about 20 minutes before boarding, so even planning on a 2 hour gap between flights was pretty tight. 
• We boarded our next flight, from Frankfurt to Athens, which was just under 3 hours. We ordered a glass of wine & a snack & all then took a short nap. 
• We arrived in Athens & that was... an experience. We were flying a small airline (Aegean Air) from Athens to Santorini. The airport was very quiet in the terminal we were in, the gate moved twice, we couldn't figure out how to get our bags checked (even a standard carry-on doesn't fit & needed to be checked). We hung out at the lounge and ate a bit.
• We had to take busses to the plane, and that was an experience, as the bus is absolutely jammed full of people & then there was a near collision on the runway between our bus & another bus. A few people fell over, because the bus braked so hard and turned, but we all survived that.
• Flight to Santorini was uneventful. We landed, claimed our bags (took only 5 minutes or so) & exited the airport & met our hotel driver. 
• Drive to the hotel was quick & easy & we got checked in & made our way to the room, around 1:30 am local time. The hotel had champagne & snacks in the room for us. Sat out & chatted & went to sleep around 2:30 am. Hotel was absolutely gorgeous, and on the quiet side of Santorini, which we enjoyed. 

Thursday 6/18 - Santorini

• Got up late, had breakfast, unpacked. 
• Went to a winery & had a tasting & enjoyed a relaxing afternoon

• Had a fabulous dinner (birthday celebration, planned by my sister) at The Athenian House in Imerovigli, which was absolutely stunning at sunset. We were surprised by how chilly & windy it was, which was the case for our entire Santorini trip. Ate delicious Greek food & shared a bottle of wine. (View from dinner)

Friday 6/19 - Santorini

• Took advantage of the free hotel breakfast (delicious)
• Headed to Megalochori for a cooking class, which we loved. The chef was so much fun, and it was just the three of us + a lovely couple from Australia. We made a traditional bean dish, Greek salad (of course), tomato fritters & tzatziki sauce. We enjoyed wine during the food preparation, and lots of laughs with our cooking mishaps. 
• After the class, we wandered around Megalochori & enjoyed the really cute town & got some pictures. 

• Headed back to the hotel & laid by the pool for a bit, and read
• Ordered room service & ate on our patio, which was perfect. We had chicken gyros & wine. Of course. ;-) 

Saturday, 6/20 - Santorini

• Hotel breakfast
• We hiked the caldera from Fira to Oia, and the views were stunning. We went pretty early in the day, before it got too warm. 
• While the hike was amazing, Oia was jammed with tourists from the big cruise ships in town. Locals told us that three ships were in port, which explains the crowds. 
• We then had dinner in Fira, which was again super crowded & food was okay, but definitely felt like more of a tourist location/restaurant. Sunset at the restaurant, however, was gorgeous, with caldera views.

I'll be back with additional details on our next two stops (Naxo & Paros). My verdict of Santorini? Absolutely gorgeous, but a one & done for me, due to the crowds & overall more of a touristy vibe. That said, worth visiting once if you want the more traditional white building/blue dome architecture & Instagram style views.