Hi loves! Sorry it took me a minute to write something in this block- lets say, it took me having to take a real step back to think about June in July to write what I wanted to say. June is not my favorite month, its actually one of the worst months for me because it does in fact have a season change. Summer is just way too hot and I usually just try to get through it. I did pretty well given all the crazy things happening. I had a lot of extra motivation leading into Summer Solstice because I was trying to harness as much positivity as possible via opportunities and vacations, meditation, and yoga. Well, my vacation fell straight through the roof and that required me to really put some big girl pants on.
I was flying to Dallas with my husband and everything was going wrong. The weather started out ok and then we just had insane storms roll in Tampa and in Dallas as well as tornados in Dallas (right where our hotel was) which led to plane delays, and then cancellations. I surprisingly was pretty stressed, but I kept it together. I hate flying and I haven't flown anywhere in five years by choice. I must admit, I have been in the city for five years and I absolutely love being home so my desire to fly anywhere has been relatively low up until last year.
Anyway, we sat in the airport ALL day and ultimately my luggage flew to Dallas, but I never left Tampa because all the flights got cancelled. My husband had to leave two days later since he had to be in Dallas for work. The great news was that he brought my luggage back, but I have yet to be refunded for my six hundred dollar plane ticket (which I had insurance for). This is just one of the things that happened in a long string of events in June. This is how Summer always is and usually I just kind of get mad and lock myself indoors for three months to keep my sanity.
So, I survived June and I feel so much relief. I did have some fun in June- just a little. I did work out and shop and have great dinner dates once hubs returned from Dallas. My favorite thing about Summer is watching it rain and sleeping which I got to do copious amounts of; and it gave me time to put things into perspective.
Enter the Op Ed... Right now, we are living in a society where there are few meaningful interactions and even fewer real ones due to the social media machine. When I was going through my whole Dallas thing none of my "friends" even reached out to me except 2 people to say enjoy your trip. Even though I clearly wrote that the whole trip turned into a nightmare and I stayed home. All people do is use social media for now is showing off, stalking, and venting. I cant be a part of that in any way this Summer if I want to keep my sanity and that means reading the posts because I don't use social media for those ways.
I also just don't want to travel very far. OMG- yes, I said it. My instagram feed is jam packed full of people traveling- all taking the same Instagrammable photos in all of the same locations and nothing is original anymore. Its so annoying! Its great people are getting out and I don't fault anyone for that, but creating "fake" photos just for Instagram to me is just cringeworthy. Very little is real anymore- people don't even take normal vacation photos anymore and who knows who funds these endless trips of wanderlust (I hate that word now). I was going to leave myself this Summer and I just thought " man, forget this, why am I really trying to leave when its so hot outside and I hate Summer". (Yes, when you are from Florida a lot of decisions are based on how hot it is outside). My husband has said over and over I just want to stay home with you. I just said to myself, did I forget everything I love is right here? My love for my condo and being in the city has always been my first love. I am a firm believer you have to love your life and your home life to truly love traveling otherwise your running and I did this a lot when I was younger and in college. We would just up and leave to another country just to get away from Tampa, but we don't feel like that anymore.
I traveled a lot already and I had a house. I guess what I did was #goals when I was in my early twenties when a lot of my "friends" only cared about clubbing. Right now though, yes, I still do and want to travel, but I love being home and a lot of people can not say that. Making it through Summer for me doesn't have to mean I need to leave like I was planning to do, I just need like a little break like everyone does sometimes and then we will power through. In retrospect, I feel like I wasn't even listening to what my husband was saying when he was saying I don't feel like leaving the country right now- I will give you whatever you want otherwise. So, you know I canceled that whole trip and we are going to keep things really simple like we like to do because he actually does travel a lot for work and it needs to be fair for him also.
This post is kind of everywhere and its kind of an Op Ed ad this point. Do any of you get tired of the endless fake travel photos on the explore page? I think for the most part in me it just starts FOMO because my husband also travels a lot for work. Instagram doesn't really bother me too much, but I started out this post saying that my own "friends" no longer even interact in a meaningful way on social media anymore and so as a result I attempted to delete my Facebook page.
It was was unssuccesful. But, I just haven't been on in over a week for the first time in years and it feels great. A lot of my stress apparently was stemming from Facebook and it wasn't the usual things that upset people. It is the lack of meaningful interactions, honesty, and authenticity from friends and family and I guess it was compounded by the stress of the season change for me (I have seasonal depression). I have gone back and fourth on deleting my account many times, but I need it for business so I am kind of stuck in a hard place.
Its now the start of July and I have a positive outlook for the rest of the Summer that will be centered around what both my husband and I want.
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| June's Rocksbox pics |
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| Earrings C/O Ettika |
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| Products C/O Avon |
ORCHID LOVERS UPDATE:
IN THE CITY:
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| USF Botanical Gardens |
DATE NIGHTS: Since it is Summer we have a few new restaurants opening in South Tampa and St. Pete which is always fun for me. The rest are oldies, but goodies.
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Edge-Epicurean Hotel
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| Salt Shack on the Bay- Marina District |
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| Ocean Prime |
Ciro's Speakeasy
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| Rocco's Tacos Bay Street &International Plaza |
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| Terra Gaucha |
Acropolis South Tampa
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| How to cook perfect scallops in the oven |
I prefer to cook in cast iron however a regular cupcake pan will also work.
Place 1 scallop in each section and season to your liking...
My seasonings:
salt
pepper
garlic and wine seasoning from the Melting Pot
Fresh curly parsley
Kerry gold butter 1 tablespoon cut up
Paprika
Preheat oven to 350 and let cook for 13 minutes. Keep in mind when you remove them pan from the oven the scallops will continue to cook if you leave them sitting in the pan to cool so you will need to remove them.
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| Hubs plate keto version |
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| My plate- non keto version |
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| Baked Kookaburra wings |
Outbaack Steak House Poultry seasoning
Garlic and wine seasoning
salt
Louisiana hot sauce
Kerry gold butter
Bake at 415 for 40 minutes in cast iron
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