Be Kind to Yourself: The $7 Vacation

It’s that time of year, isn’t it? It feels a little like everyone and their grandma is taking a vacation.

“Where are you going on vacation?” we usually ask.

“Oh, nowhere special just the Bahamas/Hawaii/a Caribbean cruise/St. Barts/a fill-in-the-blank-exotic/tropical-locale-that-you-would-kill-to-visit.”

I know that’s not really true. A lot of us are really struggling to afford lots of things these days and a lot of the people who ARE taking exciting trips have been working and saving to make those happen.

But it was a conversation with some friends about our summer vacations (or lack thereof) that prompted…the mini-vacation. We are very thankful to have a pool in our apartment complex but I was realizing how little time we spend in it. Also very thankful that yesterday brought an entire day of sunshine to the city of Columbus! Back in Colorado, we have more sunshine than air and so I, the eternal sun baby, have learned to take it for granted. But in Ohio, you apparently have to do a special dance and sacrifice some chickens to get the sun to make an appearance (not that I tried that).

I just had this silly little epiphany that being kind to ourselves was not just the big grand week-long vacation or the tropical destination or the money we sometimes have to spend but about the peaceful hour I am fortunate to find in the day-to-day. And I thought, Hey! I can make a frozen drink and sit by the pool for next to nothing!

So yesterday, I ran over to the two cheapest places on earth, Wal*Mart and the Dollar Tree (where, in case you hadn’t heard, everything is exactly a dollar…which is, you know, crazy town for someone like me) and spent about $7 or so for an afternoon at the pool.

Strawberry margarita mix: $2.88 (in case you’re not a margarita girl like me, these babies cost about $8-14 each in a restaurant).

Drink glasses, bendy straws, leis, and tiny umbrellas: $4.79

The book I brought to read, Flapper. This one has been keeping me up late and I think it’s a great “beach read,” too! Click here to check it out on Amazon!

It took a considerable amount of cajoling (enough to make the use of that word in this post necessary) to get Kyle to wake up (after all, he didn’t get home from the night shift until after 9 AM that morning and he was exhausted). And it took all of my feminine wiles to get him to wear that lei for all of the five seconds I needed to snap this picture. And that was also the sum total of time he spent actually wearing it. Dollar. Well. Spent.

It’s a testament to how much I like all of you that I am posting a bathing suit picture. I can’t remember the last time I allowed something like this to happen!

So now I want to know…what kind of mini vacation have you taken or are planning to take? How are you being kind to yourself THIS week? And if you ARE lucky enough to be taking an extra special vacation to somewhere amazing, where are you going and what are you most excited about?

love, elizabeth

PS: If you haven’t already, click here and enter to win the Teeny-Tiny Spa giveaway! And feel free to share the link with your friends and fellow bloggers! I’d love to share it with anyone who is interested.