Skip to main content

Take Time for Yourself

Stay at a hotel by myself
Everyone has their opinion on consecutive baby showers.  My personal opinion is if you want another baby shower, go for it!  I feel like big life events (is there a more grand event than a new baby? nope...) should be celebrated, doesn't matter if its your first child or fifth. I am a fan of celebrating anything really; a promotion, the end to a long week, the beginning of summer.  Life is meant to be celebrated and I enjoy finding any excuse to celebrate so you better believe I wanted to do the same with Baby #2!

 Although I wanted to celebrate in some sort of way, I also don't need anything and I didn't want friends to feel obligated to purchase a gift.  I decided that for my birthday (about 6 weeks before my due date) that I wanted to get a hotel room all to myself for a night.  I know it sounds crazy, but I have never stayed at a hotel by myself and it is something that I have always wanted to do.  I decided to have a little shower/birthday combo celebration at the hotel; friends could drop in and hang out by the pool during the day, we could order pizza for dinner, and then I would have the evening all to myself to relax before I am fully submersed in newborn land.

 I booked a room at The Hyatt House in North Hills, Raleigh, NC.  It was the perfect hotel because they are known for their large rooms with kitchens, they had a nice pool with a bar, and free breakfast (which always makes me excited). Summer weekends are always hard to get folks together and I was surprised at how many of my friends could make the event.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all those who came to celebrate! I seriously have the best group of friends who I would not trade for anything in this world.  They brought all my favorite food and plenty of champagne to go around.
with my best friends, Katie Carlough & Catherine Wagoner
 with Caroline Griffin
 with Rachael Estes, Melissa Abrams & Mim Williams
 with Sarah Beck, Maggie White & Holly Johnson
with Emily Price, Caroline Griffin, Katie Carlough & Lauren Garris
After everyone left, I really didn't know what to do with myself.  I sat in silence for about 10 minutes before  I decided to spend 2 hours in Target going down every aisle (with some of my gift cards!) and got some things for myself and the baby.  I ordered a glass of delicious cabernet from the bar, took a hot shower, donned my robe and face mask, finished my book, relaxed on the couch, and went to be early (duh).  The next morning I slept til 10 am, thanks to the black-out shades.  Kenny and Holden came over to enjoy breakfast and more lounging until our late check-out at noon.  Staying in a hotel by myself, although I can see how it would get lonely on a routine basis, was EVERYTHING AND MORE that I envisioned it would be.
Lately I have really stressed the importance of self-care in my life.  Self-care does not have to be anything expensive, extravagant, or time consuming.  It can be a manicure or massage, a nap in the rain or sleeping in on a Saturday, a glass of wine on your patio or 10 minutes of silence to finish your coffee, reading a chapter in your book or a charcoal face mask.  Think about what makes you feel relaxed and confident and try to add more time for yourself into your life.  We all have 24 hours in the day and we are all busy, but if you manage your time for yourself it can make all the difference with every aspect of your life.  Taking time for yourself makes you a better person, spouse, parent, daughter/son, friend, coworker, etc. 
Before I checked into my hotel room, I was feeling overwhelmed with how busy work has been, anxious for all the things we needed to do and buy for the new baby, and irritable since my house was a wreck and laundry was piling up.  After a night in a hotel by myself, I just felt so calm, collected, and appreciative.  I looked over and saw these two laughing and I just thought to myself "Wow.  How did I get so lucky?" I am so thankful for everything that I have and this is my favorite stage of life so far.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Embracing My Inner Southern Belle in Kentucky

When I first moved to "The South" I remember thinking how phony everything was and feeling very out of place.  Southern culture seemed overwhelming and ridiculous.  Everywhere I turned there was a church,  an overly friendly female in a floral printed dress, and people saying "Bless your heart." I soon discovered that there was nothing "phony" or "ridiculous" about this different way of life.  I realized people in The South were actually genuine; down to their hospitality, faith, and their love for family and small towns. Over the past 15 years, I have come to fall in love with The South and everything it has to offer... Sweat Tea Front Porches The Weather Authentic Faith Pig Pickins, Fried &Comfort Food Slower Pace of Life Country Music & Country Accents Manners and Opened Doors Bow Ties and Seer Sucker Suits Ranch on Everything Monograms and Pearls College Football I could go on!! Seriously, what's not to
1 comment
Read more

If you want to hear God laugh tell him your plan

Get a Real Job      T here are some things I want to accomplish in my life, but they are not necessarily "Bucket List material"...  they are things that I "assume" I will do, including buy a house, get married, have children, etc.   I never thought "Get a real job" would ever be on my bucket list...but it has been since I graduated from college and assumed I would have one.  I don't have any control over our country's economy & the fact that when I graduated all the hospitals were cutting back and the first thing to cut was recreational therapists due to reimbursement issues at the time.    "Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you respond to it."  -Lou Holtz.         I jumped right into what I really wanted to do: Physical Therapy, by looking into schools that I was interested in...only coming to realize I should have spent waaaayyy more nights at Joyner Library instead of downtown Greenville.  I decided to attend Nash Com
2 comments
Read more

A Bird's Eye View

GO ZIP LINING      Asheville, North Carolina.  If you have never been I highly recommend it.  Good food, good beer & wine, and a laid back atmosphere with just enough to do to keep you busy.  It's not officially on my bucket list, but I have always wanted to take a weekend trip with Kenny for a couple years now.  For whatever reason we quickly run out of time in the fall/early winter to go.  For my graduation gift from PTA school, Kenny's parents gave me zip-lining tickets & Biltmore tickets for my birthday.  To " Go Zip-lining " has been on my bucket list since I got a small dose of it on a ropes course in one of my recreational classes in college.  When they told me about this place just north of Asheville I was all in. So, we finally planned our trip for late October!!        Zip-lining originated from Costa Rica as botanists needed a way to study plants in the rain forest from above ground-level.  It is currently becoming a "new" outdoor recr
1 comment
Read more