Looking Forward to Things #2
I think I’ve mentioned this on the blog before but I feel better about life when I have things to look forward to.
At this moment my job is causing me a lot of stress and it’s eating me up inside, so finding other ways to enjoy my life is absolutely essential. Things are happening again, restaurants are opening back up, friends are coming back out of hiding, and we’re feeling more free to do things outside of the house - this means we can start planning our summer! It’s mid June and now is the best time to make things happen and get things moving and shaking.
This evening Miayah and I needed to go out and find pool noodles. This may seem unusual since we don’t actually have a pool, but we needed pool noodles for a quilting project that Miayah is currently working on. We ended up at Five Below and found the perfect color pool noodles to match our house. We also found some amazing dog toys and a great floatie shaped like a Taco Bell hot sauce packet. Side note: Miayah loves taco bell hot sauce. If she could drink it by itself she absolutely would - only the HOT tho, none of the other flavors.
After roaming Five Below for a while we decided that boba tea sounded delicious and there just so happened to be a boba shop that we had not tried yet in the same parking lot. We hopped back in the car with our goodies and slowly drove toward the building but as we passed, we noticed that it wasn’t strictly a boba shop - it was more of a cafe and bakery. This doesn’t work for us given our allergies so we didn’t stop. We decided to go to Sno Monster instead where they have snow cones that I’m not allergic to as well as delicious boba tea. I am currently consuming an oolong iced tea as I write this.
On the way back we passed what used to be Austin Park and Pizza off of North I-35. We’d been there in the past; it was an arcade with go carts and laser tag and mini golf. It was older and didn’t have a lot of things for adults but mini golf is always fun. As we passed we noticed that it had been completely repainted, rebranded, and looked significantly larger than we remembered. I was driving so Miayah whipped out her phone and googled the new name. They have indoor roller coasters now?? They have a tower drop now??? They have a rock wall, a restaurant, and alcohol now????? This was all very exciting and we immediately decided that we need to go as soon as possible.
We called Miayah’s boyfriend as we continued to drive, told him about the new “Austin’s & Revl Social Club,” and let him know that tomorrow when he comes over we’re absolutely going and he has no choice but to be pulled along.
I can’t even begin to tell you how exciting I find this. It may sound silly but after the stress I’ve been experiencing at my job plus everything that keeps happening with Cinnamon, a jaunt around an adult playland sounds amazing and oh so fun. I want to play mini golf for sure. I’ll skip laser tag and the go carts, but I’m definitely hitting up the coin dozers. Hopefully the cocktails they serve are half decent… but even if they aren’t I’m sure I’ll indulge in plenty.
This is all in addition to another outing we’re planning: tubing! We didn’t get to go tubing last year at all and it’s one of our favorite summer activities. We’ve gone tubing in San Marcos and New Braunfels and the latter is our preferred destination. There’s a lovely little tube rental place that has friendly faces and they remember us every year. That’s happening the second week of July and I’m absolutely jazzed about it. I’ve got the perfect swimsuit and everything.
My mom is interested in tubing with us this year and it’s such a wild idea. She’s never expressed interest in tubing before and I think it could be fun. We’re a little worried about her balance since she’s older but we’re thinking we’ll go tubing once without her and then if it’s safe enough we’ll take her along. I think it could be a great experience for you since I don’t think she’s ever done it. We’ve gone with groups of friends and boyfriends at the time in the past and it’s always been a great experience.
Other things…. Despite work being difficult we’re even planning a social event for the office. I know that they all drive me completely crazy but team building might be good. It’s such a clique-y place so this could possibly open up those cliques and make everyone more friendly and communicative. It’s entirely possible that things could get better once I get more familiar with the others in the organization. I won’t consider it impossible and I’ll leave the event open as an opportunity to learn more about the types of relationships that I could have with other people there.
This is just the beginning of a great summer, I can feel it. I know with more friends coming out of hiding we’ll start having things to do every single weekend soon enough and plenty of weekdays too. The first party we’ll have is going to be amazing, I know it, and we haven’t even started planning yet! All this just makes it easier to live through the tough days and the grind. I work to live, not live to work, as the saying goes. Every day doesn’t have to be devoid of fun, we can incorporate fun activities in any day. I hope that you are able to find things to keep you going as well.