Well hello there, happy Saturday!

I had a bit of an abrupt crash back into reality on Monday morning when my brain and body got to switch from beach vacation mode right back into standardized testing madness at school, but THERE I WAS, and I managed to maintain my vacation zen even when dealing with a myriad of tech issues, so many meetings, and tweens spilling Perler beads all over the library all week long.

I mean, it’s April, winter is over for most part, and I always feel invincible in the spring when there’s daylight and a chance of warm weather. I CAN DO ANYTHING IN SPRING! Also, this is my first spring in over a decade with no soccer ~ imagine spring weekend days NOT in a chair on soccer sidelines??? Wild.

Good Calls and Regretful Oversights

I typically pride myself on packing pretty perfectly for my travels, but our spring break trip was an out-of-the-norm kind of adventure for me, and I was so unsure about what the weather would end up being like. And despite the fact that we drove and had car room, I also had to squeeze three sets of golf clubs in my car for family members!

So, here’s what I’m so glad I threw in, what I was kicking myself for forgetting, and what I packed and never touched:

• I threw in my favorite bike shorts at the last moment, tucking them in a side pocket as we ran out of the house, and I wore them EVERY SINGLE DAY walking on the beach, as well as under my favorite dress for some outings.

• I grabbed an extra pair of nonprescription Goodrs as I ran out the door, thinking maybe I would want to wear my contacts at some point. And while I never wore them, the kid who forgot her own sunglasses and lost her sister’s in the waves did appreciate them! I wore my prescription pair all day every day.

• I brought one big gauzy shirt and UNPACKED two more that I totally should have brought ~ silly me. I wore the one every day, including as a sun shirt when I was totally cooked and overexposed but didn’t want to leave the beach. Why doesn’t AE make their Go Big Beach Shirt any more?? Guess I’ll have to try to make my own?

• I packed a whole bag of crafty stuff to work on in the car or during down time or if it rained, and I didn’t touch a single thing. Any down time was filled with reading or sleeping, which was just perfect.

• I got anxious about sleeping and threw a small fan in the car ~ I am so glad I did. Our bedroom for the week was right off the kitchen / living room and I desperately needed the white noise. The fan app on my phone filled in on the nights on the road.

• I thought about packing a small backpack/string bag and then never did, and I kicked myself daily for that. With how much I biked, it would have been so nice to have for bringing stuff to the beach, and would have eliminated the need to tie a box of donuts onto the front of my bike with a sweatshirt!

• I only packed one swimsuit and should have known better ~ I would vastly prefer to be able to alternate for both sun coverage purposes as well as to be able to let one fully dry before having to wear it again. I just wasn’t sure how warm it would be, if the water would be swim-ready, etc. Lesson learned!

• And of course, for all of my hyper-preparation the week before, separating things into smaller baggies and such, I left one whole bag of toiletry stuff on a chair in the dining room and had to replace everything on the road. Sometimes I think it’s better to just prepare less and figure it out as I go given the double effort I put in!

A Few Recent Reads

I told you earlier this week that I’ll be sharing my vacation reads next Tuesday, but in the meantime, I have a few books to catch you up on. These are in addition to the MANY other Jan-March books I haven’t told you about yet ~ I’ll be sharing those with you on Tuesday, April 21st.

These first two books are suspense-ish stories that I really enjoyed ~ one via audio in on via print.

This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum is a story based on podcasters, so I figured it would be excellent on audio, and I was RIGHT. I am usually leary about audiobooks with lots of production, but this one was just perfect ~ only the podcast excerpts sounded any different than a traditional audiobook, and both narrators were fabulous. I mean, one was my favorite Julia Whelan, so of course she was. The story itself did keep me guessing, so while I had a few minor quibbles with the mystery, it was a fully entertaining listen.

Behind White Picket Fences by Christine Gunderson was sent to me by a publicist, and I received it right before a winter storm in mid-March, opened it when the snow started flying, and finished it in a day! This story had my favorite combination of light mystery, motherhood, teaching, and a fun cast of friends. I enjoyed it so much that I then immediately dug into Gunderson’s previous novel via Kindle Unlimited. Behind White Picket Fences releases on June 9, so mark your summer reading calendars!

And now two stories I listened to that were on my highly anticipated list, and both were … fine.

And Now, Back to You by B.K. Borison simply couldn’t live up to my expectations based on how much I have adored some of the author’s previous works (you can see my review on Goodreads) and The Bookstore Diaries by Susan Mallery was a pure and simple breezy comfort listen. These kinds of books are always the hardest to write about ~ fine, but JUST fine?

This week in between meetings and falling into bed exhausted, I was desperately trying to finish the FOUR review titles I accepted from School Library Journal because I didn’t touch them over break and am paying the price now! Two young adult and two middle grade and then reviews to write … ready set GO.

Okay, that’s all for today, my friends! I’ll see you on Tuesday with FOUR fabulous spring releases that I inhaled on our trip … SO. DELIGHTFUL.