Staycation Station

The art of the Staycation with a humorous twist.

A nice summer read with a cool glass of Lemonade in hand, whether you are on the beach or in our office this summer, I wrote this for all of us;) But mostly for those of you that stayed in.

This morning I was walking in the merciless humid summer heat, my wet rubber flip-flops squeaking from the water I had spilled, my watering can sprung a rusty hole, during my morning garden check. It was a glorious walk, some birds, my skin melting, a faint smell of a lavender bush steaming in the early heat, and it occurred to me in that moment that I had actually succeeded in creating the true staycation feeling i had imagined to create earlier this spring. Also that being midsummer it wasn't too late to share my results with the world in the hopes that it might help someone else in a similar vacationless scenario.

This year I had decided to try something different. My first summer in 12 years to not travel somewhere. Gavin's still been injured and it just didn’t seem like the answer in general was to leave everything behind when we kind of needed maximum recovery time and space, with all we had going on and big dreams of saving for the tiny house build, it just seemed wiser to stay. As i watched my friends, family, and students preparing for Bali, Hawaii, Lake houses, summer Camp getaways, Mexico, Tahiti, Europe, I tried to tell myself, “shhh its ok, you've had your share of travels, its going to be ooooo K”…. It wasn't working. I needed a stronger concoction than this hollow semi-soothing mantra.

Still in the throws of my own mystery chronic pain and watching my partner wear a neck brace and unable to sleep for two months, I felt justified in “needing” to leave for a “break”. But the creative in me didn’t give up, I thought if I could paint a picture or write a song from my own imagination, why not create a summer from my own imagination as well? Something to replace the mind and body reset traveling always gives me. 

Earlier in the year I had read a quote in some comment section that really caught my eye “The grass is always greener when you put a little shit in it”*. Well. Ya. That is true, and maybe as a gardener it struck me as even more clever and hilarious. 

The trick, I had realized, was to behave exactly as if I was on vacation. *Tear the grass out, replace it with dandelions, lavender or something, anything, just don't keep staring at that nicely cut fresh green grass, it will drive one crazy.

Step one, create a staycation station, in my environment and also in my mind.

I would continue to work a full schedule, and have fun, and relax, and make pizza, you know trick my brain to think it was actually taking a break. I decided i could have it all.

This was gonna be great. 

*( asterisk denotes theme that culminates in clever ending, just incase you miss the joke because I'm never really sure with writing how it will land. )

1. Set the scene. Permanently set up drums in living room. No space in 200 sq ft living room? Not an issue, squeeze through door and use computer station less (now being blocked by said drums). There, (hand dusting sound effect insert here) done. The drums provided both a fun summery vibe for students replacing the metronome, and also made us play more music with friends when they came over. Something about the sight of drums just says, “today might be Saturday?”

2. Every moment a music or art session/lesson or meeting (work) ends, I go straight to something I want to do first. Eat piece of cheese, go into garden, watch videos on how to do random homesteading things, write a song, stare at rest of cheese, call family and annoy them at work, stare at rose bushes, leisurely do laundry (as opposed to quickly and without joy), slowly make a giant amazing salad for lunch, pet bunny, break a self imposed rule, read a funny book, crumple up my todo lists into little tiny balls, drink tea slowly in the quiet with no one around and contemplate the state of the world, Things like this. Things that are not involving any of the rectangles (pc ipad phone laptop kindle) or any of the must do lists, nothing annoying like calling someone just to be on hold or stressing in any form. Result: Oooo, its kind of working! I feel better already. Not sure if will go back to old way after this. 

3. Replace the traditional “oh no! vacation is here and my bathing suit makes me feel like a potato stuffed into a sock, how did i not see this coming while enjoying knitting and bread making season?? “ with: “hmm it would be nice to feel nice, and no one can make me go to the beach and wear a swim-sock, I shall exercise as if i weeeere going away somewhere exotic, except remove any and all pressures and just do it because its good for my health for salads sake!!! Result: pretty darn good, helps to latch on to a buddys actual vacation fitness plan and pretend until it doesn’t hurt so much. After initial hump, smooth sailing and nice treats every week like more cheese to remind me how very good I am. (Incase you follow my gluten free dairyfree sugar recipe blogs and are wondering why I’m talking so much about cheese, I have recently discovered to my great amazement that my body can now digest sheep and goat cheese. So yes, it is now the summer of cheese, and no. This has nothing to do with the swim-sock, leave the cheese out of this. )

4. The final and most crucial part was to make plans that would disrupt my schedule, this seems to be an integral part of why vacations work, I mean half of the vacation is not even fun disruptions, planning, spending money on airport “food”, packing, measuring suitcase, weighing suitcase, being hot, being trapped on a plane, being in airports, trying to find places, using maps, stupid shoes, feeling uneasy about indistinguishable costs that pop up, running to store for whatever I didn’t pack, having to choose between something I don’t want to eat and something I might want to eat later. Tourists. (Yes I realize when I travel that I am technically a tourist, but for gods sake I don’t act like one! Have some dignity man! ) Airport people and airplane rules. Oh and airport security. Those dam bins. The 3 oz. clear bag rule. Anyways, so the plan was to watch our friends woodle (that is a type of canine, yes its funny looking like its name suggests, sort of like a muppet that fells it has to pretend its a dog if that helps to picture it ) and therefore also have a second house to retreat to, and extra cars, driving different cars is also a theme of how vacation vibe works. What is this button? Where is the handle? Where am i? Is that poop on my shoe? All seem to be very integral parts of putting the mind into vacation mode. Result: Seems to be working, forces you to feel overwhelmed by too many disruptions, start to notice not caring about usual things in life, good, this means your on vacation. 

5. Actual final part, i forgot about this…thats ok, I’m technically on vacation. Get self treats. I know I mentioned cheese, but I had to up it a notch since I plan to continue with the cheese anyway, to make it more special. Solution? Buy outdoor pizza oven. Turn backyard into Italian bistro. This is a twofer because I inadvertently discovered no friends or neighbors are too busy to come over when you add the word “oven” to “pizza”. So, cool, now there are too many people in one place, its nighttime and the yard smells like smoke, and burning prosciutto. Result: this added ambiance makes it 100% vacation vibes with minimal effort. *key walking or riding bike to store multiple times a week to get whatever you want that day. Also something you do on vacation.        

6. Bonus Guideline: facetime friends on vacation and notice how many times they say they are soooo tired, how their flight was cancelled, how they got sick, luggage lost, sunburned, bad mattress, weird smells, backache from plane...listen to them, you get to be the good friend who is there for them, not off galavanting around having pinia-coladas, good. now, envision where you are, couch? Good. Every piece of clothes you own in your closet where they belong? Good. Shampoo in its regular sized bottle? Very good. Nothing you have to do but everything tantalizingly available if you wanted to? Good. Neighborhood quiet from everyone leaving you all alone? Even better. 

7. AND THE WINNER IS….. Staycation Station! Congratulations you now hold in your hand the very same guide that made me glad to be home by mid-summer! That means we have 50% left still to go, and when It's over all my cupboards, closets, baking supplies, weird random goals for the year, and such will be all stocked and finished and best part? I wont feel like I need a vacation after my staycation. Ps if you did get to vacation this year, don’t worry its ok, *(alert! Asterisk time!) theres always next year to tear out that green grass and plant something else instead;)

This is a picture, it is not me, but this is what I was doing in my mind.