Cocktails & Sunsets 10.8.23
Happy Sunday! Fall has finally arrived in my area of PA, and it is a sunny and brisk morning. I love this weather, especially when I am off for the day. What makes it even better is we are a family of 4 this weekend. Youngest decided to come home for the weekend from college because of being off from class tomorrow, so this Mom is super thrilled!
This update is going to have some highlights and some not so fun updates. Grab your coffee and have fun reading! I do wish I had a breakfast mimosa or some coconut shrimp from our butlers at Sandals Resorts.
Post-Vacation Blues
As you may remember from my other Cocktails & Sunsets post, we were heading back to our favorite island of Jamaica for a short getaway. Oh my goodness, this resort HAS to make your travel bucket list. We stopped here in 1997 on our honeymoon, and nothing was the same. But it was absolutely amazing!
For this trip, we splurged and got a butler room. Oh my, butler service at Sandals is amazing. This is us with our fabulous butler Tenneil.
Between Tenneil and Shawn, we had an amazingly relaxing time at Sandals Dunn’s River. It was nice not to get up and fight for a pool chair in the morning, and we loved having snacks delivered to our suite or having lunch delivered to our pool chair.
This was one of my favorite lunches: Jerk Chicken Pizza from Isola and a Walk on the Beach beverage. YUM!
Side note: the book shown in the picture is not a title I normally read. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I could not put it down. You need to get it ASAP!
BUY THIS TITLE AT: BARNES & NOBLE
And another beach picture. We are normally pool people, but we enjoyed spending the day on our beach chairs.
Our room was pretty amazing. Like I said, it was our first butler room, and it had a skypool! It was worth the splurge, but I still think I prefer my swimout suites more. Here we are in our skypool:
Sandals Dunn’s River introduced 2 new places to eat: The Rum Club & the Blum Coffee Shop. I really miss both those places, especially my morning iced vanilla latte with rum cream.
All in all, it was a great vacation. 5 nights definitely wasn’t enough time, but the resort is fairly pricey and it was what we could fit in our budget. I definitely cannot wait to go back once they finish building Sandals Royal Dunn’s River, hopefully by end of 2026 or early 2027.
Oh, we also booked Sandals Saint Vincent’s for 2025, really excited about a new island & new resort. Time with my husband is a priority to me, and these trips are central to that.
Dealing With Grief One Year Later
Okay, now that I shared the happy, now I will share a little bit about the sad. Tomorrow is one year since my Dad passed away. And I am not handling it very well.
My relationship with my parents was not the typical warm & fuzzy relationship most kids *should* have had, so I still struggle with dealing with all those feelings. My Mother passed away in 2019, and I still have many unresolved feelings about that.
With my Dad, we were closer, and I am still fighting with the feelings that I could never do enough to help him. Have you ever been in a similar position with a completely stubborn person that needed help but refused it? That’s how it always was with us. I ran his house while taking care of my own and working FT too. It nearly broke me.
So, I spend time playing that stupid WHAT IF game. And I never seem to win. It’s tearing me apart. I have to work tomorrow, and it is an important and busy day. I am not sure if I am going to be able to handle and do what I need to do.
And that pisses me off more.
I hate being out of control. I hate feeling like I am not good enough. I hate feeling so helpless. It is like being a kid all over again. And it makes me hate myself. Ugh.
If anyone has been in this situation, and you have some advice, be sure to leave a comment or send me a message via my contact form.
In The Kitchen
This week, I also spent some time updating and adding some of my favorite recipes to the blog. Be sure to check out these terrific recipes:
This is my recipe for chicken sausage pasta casserole. Perfect for a busy weeknight!
And these sausage and cream cheese crescent rolls are perfect to enjoy during your Sunday football game.
What’s Happening Soon
Well, unfortunately, nothing really. As you all know, I work retail, so my life is no longer my own. Now I just need to go into retail holiday survival mode for the next 4 months. I hope I can make it!
We do have Sandals Royal Curacao to look forward to next May, so it’s time to start dreaming and planning that trip.
And well, it is football Sunday, so go Birds!
What is happening in your world this week?
That vacation does sound amazing!