Lazy Days in Phuket

Here's a post that should have gone up ages ago. From one of my last hurrahs in Thailand, it's fun to read through and remember the life we used to live there. I'll be retroactively sharing some more photos from our recent adventures in upcoming posts to get us caught up. Shout out to my travel buddy, Beini. Missing our beach vacays and laziness so much as autumn sweeps over the Pacific Northwest.

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As soon as I confirmed my final day of work (a few days before Sam because I had extra personal leave that I hadn't taken yet) I made plans with Beini to have a girls trip. She has Thursday/Fridays off so often doesn't have anyone to travel with, so we were pumped to get another mini holiday in the books. We both love the beach, so decided to fly down to Phuket and treat ourselves to a perfectly lazy couple of days. Our hotel was absolutely lovely and it was fun to be in holiday mode, sipping beers and coconuts, watching the tourists go by and enjoying being one of them.

The view from our room!

We had no idea what to do with this much space in the room.

My permanent location on the beach,
listening to the joyful shrieks of parasailers.

A lot less scary to practice headstand in the sand.

Another pool at the hotel.

Back in the USA

Hey, strangers! We've been stateside for almost two months now (woah) and are only just now winding down from the excitement of seeing everyone and transitioning into the next chapter. It's been far too busy to check my phone during this time let alone share stories on the blog, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. Seeing our families and friends again has been a constant celebration without much time to reflect. Now as I sit in our lovely 'garden suite' at Chez Rathbone, I'm noticing the range of emotions going through me right now: overjoyed to be reunited with family, excited to be at the start of our 'West coast or bust' journey, anxious to see how it will unfold, missing my friends and the warm weather of Bangkok and generally hypersensitive to how I'm experiencing events/interactions in the US with the new lens of our life in Thailand to see through.

200lbs of luggage + nearly 48 hours later: we're back.

Here's a hodgepodge of photos from our time in the US so far, which has taken us from Chicago to Boston to NYC to Sarasota, FL to Urbana, IL to Peoria, IL back to Chicago and now to Seattle. We are so lucky to have been able to spend this wonderful quality time with so many people we love and have missed while we were on the other side of the globe. Cheers to you all!

Special thanks to Jon, Sarah, Anna and George for creating a lovely, relaxing space for us to call home in Seattle where I can look through photos and re-enjoy all the happy times from the past few weeks.

FIRST TIME WE'VE ALL BEEN TOGETHER... EVER!

All her cousins celebrating Anna's #2!

'help'

Happy boy

These cuties!

Cousin Jackie is the best host in Boston!

Boston Commons on a perfect summer day.

Inside the Massachusetts State House

The Wheelers!

Congrats cousin Tim and Stephanie :)

Wheeler cousins!

Lobstah on Cape Cod. YUM!

Amazing NYC hosts, Will and Meredith.

Becoming Mets fans w/ Will and Brian McD.

Sarasota early bird dinner with Grandma Anne.

Siesta Key sunset.

Rendezvous w our BKK friends and their new babe!

Taking Eneko to Kam's.

Downtown Peoria at sunset.

With my sweet boys and Taid at Navy Pier!

Happy pool time at the Wheelers.

A gorgeous welcome to Seattle.

Seattle's Golden Gardens w friends.

Afternoon walks w Anna and George.

Seattle Center w Anna

...to be continued... :)

Kanchanaburi Lakeside Retreat

Somehow, the universe came together so that on my last day of employment with ABC, my first yoga teacher from Bangkok was holding his first weekend yoga retreat and invited me and my friends to join. It was a perfect combination: closing the chapter at work followed immediately by a weekend filled with yoga, meditation and discussion of goals and how our brains work. It was the perfect launchpad into my current state of navigating opportunity and adventure.

Our blue dot, far away from Bangkok.

The house and my favorite hammock.

After a long time spent in the car thanks to Friday traffic, we arrived finally at a beautiful lakeside home in Kanchanaburi province. This place was home to a caretaker family, their dogs and some very talkative birds. We spent the weekend yoga-ing, meditating, talking about the social environments that have influenced our beliefs and goals. Some people also played around on the ATVs, motorbikes and jetskis, but I preferred to lay in the hammock reading The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and take breaks to play with the puppies. 

Kirstie on the moto.

Nat and Haley on the ATV.

Me and the pup.

The bird who speaks Thai.

I came away from the weekend feeling lighter, more purposeful. This may be thanks to one of the mindfulness exercises we did in which you sit down and chat with your future self. It was fun to come up with a version of myself that I dreamed of being, ask her how she got there and after that was finished, think about what I can realistically do to make that vision a reality. If you're wondering, she lives on the beach, does/teaches yoga and cooks delicious food. Other details vary from a life of academia to one in HR at my beloved Nordstrom to owning a hostel/bar on the beach and beyond. We shall see, won't we?

Nat (yoga teacher), Nikon (mindfulness coach),
Haley, Kirstie, me, Gift, Romain.