pre-trip weekend

Well my friends. I leave for my Costa Rican vacation tomorrow. Let me tell you, I feel very little emotions towards it.

I know. I am crazy. Who wouldn't be excited about going to Costa Rica? (But we've been over this travel anxiety stuff before). But in all honestly, right now, in this very moment, I am not freaking out. I think I am just ready to get the travel stuff done and out of the way so I can actually be excited to be in a new place with my best friend. Things we'll be fine. And if I learned one thing in high school it was from my social studies class that I had with Mr. Samford (I can't even remember the name of the class). When you find yourself lost in the wild you need to 1. remain clam 2. form a plan 3. carry it out. In this case, the wild will be the San Jose airport in Costa Rica without a phone.

Roughin' it. Let me tell you.

I think every time I leave this country I have to come face-to-face with the fear I have of being some place without the use of my cell phone. How did I ever function without it? I never realize how dependent I am on it until I can longer use it as a crutch.

I am hoping things go smoothly tomorrow and that I can deal with my travel anxiety in a healthy way. That way, I can tap in that awesome feeling one gets when one feels super independent (which was how I felt the first time I few by myself. That's old news now but I still remember how accomplished I felt even if I was just flying to North Carolina). Roaming through airports alone can be pretty fun.

Besides, I am ready to be some place new for a little bit. This whole week I kept longing to sit in coffee shops in an urban setting surrounded by dirty hipsters. (In the summertime, I really miss living in Chicago). Even though Costa Rica will be way different than anything I've experienced before, I am still interested in those experiences. I am ready to drink cafe con leche with Jille and Lucas. I am ready to go to the beach. I am ready to see places and new landscapes. I am ready to explore the world through my camera lens again.

I am such a "home-body" though, which is often why it is hard for me to be excited about traveling. I love being in a new place; it's just the getting from point A to point B that is not my favorite. Not that I am sad to take a break from Kansas, but this week has been out of control lovely. (I still don't have my AC on. It's amazing). And confession: it's a little hard to leave my garden, not because it is super important in the grand scheme of things, but because it's a lot of work and leaving in the prime season feels a little deflating (even if it's just for a week). Levent will take good care of it though and it'll be fine.

My garden  and I have had a great weekend. I picked some more tomatoes and after chopping out the problem sections, I managed to can 4 more pints. That makes 12 pints in total, not too bad for 5 tomato plants with issues. (I did have six but one fell to the disease). I also "accidentally" harvested a cantaloup (meaning it just fell off the vine when I was trying to see if it was ready. Yep. I have a lot of melon in my fridge right now which I am going to try and chow before my trip tomorrow. We'll see how it goes). My cantaloup plant as a whole is doing amazingly. It's vines keep growing and growing. There are finally flowers in the process of developing into produce on my eggplants. And for some miraculous reason, a few of my tomatoes have more blossoms on them.

Overall though, my flowers are the things that are doing the best, (which just goes to support my theory that whatever I care about the least in my garden will eventually do the best).

There was some type of weird caterpillar thing eating my sunflowers but they seem to be hanging in there. Oh well. This year has been the prettiest my garden has ever been thanks to these lovelies. 

I know that once I get back from Costa Rica I will feel pretty silly about my anxiety and all of the various forms it took beforehand. I keep reminding myself of that. I also keep reminding myself to just be like Scooter and live in the moment. This weekend has been very relaxing so that hasn't been too hard to do. 

So here is to adventures and not knowing what the next week will bring. Here is to good food and new places. Here is to an awesome boyfriend who keeps me rational. 

Here is to you, Costa Rica. Let's do this thing.