I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day. Frankly, I’m too exhausted to do much justice to this post today (and no pretty image, sorry!), but I thought I’d give an update since most of you know that my in-laws are here now from El Salvador.

We spent the weekend in Chicago, which was really nice. I love the windy city, and it made sense to hang out for a few days given their 3 a.m. arrival time!

We went to IKEA (they’d never been), to Navy Pier, dinner at Gino’s East (sorry Chicagoans — we are both partial to NY-style and went with thin-crust after tossing the whole deep dish kind last time!).

I’ll be honest, there were several moments of anxiety, of frustration … between the language barrier, and elderly mother-in-law who likes to do things her own way (even if they aren’t acceptable here in the U.S. … I won’t say anything more there!) and a sister-in-law who is severely mentally challenged, so sometimes that makes things hard (we have to hide certain things from her, can’t go into certain stores, etc. — she can’t help it, of course, but it still makes things challenging).

The thing is, this is my husband’s family and, now, mine. And I do love them; it’s just hard for me when they’re here for so long, in my home. I never realized how much of a “space-oriented” person I was until we got married and they began making these 3, 4, 5 week pilgrimages here. (Though I think going forward 3 will be a nice number!)

That said, I feel much better about this trip than previous trips, and tried to channel some of Dr. G’s advice.

I tried to just chillax as much as possible, to remember, it’s only three weeks and like thirteen or fourteen of those days, I’ll be at work. So I need to enjoy the time we have. Plus, when it’s all over, it’s almost my 30th birthday 🙂

So when things felt frustrating, I stepped away–something Dr. G recommended last year (stepping away from a situation that is going to make me uncomfortable for the sake of everyone else). Sometimes anxiety is best dealt with head-on, no doubt; in this instance, it is better for me (personally) to step away.

For example, shopping with them gives me heartburn. I won’t go into it, but just trust me when I say I’m a better/nicer person when I shop on my own, be it in the grocery store or a mall.

So at the outlets yesterday, I agreed to just go on my own and call my husband when I was done so we’d meet up. It made for a more enjoyable experience for everyone; I wasn’t stressed out, and they could browse at their leisure.

As for food … I went with the flow, which was nice. They wanted pizza, so we got pizza — having eaten no greens all day, I ordered a huge salad for myself, and had two little squares of deliciousness at Gino’s for a taste (can’t be in Chicago and not taste it!).

They wanted a big buffet breakfast at the Marriott we were staying at; I enjoyed oatmeal and fruit from the buffet (plus a packet of Justin’s maple almond butter, packed from home 😉

They wanted ice cream at IKEA; I enjoyed the spirit of the moment and had a cone, too. (Did you know IKEA’s ice cream is actually FF fro-yo?! I had no idea!!)

I honestly went with it — which is a big step for me.

And as for exercise … well, Sunday and Monday were heavy walking days and you know what? That felt just fine. I’ll be back to my usual routine this morning.

So that summarizes my weekend. I’m not sure how much blogging I’ll be able to do these next three weeks (and I sure don’t plan to blog about their visit much more) but I will see how things go!

Thanks for the votes of confidence last week; it means a lot!

PS–Today’s title is a shout out to one of my BFFs (she knows who she is!) — I thought it was quite appropriate here 😉