In my last entry, I mentioned that I was planning to take 2 weeks off the end of the month.  I've just finished the first week off (note, I wrote this on 7/26 but published it belatedly).  However, I did have a client meeting in the middle of it, which meant that I did spend at least a full day (three partial days) in the office in preparation for it.  My firm has an unlimited PTO policy, with the rule being that, for my position (since I am an associate, not a lead, advisor) that I don't actually have to attend the meetings, though I usually do, but I do have to have the financial planning prep work for each meeting done.  Some clients' meeting prep I can do in 2-3 hours, but other clients are more complex, and this was one of the latter.

Otherwise, the week was mostly devoted to errands/chores:  got my car repaired, bought a new iphone, have been working on stuff for my estate planning, and the mundane grocery/gas/laundry that gets done routinely.

I also went to a play Tuesday night, and tonight (Sunday night--I won't post this until I am home on Monday), I am heading to an inn on the Delaware River 45 minutes away just so I have a sense of having a "real" vacation.

Next week, I have two mandatory trainings at work for new software that will take part of Tues & Wed, as well as more time on the estate planning, plus applying for a passport, plus an eye doctor appointment.  

I'm also trying to catch up on my social life.  I had a great catch-up call yesterday with a friend who just turned 70.  We realize that, although we've been in touch virtually the entire time, we actually haven't seen each other in 30 years.  She lives in Atlanta, which I've never been to, and she's never been to Bethlehem, so we determined that we will be doing some visiting in the next year or two.

I also had a long call with my friend who usually visits me each summer to go to a play at the Shakespeare festival.  I was too tired this winter to think about decluttering so I never contacted her, plus her husband was continuing to spiral down into dementia, so she didn't contact me about the annual trip--which wouldn't have occurred in any case, given her husband's condition.  I was thinking about her yesterday, since this is the time of year she usually visits.  I googled her name and found her husband's obituary--he just died on Friday.  I called her immediately and we ended up spending an hour on the phone.  It worked out that his children, who live in Florida and Hawaii, respectively, were already either there in upstate NY or already on the way, and she's otherwise had good support through the last couple of weeks, which were traumatic (he fell two weeks ago, broke his back, had surgery, then was released back to his memory care facility on hospice).  She already had scheduled a week-long retreat for herself in mid-August at a retreat center she has been visiting regularly for the past decade, and two of her siblings will be flying out soon to see her.  So I know that, although this time is hard, she will get through it with good support.

I also made this time week to see my friend Kim, who owns a Korean restaurant.  Kim's partner also had dementia; he passed in January 2025.  She has recovered well and now has a new relationship and plans in place to go to Iceland next month and Costa Rica in February, trying to take advantage of the "go-go" years, as she turns 70 in December (as does my Shakespeare friend).

Plus I spent some time with a couple of neighborhood friends.  Tonight, I will text two of my friends who I haven't seen in a while, hoping to be able to schedule some time together with them this week.  I actually have 5 local friends I want to catch up with, but I'm also hoping to get some decluttering done, so I won't completely book my schedule.

I have a busier August than usual, but I'm hoping that September and October will be a bit less busy, so that I could catch up with my other friends then.

Finally, I need to schedule my blood test for this week--the 160-marker direct-to-consumer package that I bought through Vitals Vault.  I also did some research on low ferritin and learned that many people who haven't had good luck bringing their ferritin up just with iron supplementation have had better luck pairing it with lactoferrin, so I have lactoferrin on order, as well as vitamin C and plans to separate out taking my iron from drinking my coffee, in the hopes that these additional moves will improve both my ferritin levels and my fatigue.