January went by in a blur. I started a new journal at the beginning of the new year. This crossed an item off my 101 tasks in 1001 days list. I also decided to spice up my run streak by trying a marathon training program. 

This month was a frustrating time in our home renovation as none of our contractors seemed to want to return to work following the holidays. Mr. Vine and I spent more time together over the breaks from work and it was so refreshing to travel again. It made it even harder to return to our new normal of spending weekdays apart. We began to consider our options. 

My wanderlust was in full effect and I tried to find trips we’d be comfortable taking. But nothing worked with Mr. Vine’s busy work schedule–or our general reluctance to leave home. We spent an obscene amount on groceries and takeout during January. We feel lucky to be able to do this, but I’m sure it was all in an effort to distract from the general stress we were under. 

Eager to rent out our current home and start generating some revenue, we made a friendly deal with a prospective tenant. This began a clock on when I would need to move to join Mr. Vine, which became ever more stressful with the lack of progress on the renovation. 

Towards the end of the month, Mr. Vine found a brand new, pet friendly hotel not far from his office. The cats and I joined him for what was supposed to be a four night stay, but turned into eight nights that brought us into the beginning of February. We redeemed IHG points for the stay and I will write more about traveling with pets and doing a local work-cation.