Sitting in the San Diego airport enjoying a double short latte from Starbucks – yes I did give the name Elektra and no I don’t mind at all that they spelled it Electra – with a couple hours before my delayed flight. After a week of visiting down here a bunch of thoughts are running through my head.

1. My best ideas seem to come to me when I’m relaxed. I used to think it was driving that yielded the best ideas and so I looked forward to long road trips. But I came up with possibly the best business idea I have ever had while chilling at my brother’s house. At the time I was probably thinking about some combination of a) nothing, b) what my niece and I would play next, or c) whether it was beer o’clock. In other words: Not while “spending time brainstorming”. For me at least, forced brainstorming is much less effective for coming up with big ideas than relaxation time. Once the idea is there, I do take an hour or two to hash out details because I don’t want to lose it. In this case, I had the makings of this idea rattling around in my head for a few months but wasn’t able to make it all come together. Thank you San Diego vacation for delivering what I think will prove to be a breakout product for me in 2015.

2. I love the beach, but it turns out that others don’t love it as much as I do. Or at least they don’t seem to love photos I post of the beach in December. Huh. As I am at the airport now, it’s safe to say that this will be the last one for a while.

3. I never eat enough Mexican food when I visit San Diego. One of these trips I will learn to do better.

4. The only exercise I got this week was a couple of beach walks and my daily dose of playing with my nieces. The older is just over 40 pounds, which means I need to step up my overhead work in the gym if I want to be able to continue to pick her up and lift her overhead. Oh wait, some Doctor on the internet said that overhead lifting wasn’t functional. Hmmm.

5. In addition to not getting much exercise, I think I ate three servings of vegetables this week, and yesterday I had donuts for breakfast. Strangely, my body still works. While I remain confident that regular exercise and healthy eating are the fountain of youth; I think some of us can stand to relax about it a bit. I’m pretty confident that when I lift tomorrow, I will be similarly strong and fit as I was when I last lifted over a week ago. I also suspect when I hit the slopes this weekend, my legs will once again demonstrate that the work I do regularly in the gym will remain in effect. I promise to update if it turns out I am wrong.

6. While I think we can relax a little on healthy food and exercise, I think we need to be mindful that for some of us, returning to good habits can be tough. A bit of vigilance the weeks after a visit to rancho relaxo is a good idea. I’ll be doing our 8 week Get Lean program when I get back.

7. One cool thing about eating well most of the time is that after straying for a while, my body starts to crave vegetables. I injected vegetables into my lunch yesterday as I thought I was starting to feel the early stages of scurvy. Not that I actually know what scurvy feels like. But my body did direct my brain to Trader Joes to pick up a variety of vegetables.

8. I love skiing and therefore I love winter, but it turns out I also like San Diego’s version of winter. The last time I skied, my ski buddies and I were musing about the many different ski outfits we have for the many different ski day temperatures that we enjoy. Does this mean Canadians have more clothing than Californians?

Elsbeth Vaino, B.Sc., CSCS, is a personal trainer in Ottawa who thinks everything is better with guacamole.