How to Enjoy the Last Day of Vacation

• Turn off the alarm. Sleep til you wake up naturally.
• Shuck your "plans." This is a day to make up as you go.
• Talk to a best friend. Get a little people-fix.
• Go out for your favorite doughnuts. Don't be disappointed when u get there and it's closed. Go somewhere else. When in doubt, try something new! 
• Go to an outdoor cappuccino cafe so your dog can sit nowhere near you and pretend that everyone else is his *real* family. (ps - Caleb has a new favorite cafe!)
• When thoughts like, "oh, I was supposed to do this thing over vacation" arise, smoosh them down. Way down. There will be time for them tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after that.
• Go to a dog park and make new dog and people friends. Don't get upset when your dog rolls in the muddy dirt, cuz it makes him so happy. And it makes you happy to see him happy.
• Walk around your neighborhood. Look around. Enjoy what there is to see. Take pictures of everything.
• Don't think about tomorrow. At All.
• Have a yummy sandwich outdoors. Garlic hummus and avocado. I die.
• Stay off Facebook all most of the day.
• Bob your head and drum your fingers on the steering wheel when the rap-blasting Escalade pulls up behind you at a red light. Appreciate the fact that you live in a place where anyone can listen to (or say or read or write or paint) whatever they want.
• Pick up ice cream on your way home. You're going to need it.
• Don't go home til late afternoon. Open all the windows. Let the curtains flutter. Be quiet. Read. Nap. Enjoy the solitude. 
• Don't spend more than on hour TOPS on preparation for tomorrow or the week ahead. You've gone to work and sent your kids off to school a million times. Trust me, you could do it in your sleep. Tomorrow, you probably *will* be doing it in your sleep. This is "Last Day of Vacation," NOT "First Day of Living in the Real World."
• Have ice cream for dinner. With sprinkles. You deserve it. It's The Last Day of Vacation.
• Take a nice long warm soak in the tub.
• Have something Really Really Good to look forward to tomorrow.
• Turn the alarm back on.
• Go to sleep early, thinking about above-mentioned Really Really Good Thing, and being grateful for how you much you enjoyed The Last Day of Vacation.

good and bad and everything in between

Last week kicked my butt. Not to rehash it...cuz I'd really like to just
forget it and move on, but...suffice it to say...car towed - $800 to get it
back, two funerals, and an unexpected road trip. On the bright side, I saw an
old dear friend for the first time in many years and he looks much happier than
he's been in a long time, I got to spend a little unexpected time with my
daughter, and a new event at the school where I work was a smashing success. So
- the good equaled the bad, I'd say, but overall it was exhausting. And what I
wish for this week is Nothing Out of The Ordinary! Just to get back to work,
catch up on some sleep, do some fun things.

Tonight when I walked the dog I grabbed the camera and the 50mm lens even
though it was dark out...so this is just A Walk Around My Block in the Dark.


































home again. home again.