take a load off...

We all need a break from time to time. Even if you can't go away on a real vacation, there are still ways to step outside the normal box of your life for a little R&R.

My favorite "get-away" is the beach, even if it's just the local beach. Being in the beach air, listening to the crash of the surf, and bobbing and floating in the water are very relaxing to me, and really take me away from everything "real," even if just for a little while.

Some other cheap and easy "mini-vacations" are:

1. Go to a park you've never been to for a little picnic. Sit on the grass. Enjoy some shade. Go for a walk.
2. Turn off your cell phone and/or internet for the afternoon (or whole day if you can stand it!).
3. Soak in the tub w a book, some music and a nice drink. Stay there for a long time. I like to nap in the tub!
4. Pretend you're not home :-) Stay in your jammies all day, close the curtains, don't answer the phone or doorbell.
5. Take a day-trip by car. Find an interesting location within 100 mile radius of where you live...go and check out the main street, the parks, museums, have a little lunch or dinner...enjoy someone else's town for the day before returning to your own.
6. Meditate. This is something I'm just learning and starting to practice now, and even though I haven't really gotten it down yet, it still leaves me feeling like I've had a little "mind vacation."

Just getting outside your normal environment or shutting yourself off from the world, even for an hour or an afternoon or a day, can leave you feeling refreshed and ready to return to real life.

What do *you* do when you need a little break??

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.

winding down

vacation started today. at 4:01. pm. not a minute too soon.

i have ten days to do anything. to do everything.

but tonight - the first night - is about doing nothing. just letting myself wind down. quietly. peacefully.

the heat came today. steamy hazy heat. so when we got home the air conditioners went on. the fans. the blinds pulled low blocking the sun. the apartment was dark cool peaceful. the child burrowed into a nest on the sofa and went to sleep.

the only movement and light was in the kitchen. the window with no blind. the lowering evening sun coming through the leaves outside and doing shadow dances on the kitchen cabinets.

tonight is about quiet gentleness. tomorrow we'll start doing everything.