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??

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

      

I *LOVE* my birthday. Always have, always will. From an early age and my parents throwing little backyard parties for friends and classmates...to my teens and early-twenties when close friends and boyfriends would do things to make it special...to my daughter having surprises ready and waiting for me when I got home from work......to a sort of dry spell...daughter had left for college, I'd moved to a new location, didn't have a "significant other" type person, family all far away...so there were a few "pity party" years...but...I have moved along...made new friends, have some lovely people in my life...a whole gaggle of children from one of the classrooms, herded in by their teachers, brought me a bunch of handmade birthday cards - LOVE them!  Too sweet. I'm feeling the love!

A *special friend* took me out for birthday dinner, which was an unexpected but so lovely surprise. Some nice Italian food and red wine over candlelight...a charming and attentive companion...it was just the right amount of romantic...it made me feel special and my *special day* acknowledged.

I took a couple pictures during the day w my cell phone of gifts and cards from work...but realized after I got home last night that I had failed to get "the money shot," which would have been the tiramisu complete w birthday candle. At first I was disappointed, I rarely miss a shot like that, but then I thought...that really shows how good the company was, that my normal "where's the photo opp" mind didn't even *think* of picking up the phone for a picture!

Here's to another year....Happy Birthday to Me. 

How to Survive...uhm, ENJOY the First Day Back to Work

• Wake up half-an-hour earlier than normal and take the dog for a morning walk. Tell yourself you'll do this every day because it's good for the both of you. You won't.
• Wear something that makes you feel pretty.
• Treat yourself to store-bought coffee and fancy pastry. It's a splurge but you deserve it. It's The First Day Back to Work.
• Pretend it's The First Day of a New Job. And everything is new and fresh and untainted with past annoyances. Be on your Best Behavior with your "new" boss and colleagues. 
• Get the h*ll out of the building at lunchtime. Those "new" people are annoying you already (jk, New People!). 
• Take ten minutes to meditate. Just...close your eyes and focus on your breath...and try to let everything else slip away. If things sneak in (and they will!), "label" them - "planning," "fretting," "expecting the worst," etc. Be aware of what's interrupting *your* time...and then let it go.
• Spend the afternoon getting excited and happy about The Really Really Good Thing that you've planned for yourself. Yay. 
• Don't stay there a second longer than you have to. 
• Hurry home to Really Really Good Thing. Enjoy IMMENSELY. 
• Have actual dinner, not just ice cream (even with sprinkles, that's not *really* a real meal).
• Be a little productive. Not too much. Don't want to burn yourself out the first day.
• Go to bed early, noting before falling asleep, that you survived. Good for you!

(no pictures today, can you believe it?!?))

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.

But it's not Fall YET!!!

I saw HALLOWEEN CANDY in the market earlier this week. All around me, blogs are sharing pictures of ways to "cozy up for fall." STOP! It's not fall yet!!! I'm not ready to give up. There WILL BE beach days ahead, still. September can be MAD hot. 

This summer has passed in a blur. I did a lot of fun things - bike rides out east, lots of beach, time spent with my daughter...but there are still things left on my Summer Bucket List - kayaking, uhm...other stuff I can't think of at the moment, but...there's stuff. 

This morning I was looking back through my summer's pictures, and some of the things seem like they happened SO long ago....and they weren't even a month ago. Time, man. It is passing by faster and faster. I'm glad I take pictures to sort of freeze time and help remember things I've done and moments I've had. 

These are some pictures from my summer - both "real" camera and cell phone, "photo shoots" and just casual snapshots. It's sort of a hodge-podge, but it's what my summer looked like.

Promise you won't give up on summer yet, either. PROMISE ME!!!

i blog every day.....

  

....in my mind. 

all through my day i have moments and I think "ooh, this is fun/scary/interesting/unusual/sweet, etc" and in my mind I "write" a blog. but. then life gets in the way. work, commute, friends, dog, reading, learning, etc. all stuff I *want* to do, don't get me wrong. but i want to do this, TOO. my hat is off to those who write daily...it's really a big commitment. i won't say I've failed. i just haven't succeeded yet.

the good news is i haven't gotten to the finish line yet. there's still at least one more chance to really dig in and give it a go.

so here i go.

didn't leave the property today. didn't put on a bra or brush my teeth. i was in sorta cleaning sorta organizing mode. put out a couple boxes of free stuff on the sidewalk. cleared out one bookcase. one bookcase. it's not a lot, but it's one bookcase more than none. so i feel good.

and tomorrow's another day.

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.