Back From Vacation

I am back from a ten day vacation to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It is one of my favorite areas in the country. I truly wish I could move up there, but for now I settle for one or two trips up there a year.

I brought no projects to work on for the first time ever. I wanted it to truly be a vacation and not a time to do more work in a better location. It was hard not having a project to work on especially on rainy days when I couldn't do outdoor activities. Instead of working I watched movies which I hadn't taken the time to do in a long time. It was nice but the little voice in the back of my head said yes but you really should be working on something. That is when it dawned on me how much time I really devote to my craft and how little time I took out for myself doing other things I enjoy. After that realization I gave myself permission to just relax and enjoy my vacation.

I did a lot of hiking (beware the trail info gives you the miles to a particular point and not the round trip - learned that the hard way) and a lot of thinking and pondering. I came up with a couple of new ideas to try and took a lot of great pictures. I do love being out in nature and away from the busy everyday things.

Of course as with all vacations it ended way too soon and I am back to the ordinary everyday grind. I will take a little more me time each week and see how that goes. It will be hard at first but I am sure it will be second nature in no time. And on my next vacation in the fall I will probably not bring any projects again because a vacation truly should be a vacation.