Doing whatever I want.

When someone asks me: What have you been doing all summer?

I tell them the TRUTH: Whatever I want.

In the past, I have spent my summers volunteering, teaching, or doing something that fells like fun but its actually work, I just tell myself it is fun so that I am tricked into believing that I had a restful vacation.

I've just had 12 consecutive weeks off.

Every single day I tried to savor the morning the most. During the school year I am out of bed by 5:45, but in the summer I was in bet until at least 7:30, sometimes 8:00. It was marvelous. I must hit another level of R.E.M. between 6:30 and 7:00, that I don't normally even get a chance to experience....I'm going to miss that hard morning sleepy time.

Every single day, I tried to savor the evenings and stayed up past 10. This may not seem super late...but when I have the freedom to watch one more episode of the Tudors on Netflix, instead of turning the T.V. off at 9:30, it feels pretty sweet. Evenings haven't been rushed. I can cook dinner at my leisure, and still have time to relax afterwards. Even if I chose to go to the gym at night, I still had plenty of time to do whatever because I wasn't hurrying to prepare a sack lunch or iron a pair of kakis.

Every single day, I savored my free-time lunch. During the school year, I have a limited amount of time to eat lunch and a strict schedule. I also have a very regulated time frame at which I can use the restroom.  It is very liberating.

Every single day, I tried to enjoy the free afternoons.....I actually fought the urge to take a nap every day. Ha! I met up with friends for an afternoon cupcake+drinks date...in the middle of the day....and I drove to a coffee shop for an iced coffee with free WIFI and blogging. Or I hung out with Martha and we made crafts or sat by a pool somewhere.

 So maybe I did not meet all of these summer goals:

Read 10 books. (only 7)
Grow a Wild Flower garden. (HA! it was too hot to grow anything)
Workout/Zumba 4 times a week. (It was about 2-3 times average)
Ride bikes. (TOOOO HOT!)
Art Walk Dates. (YES! Braved the heat for all of the Joplin art walks and one in K.C.)
Analog Film: Take and Develop. (I haven't been in the dark room a lot...but I do have a few rolls processed)
Paint. Draw. Collage. Art. (Perhaps I could've done a bit more of this, but I did make some cute stuff for Martha's Shop. and I painted my desk)
Bake Bread. (Only one loaf, but I did it!)
Blog + Write. (Done! I spent a lot of time working on my Retro Vacation Series)


And I did a few things I hadn't planned:
Went to the farmer's market for fresh peaches and baked a pie.
Had a fun girl's night out at Glazed.
Went to a blackberry farm and made lots of yummy blackberry desserts.
Crafted something new out of scrabble tiles for Martha's Shop. And framed some lomography photos to sell.
Revisited my hometown firework carnival for the 4th.
Baked the most delicious Almond Joy Cookies ever.
Grew a gorgeous veggie garden. (A lot of my succulents died!)

 This week is a busy one. With the first day meetings yesterday, and open house last night...tonight we have more meetings and an education committee meeting at Spiva...and tomorrow is the first day of school....with art walk on Thursday night. By Friday I will be exhausted!! But at least I am well-rested. And I am excited for the new school year.