Downtime

This past weekend, (which happened to be the Canada Day long weekend, for those of you who are not Canadian) I took the entire weekend off. By "off" I mean I didn't do a stitch of work-no writing, no projects, no work related email etc. I've had my nose to the grindstone since the beginning of the year, pretty much non-stop, volunteering for some big projects, helping friends out and the like. I love doing these things, truly, but I needed a weekend for myself.

On Saturday, my husband and I went to the movies. I also cooked a turkey and our son had dinner with us. It was nice to share a meal together. Sunday, we went to the fire fighter's pancake brekki. I spend the rest of the rainy afternoon printing off PDFs from all the photography classes I've taken over the last 18 months. I have a very chunk manual now! Monday, my friend Penn and I went to a workshop hosted by Jess Green of Seek Your Course and Vivienne McMaster. It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon-chatting, meeting new people, hanging out with friends and making art. Very relaxing! 

I'm a consummate do-er, so it's rare for me not to be working on something, but it's also important that I allow myself some downtime to refill the creative well. To that end, I will be taking all of August and the first two weeks of September off, to just unwind. I am not making plans during this time, aside from a trip to Whistler to take Vivienne's You Are Your Own Muse workshop, which was a birthday present from my guys and attending one City Council Advisory Committee meeting, which was already scheduled. (Oh and watching the Olympics & Paralympics obsessively because I LIVE for the Games!) Other than that, the plan is to just do whatever the spirits move me to do, as long as it's not work.

I am very much looking forward to taking a break. I deserve it!