Summer!! It is my absolute favorite time of year. The warmth, the freedom to explore, the busyness of visiting family and friends - I live for summer every year. In the past few years, while actively running a business that required me to spend most of my free time in the studio or preparing endlessly for shows, I found myself truly feeling like I was missing out on summer. I would be looking out the window thinking "I want to be out THERE!"
This year, as my studio practice has shifted, so have my priorities. With the exception of making a set of rings for Shearwater Gallery, I have essentially taken a "Summer Break" from the studio (note: I am still working a full time day job), and I think I will do this every year from now on. So far this Summer Break has looked like....
*Steadily working on my goal of completing 50 hikes this year (34 so far!)
*Visits to the beach with Ziggy in his 10th year
*Crafts and hikes with my brother, bonus sister, nephew and new baby niece
*Enjoying afternoons lazing around reading books
*Adding to our mostly-native garden
*Visits with friends who travel from too-far-away
*Quick trips to see family in Tahoe and Idaho
This summer has been healing my soul, and I am so grateful to be able to take the time to live it. I will be back in the studio as soon as the rains come!
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