Vacation Day One: The Community Garden

Whew! It's been a wild ride. So wild, in fact, that I haven't been able to blog. I was busy battling the thesis monster. And it was scary. But I finally triumphed (-ish) and I miss having a creative outlet, so I'm excited to get back to writing.

Today was the first day of my first official vacation since 2007. (I'm not counting the time we spent moving OR the time I broke my arm). It's also the longest vacation I've had since 2003. When I was considering where to go and what to do with this precious time, I began with France because it's a dream I have to go there, and I've never been outside of the US. But Vu couldn't go to France, and I didn't want to go alone, so then I thought maybe Spain. But then the responsible voice in my head said, "Kate, you really shouldn't spend almost all of your savings when you still have the same job you had pre-MA, and you have 60,000 dollars in student loans now."

Ok, well, how about California? I miss the West Coast like mad. But then that was expensive too, and I remembered how exhausting it was to go across the country and rent cars etc., etc. And I only have 2 weeks, after all. Then I would be going back to work recovering from my vacation.

So, we're staying here. I'm staying here. Mostly, except for a small excursion, which will consist of being in nature and appreciating rivers, trees, and some silence. When I stepped back to assess what it is that I needed, I realized that I need to REST. I need to spend some time catching up on life after the past 2 years of school. I need to read and get out of traffic and have some quiet and peace in my life. So that's exactly what I'm doing.

Today: Day One. I spent it taking my time at the Farmers Market and even the grocery store, finding pleasure in the tasks I usually rush through just so I can be at home for, like, 5 minutes. I cooked and ate 3 healthy meals. I drank 2! cups of tea, a bunch of kombucha, and no stress-necessitated wine. Vu and I took a nice walk around our boring (thank goodness!) quiet neighborhood and enjoyed looking at the architecture and the trees. And I cut the beautiful flowers in the picture above from the amazingly lush community garden across the street from our house. It's such a treasure, and I've been longing to spend time there.

AND I Instagrammed them, AND I'm getting to write a blog post for the first time in forever! I wish I knew what these flowers were. But I don't. I just know they're beautiful and perfect, just like my quiet little day. I'm learning to appreciate the moment, and I am just now really understanding what that even means.