Post-vacation Re-entry + Latest Post on Scoutie Girl

I feel like my vacation was a blur, yet, my pre-vacation routine feels like it was forever ago. How is that?

I am slowly re-entering the realm of home and work after a full and rich vacation spent celebrating with family, discovering bits of Prince Edward Island with my husband, and taking in some familiar favourites like blueberry picking and stargazing on Mom & Dad's deck.

serendipitous beach find on Prince Edward Island

I even met an online friend in person for the first time and we gabbed as if we'd known each other all along!

It was full and fast. I am allowing myself a gentle re-entry. I suspect it will involve coffee, laundry, and maybe even a little art-making with these:

vintage papers my Mom used to line some dresser drawers,

they came back with me - and yes, I asked!

Until I work my way back up to my regular blogging routine here, I invite you to check out my latest post on Scoutie Girl that went up yesterday. Want some help in defeating resistance? Make it a game.

Bits & Bobs & A Week Off The Job

Regular Contributor to Scoutie Girl

I'm now a regular contributor at Scoutie Girl (YAY!); watch for my posts every two weeks.

Last Monday's post touches on the need to have it all figured out vs. focusing on the next right action. Read it here.

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FREE Monthly Planning Kit

It's a new month and it's still early, so it's not too late to sign up for the Creative Living Experiment mailing list and get your FREE Tried, Tested & True Monthly Planning Kit! Folks are sending me pictures of their Monthly Planning Quadrants and I'm loving it!

Here's what Pauline had to say about it:

"I finally got to your 20 page Monthly Planning Kit! It's fabulous! You did a great job with writing it in a way that made it seem 'do-able.' Especially for people like me. I am SO not a monthly goal kinda gal. ... Just wanted to say thanks for putting this together, and for making it easier for me to tackle such an 'unnatural' thing for me. I'm doing it this time, baby!"

 Get it here.

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On Self-Care and Sustainability

One of the perks of doing this work is that I LOVE what I do. When I love what I do I tend to spend long spells intensely working at my PC, head hunched forward, eyes glued to the screen. When I do that, I compact my neck muscles, which, according to my massage therapist,  can in turn entrap my occipital nerve and cause annoying headaches that tend to linger, but get old very quickly. (That was an awfully crafted sentence, but yeah, I'm trying to get this post done and get off the computer!)

Loving what I do enough that I don't notice time passing while I'm crafting my work = very cool.

Pinched nerve and lingering headaches = not so cool.

I sense a full post on self-care and sustainability coming on. Stay tuned...

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A Week Off The Job

And speaking of self-care, I'm getting ready for a week's vacation on my beloved east coast! Oh the salty sea air, may it fill my lungs and psyche to last me the year.

In addition to being in at Mom & Dad's in New Brunswick, there may be a side trip to Prince Edward Island or the Bay of Fundy for some new scenery. But the main reason we're going is to celebrate Mom & Dad's 50th anniversary.  Fifty years together, now that's something worth celebrating!

Here's a pic of the two lovebirds, 50 years ago:

So with this happy thought I am signing off for a week of repose and restoration, with a bit of discovery and celebration thrown in.

See y'all on the flip side!

Scenes from the East Coast - Part I (Blueberries!)

I am tired today, full from last week's road trip to my beloved east coast. This week's Productivity Prompt will be posted within the next few days, pinky swear.

In the meantime I leave you with a few snapshots from a favourite outing: a morning blueberry picking expedition with Mom & Dad that quickly became a highlight of my trip...

Off a pickin' we go!

The flowers were pretty...

... and so were the fields.

But oh the berries. Mom said she'd never seen so many - and she's been picking wild blueberries for as long as I can remember!

They were big too, big clusters of gorgeous blue berries.

Our final haul after about an hour and fifteen minutes at work.

That big container on the bottom left alone held four litres.

I'm still gushing at the abundance and grateful that Dad's buddy allowed us to descend on his field by the river. I'm not sure he knows exactly how much of a treat he gave this urbanite visitor from Ontario.

Sometimes the simplest things bring the greatest pleasure.

Road Trip!

This sad little scribbled crumpled up piece of paper has been guiding my every waking moment for the past three days:

pre-road trip to-do list

It's my pre-trip to-do list. The items with the X's didn't make the final cut (as if I'd have the time to bulk freeze corn and strawberries).

Tomorrow morning I fill up the travel mug, load up the car and head east to the land of the moose, my Acadian roots and the salty sea air. I'm heading home to New Brunswick.

It's my first solo trip there in a few years, the last time I drove on my own was during my sabbatical in 2006. It's a 12-hour trip one-way split over two days.

D.'s making me two CDs for the occasion: one full of sing-at-the-top-of-your-lungs disco tunes and another with surprise road trip tunes of his choosing. They'll come in handy during the two hours spent crossing central New Brunswick through the mountains and the woods where radio signals just don't make it through.

I look forward to what's waiting for me on the other side of those mountains though - family, the sea, and Mom's chocolate chip cookies. What more could a girl ask for.

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Note: I'll be celebrating my beloved Fête des Acadiens on Acadian soil on Monday, but rest assured that next week's Productivity Prompt post will be up as planned. I may even have a few more goodies for you here later in the week so keep visiting!