I'm Off...

The laundry is finished. The house is clean (enough). 408 errands have been done. We've finished the yardwork. The pool has been cleaned and chemicals added. The plants are watered. My paints and canvases are neatly sorted and stacked. The kennel arrangements have been made. Our house sitter is confirmed. And I'm almost done packing. Such is the ritual before we leave to go out of town. (But throw in a major dose of stress and frazzled nerves while everything is going down.)

This is to say that Steve and I are going on vacation. Yea! Recharging one's batteries is sooo important, don't you think? And this vacation will especially recharge my art batteries, for sure! Here's why:

We're going to the Sequoia National Forest to see the General Sherman Tree as well as all the other trees there. We'll be there for my birthday. I can think of no better birthday than to be surrounded by nature with the man I love. Then we're going to stay at the Justin Winery in Paso Robles. This is a lovely little vineyard. They only have 4 rooms, and each is amazing. After that, we're off to Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort in Avila Beach. Every room has it's own private outdoor mineral springs hot tub. Pretty awesome, huh?

So you can be certain that this vacation will be all about relaxation. I hope to do a lot of hiking and some running. (There's a great little path through the woods that runs from Sycamore Springs down to the beach.) I'm bringing a lot of reading, some knitting, my sketchbook and my watercolors. I love doing watercolor while on vacation because they're so portable. It also gives me a chance to explore a different medium without any pressure. I'm not producing art for a show or a class or a deadline. It's purely for me and me alone. That's important, I think.

Some day I will probably have a laptop and be able to blog whilst on vacation. You'd be able to see pictures of the trees that same day. But for now, you'll just have to sit quietly by and wait in suspense. I'll be back July 31. Talk to you then!!