back from a well earned break

I'll admit it. I was feeling a wee bit extremely burnt out. I forced myself through an extreme push to get through the end of the school year and all that that entails for us as a homeschool family {testing, filing reports, pulling together portfolios} and on top of it all, I had a quite a few deadlines - and then had given myself a personal deadline of getting my shop up, because it felt like I'd been saying I was going to do it forever, and then planning a weekend away to surprise my hubby which meant arranging for childcare, hotels, transportation, etc. I think it's the first time I seriously found out just how much I can handle. For. Real. Not to mention some ongoing health concerns I've been having. Eye doctor appts for the hubs and myself to update prescriptions - it's been a busy few weeks.

{the new specs - I wear contacts most of the time and hadn't updated these in at least 3 years}

So last week I self-imposed a vacation. That's right. I did it. I slept in every day. Made time to exercise 4 times that week. Shopped at the farmer's market. Made plans for our family's upcoming camping trip. And just chilled a bit. I needed the break. And the big person will admit that - even when other people think they're super human. Thank goodness my husband understands. Honestly he asks me why I don't take more. HeHe. Good man.

{stitching up fun for the etsy shop. I acquired this older machine a few months ago - and it is so lovely to work with!}

This week I'm back. I'm feeling refreshed and even though I know I could use just a little more rest - I'm working on projects, getting the website ready to go {yay!}, commenting on blogs, listing new items, getting scrapbook pages together and ready to go, and I'm determined to fall back in love with this baby:

Not that I've ever stopped loving it - I just need more time with it. To remember how much I love capturing the little moments in life. That's when I know things have gotten too busy. I have too few photos of the last couple of months. I mean to remedy that this summer!