I have been away for a bit, and for the first time since I started blogging (started any project that desires consistent attention actually), I don't feel guilty about it.

Since Summer started I have felt like I am constantly on the go and given my introverted nature I was really not into that. So I cut back. I spent the last couple of months being more intentional with my time and energy. I achieved what needed to be done, but it meant cutting back on what some of what I wanted to be done (like the 10 or so blog posts sitting in draft mode!). I also used this time to really devote myself to my mindfulness practice (and meditated a lot!). I read more and spent more time with the people I love. I pushed myself at work and started planning this big year's vacation. I took some time to be creative in my cooking and picked up my lost love of sewing again. And now a month or so has passed and I very much miss being here, talking to you.

I don't feel guilty for being away because a small break is was what I needed. To make space for other creative things in my life. To let new ideas come to me. To figure out what my next steps with this blog would be. That is the beauty of taking a break, they are a pause to think and be creative. My beautiful friend Cordelia said it beautifully in a recent blog post on Makeshift,

"Some days Lake Michigan, is so still it looks like an magnificent sheet of glass. Other days the waves are huge... Creatively there are times I have huge waves of inspiration, sometimes tiny ones and other times a stillness. Every day that passes big inspiration or no inspiration, I am still a writer, a thinker, a creator. My soul is fluid, it moves with the changes just like the lake moves with the wind. When I think of contentment this way, of a lull in my writing like the stillness of the lake, it doesn't seem like an issue, it's part of the creative process."

During this break, I've realized that I want to talk to you even more. About more. More intentional living, more travel, more of my hobbies, hopes and life. And I want to know more about you. The lovely few of you who read what I write and support me and this little space. I appreciate each of you more than you could know. So please introduce yourself or just say hello as I awaken from my break and share here with you.