first day of summer!

The summer season has officially started and as the first day drifts towards dusk I thought it was a good time to share some of my summer plans with you. I am off of teaching for two months in the summer, you see, and this is when the "real" work begins for me. I choose not to take on another job during the summer, even though money can get tight as we are living off of savings for two months, because I really want to devote myself to my shop, blog, and other projects that bring me so much joy.

*studio time accompanied by raspberry lemonade with fresh herbs

It can be hard to balance my time when things like sporadic pool or beach trips pop up or crappy reality tv somehow finds itself playing in my living room (though I swear I would never turn on Bravo while trying to work....) In addition to adding new items to my shop, blogging, and finishing some around the house projects I do want to make sure that I find some time for all of that fun stuff too. And that is when the battle begins, I can literally guilt myself into doing nothing but work (which I of course enjoy) and doing nothing else all day. It is just that I so badly want make some changes in my life that mostly consist of working for myself and sharing the things I love with the rest of the creative world. So I take these months in the summer to dive into that and immerse myself into as many projects as possible. Luckily I have a creative husband, a supportive sister, and a bunch of artistic friends that are happy doing these same sorts of things- with some pool parties and cookouts thrown in for good measure.

custom projects for special orders

With that long-winded explanation, here are some of my plans/goals/routines for this summer:

• Blogging- on here and also now happily sharing some of my thoughts and ideas over on prettysouthern.com
• Creating- some projects for the site, lots of work for my shop, and some other personal fun projects as well
• Collaborating- with the mister on some fun design projects, with my sister during our "studio time" several times a week (quickly becoming my favorite activity), and with some dear friends on things like entertaining, hosting dinner parties, and creating a NC craft cohort
  
• Gardening- ok this is only with the help of my sister since I have come to the conclusion that I have absolutely no real talent here (remember the failed seed attempts from last year?)
• Vacationing- with the fam at the beach, tubing down the river, lakehouse trips, and maybe a big city adventure to NYC to visit some people who are truly missed
• Planning- putting some plans in place so that this "work" I love doing so much can hopefully become a more permanent part of my life
• Relaxing and having some good fun here in Greensboro- this is the one I will really have to work on- remembering how much good stuff goes on right here at home

new work up in the shop

I will most certainly be sharing all of these adventures with you here on the blog as the summer flies by, but right now I would love to know-- what are your big summer plans?