Heading to the Beach!

This week has been a total whirlwind. After deciding to stay in Chicago an extra night last weekend and not getting home until Monday night, I had to make a separate to do list for each day of this week, because there was so much to do. I feel like the crunch time before vacation (when you are freaking out and pulling your hair out and KNOWING you will never get it all done in time) make the vacation part all the more sweet.

I am heading back to the Outer Banks with my brothers and some friends (leaving at midnight tonight) and I cannot wait to go back. My time there last year was especially significant, because that Friday I had locked up my office for the last time, and that vacation was like the horizon for lord-knows-what that lay ahead. I was as scared as I was excited, and that has been a feeling that has stuck with me all year. That thrill of not knowing what lies ahead, the fear of not having a steady income, the exhilaration of knowing I'm doing something that "people don't do." Life is such an adventure.

Speaking of adventures, I didn't get to go anywhere cool this week to take pictures, due to aforementioned excessive to-do lists, so instead I made a photo set of my favorite forest photos:

"Into the Woods," available in my Etsy shop.

Playing with those photos made me incredibly excited for the Pacific Coast Highway road trip my friend Amber and I are taking in October, because we are visiting a place in Oregon that has a hiking trail called The Hobbit Trail. I'm a huge nerd and love anything having to do with Lord of the Rings and the Shire and magical forests and yeah. Cannot wait.

I also finished a (much belated) birthday gift for a friend of mine who lived in Hawaii for a few years:

"Alohabloom," which I also added to my shop.

I also finished working on a design for a clothing company whose style I really adore, kind of like Free People. They ask artists to create a design that is used on their shopping bags. Here is what I came up with:

So all of that is finished, I got all of my orders shipped, errands finished, visited my very pregnant friend one more time since next time I see her, she will have an "outside baby," as she calls it. Now all I have to do is pack and drive and then relax, tan, and perhaps enjoy some adult beverages. Responsibly. Walk the beach, take some pictures, smell the salt air and feel the warm sand. AND no hurricanes in sight. Party time :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and week and HAPPY FALL!!!