Hers: Vacation
Well, the topic for the blog this week is vacation, and we love vacation!
There are definitely two perspectives on how to enjoy a vacation, and Josh and I are definitely the opposite. Josh’s idea of a great vacation is to have outdoor activities going on all the time and remaining active. My idea of a great vacation is going to the beach and doing NOTHING. Seriously. Nothing. I think this is because at home we are really busy most of the time. Being busy helps prevent me from falling into one of my major weaknesses (laziness), but it does wear me down. I believe it is healthy for everyone to take some time away from the normal routine, no matter how small. Even an afternoon off is helpful! We plan on going to Nashville, IN for some R&R in the near future, and hope that we both enjoy it in our own ways!
I must say that my favorite vacation is the one we took last year with my family. We went to Ocean Isle Beach in NC with some family friends, and spent a lovely week at a condo. Doing nothing. My favorite kind! I loved the routing of waking up, reading, going down to the beach, coming back for lunch, taking naps, going back to the beach, coming back for dinner, then taking late night walks along the shore or watching movies like the Goonies. Which the whole family loved. (Not really, we Taylors still hear complaints about it, and it has almost been a year!)
Anyways, we love vacation and are thankful that we are able to take it. Thanks for stopping by!
His: Vacation
There's a magical thing that happens once a year (maybe twice if you're lucky). Vacation. I love vacation.
- It's a chance to change the scenery. My wife and I went to Hawaii for our honeymoon a couple of years ago, and the one thing that still stands out to me to this day is how completely different it is from here in Indiana. It's not that I don't love living here in Indiana, I do. But it's flat here. Hawaii had mountains (and volcanoes!). Our beaches are mostly dirty little lakes filled with catfish. Hawaii had crystal clear ocean waters, big waves and sea creatures that were majestic to withhold. We have corn, they have cascading flowers. It was a complete change of environment.
- It's a chance to really, really relax. I don't know about you, but I know my weekends are not nearly as relaxing as I imagined they would be as a kid. Somehow, I remember thinking that adults had the whole weekends to do whatever they wanted. Despite the fact that I watched my parents work all weekend, somehow it slipped past me that I would be doing the same. Vacation gives me a chance to let the lawn grow a little, to get away from the tools, and to break away from the feeling that something else needs to be done.
- It's a chance to do the things you don't let yourself do under normal circumstances. We'll be vacationing this summer in Brown County (Indiana). It's not too far from here, but it's a really nice place to get away. One of the things we plan on doing is going for a hike. The trees, the wildlife, the environment. It will be nice to get out and actually do something.
A recent article I read talked about how we Americans get, and take, less vacation than other nations around the world. That makes it all the more important and dear. I plan on taking full advantage of the vacation time I do get, because it helps me relax, helps me get refocused on life and in work, and gives me a right perspective on life. I urge you, if you don't take all of your vacation, to go ahead and let yourself take it. It's good for you, for your boss and your family. When it comes to vacation, everyone wins.
It’s been a while…
As you may have noticed if you come to the site on occassion, it's been a while since I've last contributed. While I could just as easily attribute this to a lack of material, there have been a few things going on in the real world. First off, I've now Made a Mrs. Seriously. I'm pretty sure she still has no idea what she's in for over the next lifetime (although she does occasionally come here and see me make a fool of myself with things like the banana smack...) Mrs. Seriously and I also made a trip to the Hawaiian islands over the last week as well, so I've been disconnected for about ten days now. This may sound like a lot, but I've realized a few things:
• When you've been offline for a while, you realize how much you don't miss it. I got home, and my wife went to check facebook. I didn't really feel a compulsion to check it (except to see wedding photos friends posted over her shoulder) Twitter? Nope. Hassle free life. Relevantmag? Nope. Love the people, but didn't feel that anything was missing.
• Temperatures, while at the same degree are completely relative. It was very hot for about a week last month. Up around 80, and extremely muggy. I hated every minute. In Hawaii, however, 80 feels pretty darn good. Between the low humidity and cool ocean breezes, the mid 80 area was rather nice.
• Stuff happens in the world, and without TV I don't care. Swine Flu? What's that? I had no idea anything actually happened outside of my stateroom/the beach/jungles. The "real" world didn't exist, only the fantasy one in which I... actually lived. Things don't seem to matter nearly as much without the alarmists on the news. I did see the president's WHC dinner highlights after getting back though, and I have to admit that some parts were pretty funny, especially Wanda Sykes saying Sean Hannity could be tortured with a middle seat in coach.
• You forget how much work you have on your plate when you can't do any of it for a week. I've only today realized just how much was on my plate and how little of it I can do readily. Yikes!
So there we have it. MakeSeriously is a jumble right now, but hopefully over the next couple of weeks it will get back in regular working order. If things clear up, some work may creep onto the portfolio page, and maybe we'll try to make it a bit more exciting on the website. Tiny steps for now, but stay in touch.