Necessary...

In normal times, scrapping/crafting is something I do every single day. I wake up early to claim some time for myself, to reset my brain for the day to come.

But in recent weeks, I've been "off" that track - stress about work, a big case and trial, and the general "blahs" would see me just pushing everything in my room aside so I could clear some space for the cases and the evidence binders I had to work my way through. In the rare moments I could just vege - i did exactly that - aimlessly roamed through message boards, pounced on etsy, read some blogs. But as to doing anything? Not really. If there was no design deadline, I wasn't doing it. As for my friends, I kind of dropped off the earth for a bit. It was all I could do to balance my family into work.

After two solid months of this - I was pretty stressed out and very much on edge. So when I filed the closing brief in my big case on Friday after a week of little sleep and an almost allnighter Thursday night, I decided I needed to reset. Badly. And that's even before the not so subtle hints coming my way from the guys I work with... "Decompress wendy..." and the regular calls from my husband "how're you doing?" all the time. Yep. We all needed it (And I suspect my opposing counsels did as well). A dear friend was holding a charity crop for Team in Training and the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. I had day plans with my kids (which I also needed desperately) and only had a few hours I could go - but I thought - NO MORE - I have to make the affirmative efforts to bring balance back into my life....

And so, at 5:30, I opened the door to the crop room and was immediately greeted with the familar site of large carts of supplies and the beautiful sound of women bonding and creating. Even before the chorus of "Hi Wendy" filled the room, it felt a little like coming home. And in the next 2 hours (cuz that's pretty much all I had), I did a page, muffed another, and listened and chatted with my friends, and realized to myself - this really is a necessary thing for my sanity... I need to really take the time to make the time to guard my head, and keep my life where it should be - balanced. Not that I will shirk these work duties to do it - that will not change - there is simply too much at stake for my clients. But on those days I come home and I'm "just too tired" - I'll remember yesterday, pick myself up and go for some soul nourishment. Today is a better day...

Here is one of my two - the other one needs some work. I'm a bit rusty. :)

This is the new Basic Grey June Bug in the LM Store, and the American Crafts Platform thickers. For some reason AC named these orange, but they're more of a goldenrod yellow?

TFL. wendy