So I went 9 days without writing. In fact, I purposely avoided it. I wanted to take a break from it so I didn’t feel the pressure anymore. But I do kinda miss it. Writing daily with everything else I have going on was hard, but I do like writing. And although we’ve had a terrible frigid freeze going on right now, and I’m back to work, and my house is a mess again because I’ve been too lazy to properly put away everything from Christmas and my travels, I have had some things for which I’ve been grateful. My boyfriend and I spent a couple of extra days in Texas after New Years. I got to see the Alamo and the Riverwalk in San Antonio.

Did a lot of driving around Austin and finding interesting spots. Went to the Hill Country and drank wine and visited Fredricksburg.

Ate good food. (I’m not thankful about gaining holiday weight, though.) I’m also grateful that the 17 hour drive back with a packed van and a bored dog went well.

We avoided a nasty storm that put numerous cars in the ditches along the highway, somehow managed to not get sick of each other during two days of driving, and made it home early enough to unpack before dark. Although the sunset the day before was beautiful.

It was a lovely vacation for me. Now I’m in January mode, which includes preparing for a new semester at work and for my own studies, thinking about organizing around home, and starting to get back to exercise. The normal routine waits. But I’m thankful for the great start to the New Year.