Dang! I need a VACATION!

...which is a good thing since we have one coming up. While traveling in the United States, I've never been west of Vegas which is why I'm so very excited about this coming Saturday. Alvaro and I are flying to San Francisco and will get to explore, eat, play and discover for one whole week. If you know anything about me you know that I've already planned out the things I HAVE to see before we can come home on the 25th. Here's what I can't miss:

1. Alcatraz (can't explain my strange fascination with this place and it's history)

2. China Town (again...the history and the people)

3. The wine country (gonna sample some good stuff)

4. Otters and sea lions

5. Worship at Glide Memorial United Methodist Church (a preacher friend told me not to miss it)

6. ...and lots of stuff I don't even know about yet.

Vacation is a time to recharge, discover (locations, ways of thinking and mindsets) and live. No matter how much we love what we do, we HAVE to take advantage of that moment of escape and other placeness (yep, just made up a word). Whether it's a week or a simple mental health day, make time to take care of yourself so that you can be the best servant you can be.

Glory in the Morning

I tend to be a creature of habit. Some would even say stubborn and set in my ways (quiet Alvaro!) I'm highly aware of this, shall we say, negative personality trait and truly give it my best when it comes to the growth department and strive to be more flexible and bending. However, one thing that can throw my day into a horrible tailspin is if I don't get to start my day by spending at least 15 minutes in my back yard with my coffee and toast. I get up and with one eye open make the coffee. It's usually pretty early. Then I turn on the TV to see if it's going to rain or not. Then I turn on the oven and make toast and spread a little apple butter that my friend made me recently. Then I go outside, sit in the same chair that I always sit in and eat my breakfast. But there is one wonderful addition during the summertime. I get to count morning glory blooms. Yesterday from the size of the buds I saw, I predicted that I would have 11 blooms this morning...I HAD 17! I know what you're thinking...perhaps Rachel doesn't have enough to do. Perhaps Rachel should just get in the shower, get ready and go to work early if she has all this time on her hands...perhaps she should go to the gym! (bite your tongue!) I say, no way! I've tried that and it's just all wrong for me...and I've learned that in order to be the best person I can be I have to start the day out with a little quiet, a little thinking and maybe a little counting. The best way to appear to be a happy person is to be a happy person...no poser ever conviced anyone of anything for very long! In a society that tries to convice us that an overly busy person equals a person of worth, we can easily be pressured to participate in the constant sprint that surrounds us. Me?...I choose to predict and view 14 blooms before I leave for work tomorrow. Everyone around me will be the better for it!