A successful staycation wrap-up

I took two extra days off last week so that I could have a really long holiday weekend -- and I am happy to report that five days off, at the end of summer, is a marvelous thing. I am heading back to work today feeling refreshed, relaxed and energized.

On my break, I remembered to look forward to things. Going to the Northwestern-Berkeley game Saturday night was a great reminder of how awesome fall is, with its college football, crisp nights and sweet flavors -- pumpkin lattes, Halloween candy and Diwali food.

The Northwestern Wildcats take on the California Golden Bears at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley. (Aug. 31, 2013)

I started preparing for my favorite fall holiday, Thanksgiving, with my re-planted herb garden (third time’s a charm, right?). 

Cilantro, sage, two types of basil and some California poppies for good measure.

I got back in sync with my writing. This is the third time in four days that I’ve sat down to write.

I sat still. On Thursday, I sat on the couch reading for three hours straight -- and it was pure heaven. Read, doze, read, doze. I finally finished The Orphan Master’s Son. I read about tennis. I read the paper. Ah, vacation!

Reading about and watching Novak Djokovic. An immersive study.

All in all, quite the successful five days. And now off to work I must go.

Simplicity is bliss

I spent a few hours today consolidating posts from all of my blogs into one. All the posts in one place. How lovely! Can you feel the simplicity? I can.

I'm going to continue to maintain several of the existing blogs -- Russian Hill Article Review and Half-Desi, to name two -- where there's a clear theme and/or a finite time period where the story should be told. I'll import those posts here, to beckybowman.blogspot.com, with the appropriate labels. But for all other writings, I'll just be posting here.

That is, of course, until I dream up my next great idea for a blog.

I also worked on my website and got my Etsy shop in order today. (It's never too early to shop for Christmas, y'all!) Not too shabby for a Friday.