We got home from Punta Cana around 7 :30 this evening after leaving the hotel at 11:30am. Long day, and I’m completely exhausted. I woke up with a sore throat this morning that hasn’t gone away, and now I’m also sneezing, sniffling, and sore all over. Why do I always catch something coming back from vacations?

BUT, I’m also recharged and full of mental energy for lots of new projects and adventures. This has been a great break from my usual running around like a headless chicken mode, a chance to slow down, make some priorities, brainstorm, and get a tan (more like a burn at this point, but I remain hopeful).

So it seemed fitting that for my 1st post back I show off these portfolio clipboards from the Liberty of London collection for Target. These were an Easter present to myself that I didn’t have a chance to post about before leaving. I also stocked up on cute gift bags and small notebooks. Apparently when I went to Target for the Liberty launch day, many things hadn’t arrived to my local store yet. We swung by there last weekend to pick up some supplies for the trip, and suddenly they had tons! I bought 3 portfolios: one for work, one for home life, one for crafts. Because just like Panhel president Katherine on Greek, I love a clipboard.

So here’s a brief rundown of all the things flying through my head post-vacation:

• My next quilting project. Possibly inspired by one of the Caldecott books this year.
• Finding time for friends and family (why is that always so tricky?).
• The virtual quilting bees I joined.
• Putting together my book order for next year.
• Doing fun, low-stress projects for the rest of the year with the kids at school. Because, let’s face it: between testing, field trips, assemblies, parent/teacher conference week, summer reading book distribution, and end-of-the-year shenanigans, the kids have zero attention span from here on out. If it’s not fun, it’s not going to work.
• Planning future vacations. We have a HUGE wishlist this year (ALA in June, German F1 Grand Prix in July, PAX Prime in September, Houston Quilt Festival in November, family vacation in December). We’ve to spread our time and money around to the things we are most excited about.
• Parties. The Nutley Rotary Beefsteak Dinner is in 2 weeks, and we’re planning our first party of 2010 for mid-May. That I’ll post about another time.
• Reaching out more to the crafting community. I really need to clear more time for meetings and events.

So…lots to organize in my jumbled brain. But for now, sleep, food, and hanging out with Adam before work tomorrow. Not necessarily in that order.