That is me and my best friend with her 12 year old daughter, Alexis. I think they are making little girls bigger these days! I still remember her daughter more from when she was my daughter's age now. Follow that? It is so strange seeing her and talking with her. She is such a little adult. One morning we went running together before she went to school. Weird.

I had a fantastic time and loved getting to know her new baby Ethan as well. He is quite the handfull as most 19 month olds are, and it made me VERY secure in my decision NOT to have any more wee ones! Cute? Yes. More work than I remember? YES! It seems that you forget how hard it was when your babies are little and choose to remember all the fun things you did instead. "Oh," you think, "I remember the strolls in the park, playing in the baby pool, reading the books...." You forget the part about the diapers, the constant need for a juice cup to be refilled, the sleepless nights, the not being able to look away for one spilit second because in that very second the child pulls the entire jug of OPEN milk off the counter and all over the floor kind of moments. Yeah, don't miss those at all.

Work has piled up in my absence and I am playing catch up, but I realized how very important it is to take breaks in life. We need to laugh, need to have fun, need to stay connected to those we love. That is after all, what makes the late nights of designing, painting, marketing, and planning all worth it in the end. I won't be waiting so long before my next visit there or anywhere else. It feels so good to be so mentally rested.