Fall is my favorite time of year. Maybe it is because it is the brief pause that the world takes after the heat of summer, and before winter takes hold. Of course in Southern Arizona it is hard to even notice the passing of the seasons; one must attune yourself to the finer details and changes. The way the air in the early morning is just a little soft, how a breeze that is ever so slight dances gentle in the early afternoons, your breath comes it a little lighter. However it is the pause that I most marvel at, and I can see myself taking now. My summer has been a whirl wind, two difficult math classes back-to-back, intense volunteer work, intense reflection, opening of my Etsy store, regular work, and daily routine of house work, working out and making meals filled in the cracks. Like the hot air that was difficult to breathe, I didn’t breathe much this summer; I didn’t pause, or reflect. As it came hurtling to a stop I made some quick and perhaps life-altering realizations. These ideas, and thoughts came like a slap in my face and then continued to draw my attention to them throughout the last few weeks. How is it possible that I could be considering veering in such a 180 from the way I was heading? How is that I can look and feel so sure that I know now what I need to be doing, after spending most of my adult life not being sure. How can it be that I have this feeling of sureness when I have never felt it before? Now it is not about what should I do, but how can I do it, how can I get there? The clarity is stingingly clear yet the tools to make it a reality are still unsure.

I am taking this pause that the earth is taking as a time to pause as well, school is out, and much of my time is my own now in a way that I seem incapable of managing well, but is also exciting. I am bursting with ideas, a little spurts of energy that disipates quickly in to a lazy fatigue. I have a whole list of things I want to do before school starts.

*Trim and load more of my mini watercolors on my Etsy shop
*Go through books and sell ones we don’t want/need anymore
*Upload photos to RedBubble
*Update my Flickr account
*Take a picnic to the White Tanks
*Visit the Japanese Gardens
*Take a day trip to Flagstaff
*Get back into work out routine
*Take a private yoga class
*Make some cards
*Play with my new oil paints
*Listen to music
*Start practicing meditation
*Say a prayer every night
*Read something uplifting every morning
*Print photos
*Put together a blurb book for 2008 and actually pay to get it printed