indulging

30 Day Challenge Day 11: Extreme self care

A walk.  Two visits to the grocery store, one rather impromptu, another a little more deliberate with the list (forgot soy milk the first time.)  Picking up a chocolate bar, one with candied ginger, on store visit #2.  Working with a lovely coaching client.  An hour of drawing while I listened to a class - and took notes too!  (My rebus is almost done - I'm going to save the reveal for tomorrow.)  Celebrating with a dear friend who just got her coaching certification.  Having tea and working on all kinds of computer and paper work with another dear friend.  Yay for working at coffee shops!  Buying figs and cherries at the grocery store.  Coming home from the grocery chilled from the over-air conditioning.  Filling the tub slowly while I sat on the porch and watched the rain during my ten minutes of quiet time.  Stepping out into the grass with the cat in my arms (he would be thrilled if he never put his paws on the ground and we just carried him from place to place) and putting my bare feet in the wet grass while raindrops dripped gently from the pine tree.  Coming back in the house and climbing into the tub with a glass of wine, the chocolate, a stack of inspirational reading, and a LUSH bubble bar.  Enjoying the bath alone for a while, then sharing the bubbles and chocolate and wine and lovely (and lively!) conversation with my sweetheart.  Being so grateful that he is the person who makes me laugh out loud the most.  Roasting hot dogs and red peppers under the broiler.  Having a summer "picnic" in the kitchen at 11 p.m.  Frozen mango bars.  Extreme self-care at its best. Simple indulgences are my favorite, and tiny extravagances, like these Duranta flowers coated with raindrops in the yard, make my heart smile the most.

What simple indulgences feel like extreme self-care to you?  What have you been putting off indulging in because you're waiting to "deserve" it?  What do you deserve, just for being you?

30 Day Challenge Day 4: Indulged

Blue sky this morning - first time in a few days.  This is the tree I sit under in the yard during my ten minute grass time.

And I indulged in more than the allotted time in my sketchbook today - I had a class on the phone and while I listened diligently and took nine pages of notes, I also produced this:

After the fall cypress swamp drawing I was ready for some green.  A snail on the palmettos from a photograph during one of my wordless walks.

It doesn't have to be good.  It just feels great to do it.  In middle school I would doodle excessively in the margins of my notebooks, especially in history class.  Castles, eyes, girls, dresses, branches full of flowers, trees, cats --  and I still remember those lectures like they were yesterday.  I was happy to indulge and prioritize creative time for myself today.