Refreshment

A couple of simple pages from my summer vacation album. I am refreshed at retreats too!

We have these really great new CM calendars! I can't wait to finish one and get it printed. Christmas gifts galore. Especially for the people who have everything (most of us!)

Some people would not give this post such a title. To each his (her) own.

48 hours. 40 women. Hundreds of scrapbook pages. Wine and cheese. In room Jacuzzis. A variety of music, beer, diet soft drinks and laughter. No kids. No cooking. No cleaning. No clients, patients, files, calls, car pool or messes to clean up. For the 40 women who came to our annual Creative Memories Fall Girlfriends Getaway, this indeed IS REFRESHMENT!

We can be introverts and focus on our digital art or chat away while cropping paper and photos. We can stay up all night, or go to bed early. We can hide in our rooms and watch movies. We can eat what we like, pretty much when we like, or not eat at all. When the weather is smashingly beautiful, as was the case this weekend, we can run or walk in the sunshine in small town Ohio, or stay seated for two days. Refreshing choices all around!

I really love the chance to give women a time and place to getaway. We are so often the ones focused on everyone else's needs and schedules that we neglect ourselves. We may want to work on our photos or spend time with our friends "someday", but we are too quick to put off "someday" for far too long. Since that is so often the case, it makes me happy to include 40 women in a weekend JUST FOR THEM. Task oriented or not, they all made these 48 hours what they wanted and needed them to be.

Now home, I'm a little tired as I always have been over the past 10 years of hosting retreats. But, it's a satisfied tired. I'm grateful for the chance to mingle with friends and acquaintances over and over again for times of refreshment just like these.