Recharged and reloaded

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.  For me, when the going gets tough, I get going...away.  When I can, anyway.  Last week, I was able to make my great escape to the sunny and warm Treasure Coast of Florida, except it was not all that sunny and not even close to warm.  (This photo was taken of Anna on the beach last August - I didn't think me wrapped in an afghan was worth sharing.  For some reason, 50 degrees in FL is colder than 50 degrees anywhere else).

Despite the so-so weather, I was able to recharge by batteries with family visits, some great runs (weather was perfect for that, at least), a shopping run to the Outlets (unavoidable), quiet time for editing and pondering my future.  I had the unique and much-appreciated opportunity to travel on my own, which made this experience extremely productive.  Don't get me wrong; I do enjoy traveling with my 4, almost 5 year old on our "girl trips," but this time, mommy needed a break.

While I did hope for warmer weather, I knew it was going to be cold and blustery in the days leading to my trip, thanks to my mother's constant weather updates (because none of us northerners have a TV or the Weather Bug App, of course).  Point is, I was able to plan ahead in a sense to have a routine when I arrived in Florida.  I'm a person who needs a routine.  

So my days looked like this: wake up at 7, have coffee, catch up on email from the day before and check off items on the to-do list (I had some office work to do, mostly related to transitioning my responsibilities to others).  By 10:20, I was ready for a 2.5 mile run and by 11:30, I was out the door to visit my new friends at Grind + Grape - coffee shop by day, wine bar with live music by night.  Here, I rewrote and reworked the ending to Queen Makers and edited. And when I felt sufficiently satisfied with my caffeine intake and productivity, I would take a nice walk along Ocean Drive.

I took a few hours on two occasions to meet with local realtors.  Now that I was wandering about town as if I lived there, I figured I might as well see if I would want to live there.  I told both realtors that they had an hour to show me 3 properties and that at the end of the hour, I would choose which place I wanted to buy, just like on HGTV.  The one realtor laughed and the other explained how real estate purchases work - guess which guy I'm going to use going forward?

And while I have no immediate plans to buy my dream condo on the ocean - although I was really, really close to making an offer on one condo in a remarkable tennis club - I began to envision my future.  I liked it.  A lot.  

So when I got back to my mother's house with all of my property paperwork, I was very excited.  Not only was I recharged, but reloaded personally and professionally.  I could see how Blue Suit Trial Strategies, my new professional adventure, was going to operate - how, with whom and where; I could see my "routine" developing.  Suddenly, my new painted picture, with which I have been struggling mightily to draft over the last 5-6 months was becoming clear to me.

Although I probably would have done just as well with a week relaxing on the beach, meditating or something, last week turned out to be pretty great for me.  I avoided being home in NJ with a sick kid - dodged a bullet there since the stomach bug is not my favorite kid thing to manage - and I proved my Wheel of Fortune prowess.  More importantly, I moved another step closer to fulfillment.  Success!

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