free at last, free at last

ladies and gentleman! 

children of all ages! 

feast your eyes upon this spectacular miracle: it's me, as a free woman!

free at last, free at last. YOU GUYS. i am free from summer school at last.

i really have fallen off the face of the blogging world lately (sorry, little blog!) and i blame my silence on the fact that i've been buried under a monstrous pile of homework. but alas! after 10 painful weeks, i finally climbed out! i am finally done with homework and tests and all those other terrible things that should never happen between june and september. as i'm sure you already know, school and the summertime do not mix well. i really don't know what possessed me to take summer courses, but i can say with full confidence that i will never voluntarily give up that sweet, sweet summertime again. i mean really. is there anything more painful than having to study in the middle of an august afternoon while everyone else is running around and playing outside? 

well, there probably is. but you get the idea. 

it feels like a giant weight has been lifted. i can finally be a real person again! a real person who does real things! amazingly, i still have quite a bit of vacation time left, so i plan to squeeze every last summery drop out of the next couple weeks. 

as you can see, i didn't waste any time diving into the spirit of summer. 

it's always a rare delicacy for j & i to have the same day off from work, so this weekend we decided to take full advantage. in celebration of my newfound freedom, we took a daytrip to the coast. and oh, how i love the coast. 

even the drive up there felt like a giant sigh of relief. if you didn't already know, i am a professional - the queen! - when it comes to taking on too many things at once. most of the time, i like to try and spin all the plates. but man. having one less plate to spin felt pretty amazing. just being able to sit down and watch the road pass by felt luxurious. 

anyways. 

i'm starting to wonder if growing up alongside the california beaches has turned me into a bit of a beach snob, because i was legitimately surprised at how nice the oregon coast really is. wait, only california is allowed to have nice beaches! granted, i didn't walk away with the same sparkly bronze tan that i would have at home (in fact, i was sporting the classic oregon-summer-outfit of jeans and a sweater), but c'est la vie. the coast certainly has its perks. there was hardly anyone else around which made it feel like we had the whole beach to ourselves. it was quiet and cool and peaceful. even after a few hours i wasn't ready to leave. 

we ended up stopping at a handful of little tiny beach towns throughout the day. needless to say, some serious fish & chips were involved. and maybe (handfuls and handfuls of) saltwater taffy. mmmm. it was fun to explore new parts of oregon (and shameful that i haven't done more exploring in the last couple years!). it was definitely my ideal kind day - not having a plan, and letting little adventures unfold along the way. 

on another note, i hardly know what to do with all this free time! i've gotten so used to my routine of coming home from work and diving straight into homework that now, i'm really at a loss. after work today i came home and just sort of sat on the couch for a couple minutes and stared around the room.

free time? what does that mean? 

well.
here's what it means!

i'm going to read all the books that i bought at the beginning of summer. i'm going to ride my bike. clean out my closet. bake something. cook something. eat popsicles. spend more time outside. spend more time with people, and not with textbooks. watch movies. swim. put my sunscreen to good use. and my camera. go on walks. try a new restaurant. read some more. blog some more. enjoy some more.