Kickin' Off The Blog

6 weeks! Only 6 weeks left!

It occurred to me while dealing with yet another management mini-crisis that I only have 6 weeks left until my sabbatical. That's right - a sabbatical that starts on June 26th and goes through Labor Day weekend. I haven't had a summer off since probably freshman year in high school - as in 29 years ago. OMG!

My employer is very generous. As a reward for surviving five years of work, we're given three weeks to do with as we please. I've chosen to combine it with 6 weeks of saved PTO for a total of nine weeks. DELICIOUS!

Many of my co-workers go off and do wonderfully amazing and rewarding things. Travel the south Pacific, wander through Europe, or some other incredibly wonderful activity. I have one central goal which sounds quite pale in comparison - get ready for this one - I simply want to wear out a pair of flip-flops. (And I already have them picked out as you can see in the picture. A wonderful pair of Chacos - yellow with orange daisies! Happiness!)

Now, of course, I will be doing fun stuff in order to wear out those puppies. First and foremost, I'll be learning to sail. I'm taking two week-long classes (Intro to Sailing and Advanced Sailing) at the Boston Sailing Center. Along with a one time class at night sailing. I'm already signed up and can't wait to start.

Then there's the cycling part. I want to REALLY enjoy racing 'cross this fall season. And in order to do that, I need to do lots of riding. So I'll be spending lots of time on my bikes. Another favorite activity. Not sure how I'll put any wear and tear on the flip-flops doing that. I guess I can always drag them behind the bike. ;-)

Besides those two activities, I plan on working out, reading, sleeping on the beach and just plain enjoying life.

And how does a Catholic girl like me overcome the guilt associated with being a beach bum? Well, I guess there's this blog. I can justify my time off if I chronicle it, right? And then when I get back to work, I can relive the experience and get psyched for the next sabbatical.