As summer turns toward fall, I usually have a kick of “back to school” energy where I want to launch something new.

This year, that energy isn’t coming the same way. I’m making the choice to not launch anything new this fall.

Instead, I’ll be focusing on the conferences I’m heading to (see below) and making human connections there.

This transformative moment of caterpillar goo as I figure out how to make my business be what I want it to be in my life, it's a time to work inwardly, to give new ideas a rich ground for germination. I'm striving quietly, with sunshine soaking into me rather than heat burning me up.

I'm back from a month away, which was spent in two VERY different modes, and it's the first one of those that I want to share with you here: my 8-day backpacking trip along the Colorado Trail.

I want to take a moment here at the midpoint of the year to reflect on and celebrate some of my achievements in the first half of the year gone by.

I’m That Girl who really loves the multisensory experience of reading physical books when I have the choice. For this year’s reading retreat, I picked up my reserved library haul and toted them up to the cabin where I would proceed to get through 15 of them in my three weeks at the lake.

It felt really needed and welcome to spend a day pretty much totally at restorative rest. I’m about to head back into an urban space for a few days, and I’ve been on two significant hiking days in the past week, and and I’ve been on the road for almost a month and a half at this point.

And, most importantly, I don’t have to justify my desire for rest to myself.