Summer: Indulging in Your Passions

Some fun things have been going on in the Branflake world...

My sister-in-law, Steph, and I had a girl's day of macarons, Greek food, and shopping.
Yes, those are macarons hanging from the ceiling. Love that!

This summer we all learned how to play bocce ball.
It's actually really addicting and so fun when you play boys against girls.

My friend, Tony, rented a competition sized barbecue and smoked two hundred pounds of meat for fun.
We went home with a lot of meat.
Ps... smoking a turkey is amazing.

Mr. Branflake picked up a few donuts before one of our roadtrips.
I'm a glazed girl all the way.

I thoroughly enjoyed and took advantage of cherry season this year.
I'm quite sad to see it leave because they're the one fruit I love to eat.

If you can't tell by this post, I've been on vacation this month. Well, sort of. I've been teaching a few classes and having rehearsals, but for the most part my days are spent with the Triple F: family, friends, and food. I've been trying to eat clean whenever I can because I know I can't resist a fluffy donut or shaved ice with sweet cream when they come my way. Sometimes I think balance is about having extremes in your life.

In the good news department, I emailed that agent who requested my manuscript. I hadn't heard from her and I feared I was lost in the pile (or she never got it. Eek!). She emailed back saying I was still being considered and they needed more time to decide. I was so happy I emailed her back and basically said, "Heck yes! Take all the time you need!" I figure it's good they didn't say 'no' right away and that means there was something they liked in there.

Speaking of writing, despite all the fun times seen above, I had some not so great things happen in my personal life and was super stressed these last few weeks. It was so bad I couldn't concentrate on anything and it would take me days to write a single blog post. DAYS! I just couldn't focus at all. One thing that soothed me was writing. I started another story and everything was so peaceful as I wrote scene after scene. It's rubbish but it felt good to do it. Ideas were flowing and things started to click in ways they haven't before.

I'm beginning to think the things we're passionate about are what stays with us in the darkest hours.