"Selfish-time" and a survey


Our friend Alison had a birthday on the weekend. She and Jeff (a couple with whom we've canoed and camped with in the past) invited us over. Her friend Camille made the scrumptious-looking chocolate cake pictured above; the plate garnish is a wreath of fresh-picked chocolate mint leaves. Mmm.
We dined by candlelight on their back deck; the company and food were marvelous. I've always admired Alison, who actively pursues the things that are important to her rather than passively let circumstances and other people dictate her life.

Speaking of friends who embrace life fully instead of letting it just happen to them, my friend Parki is back from his cross-Canada motorcycle trip, yay! We enjoyed hanging out with Parki and Ray yesterday. Sounds as if Parki had some amazing adventures, and I look forward to seeing his pics.

Finished an illustration for a client on the weekend, and I have an article for Writer's Digest due next week. Apart from Market Watch and starting to plan my next novel, however, I am purposely not taking on new assignments during the next couple of weeks so I can take a bit of selfish-time. Even at the cottage, I had to take my laptop and do some work; it turned out to be more problematic than I expected because the phone lines went down, and I stressed about how to get Market Watch uploaded then discovered tech problems as a result of their site upgrade (now fixed), which occurred while I was on a canoe trip.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to day or two of COMPLETELY SELFISH lazing about and just reading and napping. There are also a ton of movies I'd like to see, so want to catch up. Looking forward to seeing Hairspray with Jodi this Thursday afternoon, for example, before Urban Tapestry practice. Other movies on my list: No Reservations, Stardust, Bourne Ultimatum, Superbad, Live Free And Die Hard and Ratatouille (again).

I'm curious about the rest of you. Do you find you need "selfish-time"? Are you able to get it? How often and for how long? I know this is much more difficult for parents of younger children. And what does "selfishtime" mean to you? Does it tend to be solitary or with other people?
Mine is mostly solitary, or with a close friend or two. My solitary selfish-time almost always involves books.
Today's Blatherpics were all taken on my Canon Rebel XTi with a Sigma 30/1.4 lens, except the photo of the cardinal, which was taken with our Canon 70-300 lens.
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