Starting 2024 off with a social media detox.
Inspiration aboard the Odyssey of the Seas - does this look like it’s moving to you?
So I decided to begin 2024 in a somewhat unorthodox way – right after the new year, Mike and I flew to Florida and set sail on the Odyssey of the Seas for an 8 night cruise to the Bahamas, Aruba and Curacao. I AM sorry about the snow that fell right after we left – and very grateful to neighbors and family that assured us they would take care of us.
Heaven in a single picture
In the spirit of authenticity…I’ve made some big changes professionally in the past month, and while they were a long time in coming, they all came together very quickly that last week of December. 2023 was a challenging year in many ways, and I knew that I needed to make some changes.
By last fall, I had made the decision that in order for my teaching and design business to flourish, I needed to reorder how my professional life was organized. I referred a long time client to a local resource which will serve him better in the long term.
My brain was still racing (and I was still answering emails) in the airport on the way to the ship, so I did a brain dump into my phone, putting everything there that I was thinking about, the to dos, the blue sky ideas, the emails I needed to send. I hit save, and then turned my phone into airplane mode for 8 days.
That meant, effectively, no internet - at all. It was a weird feeling, and it did take some getting used to for about a day. And after that, I didn’t miss it at all.
I relaxed, enjoyed myself, enjoyed my husband, the ship, the amazing Massage that was a Christmas gift to me, watched a movie, great performances, the beach and the ocean breeze.
For 8 days, I didn’t quilt, think about quilting, doodle about quilting, or work on the handproject I brought. It was a hard break - that seems like it lasted so much longer than a week.
If inspiration is everywhere, here’s some I found along the way…
All I can think of is a quilt pattern…
Interesting variation in scale - in one of the ship’s shops. I only walked by.
The artwork on these ships is amazing. This is a fabric collage that I loved - it had me at the color scheme. Odyssey is a big ship and had several elevators. This piece was a landmark in that when we hit the right elevator, this greeted us on the way to our cabin.
We were still getting lost on the last night.