5 tips to help you rest & relax

My love language is creativity, projects, ideas, and making things... I am not someone who naturally is inclined to rest. However, I’ve learned through ignoring my body, that when I do not prioritize my well-being I end up in a bad place.

After 13 years of giving my all to get ready for my holiday season, I have finally learned how to take a break, before holiday full swing.

This year we did it right. My husband and I left a few days after our Holiday Open House & headed to Waco,TX to my mecca.

We spent a night in Waco & 2 nights in Austin. This year I totally nailed rest & restoration!

5 necessary elements of rest & restoration

1. Rest. We got to Waco at 4:00, had room service at 6:00. I was out for the night by 7:00!!! I feel like we are a part of a society that highly values work at the expense of everything. I am all about working hard, But when I don’t listen to my mind, body, & soul. I burn out. When you need to rest, rest.

1. Indulgence. Eat, drink, & be merry! Do it right! Get out of town and get suggestions of awesome places to get immersed in the location & the meal. We did not have one bad meal at on our trip. In Waco, we ate at Magnolia table & the experience did not disappoint!

2. Re-connect. I work long hours to get ready for my show. So does my husband. I do the fun part. He picks up the slack. He is amazing and I am grateful. However, we are ships passing in the night for weeks. I end up feeling emotionally distraught. On this trip I made sure we had conversations where we connected at a heart level. I need to have those deep conversations where we discuss plans and dreams. I can’t say enough about how strongly I feel about re-connecting. Life is busy. Being pushed apart by it happens. Make the opportunity to reconnect.

3. Get Lost. Make all of your disappear for a while! I am such an introvert. My ideal vacation includes an incredible book. In fact, I woke up in the middle of the night 2nd night in feeling I needed something, badly... The dork I am, I realized it was a bath & a book!! I asked Luke if I could stay in the room by myself until 11 the next morning so I could lounge, be by myself & read! He obliged! On this trip I read the Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. It was incredible. It made every minute in the airport soulful. It was so moving & sad, I did the ugly cry on the airplane on our flight home.

5. Inspiration. This trip was about all the above, but what was really great and an essential ingredient to my vacations is inspiration. Luke & I have big plans. We have so many ideas for where we’d love to take the greenhouse and seeing how Chip & Joanna have done it in a town not too different from our own was inspiring. We could look at displays together... what they looked like how they were built, the products they offered... and dream about what’s next. ... and there’s nothing much more exciting to me than that!

Have a great weekend!

Mandy