Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two breaths.
– Etty Hillesum, young Dutch Jewish woman who died at Auschwitz and whose letters and diaries from 1941-1943 during the German occupation in Amsterdam was published posthumously in 1981.

Last week, when I was on business travel, I averaged about four hours of sleep a night. Time zone change, work, and other worries impacted my body clock. The upside was that I was very productive. One week later and my sleep pattern has not changed. I have a number of deadlines to meet and not enough time to meet them. I have issues at my daughter’s school – more on that in a later blog post – and under duress, I succumbed to Hot Tamales and Kettle Spicy Jalapeno potato chips.

Take a deep breath in a flowing outfit.

My sciatica returned, as it always does when I’m stressed and under deadline, which usually means I can’t afford to take time away from work to go to my acupuncturist. Four applications of my trusty homemade rice sock, which is the original one that we made for when I was in labor with my now 13-year-old son, did the trick – and without missing a second of work.

Vintage inspired: Abacus earrings (Portland ME), End of Century cicada ring (NYC), Lava 9 pin and bracelet (Berkeley, CA).

I have multi-tasked as much as I could this week, pacing myself for the countdown next week. This evening, as I tried to catch my breath – my seasonal asthma seemed to have kicked in this week, too – I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Everything will be okay. This, too, shall pass. There are clearly worse things to be stressed about. The flames in my hair died down without dousing it with water. Another deep breath. Baba Ram Dass says that the quieter you become, the more you can hear. Another deep breath. I will meet my deadlines. I will return to peaceful sleep. And I will resolve my daughter’s school issues once and for all. Deep breath.

Navy and cream lace with dusty green pleats.

TGIF. Deep breath. Happy Friday to all!

TGIF, indeed!