All year I look forward to my summer vacation.
Then in a flash it is over. Why is the week before vacation soooo long and the week of vacation so short?
Fortunately the memories last forever.
Every year we head down to the Florida Keys to scuba dive.
We treat our selves to amazing meals at our favorite restaurants.
We especially love Blue Heaven and Hog Fish Grill. To me fresh seafood, expertly prepared, and served under the stars ,is as perfect a dinning experience as is possible . We walk Duval street shopping and people watching . We take in the Sunset Celebration at Mallory square.
We spent lazy hours relaxing on the beach at Fort Zachary .
I am a beach person . I grew up spending summers in Ocean City Maryland. In Maryland summer means hard crabs ,silver queen sweet corn and goin "down the ocean".
I loved playing in the surf and eating french fries from the board walk vendors . When I was growing up there were no highrise hotels or elbow to elbow crowds on the beach . But, things have changed or maybe I have . Never the less,ocean of my childhood holds a special place in my heart.
But ,when I learned to scuba dive eleven years ago, I discovered the Florida Keys . Wow!!!!
Clear, warm water in indescribable shades of aqua green !
I could not believe I could stand in the ocean and see my toes!
Not only could I not see below the water in Maryland , I was sometimes lucky to keep my toes in the sand standing in that surf!
Plus, I fell in love with a place that thinks the very act of the sun setting is reason enough to celebrate.
This year ,as every year, I returned home with a heart full of treasured memories and a brain full of bead inspiration . The sights,colors and energy of the Keys influences my work all year long.
I really do think I should be able to claim my trips as a business expense. My hubby and my daughter are my business helpers. Shouldn't our dinners classify as executive meetings that I can write off my taxes? I really need to talk to the IRS about this .
Throughout the year I will be sharing photos from my vacation on this blog. I will be creating beads inspired by my trip to the Keys .
Doesn't that prove a beader's vacation should be business expense???Shouldn't our inspirational trips be a legitimate tax write off???
This week prove to the IRS your vacation IS part or your beadie expenses
make a vacation inspired creation
and
Bead Happy !
Your vacation in the Keys sounds fabulous! I'm not a big water person but I do love to play on the beach. In the Bahamas the water was so clear you could see little fish swimming around your feet just a foot or two off shore.
ReplyDeleteWe used to travel with a couple who owned a photography business and they wrote nearly the entire trip off to a business expense simply by taking lots of photos! I'm not sure how this would work for us beaders. I'd sure like to know since we travel a lot.
I can't wait to see what you create from your experience in the Keys!
How wonderful. I'm a water person. I grew up on the coast of the Pacific Northwest where you throw on a sweater to go down to the beach. I love the freshness off the ocean. My parents ran a seafood restaurant, and so I grew up a seafood lover and could never live far from fresh seafood! I do remember the first time I swam in warm water ... Laguna Beach CA. But then I snorkeled in Hawaii (Kauai actually where it is very lush and amazing fish everywhere). And then honeymooned in Fiji where the snorkeling was even more amazing. I still love the wildness of the Pacific Northwest, but understand being able to actually swim and look at fish! I love them both
ReplyDeleteI love the ocean colours in these pieces. I live above the harbour on the far side of the pond and love the ever changing sea, very inspirational.
ReplyDeleteJackie
If I could claim by meady love as a business I would be at the beach 365 days a year drawing inspiration from the sea, the breeze, the birds and the shells. If only. The necklace is stunning.
ReplyDelete