You: Hello? Sarah? Yoohoo? What corner of the world did you escape to?

Me: Escape? Did I escape, you ask?

You: Yes. Those paper bats are still hanging at the top of your blog. Come on...get with it. Blog already.

Me: OK...you caught me. I escaped.

You: Where?

Me: To a far away land that I used to think only existed in my imagination: a place where quiet and noiselessness reign. A place where there is room to unwind and create with no distractions.

You: That place actually exists? Oh, please give me directions.

Me: Are you ready? It's complicated. You need to go to my in-law's wonderfully empty-nested house. It's great. They cook too. And love babies. And have an abundant amount of watercolor brushes, down comforters and table space to just spread out and GTD (get things done). Oh, and they also take you out to sushi.

You: Oh take me take me!

Me: I plan on their being a next time. Many more next times. Don't worry.

So yes...after 2 months of let's-get-my-life-organized-enough-to-run-a-business-and-illustrate-a-book-while-only-getting-2-hours-of-sleep-at-a-time-at-night-and-raising-3 children kind of living, my husband took one look at the bags under my eyes and booked a flight for me the VERY next morning to California to spend 5 days with his parents while HE watched the other kids during his fall break. I know. My in-laws are awesome, but my husband? Amazing.

The trip was, may I say, incredible. I ate, slept, fed the baby, illustrated and story-boarded for my book I'm illustrating with Harper Collins right now. Getting away proved to be the perfect remedy for a mommy who's brain hardly gets to enjoy the space of her own creative thinking due to the natural (and wonderful) chaos of the day with 3 small children.

But I am back. No more escaping for a while. As much as it is good to get away, I am a sucker for my family. Who wouldn't be with faces as kissable as this?