Winter Break Recap and Teacher Mode!

Like many teachers, I am enjoying a relaxing midwinter break. Despite the number of delays and snow days between Christmas and mid-winter break the winter season still flew by!
As expected this break, I had high hopes of preparing tons of materials and lessons during break and failed miserably. No matter how hard I try I can't seem to get myself in 'teacher mode' during break. You know 'teacher mode' that hyper productive mentality where you get a million things accomplished in a short amount of time and multi-task like its your job...wait a minute...
When I get home and am overwhelmed by 'home mode'- friend, wife, daughter, artist and homeowner. I love being on break and am always amazed at how instantly I can de-stress from a few days off of 'teacher mode'. I sleep better, eat better and know I am generally more pleasant to be around.
So every break I now fully accept 'home mode' because I know  'teacher mode' isn't happening. That teacher bag will sit exactly where I put it when the vacation began. There is simply too much to be done at home and it has been put off because of teaching.

Halfway up to the ski jump-beautiful views!

 I spent a the first few days of break visiting my good friend Jess in Lake Placid. Even though Lake Placid was colder than home, a few days with a non-teacher friend in a beautiful place is always a good time. We visited the Olympic Ski Jumps, watched an aerial competition and rode to the the top of the jumps to see an amazing 360 degree view of the Adirondacks! And then we vegged out and caught up by the woodstove  because it was below zero and too cold for our tastes to ski or snowshoe. A perfect start to a vacation if you ask me!

The ski jump! Yup, we went to the top of that!

I stopped by my parents on the way to and back from Lake Placid. It's a nice way to break up the 3.5 hour trip and I caught up with my parents, sister and grandma. I came home bright and early Wednesday morning to catch my husband before he went to work. It had been 4 days since I had seen him and it felt like forever! It is hard to believe that 10 years ago this month we had our first date!
 I spent the rest of the day getting pampered at Innovations Spa in Clay. I got a great deal on @LivingSocial for a massage ad mani/pedi a few months back and decided to cash in on it. After a few hours of pampering I  grabbed some groceries for the week and headed home.
On Thursday, I ran errands, took the dog for a run in out 'heat wave' and started my taxes. I file them myself through Turbo Tax and finished them on Friday morning. I then decided to better prepare myself for taxes next year and to keep better records of my studio expenses. I made some excel sheets to track my Etsy sales, donations and expenses. I spent the afternoon in the studio making mugs and spoon rests and then caught up with some fellow teachers at my favorite pub.

20 mugs...whew!

I plan on putting handles on mugs, finishing a few orders, planning for the week, prepping material for Youth Art Month, firing a bisque kiln and getting another run with the pup in before break is over and this heat wave ends  All in all, it was my kind of break. As always it was too fast, I barely chipped away at my to do list and could use about 6 more hours in the day or an assistant to get all I need done done.
How do you spend your vacations? Are your super productive or do you actually enjoy the break from work?