I decided to quit my job and take a break partly to focus on growing Hearts and All (my greeting card business) and partly because I wanted to go surfing. There, I said it.

I’m not sure when I will die and I want to make sure that before I do, I spend some more time surfing in tropical weather. It’s really fun, and San Francisco is really cold—at least, by my standards! I’d prefer to take my retirement in installments rather than in one lump sum when I’m 65. I probably won’t be as good a surfer when I’m 65 and what if I don’t even make it to 65? The time to surf is now.

I am currently selling Hearts and All goods on Etsy and Zaarly. (Hearts and All on Etsy, Hearts and All on Zaarly) Going to Nicaragua to surf for five and a half weeks means that I will probably lose some business while I’m gone. I won’t be able to send cards or frames or mugs, but to me it’s still worth it to go. I do plan on taking a pad of paper with me and working on some new drawings. Right now, the drawings I’ve done are all of romantic love and a few people have mentioned that it would be nice if there were some designs that they could give to their sons or daughters or mothers or grandmothers. So I’m going to see if I can come up with something for those sorts of relationships.

I also plan on doing some nothing. It’s okay to do nothing every once in a while, you know. You heard it here first. Once, a friend of mine started off his annual holiday letter with, “This year, I made peace with my inner slacker.” I like that guy.

Okay, I’m going surfing.

I probably won’t be blogging at all while I’m gone, so I’ll see you next month!