I need to be alone sometimes. That’s simply the truth of it. A vacation to me can be a romantic resort on a faraway beach with my hubby, hanging out with a friend for an afternoon, or a week by myself cleaning our wreck of a household. Option three was last week.

The first six months of this year have been absolutely crazy, simply because we were gone for four of them. But the thing that boggles my mind (which isn’t hard to do) is that even though we were hardly ever here, the house still accumulated more junk than a flea market. How exactly does that happen??

So for most of my loner week I got to lock myself up like the neurotic homebody that I am and concentrate on the important things in life – vacuuming, Glee, and organizing. Aw yes, such sweet things. But after a complete overhaul of our guest bedroom, a deep clean and redesign of the garage, three carloads of donations, two trash bins, and a mountain of recycling later, I feel relieved. And during the last few days of the week, Jeff’s wonderful mom, Gina, came to my rescue and helped with a few projects that have been on my Dream To-Do list. You know the list. The one that says you’re going to re-stain the china cabinet someday, plant an entire organic garden in your back yard, build that gift wrapping station in the loft, build a loft, and reupholster that awful corduroy recliner that’s been sitting with a blanket thrown over it for years. That to-do list.

So what’s on mine? Well, ever since we moved into this house, there has been a few open spots on our back patio that have been begging for some pots of herbs. Like real herbs. The ones with roots and leaves and that don’t cost an arm and a leg at the grocery store. The kind that I can easily – and most likely will – kill in my attempt to lovingly grow them. The kind that only exist in my dreams…

But my inaugural Loner Week was all about tackling my Dream To-Do list, so even though the china cabinet is still an odd shade of golden yellow instead of rich, creamy espresso, I do have some new friends basking in the sun in my back yard…

Everybody, meet my new family of herbs. We have Mr. Italian Parsley (for my favorite Italian bruschetta), the fragrant Miss Sweet Basil, the handsome Mr. Cilantro, and the lovely Ms. Rosemary.