How I Sat on the Beach, Climbed a Lighthouse, and Picked My Next House

Remember how I asked you all for advice on stuff to do to reward myself? Well, I took all your good ideas and had a little micro-vacation.

First, I bought a sundress. We drove to Florida (it's only two hours to Pensacola's non-swampy beaches!), and I sat and did nothing for a few hours.

It was awesome. I highly recommend doing nothing, even if you don't have a Florida handy.

Then I built a sandcastle with my nine year-old. I read Elle Decor and picked an architecturally fantastic house I'll never own, including a seven thousand dollar sofa.

We ate pizza with bacon (because we like to keep it real--but artisan pizza, because we're also a little snobby), and tried to hook up the DVD player to the hotel TV, but alas, no dice. So we watched Storage Wars, which my kids are now addicted to.

The next day, I climbed this lighthouse...

For this view. Beautiful, no? I was complimented several times on the sundress, which is always nice.

Then I found this house, and mused that maybe it's even better than that house from Elle Decor. See the little alien in the doorway? Pretty cool.

And after some awesome BBQ (you can tell vacation means food for me), we drove home in time to watch the cats wake up from a two-day nap.






It was the perfect little break, and I vow not to let so much time pass before doing something like this again.

So how about you? Have any vacation or just general fun planned to give yourself a pat on the back?