Vacation!

I'm taking a vacation for the next few weeks---exciting, but also tiring, at least ahead of time. I'm right at that point where I wonder why we were going in the first place. There's pet care to figure out, stuff to pack, weather to research... We're flying this time, so that's always extra complicated.

But I'm looking forward to a break! Good for the soul. We're not going anywhere tropical like the picture (I wish), but to London, which will be cool.

Earlier this week, someone asked me in an interview what places I still want to visit. I realized most of my wish list location have to do with food: Italy, Greece, Ireland... I also want to see more of the U.S., especially our parks so I can hug a few trees.

How about you? Any wish list destinations?

Where I Wonder: Do You Ever Truly Unplug?

It's hectic madness here at Casa Bradley. We're going on vacation in a few days, and for some reason, that involves insane preparation activity--almost to the point where you wonder: why do we go on vacation again?? I need a vacation from my vacation, people.

But the good thing is that I get to take a break from the daily grind, even if I love my work very much. There's the email inbox that overfloweth, the sink full of dishes that overfloweth, the laundry basket--as you can tell, there's a lot of overflowing in my life. Stuff's busy.

The one tough part: unplugging from the ol' internet. Since I work for myself, the floweth never really stops. There's manuscript editing, email, blog posts, articles due. And then there's Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, Blogger--you get the idea. As writers, we live on the internet. So it's a little weird to unplug for a few weeks, I have to say. Not that the internet will miss me, what with the gazillion other people on it.

I'm really looking forward to just forgetting about the WWW for a little while, though. I'll come back with that vacation smile, and renewed energy (also with a suitcase that overfloweth with laundry, but I won't think about that now).

How about you all? Do you have scheduled unplug time?

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?