Saturday, August 20, 2011

Happiness is...a vacation!


·     I’m baaack! Did ya miss me?  I missed you! (Wait. Is there anyone still out there?! I know.  I've been quiet a long time.) It’s been a great couple of weeks and it’s been tough settling back into reality.

It gets a bit harder every time I leave my family; each time I hug my Grandpa I’m afraid it will be for the last time and my nephews grow so much I hardly recognize them. But it’s nice to be back on a bit of a schedule and catching up on my sleep (sort of.)

I’m also looking forward to some new entries and a little revitalization of the blog after the inundation of book/reading entries the past couple of months. But today I’m still working on jet lag and I have way too many photos to sort through so you get another list; just a quick highlight of some of my favorite vacation moments. Enjoy!
  • Baby hugs and kisses
  • Mr. Potato Head (my little nephew is obsessed--it was great fun to watch him play with one for hours on end!)
  • Weddings (while ½ of me is depressed by them the other ½ of me finds them strangely hopeful and I love seeing what people do with the colors, flowers and such...the free food’s always nice too! ;)
  • Amazing food
    • Pickle pie, pinto bean pie (specialties of this fun little diner in Bicknell, UT)
    • Shakes (thick enough to eat with a spoon, just like I like them…every single day!!)
    • Jackfruit sticky rice (even better than mango if you can believe it!)
    • Dark European chocolate
    • Perfectly ripe, juicy watermelon
  • Being pampered; a main-pedi, massage, haircut, and some much needed retail therapy
  • A deep breath
  • A couple of fun re-reads (I rarely allow myself the luxury of re-reading because I feel guilty I’m not doing something to make my TBR pile a little shorter, but I ran out of the books I brought with me and was left to choose from my mother’s book shelf. So, I spent a few hours indulging in a trip down memory lane while reading Dealing with Dragons and The Prisoner of Zenda….good times!)
  • Fun movies (finishing out the Summer of superheroes with a viewing of Captain America)
  • Listening to my Grandpa reminisce and tell me he loves me
  • Staying up until 2 am catching up with an old friend
  • Afternoon naps and sleeping late
  • Dinner with my Grandma
  • Josh Groban, live!
Are you jealous? You should be!!
  • Crazy pianists (this guy opened up for Josh Groban and he was pretty darn amazing)
  • Exuberant air keyboard players (the guy sitting next to us at the concert was REALLY into it and REALLY entertaining)
  • My first author comment on the blog!!! (it’s nice to know other people read this, even if they do it just because of signals/alerts for web mentions of their books)
  • Riding a carousel (being with 2 cute little boys didn't hurt much either)
  • The astoundingly glorious nature of nature
    • Red rocks
    • Geysers
    • The endlessly deep blue skies you can only get in the desert
    • Big horn sheep, bison, elk, bats, pikas
    • 10 gazillion stars (at least!)
    • The crisp, clean scents of pine and sage in the air
    • Shifting, luminous clouds
    • Absolute silence


You can see why it’s been hard to come back.  Who wants reality after all of that?!

Thanks for checking in again after my hiatus.  Hopefully I’ll come up with enough to keep you coming back for more on a regular-ish basis. Have yourselves a fabulously wonderful weekend and then share with me what you did. Can’t wait to hear about it!

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