... But if you leave your name and number ....

At long last ladies and gentlemen, I am on V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N.

And this time I'm doing it right. In years past, in the interest of not wasting a single minute, I'd leave for my trips directly after a day at work. This would involve staying up late to pack the night before, getting up early to be obsessive compulsive about the lights and the gas, schlepping a heavy bag on public transportation, rushing from work to the airport - or in otherwords:

Stress, stress, stress.

And I always think to myself: I need a pre-vacation and a post-vacation.

I've finally learned. Friday after work I went out for drinks with some buddies from work and got home late. Saturday I went out for brunch, cleaned my house, went to the movies, had an absolutely disgusting dinner at a restaurant I'd been dying to go to for months.

Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day. I went for some yummy brunch with L&J, looked at some gorgeous houses well out of anyone's price range, and then whiled away the afternoon hours at a beer garden sipping some wonderful Weizen and enjoying the sun.

When I got home, I watched another movie, ran to the store for some last minute necessities, and went to bed early. This morning it was early to rise. I'm all packed and watching another movie at 9:15 am. I'm feeling no stress today, and that's pretty damned righteous.

In seven hours I'll be on a plane bound for Belgium, and eight hours after that, I'll be on another flight for Italy.

I'll try for mid-vacation blog, but I make no promises. We'll just have to let Italy do what Italy does.

Ciao!