10 more days!

For almost as long as I can remember, with the exception of a summer here & there, my family has gone on a week long vacation down to the Outer Banks, North Carolina. I think my first trip there was waaaaaaay back in 1985. As my brother and I have gotten older, we still try to make it there every summer with our significant others, with or without our parents.

This year, however, is a little different. My husband started a new job in January and doesn't accrue a decent amount of vacation time until he's been there a year. In fact, he only received 6 vacation days this year- for the ENTIRE year. I call shenanigans on that! No way is that enough time off for the whole year! But I digress. The main bullet point is he would have to use 5 of his 6 days off to go down to the OBX, and so he'd better hope he doesn't get sick or need any other time off for the remainder of the year.

Plus, my family decided that they were finally going to stay down there for two full weeks. We've been talking about doing that for ages. Therefore, even if I had decided to tag along solo, I would've ended up using almost all MY vacation days for that one trip. As much as I love the OBX, I also love having random days off to look forward to. I could've gone down for just a week by myself, but I'm not comfortable with driving in the car alone for over 11 hours. I know, call me a wuss, but it's also a really complicated drive and I don't need to get lost on the back roads of West-by-god-Virginia somewhere. No thanks.

All that being said, my lovely friend Barra took pity on me and invited me along with her family to Isle of Palms, South Carolina this year. I am super stoked for this trip! I can't wait to see Charleston and make some new fun memories with her and her family. It'll be weird leaving the husband alone for a whole week, but it's nice to think that the cats will have someone to hang out with. I always feel bad leaving them alone (even though I'm sure they sleep for 95% of the time we're gone). We leave in just 10 days now...I remember when the countdown was at 60 days!

I do plan on bringing my trusty lap top with me, cuz you never know when inspiration might strike. One of these days I plan to write a summer vacation-based book too- set in the OBX, of course. Or a place inspired by the OBX, anyway.

Happy thought of the day: The smell of suntan lotion on warm, sun-kissed skin...ahhh