Glorious Disconnect

I think I've finally reached it, that point where you throw your hands up, shut the laptop, leave the cell phone behind, and just enjoy your vacation guilt-free. During our time at Virginia Beach, the girls and I strolled through a strawberry festival, picked fresh fruits, watched our friend's 3-year-old experience her first carnival rides, and toasted s'mores in the backyard. There was beach and boardwalk, sushi and shopping. (By the way, anybody else loving the romper trend?) And don't get me started on the hot and sunny weather.

But I still did work, read emails, and made mental notes of who I needed to reply to once I got home. Only I returned to New York City and flew right back out to Los Angeles the next day to visit A.'s peeps and at that point I just said fudge it! When there are babies and family I hadn't seen in more than a year, some things just need to take a backseat. It was wonderful to leave the phone behind to go play catch with A. at the park (using one of the three balls he caught at the Dodgers game the night before, don't you know). We drooled over classic cars at Santa Paula Cruise Night and on Saturday night, A. and I stole away to Universal Studios CityWalk to munch on peanut butter and chocolate popcorn and invent the silliest moves we could come up with on Jillian's dance floor. This city girl even wrangled cattle on horseback! *blows and buffs nails*

So maybe I have a few people wondering if I ever even got their message and perhaps I'm a wee bit behind on the to-do list I set aside before I set off, but that's just the price I'm willing to pay to not go flippin' insane. And I was going to make sure I made the most of the much-too-few days I had to laugh, eat, and run around with those fools. After all, when I'm back in front of the laptop, like now, I'm going to wish I was still out there chatting with the girls, celebrating birthdays, and taking in that new baby smell.

Image: courtesy of Mikie Ericson