Its Vacay Time in the Bluegrass....

Napa Trip -Circa 2009

So, I live to travel.  I love love love love trips.  Literally, the last time Kevin & I got home from a trip, I tried to convince him to book another one to Naples within 3 hours of returning home.  My parents were (and still are) very into traveling, which is probably the reason why I think I need to take a trip every few months.  I honestly visit Expedia.com, Travelocity.com, and Kayak.com on a daily basis to find those hard-to-pass up travel deals.  I've gotten pretty talented at it too- I once booked a 5 day trip for Kevin & I to San Fran/Napa for a grand total of $720
 (Yes, that is flight & hotel.
 And no, we did not stay at a hostel, brothel, or campground to get that price.  Bahahaha. Me? Campground? Yeah right.  My idea of roughing it is staying at a Holiday Inn.)  So, you ready for the irony in this???

...... I am a complete homebody.  I crave structure & get grumpy without it.  My vacations aren't like most people's vacations.... For starters, I like to work out on vacations.  I prefer to eat my normal breakfasts & lunches because otherwise it'll throw my stomach into a whirlwind of hurting.  (My stomach is definitely comparable to that of a senile 82 year old senior citizen.  It hurts when I eat almost anything.  Big thanks to Big P (my dad) for that little genetic gem.)  I even go to bed at my normal time (or before) on vacations.  Kevin swears I turn into a drill sergeant on vacay because I prefer to keep everything (including my workouts) on a time schedule.  I tend to stress if I think my structure is going to be messed with.

And yall, honestly I do great like in this structured type of vacay for a couple days & even manage to enjoy some time off of work.... but then, I start missing home.  Namely- my bed, my puppy, and the Diva.  Sad part of it is, this need to be at home & sleep in my own bed started when I was a toddler.  On occasion, my parents would be lenient on our bedtime while having friends over, in which case my brother would also still be up, undoubtedly wrecking havoc in the house too, yet I inevitably would find my Mom or Dad & BEG them to take me up to my bed.

Oh don't worry, as time progressed, I got even more neurotic about missing home & sleeping arrangements.  For example, when I would host OR attend sleepovers, parents would come down to check on us girls late night, only to find that I had bounced.  (Calm down, I didn't try to walk home or anything weird like that.  They would always either up to my own bed or the host's bed, but regardless, I'm sure it was pretty startling the first few times it happened.)  Someone please tell me they did this too.  Anyone?.... Seriously anyone?.... Bueller?

Another prime example of my need for a routine/inability to relax on any vacation or trip is perfectly demonstrated in the picture below.  

Yes, that is me being one with my work computer.  Doing an expense report & program scheduling in the middle of a bachelorette party just screams "Life of the Party," yes?  Again, I am obviously one super cool chick.  Not.  I also may or may not also be guilty of getting on conference calls & checking voicemails while literally being on the beach.  (PS- I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown on my honeymoon because I couldn't dial in to check my work voicemail.  As a fair warning, Voicemail does NOT work in Mexico.  Believe me, I hunted down every employee I possibly could at our resort to resolve this issue & had zero luck. Lesson Learned- if you're obsessive about your job, stay in the U.S.)  While Kevin calls it insane, I call it multi-tasking.  Getting my tan on while conducting business??  Seems like a win-win to me :)

The next trip on the Docket is actually for work, which suits me just fine.  I'll be doing a brief little stint next week at this shack in Maryland. 

Its tough, but I guess I'll stay at the place they filmed Wedding Crashers for a few days.  I do great on these trips because I stay on a schedule, work gets done, and they are all less than 5 days.  Lets just pray that I don't go MIAwhile trying to locate the best bed possible, or better yet- that I don't wake up to creepy Todd Cleary trying to paint me :)

Obviously, I know my homebody tendencies aren't exactly, ummm, normal, so I've tried to figure out why I am always dying to come home from vacation.  Heres what I've come up with...

1) I like to be in control, so doing things on other peoples' schedules drives me insane.
2) I absolutely adore what I get to come home to (ie, my fabulous hubby, sweet puppy Hudson, our beautiful house, and my crazy kitties.) & feel most like myself at home.



**Side note- I was oddly obsessed with Wizard of Oz from age 1-4 years old.  I'm now highly suspicious there might be a direct correlation with my homebody preferences & this movie.  Seriously, think about it.  Here Dorothy is, transplanted in this magical place, and all she can think about is getting home.  Surely the possibility exists that her ridiculous need to leave the Yellow Brick Road & Oz was projected onto me & permanently ingrained into my brain, right?  Then again, I know some of my friends watched Barney & none of them have shown ANY signs of having their travel preferences based solely upon what they learned from his show (ie: traveling in a goofy hat while partaking in that particular means of transportation, or singing ridic songs while on a plane.)  Hmmm. Dang, I thought I was onto something for a second. Maybe I'm just an oddball. 

I guess the long & short of it is this: While I absolutely adore traveling & exploring new places, I think Dorothy said it best, "There is No Place like Home." 

Okay guys, thats it for now :)