Have Travel Kit. Will Travel. Soon, I hope...

I'm going a bit bonkers here lately. Work has been rather non-stop (though interesting). Parenting is an ongoing marathon - and I feel like I'm staunchly holding off some kind of metaphoric stress fracture. The weather, well you know how that's been. The flu, recently departed from our home, has left us all feeling down. While I did not succumb, I appear to be struggling against a sore throat and achies. Which is why I slept till noon. Despite all the things going on at work. (Stress, go away!)

And you know that Jan. 19 is considered to be the most miserable day of the year. Apparently, Jan. 19, 2009 may go down as the most depressing day in history.

That seems a little harsh, yes? Especially since Jan. 20, 2009 was the most hopeful day I can remember in a long time...

So here's the thing. I want a vacation. (Odds are, I actually need a vacation, in that soft, middle-class, bourgeois way that people like me need costly idle time.)

I want to wake up in a beautiful boutique hotel. I want gorgeous breakfast and awesome espresso and booze at noon and 3-hour sex and temporary parent-free living and shopping without concern for the next responsibility or a care about how much something costs. And a great concert or exhibit or restaurant. I want to spend 40 bucks on artisanal chocolate and then eat it all in 20 minutes. I want a few hours to download new tunes onto the iPod.

I'm fucking sick of the weather and hardship and snow that hovers on slush until it freezes again and becomes a safety hazard. And pleasing people. And staving off stupid winter sickness.

So, I bought this:










More to the point, I exchanged the very reasonably priced glass necklace my husband gave me for Xmas (too heavy, after all) for this obscenely expensive makeup bag by Stephanie Johnson.

But look at how modular and practical it is! Everything detaches and reattaches so incredibly intelligently. And the photos don't show it, but it's a beautiful mint green and brown and orange combo called Tribeca.

It's an official sign to the universe that I've got to have a vacay soon. One that sees someone else looking after my kid while it happens. Now all I've got to do is watch and wait. I'll keep you posted.