We are more than halfway through July right now. In fact, we're pretty close to what could be considered the end of July. I've been on my summer break for more than a month now. It's times like these when I would give anything for a Time Turner. The summer is just flying by far too quickly, and there is not time enough in the day for me to get anything accomplished AND be a disgusting couch potato all at the same time.
This past weekend, I spent some time helping a friend pack up her apartment as she is leaving us for greener pastures--or at least pastures where she was offered a pretty job offer. That, combined with a news article I read got me thinking some kind of deep thoughts about best friends that I'll be writing about at some point when my brain feels like cooperating.
We've got just a little over two weeks left until we leave for Hawaii. I can't remember what I've talked about here as opposed to Facebook and Twitter, but we are leaving on August 6 for six days in Kauai and five in Oahu. I'm trying desperately not to over-plan the trip, and instead only book in advance the activities that tend to fill up, and then just go with a list of things we'd like to do. I have this idea that vacation spontaneity will be more relaxing, but honestly, I'm just feeling a bit stressed that we don't have an itinerary. We do, however, have rental cars! I was gasping in horror at the price of a rental car on the islands until I found a most magical website that cut the cost in two, and now we have the cars for the full time that we'll be there for a bit under the price that expedia was quoting for the first week in Kauai. Of course, we'll probably show up at the airport and they'll be like, "rental car, wha?" but I feel that the price makes it worth the risk.
I was planning on getting a lot of writing done this summer, but so far have spent most of my efforts on editing the steaming pile of mish-mash I've already written. Then, last night I had a dream about it that is making me want the change EVERYTHING, including the time period it takes place in and a pretty big portion of the back-story. Sigh. Writing is frustrating.
So, instead of being productive, I've been watching heaps of BBC period pieces as "research" for my writing. Let me tell you, if you enjoy Pride & Prejudice, there is a whole world of non-Austen romance out there just waiting for you to discover it. So far I've quite enjoyed Wives & Daughters, The Buccaneers, and my new all time favorite, with Margaret Hale and John Thornton stealing my heart from Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, North & South. Not surprisingly, I've been spending a significant portion of time staring off into space, daydreaming of exchanging smoldering, illicit gazes with aloof, yet dashingly handsome young men of means. I think it is very much past time for my husband to come home.
