Virtual Vacation

For the last couple of weeks, my patience level has been about zero. I feel so on edge that I'm afraid I'm totally going to flip out on someone. It's not so much with my family or friends, but with my staff at work. I currently supervise seven staff, and at times they require a ridiculous amount of patience. Just when I think I've settled one problem, my pager goes off and my staff need something else. And quite honestly, some of them are just plain needy (though they often have good reason, so I shouldn't be so mean about it). I'd really like to go into some prime examples of how they have driven me crazy over the last few weeks, but I don't want to overtly complain about any particular individuals on my blog (you never know who's reading).

What I really need is a vacation, but unfortunately that is not going to be possible for a while. I planned a big one-week vacation in February to get some much-needed time off, but instead my vacation ended up being a few weeks after Adam died and the week that Ronnie died, so it wasn't a break at all. I really, really need some time away, and not just a few days, but a solid week or two. Unfortunately, I used all of my ETO with my trip home for Adam and then for my "vacation," so there really isn't any left for a while. Right now I'm just daydreaming about the non-obligatory vacation: the kind where you aren't visiting anyone and you have no agenda, the kind where you just get away and relax. With family all over the country (thus ETO = visits to see them), I haven't had one of those in a long, long time.

So, in lieu of an actual vacation, I will take a pretend one. Just for my own daydreaming purposes, please allow me to share with you what feels like a perfect vacation to me at this point.

1) A cozy cottage (preferably in England or Ireland)
2) A lovely window seat for reading many books
3) A beautiful garden, perfect for strolling about
4) Places to wander that look something like this
5) Lots of good coffee and tea
6) A cozy fireplace
Basically, I'd like to briefly jump onto the set of a Jane Austen movie, with the addition of some exquisite vegetarian food.

The good news is that a have a mini-getaway planned for this weekend to see my friends Lena and Brandon in Iowa, and another vacation with two of my best gal pals planned for April (destination: San Francisco!). Until then, I'll keep dreaming of my cozy cottage, beautiful and serene (and I'll take a little Colin Firth, too, if he's available).