Bienvenido a Reality

Last week, I ran away from home. I cashed in some airline miles and hopped a plane to Puerto Rico, the Isle of Enchantment. More accurately, the Isle of bad drivers, loud frogs, brightly-painted houses and good sangria. At least, that was my takeaway.

I met up with a friend and we spent 5 nights in San Juan in a funky 300 year old mansion converted to an inn. We shared the place with 5 exotic birds, about a dozen cocqi frogs and a group of war reenactors there for the weekend to battle at El Morro. I don't know about their fighting skills, but they're horrible singers when they get drunk.

I'm a planner and my friend is not, or was too busy to, so we flew by the seats of our pants. It was painful for me, and probably cost us the opportunity to do a few things that required advanced reservations, but we still had a good, relaxing vacation. We walked around Old San Juan and saw the old forts. We shopped, dined and drank. We rented chairs and an umbrella and sat on the beach reading for an afternoon. We rented a car and drove around the entire island. We got routed through an unsavory part of the island and ended up at a police checkpoint. (Thanks, Garmin! Seriously, there should be an option to avoid routes through high crime areas, like high traffic areas.) Fortunately, I was a licensed, insured citizen, so we continued on our way.

But the highlight was kayaking in a biolumiescent lagoon on our very last night. Sadly, there are no pictures. Our cameras weren't waterproof and the little glowing plankton don't photograph anyway. But it was one of the coolest things I've ever done. There are fewer than ten places in the world where these little guys can thrive and three of them are in Puerto Rico. Imagine kayaking through a still, silent lagoon in the dark, surrounded by mangrove trees and a clear, star-filled sky. Then imagine that every swipe of your paddle or dart of a fish creates a green-silver fog through the black water. Damn near a religious experience, I have to say.

But now I'm back. *sigh* We got up at dawn Tuesday morning and I got back that afternoon. That left me precisely 3 days to unpack, do laundry, go to the grocery store, work, bake and decorate a two-tiered, filled cake for Baby Girl's party, get all my HOD luncheon stuff together and pack, and prepare for the follow-on 3 day plotting retreat. Talk about a big change from leisurely strolling down cobblestone streets and watching the waves crash on the rocks. Work is a zoo. I need to do some last minute edits before I send in my book. Oh, and I just got the email requesting titles for my new miniseries and the art fact sheet due next week.

I've told myself for a while now, that if I can just make it through to the middle of May, I'll be golden. Almost there. Have you experienced any vacation whiplash lately?
SP

Running Away From Home

I travel a lot. I used to travel a good bit with my day job, but fortunately, that's no longer the case. I occasionally go somewhere for training or a conference, but that's about it. Now, most of my travel is still for 'work' but it's for my second job - writing. If I'm getting on a plane, odds are, I'm traveling to a writing conference or promotional event. Research and plotting trips. I do try to cram in some vacation with the business, especially when we go someplace I've never been, like San Francisco. But usually, its me running at top speed the entire time, then coming home, exhausted, just in time to go back to the day job.

But every now and then... I get a pure vacation. Sleeping late. Hot tubs. Shopping. Alcohol. Good food. Good friends. Laughter. I treasure these trips. Like I said, I don't get them very often. And even though I'm traveling with the same people I usually travel with (the Playfriends, duh) it's a completely different kind of trip. We trade the heels and ball gowns for Uggs and yoga pants. Forego the flat iron and depend on the messy ponytail. It's the ultimate down time. And boy do we need it. We are some overworked chickies of late. If its not day jobs, its writing pressures or family drama or medical problems. We need a break!

And yet, we can never truly get away from writing because it's what we all love. We'll all take our laptops and notebooks to work as needed. I, for example, have a deadline, so I'll try to get some writing done while we're gone. Once we jump in the hot tub, our creative juices will inevitably start flowing and a book or two will get plotted. Sitting on the deck with hot tea and snuggly blankets, plots problems will be corrected and characterization will be fleshed out. That's the beauty of being friends with fellow writers.

And the best part of this trip? We're there now! Thank goodness! What's your favorite kind of vacation to take?
SP

Expedia, Take Me Away!

Calgon ain't gonna cut it, folks. There is only one thing to cure what ails me and it's a vacation. The proposal, the nasty winter, a painful rejection... I just NEED something. Preferably warmth and sunshine. Maybe a cocktail with a paper umbrella. A week to forget about all the crap, get a massage and enjoy a little R&R.



Unfortunately, I'm failing. My attempt to rally a couple friends into a girl trip has gotten more complicated than necessary. One's cheap, one doesn't like to fly, one is low on vacation and doesn't want to go for too long, and one doesn't want to waste her whole trip driving somewhere (me!). I don't want to drive 8 hours each way for a long weekend. And if I'm going to pay $300-$400 on a plane ticket, I'd rather go to Puerto Rico than Savannah or Orlando. I want to go somewhere I've never been and do something I've never done. Going clubbing in Atlanta is a snooze. Sitting on the beach in Destin lost its appeal once I graduated college and spring break is behind me. We've tossed around a million things, including cruises and nothing is settled. When its all said and done, I'm not sure we'll end up going anywhere. But I need this trip!

So here's where I'd like to go. Anyone want to join me?

Rockhouse Hotel - Negril, Jamaica

Rockhouse is a boutique hotel stretching across the cliffs of Pristine Cove in Negril. The resort, nestled amongst eight acres of tropical lush gardens, boasts a 60-foot cliff-top horizon pool and an award winning restaurant set on a balcony suspended directly over the water. Thatched roofed villas with private sun-bathing decks perch on the cliff's edge, and throughout the property, ladders and stairs carved into the rock lead down to easy water access for swimming and snorkeling on the reef.

Rockhouse is consistently ranked one of the top resorts in the Caribbean. In 2010 it is nominated for three World Travel Awards including best Boutique Hotel in the Caribbean for the sixth consecutive year. Patricia Schults names Rockhouse as one of the "1000 Places to See Before You Die" in her New York Times Best Selling Book.

Or how about this one?

Ladera Resort - St. Lucia

A thousand feet below, an intensely blue Caribbean Sea dashes against the volcanic Piton Mountains. Faintly scented tropical breezes cool your skin. Your private plunge pool beckons. There are only 9 villas and 23 suites in this ultimate rainforest open-air hideaway. Each offers fine linens, luxurious amenities and four-poster beds made of polished tropical hardwood. And each, deliberately without a fourth wall, invites the spectacular sunsets and astonishing views right inside, to be a part of your very private, very special retreat.


Looks good, huh? At this point, I'm fairly easy to impress, but 'heavenly' doesn't even sum it up. What's the most wonderful, relaxing place you've ever been? I need more suggestions. If you haven't been, but are dying to, share your dream trip.

SP

P.S. PC is guest blogging today at Romance Author Buzz. Pop on over and and say hi so she doesn't get lonely. http://romance-author-buzz.blogspot.com/

P.S.S. If the formatting looks wonky on your screen, I'm sorry. When I edit it, it looks fine. Then I pull it up and its all crazy. I have no idea what's going on. Please forgive me.

Hit the Ground Running

We're home. :-) We had a fantastic time spending Thanksgiving with my family and a wonderful time soaking up the Christmas atmosphere at Disney. The only problem is I came home and hit the ground running. Somehow in my preparations for the trip and being gone from home and work for 12 days, I forgot that Christmas was only a couple weeks away when we got home. Yeah, *points to self*, not the world's greatest planner.

I was behind at work and had to catch up. I'm behind in my Christmas shopping. I have 2 parties this weekend and I don't have the ingredients for the dishes I'm bringing or the presents that I need to exchange. Oh, I know what I need to buy...it's just getting there to actually purchase that's the issue.

I went out at lunch yesterday for a quick stop at Toys-R-Us...2 hours later I returned back to the office. I figured middle of the week, middle of the day, shouldn't be bad. I was wrong. The place was a zoo and to top it off, they were out of almost everything I wanted. Leaving there, I vowed I wouldn't return again until after Christmas and then promptly had to eat my words when I realized I needed to return something I bought. I'm tempted just to wait until after Christmas but am afraid I'll totally forget about it and miss the return window.

At this rate, I'm afraid I'm going to come skidding into Christmas with my hair all a wreck, an insane look in my eye and a permanent snarl on my face for all the nasty people who make Christmas shopping a nightmare. If I survive we're going to have a lovely Christmas...I just have to get there first.

How are you Christmas preparations coming?

Instigator

Embracing Our Inner Tourist: Food

Who doesn't like to eat? Certainly not any of the Playfriends. Whenever we get together our activities usually revolve around food. Breakfast for planning meetings, lunches for brainstorming and dinners with our families. Fondue, good food and friends, it doesn't get much better.

There's no exception when we travel. In fact, more often than not we end up with too much food. Whenever we get together we tend to trot out our favorite recipes...all of them.

We recently took a much needed trip to the mountains. And of course, several of our activities revolved around food.

First, we went to a place called The Partridge and the Pear. It's associated with The Christmas Store and the entire theme of the restaurant deals with Christmas. All their dishes have some basis in Christmas or Christmas traditions. Their food is AMAZING! And I highly recommend their sweet potato ribbons, their turkey and dressing sandwich and the pear cheesecake. In fact, PC and I forced the group to stop again on our way home to scarf down more sweet potato ribbons...they were that good.

Later that day we had another food adventure but you'll have to wait until Tuesday to hear PC's experiences with that. The story isn't to be missed!

Our last day we went to a cute little place called Desserts and More. Our table sat beneath a suspended lattice work covered in artificial vines, flowers and crystals. The place has a wonderful atmosphere and the food's pretty good too. And of course, with a name like Desserts and More, we had to try the desserts. Creme brulee, tiramisu and chocolate walnut fudge pie...you can't go wrong, right? They were sooooo good.

Of course all of this glutony doesn't even include any of the food we brought ourselves. Chocolate chip cookies (who would have thought we could polish off an entire Tupperware container in one night?), rice crispy treats, panini's, lasagna, white chicken chili, eggs, bacon and biscuits. We definitely didn't go hungry.

Is good food a part of your vacation experience? Do you look forward to trying new things when you're in a new place?

Instigator

P.S. The Playground would also like to wish a very happy birthday to a very special friend -- Barbara Vey.

It's Done!

I am happy (and horrified) to say that both books are done. They're revised, printed, packaged and out of my hands. The last month has been a crazed blur of work. It got to the point that I kept writing the wrong character's names because I was switching back and forth between stories so often to get them done. I had to do a name search to make sure a "Nate" didn't slip into Ethan's story. Or Jonah's for that matter since I'm also working on a new book while I've got the others out for review.

But its over now. Well, at least for those two. Work of a writer is never done, right? Now there's still the third book to revise and the one I want to pitch at Nationals (I found out I'm scheduled for 10:20 and 10:50 pitch appointments, so back to back panic mode). I've got great appointments this year and I want to make the most of it. I have no illusions of a pink ribbon this time, but maybe if I lay the right groundwork now, maybe next year. Who knows.

Whether or not I manage to pull off an actual vacation this week, I'm at least going to take a vacation from everything else in my life (but work, still gotta go there, but I'm going to take a 4 day holiday.) I'm going to try to relax, recharge and prepare my self for the chaos that July promises. I'm going to read, watch reruns of Law and Order and try not to worry about the fact that my career is resting in a Tyvek envelope on its way to New York City.

Are you planning any trips this summer? Even just a staycation? What do you do between major projects to recharge?
SP

Calgon, Take Me Away

I've been working hard lately. Harder than usual, in every facet of my life. Work is a zoo. Writing has picked up to a frantic pace with all the stress and pressure of getting things right. I'm doing a workshop at Nationals this summer that we're dry-running next month. Cakes and catering. Friends and family. Housekeeping and personal fitness fits in there somewhere. I just have a lot going on.

I want to take a vacation. Nationals does not count. It's a week of stress for me that I honestly look forward to and dread all at once. My 4th of July trip was cancelled. But I want to go somewhere. I want to sit on a beach with a drink and an open itinerary.

A friend has asked me to go someplace at the end of this month, but we're running short on ideas. We don't want to blow a fortune or go for longer than 4 days or so. The go-to beach trip is out this year with the oil spill. My friend refuses to drive longer than 6 hours cause she gets cranky, so Savannah or New Orleans is out. We could cruise out of Mobile, but again, oil spill. I doubt the ship would cruise right through the oil slick, but it might not be avoidable and the smell is supposed to be awful. Flights are cheap to Orlando, but she used to live there and hated it, so we'd have to do something once we got there, like catch a cruise or fly on to Puerto Rico or something. We've talked about flying to Cancun. Boston. I don't know.

Of course its peak season, so flights and hotels are crazy high. Carnival Cruise lines is stalking me. Somehow they know I've been on the site and they keep calling me. Maybe if I procrastinate long enough, they'll give me a deal I can't refuse.

Anyone got some suggestions on what would be nice this time of year? Any sites for last minute travel deals? I'm clueless and desperate.

SP