My morning entry was my 100th entry. Woohoo! That's a lot of entries. I'm feeling mighty darn proud of myself.

My hair is now Very Orange--brilliant copper like a new penny. I love it. It almost glows in the dark. In the sun, it's flamin' baby! That's me--luscious persimmon. It doesn't get any redder than this! My in-laws will think I'm absolutely crazy when they see me next week. 'Saright. I'm used to it. :-)

I had a garlic-intense lunch today. While I was out doing errands today in preparation for my Big Ass Vacation, I stopped for lunch at Baja Fresh and had some really great shrimp tacos. Mmmm...I can still taste them. It was very delicious. And the nice manager-type guy came out and gave Joey a big refillable cup (the kind you usually pay $2 for but can refill whenever you come in). She had wanted one but I was feeling to chintzy to buy one so it was a bonus day for her. She said "Mom, why do people always give me free stuff?" In the past 3 weeks, she has been the unexpected recipient of a stuffed dragon from a restaurant in Medford, a cool super ball from a nice lady who was buying bouncy balls for all the kids at a local children's store one day and then the cup today (which we promptly filled with lemonade). I dunno why she has attracted such kind offers but there it is. Perhaps it's because she's very quiet and very well-mannered. Or maybe it's that little silver halo she wears when we go out in public. :-)

I have one more day to finish up preparations for The Vacation. Three weeks we'll be gone. I can't remember the last time I took a three week vacation--I must have been 10? My mom shipped me off to spend six weeks in Hawaii with my Grandmother (the same one who turned 88 on Sunday). I've never taken a three week vacation as an adult. What fun! It will be kinda tiring, I'm sure, but I expect Big Fun to be had. I'm not sure if I've described our vacation, but we will be flying to Virginia to visit our dear friends (Ed's best friend since 10th grade, about 22 years ago--they named their first son after him and they named their daughter the same name as our daughter, after calling and asking if we'd mind) who live just outside of Washington, D.C. We'll rent a car and visit them for a week. We plan to take one day to go into the city to see the buildings (capitol, white house, etc.) and the Bureau of Printing and Engraving (or the Money Factory, as Joey likes to call it). We'll spend 4 days at our friend's parents' million-dollar lake house on Lake Anna. They have 2 Sea-Doos, a kick-ass ski boat and a "party barge" which is a large, flat-bottomed boat that has room for about 20 or 25 people with seating all around the edges and a big canopy that covers half the boat and a swimming dock off the back end. This boat is serious fun to go anchor in the middle of the lake for a day. We find a picturesque spot, drop anchor and hang out. We bring a picnic lunch, snacks, many beverages in coolers, towels, swimsuits, sunscreen, the Sea-Doos (which someone drives along with us and then ties to the boat when we're anchored), books, magazines, games, innertubes, some CDs (to play on the onboard sound system) and have us a floating party. I can't wait!

At the end of our week in VA, we'll drive to South Carolina via Colonial Williamsburg and Virgina Beach to pick up my MIL and niece who will travel with us to Florida. We'll visit the Kennedy Space Center and the we'll hang out in Orlando for a few days visiting Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure and DisneyWorld. After that, we'll go on to St. Petersburg to visit my BIL, SIL and new niece Peyton.

At the end of our second week, we'll drive back to SC and hang out in Myrtle Beach (resort town extraordinaire) for 4 or 5 days visiting the rest of Ed's family. Then we'll drive back to VA to fly out after spending the night with our good friends one last night. It should be very relaxing and mostly unstructured so we can stop if something catches our fancy. I like travelling that way. Usually we have times and dates and schedules that we have to adhere to. This time it's just a starting date and and ending date that are carved in stone. Nothing else.

So tomorrow I'll be running a few more errands (returning 2 books I bought for Ed that weren't what he wanted and buying some new mascara and a few other last minute things), folding all the loads of clothes I washed and packing. I'll also be packing (such fun) and getting some travel snacks, bringing tuna to my cat at Grandma's (she was delighted to see us tonight when we visited, by the way), and calling people that I need to leave messages with and cleaning out the refrigerator so that it won't stink with rotted fruits and veggies when we return and giving the house a once-over so that we can come home to a clean house. I am equal to the task, however, so I expect to be comfortably crawling into bed tomorrow around 10pm. Ha! Like I could really fall asleep at 10pm! I'll try to since we have to get up at 4am but don't hold your breath.

I'll update tomorrow night before I crawl into bed but after that I'll be at the mercy of hosts who may or may not have Internet access. Cross your fingers for me because I'll probably faint dead away if I'm forced to endure three entire weeks without getting on the net and finding out what's going on with everyone here at Diaryland. (Don't have too much fun without me, ok?)

It's T-minus-29:00 hours and counting.

--L