Vacation Exhaustion!

I've been on vacation this week, and for the first time EVER, I opted to stay home. I am not going anywhere, I am not loading my backpack, and I am not getting on a 15 hour flight to some far-off destination. No diving, no bungee jumping, no hiking, no sipping on pina coladas by the pool for me. Not this time.

Yes, I went nowhere - absolutely nowhere. Gasp.

Have I plateaued. Have I finally "grown up"?

I don't think so. I really think it's partially related to some looming work travel - Chicago, Seattle, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, NYC - and all in the next month and a half. Yeesh. Fortunately, most of them are 2-3 day trips, and on the bright side, I will be stacking up those frequent flyer miles. As it stands now, I am already a super-duper-we-kiss-your-ass-would-you-like-fries-with-that-shake frequent flyer on USair, United, and I am fast working my way back to that status on Continental and Delta. And, I am getting dangerously near to having to actually pay for my personal flights again, and I certainly do not want that!

My vacation timing was also planned to coincide with the arrival of my new pup, Hunter. She landed on Monday night, after traveling all day from Spokane, Washington. So far, so good, but it's only day 3. She still hasn't figured out that she is here for good - I give it a couple of more days before I get to know the real Hunter. She has a very sweet, gentle disposition with a streak of coquettishness . . . so we shall see what comes next. Murphy is reticent to give her a proper welcome, focusing simply on the fact that he now has to share me. I feel slightly guilty, but he'll get over it.

So, my vacation week has thus far been spent puppy training, spring cleaning, cooking (which has been fun), and chellaxing with friends. And, for whatever reason, I am awake every morning at 6:30am - what's up with that???

Needless to say, the combination of the insufferable heat (I'll take this over winter any day though), unplanned EARLY mornings and a constant state of puppy-vigilance (i.e. did she have an accident? what is she chewing? and the like) have me exhausted.

A cruel irony, since, technically, I am on vacation. . .