Clementine: I NEED A VACATION SO BADLY I CAN TASTE IT

Yes, Nate and I took a vacation in February. It was marvelous. With that in mind, I"m not sure eight months has ever felt so distant. And by "distant" I mean, did it ever really happen in the first place? I need a vacation. Time off. A few days to relax, write, think of something other than work, and get my life back.

And now, in an effort to take a mind-vacation without requiring my body to go with it, I'll dream up a few perfect get-a-ways. This is where I'd spend free time if it truly existed.

GET-A-WAY #1: African Safari
I love the romance of a safari. And when I say romance I'm not talking about long walks at sunset. I'm talking about watching a giraffe run across your path, it's neck swaying so strange it will stay with you forever. I'm talking about dozing off in a wall tent and hearing a lion's roar echo over the valley.

I dream of doing this again. Of smelling smoke from the fire, seeing a warm glow of light inside a tent, hearing and seeing animals so beautiful and dangerous the only thing to do is panic and smile all at once.
Of course, when I imagine this trip, I always smell like Aveda products and carry leather luggage and look like Keira Knightley.

GET-A-WAY #2: The Beach...any beach
I'd go anywhere for good beach. I have always wanted to go to the Outer Banks. Something about that region, that beach, is so fundamentally simple and beautiful. It's not complicated by all the coconut shell bikini tops and steel drum bands. I love a beach that is warm enough to wear a bathing suit but cool enough that you can wear a gauzy scarf to keep the chill out. And there is all that old-timey sailing going on with wooden boats and topsiders.