I'm still alive!!

I know surely you must all think I've fallen off of the face of the earth since I haven't been around in over a week. I wish I could say I had a good excuse, like, I was actually being productive around my house and preparing for my trip. Nah. I've just been so lazy lately. The husband and I have been trying to do things around the house but nothing is getting accomplished. It has been SO hot lately. Like walk outside and the heat just sucks your breath away hot. I hate the heat. HATE IT. I hate humidity too and that has been pretty high lately as well. Gosh, I thought when we moved from SC to MD that it might be more pleasant in the summer but that is just not happening this year. I'm ready to move again. To somewhere that it doesn't get above 75 degrees with like 40% humidity or less. I wish I could say I was joking but I'm not. I absolutely hate being outside when it's so hot.

Moving along. It's now less than a week before I leave for my trip. You'd think I was well on my way to being ready to leave. Hahahaha. Yeah, back in April when I first found out about this trip I thought I'd be so prepared by this time. I thought I'd have all of my lists typed up and printed out, I thought I'd have all of my directions mapped out, I thought I'd know where I was staying each night on the drive out. And none of that has happened. Oh, I've spent plenty of time sitting here at the computer and trying to get some idea of what I want to see and do along the way. I've started typing my lists into Word and I guess I could go ahead and print those out but I just know I'll end up having several things I need to add to the lists at the last minute. Each morning I come into my office/scraproom and sit here and try to think of all the stuff I need to get done before I leave and I make a little list and I am still unable to focus on getting anything done!

It doesn't help that I still have quite a bit of shopping and just general running around I need to do before I can start packing. Oh, and I ordered new luggage Monday night after spending several hours that day at the mall and other stores trying to find something I liked. So, I'm waiting for that to come too. It's kind of hard to pack if I don't have luggage. I mean I *have* luggage but I want to use my new luggage. Look at how cute it is:



That's right. I bought polka-dot luggage. In pink. So, I'm waiting (not patiently!) for my pink luggage to arrive so I can start packing. Isn't it adorable?? I think it's so much better than plain ol black or blue luggage. How many people have pink polka dot luggage? Exactly! There are several other sets that match this that I'm going to ask for for Christmas so I can have some other options when I travel. I really wish my favorite Vera Bradly pattern hadn't been discontinued a few years ago or I could have more of that and I wouldn't even had to think about buying this set. But, alas, the pattern is no longer available except on Ebay and I think I'll enjoy this set too. I can still use my Vera stuff on weekend trips!

The husband and I are driving down to NC this weekend to meet my mom and drop off my doggies. I am going to have such a hard time leaving them. I mean they love staying with Nanny and Papa and they have so much fun while they are visiting but I've never been away from them for a whole month before. Well, I guess technically it's going to be longer than a month. The puppies spent two weeks with my parents back in 2005 when the husband and I were in St. Louis but a whole month? I am going to miss them so much! I think I'll probably cry when we have to leave them! Yes, I am a big ol baby when it comes to my dogs.

I wish I had some new photos to share or something cool to talk about but the truth is the last 2 weeks of my life have been incredibly boring. No thrift stores, no yard sales, nothing crafty - just trying to prepare for the trip out west and all of the details that go along with that. I'm hoping that I'll finish up some things today so I can come back and share some pictures soon! I'm thinking I should start a new blog for my trip. What do you think?