Staycation

This week we are on staycation at a friends' house that's one house from the bay beach and three blocks from the ocean. (THANK YOU!!)

It's always a funny thing to be on "vacation" in the midst of every-day-life responsibilities. To help me pretend I'm away, I brewed mango black tea and have been drinking it iced with a splash of lemonade and some fresh mint leaves all week. It helps.

Unlike most weeks, I've had no time to myself this week (even harder with the tease of a sunny balcony), so it's been even more of a treat to be in a beautiful house where I can see the sun shimmering on the bay through the windows.

It's always fun to try on someone else's house, their sensibility, the textures of the floors and carpets, the bedspreads, and weight of their drinking glasses, the colors splashed on pillows and shelves -- everything just a little bit different. I love that. Right now I am sitting at a green lacquered desk. Silas is hooting as he throws more clothes down the laundry shoot -- somehow he's only thrown clothes so far -- and Eden is busily playing in a room full of toys that are endlessly fun because they are not her own.

So far we haven't broken anything, or spilled or drawn on anything, except one puzzle piece. And I did get one giant pan, which it turns out was a pancake skillet and not a pan meant for baking, stuck in the oven. So stuck that it had to stay there for the better part of a day until Ben got home. But now it's out and there is no damage.

After living here, there are a few things I'd now like to own:
*Mrs. Myer's Clean day Products -- basil and geranium
*Lambskin rugs -- I first used one in a yoga class years ago and now re-love them
*An espresso machine -- I still haven't figured out how to make a cappuccino in this one, but it does make me a perfect little cup of coffee every morning and heat my milk
*J.R. Watkins aloe & green tea hand soap

As we've moved in to weekend, the sense of vacation has set in more: two nights ago we took the 3-car ferry boat over to Balboa Island and walked for frozen yogurt together. Last night we walked to the pier and sat among the dozens of fishers drinking root beer floats, watching huge green waves swell under us.

Tomorrow morning we move back up the hill to resettle in our little house -- to stay instead of staycation.