How Many Cardigans Are too Many?

Today's NaBloPoMo Prompt is - "Which author made you want to be a writer (or blogger)?"

This is a lovely and perfect topic for me to write on, but I'm scattered tonight and can't focus. My vacation began at 5pm, after a hectic day at work trying to wrap up as many projects as possible before being out of the office for more than a week. Impending vacation is a glorious, heady feeling, but the build up to it ends up being a bit stressful. Letting clients know I'll be gone, wrapping up grants before deadlines, last minute requests and filing those piles that end up cluttering up the long expanse of my desk, changing three voicemail messages, and returning calls. But I'm free!

I'm free for an entire week and a day.  Joe and I are heading out of town and flying across the country to spend a relaxing, touristy, exciting, friend and family filled week in the San Francisco Bay area. A few days in the city, some walking tours, some museums, a street fair, some Dim Sum with old friends, a little theatre and a little Alcatraz. Followed by a few days in Monterey, lunch and shopping with a new internet friend and then ending the week celebrating Joe's cousin Dave's graduation from UC Santa Cruz. San Francisco is one of my favorite places in the world and I can't wait to just settle in for a few days.

I haven't had this much time off in over a year and am giddy with the expanse of it. Tonight is packing and cleaning and prepping for travel. My suitcase is jammed with a variety of layering options since we'll have temperatures ranging from 45 to 75 degrees while we're there. Rain and fog and the delights of early summer in San Francisco. Kansas City is having a heat wave, it was in the 90's today and humid, so I can't wait for the chilly fog of San Francisco. God bless the cardigan and the hoodie. And of course, I've got to pick books, pack the yarn for knitting, and load up on This American Life episodes to listen to on the plane (Thank you, Ira Glass.)  Then I think I'm ready!

I'll be posting everyday so expect some heavy San Francisco action here for the next few days. But in the meantime, go check out my post from Wednesday that was picked as a featured story on Blogher's new Sport page. Oh, the irony of this non-sports fan being picked for the sports section. Have a great week and I'll talk to you tomorrow from the West Coast!