Sometimes I want to do whatever I want to do. Whenever I want to do it. So there.

It's VACATION WEEK for me and the babes. Bri is back to work. But we have/had a solid 12 days off. And we deserve it. I deserve it. I work hard. I love my job. I love my 23 seven year olds that surround me all day every day BUT (and this is a really big but) I love weekends. I love days off. I love vacations. I NEED vacations. Vacations are strategically placed throughout the year so teachers don't lose it. They might come very close to the losing of "it", but they keep it together very gracefully. Sort of gracefully. Just like her. She is so not going to lose it at all.

So after walking out of school with 25 bags of cards, goodies, work to accomplish over vacation (haha that's funny) and my own 2 kids in tow, we breathed a huge sigh of relief. Because it was vacation!!! There are not enough exclamation points in the entire world. And I love exclamations.
I mean top 3 highlights of the last day of school...

This kid got 18 stitches out and was on the mend.

Beans always feels entitled to a day off, so there's that.

And while I was not jetting off to some tropical place where the weather was warm and the drinks came in buckets... IT WAS STILL 12 days off. And that's reason enough.

So here's a secret. When I am on vacation. When WE are on vacation, we kind of want to do whatever we want. I kind of want to do whatever I want? That's more like it. I want to sleep in. I want to read all the books. I want to watch all the movies. I want to blog. I want to edit photos. I want to organize and clean and take naps and go everywhere and do everything. Normally I can't stay up past 9. In short, I want to do all the things.

Christmas came and it was awesome. Santa was so good to us and we had so much fun with family & friends just taking in the moments and enjoy the company, good food, drinks, celebrations and memory making. LOVE CHRISTMAS! Hate that it goes away so fast, but LOVE CHRISTMAS. Christmas Eve, Christmas Morning, Christmas Brunch, Christmas Dinner. It's a 48 hour experience. And it really is the most wonderful time... of the year.

I got a nice 11 miler in on Saturday for my long run. I'm up a mile. I'll be back up to 13.1 soon in preparation for my 2nd 1/2 marathon in February. I can't wait to take (many minutes) off my time. I feel stronger already. I know so much more about my running and myself. I'm ready. Well, give me a few more weeks and I'll be ready. I'm running that one with SIL and she'll be doing the full while I do the 1/2 and we will probably finish at the same time haha. Because she's not a real human. She's super human. She could be Louis Zamperini's daughter. She's way too fast for her own good.

And while this IS a running blog. We are only human. And sometimes we have one beer. So that's up next.

Hyannis 1/2 & Full.

But back to being human/super human being on vacation. IT is HARD to stay on TRACK when you are not living a structured life on vacation. We stay up late, we sleep late, we have lazy days. It happens. Bri asked me at dinner if I ran this morning and it went down like this...

Me: "No. No I did not. I did not because I did not want to. Well I wanted to just not at that time that I should have and I am on vacation and I should be able to do whatever I want but now I have missed my window. The window is shut."

Bri: "Okay?"

Disclaimer: He's like the nicest, most non-judgemental person in the entire universe. I know. I am the luckiest.

I mean there's always tomorrow and now the rest of the week b/c I screwed up today. I'll make up for it. It ~~never~~ rarely happens. But when it does it's just nice to be able to rest. Even for a day. Because (to quote myself like once a week)

"This shit is no joke."

But I love it.

And I love why I am doing it.

I love that I am just one person of many behind the scenes raising money for a research center that gives so much to patients.

DANA FARBER

I want them to be able to give more. I want it more than anything you could ever imagine. I want them to be able to give patients the world. To give patients their lives. To give families hope. To find a cure.

Cancer needs a cure.

That's why.

I will never thank you enough...

So this is funny.