We're. On. Vacation.

Every year we look forward to our week down in the beach town of Del Mar, California. It's about an hour south of where we live.

What a difference that hour south makes.

We've been coming here to this same beach house in Del Mar for the past 4 years and it always manages to feel both fresh and familiar. Unpacking and cooking is easy. I know my way around this kitchen just like I know my own.

Part of vacationing for me is attempting to un-plug from social media. This is HARD. (I said, attempting, okay? I know my limits.)  So, I do it in baby-steps. I start by limiting my reading-what-everyone-else-is-doing-right-this-minute on Facebook.

And I only post photos on Instagram. Also, because I work on Project Life all year, sharing on Instagram helps me remember and organize where we were and what we were up to on certain days, but that's not important right now.

Vacation. (On Instagram.)

The first thing we do when we get here is... drop everything. ("You can unpack later!") We head down to the beach immediately (It's exactly 238 steps from our front door) to get sand in our toes and feel the breeze in our hair.

Some days we make a big, fat, bacon-and-eggs-with-all-the-trimmings breakfast. Other days, there's cereal-that-reminds-them-of-childhood and coffee. Either way, it's all good. We're on vacation.

Our first day here, the kids asked,  "Can we just order a pizza from the beach for lunch?"

Answer: "Of course. We're on vacation."

Eric unwinds best when he surfs, so the first thing he did was wax down his board. There's something to be said for a happy husband. He's obviously on vacation.

We're usually here on the week that we celebrate our wedding anniversary and Lucy's birthday. Our tradition has been to go to Little Italy in San Diego to our favorite Italian restaurant called Filippi's Pizza Grotto.

Lucy was in LA for the summer, so we bumped our vacation to this week. But that's not stopping us from celebrating. It just means our celebration has been postponed.

Little Italy is all kinds of charming. You have to wait in line inside the Italian market to get to the restaurant in the back.

Our theme for the dinner was "Red Food." (I cracked my self up right there. Can you tell I'm already relaxing?)

Eric decided to surprise us and took us to the epic Mr. A's for dessert. It was a beautiful and clear night, with the lights of downtown San Diego just below us. Quite magical.

And that was just our first day.

Most days we sit around unwinding in our own distinct ways. We spend most of them on the beach for at least part of the day. We will have friends come down and visit sometime during the week. We play lots of games and take long walks on the beach. And we build sandcastles.

Also, we are definitely getting to the Del Mar Racetrack because that's one of the things on my Summer Manifesto. Of course.

The only rule is that there are no rules. This is our one week when we've given ourselves permission to do everything or nothing. This is our week to be very deliberate in re-charging, collectively and independently.

We're. On. Vacation.

I share my day-to-day vacation silliness on Instagram. If you're on there, you should follow me. I'm Smrtqbn.

I have to go now. The sun just broke through the clouds and my beach chair is calling...

Summer Manifesto

The definition of the word manifesto from Dictionary.com:

man·i·fes·to

[man-uh-fes-toh] 

noun, plural man·i·fes·toes.

a public declaration of intentions, opinions, objectives, or motives, as one issued by a government, sovereign, or organization.

I know from experience that unless I am very intentional about doing something, it just doesn't happen. I know manifesto sounds like a big and serious word, but I like that it adds some gravitas to my summer goal making process. Besides, Summer Bucket List just doesn't sound as impressive.

Every year we make a list of things we'd like to accomplish and places we'd like to go over the summer. I've had a People I Need To See Live list for as long as I can remember.

Last year, one of my heroes, Ali Edwards turned the Summer Manifesto into a scrapbooking project (which I love). This bit about writing down intentions is totally how I work.

I didn't want to make my list too long. Also, there are things that don't need to be on there because we already do them. Much like not needing to remind myself to "brush my teeth," I don't need to write down "go to the beach." We automatically do this on a weekly basis all summer.

I wrote my Summer Manifesto down in my journal and decided to turn it into a piece of Subway Art. (Which, by the way, I plan on opening a Custom Subway Art Shop online very soon, so stay tuned...but that's not important right now.).

Here's my Summer Manifesto 2013:

1. Attend the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach.
2. Shop at local Farmer's Markets as often as possible.
3. Make S'mores (Cuban style!) over an outdoor fire.
4. Take a Lake Cruise.
5. Visit the Orange County Fair (and eat decadent food, but that goes without saying).
6. Go to a Dodger Game. (Usually this would say Angel game because I love live baseball on summer nights and I think it's cool that we all get to wear RED, but hello! Yasiel Puig and Dodger Dogs!)
7. Build a Farmhouse Table and have lots of meals outdoors. (Check!)
8. Enjoy lots of Outdoor Movie Nights.
9. Build a Sandcastle. (Not just a flip-your-plastic-bucket-over Sandcastle, but a serious all-day one. This requires a trip to Del Mar. Yes, please. Oh, wait! Did I forget to add "Go to the Del Mar Horse Races?" Consider it added.)
10. Make ice cream. (I tend to forget that I have an ice-cream maker stashed away in my cupboard. And I'll be really mad at myself if I don't make my famous Homemade Dulce de Leche Ice Cream.)
11. Take the train to San Diego. (The train station is just blocks from Little Italy and our favorite Italian restaurant, Filippi's Pizza Grotto, so technically this should really read: Take the train to San Diego and go to Little Italy.)
12. Take the LA Bus Tour. (Lucy will be in Los Angeles taking an Improv class for 5 weeks and my friend, Jana and I decided we would visit her while she's staying up there and do the whole touristy-tour of movie star homes and point a lot and say things like, "there's the Hollywood sign!" and all that.)

These are all the big things. The little things that I don't have to remind myself to do are to go swimming as often as possible and as I mentioned before go to the beach every week. (On Wednesdays, if you must get technical.) Eat outdoors as much as possible on my new farmhouse table? That already goes without saying.

And I know I've forgotten things, but we'll continue to add over the summer as we come up with different ideas. And, trust me, I've always got ideas.

Maybe this fall I'll also do a "Best Cuban Places to Eat in Los Angeles" tour. *starts doing research and making notes*

That's my Summer Manifesto. It's in a prominent place in our home and we're already slowly working our way through the list. It's shaping up to be a fabulous summer. And of course, I'll definitely be Documenting the Magic.

So, what's on your Summer Bucket List Manifesto? Tell me.