Sun Kissed Greetings!

We are doing something this winter that we never do.  We are going on a warm weather vacation.  You would think that living in a winter climate as cold and desolate as Pittsburgh that we would flee to warmer climes every chance we got.  Not so, not so.

Instead we opt for one big blow out vacation every year, usually somewhere exotic and sightseeing heavy.  One year we took the kids to Cambodia, Laos, and Bangkok, and another year we went to the Amazon and Machu Picchu.  We've done Europe too, and Japan.  I always say that when I die I want to come back as one of my kids.  They've seen it all.

But the one thing Charlie and Kate have never done is the winter beach vacation.  So when some good friends from New York called and suggested a joint family getaway in Puerto Rico over winter break, we jumped at the suggestion and will be joining the throngs of winter weary travelers as we embark on the winter beach getaway.

I'm jazzed.  I am already feeling the warm sun on my winter white skin and the sand between my toes.  I am not thrilled about the bathing suit aspect of this vacation, but I figure most everyone on the beach will have the same attractive winter pallor that I'm sporting.  My friend Emily and I have already discussed, in detail, the various rum cocktails we will be sampling.  According to Ted, the Pina Colada was invented at our hotel.  Research is in order.

So, the long and short of it is that I am signing off for 2011.  We'll be basking in the sun for a week and then I'll have to readjust to the winter.  I figure it's the holidays.  No one's cooking anyway.

See you in 2012.  Until then...  Eat, drink, and be merry.

Nadine