can't wait!!

It's almost time. I leave for Michigan on Thursday night for a lovely red-eye to New Jersey (no, I am not kidding - I love Continental!) then on to the most cool Grand Rapids. I'm very excited - could you tell by my double exclamation points? I rarely do that.

My top five things I want to do:

1. Go to the beach! I'm tired of West Coasters making fun of Michigan's beaches. I miss fresh water that's warm enough to swim in. The Pacific is a huge ocean, yeah yeah yeah - but I can't lay out next to it or jump off a pier into it.

2. Spend some quality time with my niece and nephews. Seriously, Skype is amazing and I'm grateful for it. But I can't give Zach a zerbert, or color with Lauren, or march around with Max unless I'm there in person. Get ready guys!

3. Drive down to Chicago with my sister! I miss that city - it's always been one of my favorite places. I talked about moving there so much that people actually thought I did live there. Oops. Well, maybe someday. If we can, we're going to try to go to Webster's Wine Bar - one of my favorite places of all time. Seriously.

4. Enjoy the drive from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids and back. Do you have any idea how many times I've made that drive? I love that I know every exit, gas station and where all the cops like to wait.

5. Go swimming in my parents' pool. Holy smokes - it has been in the upper 90s here twice this summer - no one has AC and I have literally almost melted. Well, maybe not. But I did have dreams/mirage-like visions of my parents pool. And I think I will do a cannon ball.

Of course, I can't wait to see so many people (and their new babies!) and drive past my old house and just do life with people I love and miss. See you in four days!