The beach, 28 hour days and packing

For the third weekend in a row Zac and I went to the beach to catch some rays. It might come as a shock to some of you, but though we live in Hawaii we rarely go to the beach, especially just to lounge. Prior to these last few weeks I could count on one hand the number of times Zac and I had been to the beach in the last calendar year. (We haven't been diving in forever - back when we were diving we were at the beach every other weekend.) About a month ago Zac announced that he was a little too pale to be heading back to the mainland so we decided to catch some rays in hopes that our late-November midwestern-pale families would be jealous of our healthy Hawaiian glow. Of course I don't really tan. I get less white and add a few freckles. Zac tans. Jerk. So we've headed to a couple of beaches over the last three weekends, laying out and people watching.

As we get closer to our departure back home, I increasingly wish I had more hours in a day. There are a bunch of things I'd like to get done before we leave - arts and craft stuff, work, Christmas shopping, stuff around the house. Plus this week will also be busy as I've got a lunch date, I'm volunteering two evenings, I've got a meeting with the Captain one afternoon and I've got an ombudsman meeting another evening. This is really not the week that I wanted to cram all that into. If I could somehow lengthen my days, I'd be much more relaxed. I suppose I could try to get up a couple hours earlier, but my body is adamant in how much sleep it requires in a 24 hour period to function. If I pull myself out of bed earlier than usual, my body will flip the switch in late-afternoon and I will be worthless as I doze off for about the same amount of time I gained in the morning. I wish I could function on six hours of sleep like Zac does. I'd be insanely productive.

I'm starting to think about what all I'll need for three weeks in colder climes. Cold weather clothes take up a lot more room than warm weather ones. I'm excited at the thought of sweatshirts, sweaters, jeans, boots and scarfs. I'm sad that I no longer have corduroy pants that I can wear. Oh, how I do love corduroys! Since I'm going to be spending time in two very different settings (urban Minneapolis and rural Nebraska) I'm not entirely sure what all to bring. What I would wear casually around my parent's house is a little different that what I would wear if I was helping out with cattle at the farm, especially in the footwear category. I guess I'll just overpack and then decide I don't like any of my clothes any way when I get there. That's usually how it goes.