Wednesday - Run Away Without Leaving Home

I am SO missing my yearly trip to Key West right now. 

Like pitifully and desperately.  If you are inclined to lay around (which I am) then it is a really nice place to be.

Image from here.

Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum

On our one day of 'tourism' in Key West we stopped by the Hemingway House.  I'm kind of in love with it.

Before I went there, I expected a large mansion, what I found was a small and charming island house.  And I could imagine myself living there.

I snapped a few shots.

Here is the dining room.  I especially love the arched windows, the periwinkle paint and the Murano glass chandelier.  The architectural details throughout the house are quite beautiful and the floors are creaky. 

The door through to the kitchen.

This is a shot of the turned bed in the master bedroom, complete with sleeping 6 toed cat.  They have the run of the place.

A long shot of the upstairs hall, looking back toward the study.

A view of the grounds from the upstairs porch. 

This is Hemingway's typewriter, in the study above the pool house.  Again with the cool blue paint.

And this is the lovely, lovely pool, which is my favorite place on the grounds.  I can imagine myself getting up in the morning and having coffee by the pool, underneath the palm trees. 

The Straits of Florida

I'm happy to report that I got some exercise during my vacation.  Here are some shots of the Straits of Florida, which provided the amazing views for my walks. 

Wednesday - Run Away Without Leaving Home

Image:  Key West by ARW Designs.

A Spring Holiday

We booked Key West this week.

*Happy sigh*

Image:  Duval Street by hhhilaryyy

Supper and Vacation

We ate dinner tonight at Pisces.

It was pretty cool and very expensive, although, frankly, we've done more damage.

I started out with a peach bellini. I love bellinis, even though I don't so much love the champagne. It was cold and crisp and I limited myself to one, even though I could've gone for another.

I had the grouper special, with a dijon sauce, lobster and pancetta.

Now. For the information you've all really been waiting for: the waiter was a biscuit. I could've just smooched him up.

The decor was a little spotty. The place was small and the original Warhol prints cost a fortune, but then they had cheapy cheap curtains from KMart. I love the 'high end/low end' mix, but there is an art to it and the lovely people at Pisces missed the mark. I know I'm a design snob but would have a nice simple drape from Pottery Barn been asking too much?

I don't think so.

Tomorrow we are headed into town to have lunch at Blue Heaven, shop around for a while and then catch the sunset at Mallory Square.

And Then I Walked Into A Palm Tree

I think I picked a good place to come on vacation.

This seems like a good place to go away, get lost, fall off.

I feel like a very small person on a very small island in a big world.

My life seems really far away, which isn't necessarily good. However, for the next few days it isn't really bad.

I am happy to report that I have done nothing for the past three days except lay around and eat. That's not really true. I have walked four miles every day since I've been here and yesterday I had a massage. But then I went right back to laying around.

We have had some really good meals so far. Sunday night we went to Michael's where we had great service, good food and some really expensive martinis. I had rack of lamb and a lobster tail. We also had beef carpaccio as an appetizer. There was a time in my life when I would not have been excited about raw meat, however, that time has now passed.

Last night we ate a Cafe Marquesa, which was beyond lovely. The dining room was just so beautiful and I enjoyed by yellow tailed snapper. My darling friend had lamb again and pronounced it not as good as the lamb at Michael's. I didn't so much care, thanks in large part to the French Martini that I had.

Yeah, I ordered it just because of the word "French" but trust me, my enjoyment level was not hindered in any way. It was quite tasty.

Tonight we have a reservation at Pisces, about which we've heard good things.

We are committed to getting up in the morning and spending the day in town. I'll let you know if we make it.

Vacation!

I'm leaving for Key West in ten days.

I am very excited about this.

Partly, I'm excited because I've never been to Key West before and I get in a good mood just thinking about all of the streets I've never seen.

Mostly, though, I want to go somewhere warm and Not Charlotte where I can lay like a slug for a week.

Laugh if you will, but right now laying around somewhere tropical is my idea of a good time. I also suspect that cocktails, in some form, will be available.

Since I've got ten days to prepare I'm in official vacation training.

When you are a lawyer, there are two prongs to successful vacation taking: Getting Ready to Leave and Getting Out of the Office. These may sound alike, but they are actually quite different.

Getting Ready to Leave means that I have to pick up a bathing suit, a couple of blouses and some sort of a non-embarrassing bag to carry my laptop in. I also need to download some Jimmy Buffett, just because he seems like an appropriate Key West vacation soundtrack.

I also scheduled the bikini wax today because one cannot lounge by the pool with a "situation" going on down there, if you know what I mean.

Getting Out of the Office requires a little more finesse.

For one thing, I have to be a little sneaky about my plans because I don't want to tip off the law gods too early. If there is one thing I've learned over the years, it's that the law gods try to mess with you when you try to go on vacation.

Then, I have to clean all of the crap off of my desk (and credenza, that's the part that kills you) either by doing the work myself or, more attractively, pawning it off on unsuspecting colleagues. It also entails telling every single person that I speak to, think about or email for the next ten days that I am leaving for vacation. Laying the groundwork is key because people will remember that you're not going to be there and refrain from trying to call you while you're gone. It kinda works and to the extent it doesn't there is always the email out of office assistant and the ever useful voicemail greeting of: "Hi, I'm out of the office this week and am NOT checking my voicemail or returning calls. If you need immediate assistance, press zero and speak to my assistant or you can take your best shot and leave a message. Just don't say you weren't warned."