{Photo by Alain Picard}

Considering I spend most of my day at my desk, I look at its cluttered surface often. There are the snow globes on my right from New York, London, California; little things I pick up on vacations so I can daydream when I’m workin’ 9-to-5. I have my page-a-day book calendar and stack of postcards I’ve received through Postcrossing. In my drawers are stickers, contraband candy, breakfast food and stacks of job-related paperwork. Chapstick. Old notes from features I finished and pay stubs.

For better or worse, this is my natural habitat. I am a writer. I sit at a computer all day, glancing up at some of the natural light filtering in, and perch at my desk with my Diet Coke and pens. It has been this way always. And I wonder if it will always be this way.

Most of the time, I don’t mind — I mean, I am who I am. I like my job. But when winter slips off its heavy coat to reveal spring, all fresh and sparkly clean, I start thinking about getting away (on vacation, that is). Time for a change of scenery — and a change of pace. Time for something new.

And that’s just what I’ll get in May — when we’re in San Francisco.

After much discussion, Spencer and I finally decided on a vacation destination for the spring: Northern California! Though I’ve been to the Golden State a few times, it was usually to the Los Angeles/San Diego area. San Francisco is one of my dad’s favorite places on Earth, and I grew up hearing stories of his visits. My parents honeymooned there in 1980, and we went as a family a few times when I was young. But it’ll be totally different seeing it as an adult with a camera and handsome guy on her arm. I’m stoked.

Thanks to the lovely folks at Trafalgar, our tour stops include San Francisco, Sonoma Valley, Napa Valley, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, San Juan Bautista, Carmel and Monterey. We’ll be taking walking tours, gazing at waterfalls, drinking wine, riding in a hot air balloon (scary but awesome) and generally whiling away the week or so we’ll be gone. I’m ecstatic and very thankful to have been given this opportunity, which I won through Trafalgar’s “WOW!” contest last fall. The surprise of a lifetime.

I see another awesome snow globe in my future. And many, many Wordless Wednesday posts.