I really want to go to India.  I need the escape, and flying to the “mecca” of block printing and learning from one of the best would be sublime.  But it’ll cost me upwards of 5k to go on this trip and I don’t know if I want to go to India that bad.  Maybe if it were being taught in Italy or Greece I’d be more enthusiastic. India smells, according to my Indian friends, and "the pink city" of Jaipur doesn’t really appeal to me. Maybe if it were in Goa, I’d go.  Goa looks beautiful and a whole lot more interesting. Jaipur is smack dab in the middle of the country, stinky, crowded, and hot. I wish I had the patience to endure such a trip and meet Lotta Jansdotter, but I really don’t think I can do 8 days there.  It sucks because it would be an awesome trip anywhere else in the world.  I’ve made up my mind that I will be going to New Orleans, then Vegas, then Bora Bora (or Italy), in that order. However, French Polynesia will be a couple of years out from now. I’m going back to school first.  Now that my son is officially a “big boy” and trying his hand at adulthood, I’m feeling particularly shackle-less. I’m ready to rise up and slowly strip out of my leather body suit and sing “Brand New Day” a la The Wiz.  Not that it wasn’t a joy to raise him; just that raising him took a hell of a long time to do. So this summer I will have plenty of time to decompress from years of motherhood. I suspect I won’t be going to the grocery store but once a month, instead of 3 times a month or twice if I go to Costco. And I will be buying all of the things that I like to eat and need to eat. Almond milk…LOTS of fruit and vegetables…none of that bullshit junk food that picky young adults who don’t know any better like to eat, like boxed mac and cheese. SMH.  He’d always give me grief whenever I made lentils, spinach, or brussel sprouts. Whenever there’s healthy food in the house he practically starves to death. But never mind all that because he will be buying his own groceries 2 hours away from me! I’m turning his room into my creativity room/office space. I’m thinking of also displaying my shoes in there. I’ve also thought of turning his bed into a Murphy bed for guests, but we’ll see.  I just need to unwind in the worst way. Three weeks until take off and I can sink my teeth into a crawfish beignet!