I made a tactical error with my vacation planning this year: because of work and other obligations, we decided to forego an August getaway in favor of a late September trip. Right now I’m seriously regretting that choice. My office is a ghost town, New York is sticky as all get-out, and Paul and I feel like the only suckers left in the city. However, there is one big silver lining here: end of September is right around harvest time in Bandol, a town in Provence where we’ll be spending part of vacation.

In a few weeks I’ll be headed to Richmond for an informal reunion with some middle school friends. Time to bust out the scrunchies, pegged jeans, and Violent Femmes tapes…and now that we can drink …