Let the Countdown Begin....

.....until sunshine, sand, and the comforting sound of waves washing up onto the beach outside our cottage.  We'll be traveling in mid-May to the Caribbean island of St. Lucia where we plan to enjoy the tropical flora and fauna, snorkel in the warm waters, and soak up as much sun as possible.

 I probably shouldn't have watched that tsunami movie the other night, though.  Just as in "The Impossible," our vacation rooms are right on the beach, mere steps away from the water.

After a seemingly endless stretch of gray days here in Pennsylvania, we can hardly wait until Departure Day.  It feels to us as if this getaway will never begin.

And so, to help us count down the days until we leave, I've created a vacation countdown banner.  You are probably saying to yourself that "she must have time on her hands."  Well yes, to a point.  I've been trying to rest a lot and allow my heels to heal as much as possible.  I have an appointment with the surgeon on May 1st, but I'd be thrilled if my fraying achilles tendons would just go ahead and heal by then, so I wouldn't have to even talk about surgery.

Anyway, back to the countdown.

One day while nosing around in our local Michael's Craft Store, I saw these colorful mini file folders.  I have no idea what they are really meant to be used for, but an idea formed in my head to include them in my countdown project.  

I wrote the dates remaining till departure on the file tabs, and a vacation oriented sticker on the cover.  Yes, I'm a big kid - I still like playing with stickers.  Just go and walk down the sticker aisle of any craft store, and you will simply be amazed at the variety of stickers available nowadays.  Why weren't they available back in my school days when I needed to do all those book reports and projects?

On the inside of each card I wrote a description of something we will most likely enjoy while on vacation.

At one end of the banner is the countdown kickoff, and at the other end is the Bon Voyage:

I used wired yarn and tiny clothespins to attach the cards, and draped it onto our kitchen windows.

I even had to extend the last week and a half of the banner over onto the windows in the corner.  

Today, as it is April the first, the husband/lover/travel companion and I opened the first of the countdown cards.  It said "Sunshine, lots of sunshine."

Ironically, as I write this, the sun IS shining.

Oops, never mind.  It's gone.

Good thing we're going South.