Whereupon the Rotondaros head to various European destinations (except for one, who chooses to remain in the beautiful south)

From: Angelo Rotondaro
To: Cara McDonough, Fred Rotondaro, Kathleen Rotondaro
Date: Jun 1, 2006
Subject: The Trip

Hey, Everythings going great. I'm in Positano. It's beautiful here, we're about to leave for Rome. I'll write you with more details when I get there and have some time. Love, Vinnie

From: Kathleen Rotondaro
To: Cara McDonough, Vinnie Rotondaro
Date: Jun 1, 2006
Subject: Nous sommes arrivee a Paris

We are here and on a "bateau mouche" travelling on the Seine seeing the sites in the rain.

You can email me but not dad, as his blackberry is not working.

Love, Mom

From: Cara McDonough
To: Kathleen Rotondaro, Fred Rotondaro, Angelo Rotondaro
Date: Jun 1, 2006 9:23 AM
Subject: I'm in Pittsboro!

Dear Mom, Dad and Vinnie,

I'm really glad to hear you guys are all safely in Europe and enjoying your vacations. Keep me up to date on the sites, weather, food, etc...

I arrived in Siler City, NC, this morning, quite early, by way of Honda Civic littered with newspapers and a half-eaten scone I've neglected to throw away since last week. I got some coffee on the way at a drive-thru place. It was delicious. You should have seen the way the sun was rising over the Bojangles fast-food restaurant, and the WalMart. It was truly amazing and I felt so lucky to be spending a lovely summer morning in such a place!

After the event I was covering was over I came back here to my office in Pittsboro. I stopped to get a bagel at the local cafe first and was glad to see some of the same faces I see every day. No need for change or new inspiriration! I always wanted to live in a big, thriving city, sure! But this girl can really dig a small town.

Now I'm at my desk, reading the paper and checking emails. I have a feeling it's going to be a pretty good day. If anything, I might take a walk to get something cool to drink at the Snack Stop later this afternoon. On the way I'll wave hello to the local barbers. I'll swap stories with the antiques dealers.

But before all that excitement I'll have a lunch of leftovers warmed up in our 20-year-old microwave and perhaps get a chance to read some of the press releases Josephine just laid on my desk, including one on the newest "designer dog," the Giant Schnoodle!

I hope this email doesn't make you guys homesick. I miss you all very much, and am glad we are all having such a great start to our summer vacations.

Love,
Cara

Who, me? A big liar?

Recently I wrote on this blog that, as a promise to my readers (and myself), I would write "one post every weekday (at least)" and then I promptly threw that promise on the floor and stomped on it. Let it get dirty. Like it didn't even matter. But the thing is it does matter. It matters for a few reasons. One of those reasons is that I tend to be a rather weak person in the face of a temptation. For instance, yesterday, once I was was granted an afternoon off, I spent it on a shady restaurant patio with good friends drinking margaritas and meeting fellow porch-drinkers, who'd just gotten married, and by the way, had the Pietasters play at their wedding. Pretty sweet. The point is, though, that I didn't spend that suddenly free time at home cleaning the mold out of the smoothie maker we used last week.

One of my goals, as a semi-new, somewhat-grown-up who thinks about things like buying a home, is to do things I say I'll do, whether or not there is a more tempting option - and that goes for everything from paying the bills to, yes, writing on this blog.

Not that I'm going to shirk all impulsive notions. Balance is important.

The other reason is that, as a dear family friend and writer once told me, the key to becoming a good writer is to "write every day." What I think he meant was, you'd better the hell write every day if you even think for a moment you could possibly be good enough to be called a "writer," because honestly, practice is all you can do - but I got the picture. And remembered it always. And despite the fact that my job does involve writing every day, I see no reason to stop there, especially since I'm not about to write in the newspaper about how all those margaritas prompted me to give full demonstrations of how J likes to fall asleep with his contacts in, or talk all about my newfound love of getting a bikini wax.

That, friends, is what this outlet is for. Stay tuned. I'm going to try. For you, for me, for my grandmother, who now reads this and is probably wishing she'd never stumbled upon it, I'm going to try.