Loves.

I, like many, have several loves of my life. There are the biggies - God, the hubs, my family (all of them, but particularly my lil niece Sydney who is running my life this week), FOOD, and the city. Any city, really, as long as it's big, has lots of places to eat, has big buildings and is actually considered cosmopolitan. With that in mind, please understand the hugeness of this fact: I'm on vacation this week and am staying here in Iowa City.

I must add something here. I don't mind living in IC. In fact, there are things that I think are great about being here. But, my heart really does belong to the big city (particularly NYC, Chicago and Seoul). So why, then, would I choose to spend one of my few, very precious weeks of vacation in the midst of cornfields?

Simple. The other loves of my life. My dearest brother and his family, including my two lovely nieces, are visiting from Tucson for the week - especially since I've been so tired and traveling might have been a big pain for me. So we're spending the week showing off all the wonder that is Iowa. And, surprisingly, it's been pretty exhausting. Apple-picking, ped-mall-ing, playing outside (which is apparently quite a big deal for folks who live in a place where the sun is too hot for the lil ones to be outside for long), teaching a 4 year old how to bike, heading to farmer's markets and eating local food....and you know, this has actually been one of my favorite vacations ever.

Call me crazy...and maybe it's the hormones...but sometimes, as Sydney likes to belt out, there no place like "home sweet home" -- even when it's in Iowa.

**pics to come**