I’ll be unchained from the laptop for the next few weeks, so posting will be on hold unless my dear friend and tushy-coverer Pepe Pringos is able to take some time away from his own busy businesses.

First, my incredibly generous and cool mother is taking me to Italy (somewhere in the knee section of the boot) for a writing/creativity retreat hosted by author/activist Tania Katan and a coven of other artsy professors. Yes, that’s right — without husband or children. Maybe I’ll start that volume of Jewish feminist poetry I’ve always wanted to write. Or, I’ll eat too much pasta, develop a taste for chianti and nap a lot.

After I return, I’ll have just enough time to wash the marinara stains out of my clothes before the whole family shlep the other way across the latitudes to our old hometown for the famous Fairfax Festival , where we’ll reconnect with our loved ones and assure them that life in the South isn’t nearly as horrible as they’d imagined.

Once we get back I promise you, dear readers, that I will not be going anywhere for a very long time, as it will likely take me several months to get over the jet lag.

In the meantime, check out this amazing dude, Dr. Dorian Paskowitz: Health nut, Old Testament interpreter and the father of Israeli surfing. Inspiring!

So until the days are hotter and the nights are shorter, Á presto, amici! (See ya, friends!)