Ahh, the benefits of vacation.

If you're one of those people who can 'lose' vacation, you have got to take it. And if you don't, you're shooting yourself in the foot.

We've been in Wilmington, NC. Very nice, although the weather wasn't great. A bit cloudy and overcast. We did get down to the beach once, though - long enough to play in the waves - and get totally beat up by them.

May I recommend a restaurant? 22 North on Wrightsville Beach. The food is great, the people are nice, and the service is awesome. What makes it that way?

Well, on our vacation at the beach, our waitress had the huge misfortune of spilling not one, not two, but three large drinks on my husband. So, nonetheless, the staff cleans up the mess - as best they can - and we think dinner will happen regardless. Two minutes later, the waitress is saying our drinks and desserts are on the house.

But it gets even better. We were the first diners of the evening, so when her manager got around to seeing what happened, he gave us all of our dinner on the house. "That includes dessert," he says, "so don't forget to save some room for it!"

Yep, we had a really nice dinner for nada - and I'm sure we'll go back the next time we're in town.

And, check out Down Island Traders. They're kinda like my favorite import shop (not World Market, although I think they're ok) - the World Mission Shop, run by Bethania Moravian Church. I'm also a huge fan of Ten Thousand Villages. (And, hey, if you can find their website, let me know. My husband picked up a card with the website on it while we were there, but he "left" it in the store later. Humph.)

So, my life might be changing, soon. More on that later - don't want to let the cat out of the bag, as it might be!

All right, there's more about vacation, but I'll leave that for another post.