"Vaycayenvy": noun. 1.  The slightly resentful feeling one can get while looking at a friends' vacation photos.  2.  Jealousy felt by those in colder climates when seeing friends' social media postings related to their tropical vacations. 3.  The overwhelming urge to drop everything and run to the nearest travel agent to book a "get away from it all" trip after hearing about a friends' awesome time abroad.
Usage: "When Krissy started posting pictures of her trip to the Dominican, I must say, I had a bit of vacayenvy."

So the preceding definition was totally made up, but you know it was spot on, right?  Everyone has felt at least a small tug of the little chartreuse monster: "vacayenvy" before.  Shoot I feel it all the time; and places like FB and Pinterest are phenomenal at feeding the insidious, little booger.  I was perusing pictures of exotic getaways while waiting for a tenant earlier this week, and looking at the beautiful beaches, dolphins frolicking, and blue skies, when all of a sudden it hit me.  I LIVED that life for three+ years.  I took my children to Oceanside, La Jolla Beach, and Coronado Island, to Breakers Beach, on a regular basis.  We made sand castles, we watched dolphins cavorting in the waves, we found seashells and sand dollars, and we played!  Oh how we played!  We would carry buckets, and strainers, and shovels and molds down to the beach and spend the entire day enjoying the beauty of a San Diego summer day.  We swam, boogie boarded, body surfed, picnicked, played games, and threw seaweed at each other, and at the end of a long day- we would rinse our feet, clean the toys , and drive home for a well deserved night's rest.

My best friend, and sister-from-another-mister, Jenn would go with us when she could.  Jenn is the peas to my carrots, the umbrella to my rainboots, and the fun to my in the sun :)  lol....and yes my husband knows I talk about someone else like this.  She and her two boys would join us sometimes, and IF we were lucky (or unlucky depending on your viewpoint) our husbands would be able to get away from work.  I remember one trip in particular; Walt also joined us.  Walt is Jenn's boys "honorary uncle"...we all liked to give him a hard time, and this particular trip to Breakers Beach made it easy to do so. Walt was paddling out on a boogie board and wound up caught up in a current.  The poor guy was dragged halfway to Baja Mexico and had to be rescued by multiple lifeguards! Carrying those foam things Pam Anderson used to run down the beach with. And on surfboards. And in a boat. Oh what fun we had, after we knew he was safe of course, giving him grief.  We told him that if he thought the lifeguard was so cute he should have just asked for his number instead of vomiting seawater all over the poor guy's feet. Great memories!

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: even when it doesn't involve a tiki hut and cabana boy named Raul, servicing your every whim, life can be a vacation.  It's what you make of it, and the memories you take from it that count :)