In the grand ol' Catskill Mountains, by the Delaware...

Being an adult is hard.

Living in my own apartment, paying rent and buying things like toilet paper and lightbulbs, has made me realize how sucky being a grown-up can be sometimes.

Don't get me wrong, I love living on my own. I can come and go as I please, with no rules or regulations, and I can bring friends over without having to sign them in first (the best thing EVER). I can be as loud as I want (as long as my roomies are cool with it, which they are; this is a perk both of living on the top floor and living above an apartment in which a band practices pretty much 24/7). I can paint (which I did this weekend, and I am SO happy with). I can sunbathe on the roof all day. Yeah, living on my own definitely has its perks.

But there's a part of me that's really ready to go home for a bit. I'll be heading up to Deposit for a long weekend in about a month, and I'm more excited than I've been in a long time. Here's a few reasons why:

• Staying at home. This has pretty much innumerable perks: free laundry, a bed that I made perfectly comfortable long ago, a fully-stocked fridge, a big loving dog, and the freedom to lounge on the couch in front of the TV all day, never changing out of my pajamas. Plus, you know, my mom is there.
• Summer in the Catskills. It's beautiful, definitely my favorite season to be home, and I know the tiger lilies next to our porch will be blooming.
• Chilling with my family. It's going to be my birthday weekend (20!) and I'm going to see pretty much everyone. We're going to have a party at my aunt and uncle's house, and I fully plan on spending most of the day going between the pool and sunning on the deck. On that note:
• My birthday! I love birthdays (especially mine), and while I'm going to have a big party at the apartment to celebrate both my and Emma's birthdays, I'm excited to kick off the festivities at home.
• Seeing my friends. It's also going to be Lumberjack Festival weekend, so I plan on heading over to Fireman's Park one day to see everyone that I haven't seen since winter!
• My mom is going to come down and pick me up, and when she does, she's going to bring the box spring for my bed. I never before realized how important a box spring is, and it'll be nice to not be sleeping on a mattress on top of slats anymore.

So yeah, I'd say it's going to be pretty nice to head home for a few days. I'm not sure how long I'm going to stay, but at least a few days upstate will be just what I need, I think.