Dreaming of Summer: Bahamas, Turks & Caicos (Part II)

Please allow me to interrupt your oh-so-exciting Tuesday with photos of Bahamas and Turks & Caicos.

You can thank me later.

I've always said that planning a vacation is half the fun, but turns out there's actually some truth to my madness (imagine that!). A few years ago, a couple of researchers from the Netherlands published a psychological study on the relationship between a vacation and our happiness. Turns out, anticipating going on a vacation makes us significantly happier than actually going on one.

So dream away, my sugar plums.

Peruse every travel book in your library. Browse every travel blog on the internet. Make a comprehensive list of all the must-see destinations and email the list to your family. Include your friends, too. Leave no one immune to your feelings of wanderlust.

Be sure to include a link to your Pinterest board titled "Wanderlust."

Work is a wicked temptress taunting you to fix Excel sheets and to answer emails, beckoning you to attend business meetings and to hold conference calls with your most important clients. Well, it's time to put work in its place, "Not today, work! I'm far too busy anticipating vacation!"

Make vacation playlists for every single city you plan to visit. Blast the playlists for your coworkers. They need happiness, too.

Wear a sombrero to work to help you get in the vacation mood. Set up your automatic "Away" email message. Have a pina colada (or five) for lunch.

Pack your bags. Then unpack them, and repack them again. Now, doesn't that just give you SO MUCH JOY?!

If you don’t have anything interesting to post on social media, post old vacation photos. Then share, pin, tweet and like your own post. And if someone gives you crap for it, tag them in the next one.

You may be compelled to book a real vacation – don't.

You may also consider opting for a staycation instead, which is fine, as long as you're fully aware that you're simply settling for the lesser of two evils.

Remember, vacations are of the devil. They do nothing for your happiness and wellbeing. Consider it your moral obligation to make sure the rest of the world knows about it. Needlepoint it on a pillow. Write a blog post about it. Bring it up at every dinner party until your friends no longer invite you to dinner parties.

Learn a foreign language, and when someone hands you a referral card for a therapist, stare deeply into that person's eyes as if you're trying to catch a glimpse of their soul and reply something in French. Or what you think sounds like French, because let's not kid ourselves, you clearly don't know French, but that's besides the point.

The point is, you're not going anywhere.

Except bonkers.

Unless, of course, you go on vacation.