It's here. The time we've all been anticipating. No more countdowns. Spring break is finally here!

I'm not going to spew facts about how to pack or what to take to the secluded island, ski resort or wherever you're going to get away. But there is one thing I refuse to pack: Homework. Sure, professors naively assigned 100 pages of reading, an essay and "practice" problems to be completed during break, but let's face it — we wouldn't have done these things had we been in East Lansing. I'll go even further to admit I skipped about half my classes this week. Some call it lazy. I call it being a senior desperately in need of a vacation.

Besides the basics of loading suitcases, printing tickets and itineraries and running around my house an extra billion times to make sure I didn't forget my third pair of sunglasses or seventh pair of flip-flops — I'm not even kidding — I wasn't sure there was much more I could do to be ready.

So instead of fretting, I sat down to watch one of the last episodes of "Sex and the City," in which Carrie is having one last dinner with her friends before boarding the plane to Paris. Then she said something that snapped me back to my spring break, beach-body goals. "I want to arrive stunning and impossibly fresh looking." Me too. And to think, I almost forgot.

So with only a few days before sunny skies and palm trees, I pulled on a sports bra and laced up my tennis shoes to sweat with my favorite workout partner: Denise Austin. Her new fitness DVD, "Denise Austin: Boot Camp — Total Body Blast," was just what I needed. Not only did it whip me into wheezing and sweating, but also it reaffirmed my belief that Denise Austin must be on something.

I also detoxified my body, but not in the extreme fasting way. I ate fresh fruits and vegetables, drank juices labeled 100 percent fruit juice and consumed about 2 liters of water each day. Bye bye toxins, hello swimsuit.

But at this point in the week, there really isn't much to do to prepare for spring break. So breathe, relax and rest.

While I'm in Hawaii, I plan to lay out on the beach, read for pleasure and visit the spa for some ultimate relaxation time. But real fitness and weight-loss goals don't stop when the party, vacation or wedding arrive. They are ongoing and need to be fueled each day. I can't think of a better place to scale a mountain, hike the rain forest or swim laps than my tropical destination Hawaii.

Lauren Fox is the State News copy chief. Reach her at foxlaure@msu.edu.