Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Fall To-Do List

I'm going to go ahead and say it: This summer was a bit of a disappointment. Don't you agree? It rained all of June; July came and went; and I'm not sure what happened to August. And now September has come and gone. How has this happened?

That said, I made it through about half my summer to-do list. Now, onto fall, which I enjoy even more than summer. In fact, this morning, I woke up with the windows open and the cool air breezing in and I felt happier than I have in a long time. So, here goes ... this fall, I will:

* Hike Breakneck Ridge
* Go to Maine and visit Salt Water Farm -- DONE! I went last weekend for my birthday. More on that soon, when I get my pictures developed. (Yes, developed. I shot with film if you can believe it ...)
* Sit on the edge of Lake Metacomet
* Volunteer at the New York Marathon again
* Go to two weddings in the midwest -- one in Chicago this weekend, the other in Minnesota
* Volunteer at 826 Brooklyn
* Apple pick
* Meet baby Elsa, the daughter of my friend from my Country Home days, in Virginia
* Spend the rest of my 5 vacation days, which means I just might go back to Oregon and spend it on the coast. Maybe!

Anything else? What are you doing this fall?

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

My week without ...

I've been reading ReadyMade's A Week Without blog posts for a while now. First, my friend Amy gave up processed foods, and now Virginia is giving up spending any money for a week.

Well, so am I.

But I didn't plan on it. My purse was stolen on Monday night, right out from under my legs. Sneaky McSneakerson purse-snatcher just slipped it away from me as I was having dinner with a friend. Sigh. Gone are my credit cards, debit cards, cash, MetroCard, cell phone, iPod, digital camera, sunglasses, keys, driver's license, etc. etc. etc.

Since all my means of spending any money are frozen for at least three days, I can't spend a cent. My dear Calley gave me $100 and a new MetroCard, and so far I've used $50 of it to buy a new cell phone. That was priority.

Otherwise, nothing. Nada. No happy hour. No dinner. No groceries. No yoga. But really, it's kind of invigorating in a city like this. It's made me realize just how much I do spend every day and how much of it might be not be necessary.

And I am suprisingly not that upset about the whole thing. Sure, it's a pain to replace things, but stuff is just stuff. It's like I'm starting completely over, since in just one day, I have a:
  • new phone
  • new driver's license
  • new work building ID
  • new bank accts
  • new credit cards
  • new fraud alerts
  • new locks
  • new relationship with the NYPD
Yup. Starting over. Again.