Monthly Archives: September 2011
List-making
Are you a list-maker?
Image courtesy of Zackfire.com
I am! I make lists for everything. From your every day “to do” lists, chores, Christmas lists, things I want to do before I’m 30 (the days are dwindling on this one!) I am always making lists or leaving notes for myself to get things done.
Do I always check everything off my list? No, absolutely not! But it is a way to help me organize my thoughts, places I want to go and to remember things that I might otherwise forget to do (this is especially relevant to chores or buying birthday cards, things I don’t do every day).
My best friend often refers to list-making as part of our “only child syndrome” which I totally agree with but I think I’m also kind of obsessed with organization in general, including my thoughts and ideas. Although my lists aren’t always organized…some are on paper, some are on my Google Calendar, some are on post-it notes at my desk at work. Sometimes I lose them or forget where they are 😉
But the reason I decided to post about this today is that “to do” lists in particular are causing me problems on the weekends. Now, I am able to get A LOT of things done on the weekends since I am off from work and I write down everything I want or need to do before I go home on Fridays. But I also end up absolutely exhausted, I’m talking feet hurting and everything because I do too much. Sometimes by Monday, I am so tired and sore from the weekend that getting up and going to work is almost impossible.
On the weekend, I think I finally have time to do everything and go everywhere. A friend of mine even joked to me recently that all of my Foursquare check-ins were wearing HER out! When other people start to notice, then it’s really a problem!
A typical weekend for me would include getting up early on Saturday morning, going to yoga, grabbing a coffee, grocery shopping, lunch, fun shopping (Target, the mall, etc.), maybe get some gas, stop by a bookstore, oh I forgot something and have to go back to the grocery…before I know it, it’s dinner time. And I’m ready for bed. Sunday is pretty much a repeat of the same only instead of yoga and coffee, it’s church that I get up early for. And I’m usually scrambling around to get everything done at home that I neglected on Saturday while I was out and about.
So this weekend, I have decided that I want to be productive but I also want to make time to rest and take a load off since I do work all week. I don’t want to wake up on Monday morning feeling like I ran a marathon. I have a lot of energy, but I don’t need to completely deplete it!
What to do? Completely throw the list out? Well, no, some of my errands are going to be kind of fun. Like using the Whole Foods Living Social voucher I scored this week and I really do want to start baking with the three large cans of pumpkin that are now in my pantry. I also want to take a yoga class and take Suzie to the dog park, oh and grocery shopping…can you see how I end up here?
What I need to do is set some priorities. My Google Calendar also really opened my eyes to just how busy I am, both during the week and on the weekends. It’s a good tool to use because I know where I need to be and what all I’ve got going on now and in the future, but it’s also got way too many things listed on it. I need to cut back. So this weekend, I am going to challenge myself.
Since this is a post about list-making, here is the list of the only things I absolutely have to do this weekend:
- Grocery shopping
- Laundry
- Yoga class
- Suzie-Dog park (weather permitting)
- Take a nap!
- Bake something awesome and pumpkin-y (yes I consider baking relaxing!)
It also looks like I will spend more than a few hours of the day at home. I feel better already. Now I just have to keep it up. And not add anything to my list.
What about you? Is your life over-organized and yet still full of chaos? Are you able to relax on your days off or do you go back to work feeling even more tired than you did at the end of the week?
My favorite things about Fall
I love Fall.
Do you call it Fall or Autumn? I never say Autumn but I like how it’s spelled. Either way, it’s one of my most favorite times of year.
The only bad thing about Fall is that it means Winter is just a little bit closer. But, except for the snow/ice hazards and the extremely bitter cold days, I have learned to appreciate that season more as well. But let’s not jump the gun. I’m here to talk about Fall because it’s what’s almost here!
I started this post about a month ago when we had a break in our seriously hot weather. But then it got hot again and didn’t feel like the right time to be talking about Fall just yet. Even though it was 94 yesterday, it seems that the cooler weather is just about here to stay and it is almost October so I did not want to delay any further!
I’ve also been thinking about Fall a lot because I work on a college campus and once the semester finally started, the students came rolling in and the restaurants and coffee shops went back to their normal hours (read: later than 2 p.m. and places that have been closed all Summer are finally open!) and there will be other exciting events going on here between now and the Christmas break.
Most days, the mornings have been on the cool side, cool enough as my friend Carrie said “to have a cup of hot tea in the mornings again!” She’s right about that. It’s also been darker in the mornings when I go out to walk Suzie and it’s been getting darker earlier at night. As much as I do love my daylight, it’s sort of cozy when it gets dark early and that makes me want to go to bed earlier, which is a good thing for me.
I have been feeling inspired 🙂 Change is good.
Fall means a lot of things to each one of us. But I think we can all agree that it’s generally a fun time of year. Now I just thought I would share a few of my favorite things about Fall with you 🙂
1. P-U-M-P-K-I-N!
Seriously, as soon as I see this stuff, I’m stocking up again! It’s been too long!
My pantry last Fall
I like to bake with it, put it in my oatmeal, make soup with it, pumpkin dip with ginger snaps, you name it. I’m also excited about pumpkin spice tea and pumpkin flavored coffee (not the syrup but the actual coffee flavor) and anything else coffee shops, cafes or companies come up with to entice me into trying something. If it says pumpkin on it, I will probably at least give it a second look.
2. Art fairs, charity walks, outdoor events, etc.
Such as the St. James Court Art Show!
St. James is the event that really kicks off the Fall for me and it’s just a little over 2 weeks away. It also has the most unpredictable weather! I believe this picture is from two years ago, while last year we were in shorts! You just never know 😉 But I’m kind of hoping for a chilly morning this year, just not too cold!
The Louisville Walk for Farm Animals
I am one of the co-coordinators of this year’s Walk for Farm Animals (Farm Sanctuary) on October 22nd and I am really excited about all that we have planned! Last year, we had a decent turnout and raised a good amount of money through our walk and a bake sale that we had beforehand. I’m looking forward to topping all of that this year! If you would like to sign up to walk or donate to my walk page, click here (thanks!)
Mighty Kindness Harvest Hootenanny
The Hootenannies take place in the Fall and in the Spring (on Earth Day) and it’s another time of rather unpredictable weather. Last year’s Fall Hoot was absolutely freezing and then the Earth Day hoot this year kept a lot of people at home because of rain/storms. Hopefully this time we will have a better day. I will be working at the Louisville Vegetarian Club booth this year and I hope my friend Kristin (pictured above in the hat and sunglasses) is there selling her goods again too 🙂
Fall Road Races!
While I haven’t decided to run any races this Fall (yet), I am going to be supporting my friends Farrah (pictured above on right) and Chloe in the Louisville Marathon on October 16th! I know it sounds corny but it’s long been a dream of mine to be on the sidelines cheering for someone else 🙂 This will be the first marathon for both of them and I can’t wait to see them cross that finish line!
3. Haunted Houses and horrors!
Courtesy of Nightmare Forest Louisville
I don’t scare easily but I do tend to jump at loud noises! My husband and I love the Halloween season. Soon we’ll be busting out our collection of horror movies and lining up on a Friday night to go through some scary forest, hotel or whatever attraction we choose to visit this year. We are also big fans of the Danger Run, even though we usually end up arguing and get lost at some point. All in good fun!
4. Football (sigh…)
I'm bummed he's not playing 😦
Never in my life did I think I would include this on a list of my favorite things about Fall. But the truth is, I do enjoy watching some football. It gets overwhelming when there are several games on in a week or when my husband is in the basement yelling at a particular team and I can hear him two floors up.
He’s not the only one who does this, but I just don’t like it when people get so mad about a game that they say terrible things to a team they claim to be a fan of and they just plain ruin my good time! But most of the time, it’s enjoyable to root for your favorite teams while spending time with family and friends over some chips and salsa.
We used to host Monday Night Football at our house every year but since we just moved and aren’t quite unpacked and my husband’s work schedule is a bit unforgiving (he wakes up at 4 a.m.!) we have decided not to do it this year. I kind of miss it already but hopefully we can get some people together for a game sometime this season!
I’m sure there will be some other adventures that I’m not even aware of yet but I will leave it at that for now. We are still settling into our new house and hopefully someday I will finally sit down and do a before and after post on some of the rooms we have redone and how the place looks now that we actually live here 🙂
What are you looking forward to this Fall? Anything not on this list that I should check out?
See Sarah Eat 