Rambles about Wandering
I can't believe Tuesday is more than halfway over already as I'm writing this. I planned today a little ambitiously which left minimal time for writing. I woke up early after going to bed sometime in the 2 o'clock hour last night, my body's way of protesting night shift; I quickly addressed a few more thank-you cards, stamped them, and packed my bag to leave. That's correct, I packed a bag to leave the house today. Not an overnight bag, thank goodness, but a pretty large reusable bag (a TJ Maxx reusable bag, for anyone who can understand this reference). In it: packing tape, extra stamps, a Sharpie, various sized bubble envelopes, two packages, "important documents" for the bank, my new signed lease (dear 5 South friends who tried to convince me to leave my apartment: I've committed to Hood Kroger for yet another year. I just love my apartment too much to leave the hood), my to-do list, and lots of ribbon.
It was a bag full of lots of nothing yet everything I absolutely needed for the day. I brewed a quick cup of hazelnut coffee and headed out the door. I passed the gentleman who is always cleaning the entryway to our building and waved hello as he said his usual "Hello, lady! Have a wonderful day." Neither of us know the other's name, but he always calls me "lady" in an endearing sort of way and I always respond accordingly. I'm not sure what this man thinks of me-- he often sees me carrying way too many groceries (enough to feed a family of 12) because I refuse to make two trips from my car, and he often sees me carrying things from the trash back to my apartment. Yes, you read that right. Not carrying things from my apartment to the trash, but vice versa. Scott and I have some awesome furniture and kitchen appliances that we have rescued (and sanitized) from the communal trash area. We don't talk often about the Dyson vacuum we missed out on one day; we still refer to that one as "the one that got away."
I digress.
I hopped in the car with my bag of treats for the day and drove straight to Target. My day was both very specifically planned and also not planned at all. I had four places I wanted to go to: Target (but not the one near my house, it's disappointing at best), TJ Maxx, the post office, and the bank. But beyond those places, I had no plan for the day. I needed to change my name at the bank, look for birthday presents for September birthday friends at TJ Maxx and Target, and mail off thank-you notes/birthday presents/pen-pal letters/ the next Sisterhood of the Traveling Book Club book at the post office.
I went to all of these places and more. I just got in my car and drove to wherever I wanted to within the vicinity. I was in the mood to wander. With Scott being busy, friends mostly at work, and two more days ahead without work, I had no agenda. I made several wrong turns because I have no internal compass, but I found that even with the wrong turns, I landed back on familiar roads and kind of knew where I was going; I ended up traveling down a very busy highway that I did not mean to get on (I was trying to go to the mall, but turned too soon and ended up on interstate 465) but recognized enough exits to know where to get off again.
It was so nice to have no real schedule today and to just be wandering. I bought a lot of things that we have really needed for our apartment-- a new colander, a strainer, Halloween dish towels (NEEDED these), and some items with which I will assemble our fall centerpiece for the table. Scott doesn't even realize how much we needed some of those items, but he sure will be glad (read: mad) when he sees them. Thank the good Lord for Home Goods/TJ Maxx gift cards from our wedding!
I spent time wandering in Paper Source, West Elm, Crate and Barrel, and Anthropologie and bought not a single item (though I came awfully close to purchasing the Rifle Paper Company recipe tin I've been eying for months. Definitely going on my Christmas list). I bought all of the birthday presents I wanted for friends and mailed some of them off (some are sitting to-be-wrapped in my apartment). And then I came home and realized I was ravenous. I had left the house without eating breakfast this morning and really got so into traveling about Indy that I just forgot to eat.
So now it's 2PM and I'm sitting on my living room floor eating homemade chicken salad, noticing that new blinds were installed in our apartment while I was out, and they are very lovely and like ones I have long dreamed about (faux wood ones). And free, because we renewed our lease. I'm also slightly embarrassed because I left our apartment a DISASTER this morning so that I could spend time cleaning when I got home, not realizing anyone would see the chaos and messiness.
And that's Tuesday so far. I'm signing off soon to whip around the apartment and clean before Scott gets home this evening, and I will hopefully be spending this evening writing another chapter in Small Joys. ALSO it's the best week ever. Because Shauna Niequist announced ANOTHER book that is being released THIS spring to hold me over until Present over Perfect comes out in 2016. It's called Savor and it's a devotional book. Oh. my. word. So excited. Click here to read her announcement for it.
I'd better head out before someone else surprises me in this disastrous mess of an apartment; to Ben Rector Pandora and cleaning!
Love,
C
It was a bag full of lots of nothing yet everything I absolutely needed for the day. I brewed a quick cup of hazelnut coffee and headed out the door. I passed the gentleman who is always cleaning the entryway to our building and waved hello as he said his usual "Hello, lady! Have a wonderful day." Neither of us know the other's name, but he always calls me "lady" in an endearing sort of way and I always respond accordingly. I'm not sure what this man thinks of me-- he often sees me carrying way too many groceries (enough to feed a family of 12) because I refuse to make two trips from my car, and he often sees me carrying things from the trash back to my apartment. Yes, you read that right. Not carrying things from my apartment to the trash, but vice versa. Scott and I have some awesome furniture and kitchen appliances that we have rescued (and sanitized) from the communal trash area. We don't talk often about the Dyson vacuum we missed out on one day; we still refer to that one as "the one that got away."
I digress.
I hopped in the car with my bag of treats for the day and drove straight to Target. My day was both very specifically planned and also not planned at all. I had four places I wanted to go to: Target (but not the one near my house, it's disappointing at best), TJ Maxx, the post office, and the bank. But beyond those places, I had no plan for the day. I needed to change my name at the bank, look for birthday presents for September birthday friends at TJ Maxx and Target, and mail off thank-you notes/birthday presents/pen-pal letters/ the next Sisterhood of the Traveling Book Club book at the post office.
I went to all of these places and more. I just got in my car and drove to wherever I wanted to within the vicinity. I was in the mood to wander. With Scott being busy, friends mostly at work, and two more days ahead without work, I had no agenda. I made several wrong turns because I have no internal compass, but I found that even with the wrong turns, I landed back on familiar roads and kind of knew where I was going; I ended up traveling down a very busy highway that I did not mean to get on (I was trying to go to the mall, but turned too soon and ended up on interstate 465) but recognized enough exits to know where to get off again.
It was so nice to have no real schedule today and to just be wandering. I bought a lot of things that we have really needed for our apartment-- a new colander, a strainer, Halloween dish towels (NEEDED these), and some items with which I will assemble our fall centerpiece for the table. Scott doesn't even realize how much we needed some of those items, but he sure will be glad (read: mad) when he sees them. Thank the good Lord for Home Goods/TJ Maxx gift cards from our wedding!
I spent time wandering in Paper Source, West Elm, Crate and Barrel, and Anthropologie and bought not a single item (though I came awfully close to purchasing the Rifle Paper Company recipe tin I've been eying for months. Definitely going on my Christmas list). I bought all of the birthday presents I wanted for friends and mailed some of them off (some are sitting to-be-wrapped in my apartment). And then I came home and realized I was ravenous. I had left the house without eating breakfast this morning and really got so into traveling about Indy that I just forgot to eat.
So now it's 2PM and I'm sitting on my living room floor eating homemade chicken salad, noticing that new blinds were installed in our apartment while I was out, and they are very lovely and like ones I have long dreamed about (faux wood ones). And free, because we renewed our lease. I'm also slightly embarrassed because I left our apartment a DISASTER this morning so that I could spend time cleaning when I got home, not realizing anyone would see the chaos and messiness.
And that's Tuesday so far. I'm signing off soon to whip around the apartment and clean before Scott gets home this evening, and I will hopefully be spending this evening writing another chapter in Small Joys. ALSO it's the best week ever. Because Shauna Niequist announced ANOTHER book that is being released THIS spring to hold me over until Present over Perfect comes out in 2016. It's called Savor and it's a devotional book. Oh. my. word. So excited. Click here to read her announcement for it.
I'd better head out before someone else surprises me in this disastrous mess of an apartment; to Ben Rector Pandora and cleaning!
Love,
C
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