booked

I used to enjoy down time a lot. I mean, I still do, but it seems that the opportunity to have time to myself has recently become emaciated. What a funny little life I lead. Sitting here, working on microsite stuff at midnight, scratching my mosquito-bitten hands and soaking my itchy feet in a tub of warm water under my desk while I type. I counted about 15 mosquito bites per foot. Battle wounds from Saturday night's shenanigans with a new pal. I have to say that it was a stunner, Saturday that is: breakfast at Detour Cafe with Sara, a walk in the blooming arboretum with P+B on a stunning 67 degree and sunny day, fresh blueberries and chocolate on Mt. Tabor at sunset with said new pal, lovely lemon drop at Avignon, a delightful meal at Nuestra Cocina, an education and tasting of herbs I have never heard of (specifically Stevia) at People's Co-cop, carrot cake to split from New Season's and then finally, hot tea at Palio Dessert and Espresso House with a little pop quiz on Czech and French vocab from language books on the shelf. Phew!

Probably the most rewarding time spent was on Friday and Sunday with the two awesome volunteer events I signed up for. On Friday morning, I met with my friend Maria for coffee/tea, came home to work for a bit and then headed across the bridge to "Get Artsy with Refugee Kids", predominantly Somalian. What a fun event! I got to design and make paper airplanes with kids (most with some form of social issue or another: some extremely introverted and others overtly contentious). After we finished making them, we got to fly them outside, which the kids loved! A little Indian girl barely left my side, insisting that the organizer Mike and I swing her around and this came with little effort as she was so tiny and light as a feather, in both weight and disposition. I am going to try with great effort to make this a weekly fixture in my volunteering while I still can. In the evening, Sara and I took in some Thai and then I made some sweet crepes: what else?

Sunday started with breakfast at Wild Abandon with Maria and Jordan and then I headed downtown to O' Bryant Square Park for Potluck in the Park. About 40 volunteers show up every Sunday to set-up and distribute a hot meal to between 300-500 hungry folks with loads of donated food. As far I learned today, they have not missed a Sunday meal in 19 years! THAT is dedication. So, I enjoyed my time with hands-on work with recycling and garbage duty. It's certainly not the most glamorous job, but someone's gotta do it and next week I know to come even earlier to switch up and do a slightly less smelly job. : ) As soon as I got home, I got back to work on projects that I have on deck and now, here we are: sorta tired.

And there is no repreive this week. I have something scheduled every single night and work allocated all day, every day. Tuesdays have become my only day to do something just for myself which includes yoga, a staple in my weekly planning: so much so that I schedule around it. I am quickly learning that although it is great to keep a full schedule and stay busy, you can't forget the importance of a little solitude from time to time. Maybe next week, I'll try to remember that!