For sanity's sake

In case you missed the themes of last week’s posts, here they are again in plain English: bored out of my mind, running on fumes, and desperate for some time away from my big girl job. As luck would have it, my vacation to the Texas Deutschland this past weekend was exactly what I needed—I ate (too much), I drank (wine varietals that I cannot pronounce), I shopped (for vintage treasures that I could not afford), and I relaxed (as much as one can when one’s fiancé is prone to waging tickle attacks). Inspired by my renewed joie de vivre, I’ve decided to tackle some new (and some not-so-new) challenges that’ll hopefully help keep my spirits aloft until my next day off:

Get reacquainted with ye olde wedmill. Ok, so we’ve only been unacquainted for, like, five days, but three of those days were coded in schnitzel, flourished with ice cream, and heavily punctuated with Orange Moscato and Viognier. So I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’ve already taken in more calories than I should have for the month of September, and I’ve only seen the wedmill twice so far.

Learn how to sew. I took Home Ec. in seventh grade, y’all, so technically I know how to sew—and I’ve got a pair of cow pajama pants and a lumpy accent pillow to prove it. Still, I’ve been experimenting with a few mini sewing projects lately (think five-minute fabric brooches) and now I’d love to try my hand at skirts and dresses (and maybe a jacket if I get cocky). And wouldn’t you know it—McCalls’ patterns are on sale today! Guess it’s time to break out the old Kenmore and the twenty pound box of thread and start a-stitchin’.

Get creative. Sewing’s one way to go, but what about writing? Cooking? Painting? Photography? Since I spend eight hours of every day staring blankly into a computer screen, I’m loath to fritter away my precious evenings doing more of the same. Working on creative projects is a great way to be productive on my own time without the unpleasant side effects (boredom, sense of obligation, gray hair) of being productive.

Put my bride hat back on. I typed up my wedding to-do list a couple of days ago and ho boy is it a doozy! Most of what needs to be done cannot be done until I’ve done booked the venue (read: set an official date), and the venue that I’m leaning toward cannot be booked more than a year in advance. But guess what—“a year in advance” is now only a month or so away (hooray!), and all of a sudden alarm bells are screaming “Finish the website!” “Pick out a dress!” “Update the registries!” “Take pictures!” and so on and so forth. Ok, ok, I’ll visit the venue tomorrow, go dress shopping next weekend, and take a few pictures at the end of the month. In other words: SNOOZE BUTTON! SNOOZE BUTTON! SNOOZE BUTTON!