Wednesday.

This was my day:
I woke up at 7am.
I ate yogurt, blueberries, and granola for breakfast on my balcony with a big cup of coffee (that makes it sound like the cup of coffee was human-size and joined me in my dining...I wish that could be! That would make breakfast fun. Then I would drink him; or would that be rude to do to a breakfast guest?)
I responded to emails ("my correspondence").
I got dressed, curled my hair, etc., then packed up curriculum stuff and went down to my bike.
I strapped all of my bags to the back and pedaled over to Dunn Bros., which is very hard to do in a poly-synthetic lycra-blend dress:) I think I flashed people every time I got on and off.
I got some green tea and tried to psyche myself up to work.
I felt really cold from the air conditioner, so I moved to a different table.
I was bored, so I ate the lunch I'd brought (at 10am).
Then I looked up restaurants to go to in Chicago next week.
Then I gave up work and biked to Rainbow to buy frozen fruit (tropical blend is only $3, compared to $8 at Kowalski's!!)
I discovered that Rainbow has a natural/organic food aisle (really?) and stocked up on a lot of granola-esque stuff that I don't need.
Then I biked home with two bags on my handlebars...oh, the swinging! It was tricky.
I took a nap, packed my gym bag and went there, where I did my routine (non-dance).
Then I biked to the hidden beach on Cedar Lake and read back issues of the New Yorker that I'd stolen from the gym. A sketchy old man tried to hit on me and asked me my name. I said "Julia." I think that's my go-to fake name now because it just popped out instinctually!
At home I put on my running clothes and ran to the Basilica for the Torchlight 5K. I found Bri, Adam, Mark, and Jeff right before the race and we met up afterwards.
I got four bags of sample oatmeal snacks from the food tables and we all walked back.

Now I'm at home, sitting on my balcony overlooking Uptown, thinking about tomorrow. I need to set more timetables for my day and kind of force a schedule on myself, or I waste so much time I could be using to get things done. It also makes me really cranky when I don't get things done and then I'm in a bad mood all day.

Things I should get done: What's stopping me:
*Curriculum planning for the whole school year. *I know that all plans will change in Sept.
*My bridesmaid dress. *I'm worried I'm going to screw it up!
*Clean my apt. *My cat will dirty it up right away.
*Volunteer more. *I still need to improve my current shift.

Oh, here's something interesting (to me, English nerd): at the race, there were two stations beforehand...Registration and Pre-Registration. Now, registration makes sense: it's a table where they do registration. It's where you register. But pre-registration makes no sense. It's not where you pre-register- it doesn't come before the registration table- it's where you sign in if you already registered. It's the table for the people who pre-registered. There are many other names that station could have had that would have made sense. Grr, Lifetime Fitness! Then I went to get a t-shirt and all they had was large. I'm sorry, but that's basically a dress on me. I was so mad that I boycotted the t-shirt, which doesn't make sense now, but seemed like an effective choice at the time for stating my opinion of their size selection.

This morning I went to a movie premier. It was a comedy written and directed by one of my co-workers children. It was hilarious. It's called "Cold Feet" and it's about a couple who lives in Minnesota who are about to get married...and the hijinks that almost ruin everything. The movie was basically a bunch of incredibly funny one-liners and pratfalls. The plot was less interesting: rich girl and poor guy, a ghost, a possible murder, and lots of scenes with the loser roommate. However, there were also many scenes involving stake-outs and following people to chart their actions. This made me wonder what someone would think if they followed me around, because my life is so random these days. For example, this morning...

I woke up at 6:30am. I wandered around my apartment, eating various random food, like soy cheese and sushi. At 9:45am, I packed up two bags and went down to the street to get on my bike. First I rode to my car to get my helmet and my glasses. Then I rode to a gas station (where I'd pumped up my tires the day before) to get the tire valve cover things that I'd forgotten next to the air blower. Then I rode down to 40th St. and then turned left and rode miles and miles into SE Minneapolis. Miles! It was incredibly bumpy and obviously not actually bike friendly. I might have sworn a little bit. Then I arrive at the Riverview Theater exactly at 10:45, say "hi" to my coworker and her son (really cute in a tie) and find a seat. During the film, I eat strawberries, grilled vegetables, and five pieces of gum, all of which I had in my bag. At the end I go across the street and get a chai tea and vegan protein snacks and then start riding back (this time on Hiawatha and the Greenway). I stop for 10 minutes to take a phone call. The discussion is mostly about Batman and SUVs. I exit the Greenway at Nicollet and park my bike outside of OfficeMax. I spend 30 minutes inside, mostly looking up the tax exempt code for my school and waiting for my ink cartridge to be refilled. Then I get back on my bike and ride to the Running Store, where I purchase a $25 gift card. Then I ride home.

My life is boring and a bit bizarre. Oh no, it's starting to rain and I need to head downtown. At least I have an excuse to drive:)

As I was riding my bike this evening, considering how beautiful my neighborhood is and how lucky I am to live here and have the time to enjoy it, I realized that it was the type of musing I always used to write about here. But in the past week, I've tried to recenter myself; I want to be more productive and routinized with my day so I don't end up checking my email every hour or watching dvds while taking up wildly indulgent sewing projects that I'm not sure I'm talented enough to finish. So, that being considered, it seems like a poor use of my time to write about my thoughts here...

Which led me to a thought: why am I so worried about regret? All of my concerns about productivity, health, dating, and my career are founded in a deep seeded fear of making a poor choice; at least if I'm busy, my subconscious neurotic tells me, then I can't be blamed for not trying. I've resolved though, in the face of some loyalty to my generation telling me I should throw caution to the wind and lay around all day this summer as a tell-off to "regret," I'm going to try to get more done. I guess my type A personality can't be overcome even by this beautiful weather.

To keep this update short, then, here's a current likes/dislikes list, similar to the posts of my college days...

Likes
-Mangoes
-Riding my bike everywhere- it's 20 minutes to my Aunt's house south of Lake Harriet, 15 minutes back to a book talk at the Lyndale Community Church (and 1 hour to the school where I teach...maybe I won't ride to work;)
-Swiss Chard & Kale with vineagrette- if I accomplish one thing this summer it's going to be to develop a love of vegetables!
-Crafty Planet's retro fabrics. They're so beautiful & unique. I'm going to copy my favorite dress with this new floral print I found...we'll see if I can figure it out and if it's a success, I'll use the same pattern to make my bridesmaid dress for August!
-Fage greek yogurt. It's fat free but has the consistency of ice cream. Delicious with fresh berries and granola:)
-My summer mix:
Again & Again by The Bird and the Bee
All the Things That Go to Make Heaven and Earth by The New Pornographers
Baby Doll by The Fratellis
Everything's Just Wonderful by Lily Allen
For Emma by Bon Iver
Foundations by Kate Nash
Getting Down by The Kills
Goods by Mates of State
The Grey Estates by Wolf Parade (I get to see them tomorrow!)
Happiness by Goldfrapp
Let Me In by Hot Hot Heat
Lily Two by Matt Pond PA
Look Out Sunshine! by The Fratellis
Milk Crisis by The Go! Team
Oregon Girl by Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Something Great by Haley Bonar
Sour Cherry by The Kills
Think I Wanna Die by Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin (SSLYBY)
Time to Pretend by MGMT
Vanished by Crystal Castles
Viva la Vida by Coldplay
You Cheated Me by Martha Wainwright
You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb by Spoon

I love them all.

Dislikes:
-Humidity
-Democratic doubts about Barack Obama...let's please not dismiss our own candidate again; it really doesn't help come November
-Sunburns (on my stomach)
-Worrying that my students are getting good meals and supervision over the summer. All of our kids get free breakfast and lunch during the school year, so that's a lot more money that parents need to budget for during vacation. Not to mention that most of the parents work 2-3 jobs, so I hope the children are safe at home (and reading? Maybe that's too much to ask!)

That's all I can think of for now. I hope things get my interesting, spicy, tantalizing, and salacious soon. A girl can hope;)