Organizing Time

Or, what I have been doing since my last post...

For Chic Sake

• Manistee Victorian Sleighbell Parade was last weekend. As soon as I hit "publish" on the last post, we got in the car and drove up north. Technically we didn't go to the parade, most of our time was spent hanging out with grandma & grandpa. It was the first time the four of us have made the trip, though, and that's a big deal.
• On Monday, a new friend and I had coffee from this place and walked around an older section of our city. 
• The kids and I stopped at our little local grocer after school to load up on pre-made cookie dough, frosting, and sprinkles, and we made a small batch of quickly consumed Christmas cookies the easy way.
• On Tuesday, I went to yoga for the third week in a row. I like consistency, I like it even more when I do it! 
• I also popped across the street to a beautiful dayspa for a massively overdue brow wax. I haven't had an esthetician in awhile, and then because I was paying off debt, just didn't bother. And it showed.
• On Wednesday, I had a migraine.  :(  
• Somehow I still managed to make it a full day in the office, unexpectedly meeting one of our portrait artists, greeting a board member in town for the day, and collecting a brand-new portrait. At one point, I did close the door, turn out the lights, and take a nap on my floor.
• Additionally, I took a sample of our water to the state department to analyze just what makes it so insanely hard.
• I  also popped into this store while out & about this week. I could do an entire post on the treasures I found there. My faves were a big round water hyacinth basket (labeled as a snaker charmer's basket), a huge mirror, and vintage cross country skis. Not nearly so cool without photos, though.  
• Phil & I watched The Dark Knight Rises last night. We have been putting off watching it since it was released on my birthday-eve. I'm the hugest Batman fan, and have loved this incarnation of the story. And the couple we most resemble? Bruce & Selena, just in a Midwestern house with kids...
• My 7:45 this morning was for a facial with my new esthetician who I just love. I feel AMAZING! Some people like massages, I prefer facials.  :)  It was quite a treat!
• Then I stopped at the big grocery store for something to take to the fourth grade brunch, and bumped into a mom I've been wanting to get to know better.
• At school for brunch with my favorite fourth grader... and got to catch up with many of my friends, too!
• And now work. 

This is an incredibly critical time for my nonprofit. My real life. The thing that pays the bills. Should I be wasting time on friendship, self-care, and doing things for my kids? Terrible question. 

I am reading 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam (who did my morning makeover). If you are looking for something thought-provoking and entertaining, I urge you to check out her work. I have also read her book All the Money In the World: What the Happiest People Know About Getting & Spending and her e-book What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast. She makes a strong argument for creating a balanced life in this book. I find I am able to do more when I satisfy all those elements of my life. Her newest e-book What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend is coming out early next year. I can't wait!