Time Gaps

I've been thinking a lot lately about wasted time. I spend two hours a day on the bus on the way to or from work. Then I drive home. Often, I wait for something. For the bus, for someone to meet me, in line at the grocery store or the post office.

I read an interesting post today from Marc and Angel Hack Life. I find a lot of their posts to be a bit trite or overdone, but every once in a while they hit the nail on the head. This particular post was about doing "good-karma" things with your little bits of free time (anywhere from 5 mins to 3 hours). I don't know about you-all, but sometimes it's the waiting, the bits and pieces of time I have, when I'm too agitated to just sit and be, that get me - I tend to fall into thought-spirals or stare at my phone waiting for it to entertain me. It got me thinking - what is my list of good-karma things to do in my "time gaps"?

**Note - I hate the idea that we have to fill every minute with something. I'm not endorsing that kind of anxiety - in fact far from it. This is rather an exercise on my part - to spend my extra pieces of time doing something productive or wholesome instead of refreshing Facebook obsessively.

1-5 minute gaps

• send someone a nice text about how much you love them or with a funny joke.
• grab one thing you don't need anymore and throw it away (or start a Goodwill bag)
• read a quick inspirational text to get you thinking (here are some examples)
• grab your own grocery bags to take to the store, or put them in your car
• smell a pretty flower; maybe pick it to put in your hair
• put one thing back in its place
• wash 3 dishes
• think of someone you haven't seen in a long time and wish them well with all your heart
• watch a funny Youtube video to make you laugh (these ones are pretty great)
• hug an animal (make sure you ask if he/she/it doesn't belong to you!)
• click t0 get sponsors to donate at the Hunger Site (no commitment, just literally clicking a button and then advertisers donate $)

15-30 minute gaps

• flip through your recipe box or a cookbook or your browser bookmarks (I know you use Chrome by now..), pick a new recipe, and put it on your calendar to make it sometime in the next 2 weeks. [these look tasty!]
• write a postcard to your family member/best friend and include an observation of something beautiful.
• go on a walk with a jar of water and water 1 plant that looks sad and like it needs some love.
• call your best friend and talk about feelings (sometimes this may take longer if you are me).
• find a place you'd like volunteer for an afternoon or a few hours.
• plan a day to volunteer and put it on your calendar.
• call your grandma or grandpa and ask them to tell you a story. (grandparents are awesome!)
• do something silly to make someone else laugh.

1-3 hour gaps

• Make dinner for a friend who is overworked and hates cooking! Tell them they can bring something if they want but no obligation.
• Plan an afternoon with your friends to go somewhere and volunteer together, like a community garden or a shelter lunch.
• Educate yourself about something new. Google Books, How Stuff Works, and hell yeah Wikipedia are a good place to start. Also the real-live library which is my favorite!
• Take at least 1 bag of giveaway stuff to Goodwill. They take just about everything and have store everywhere.
• Think of 1 way you can improve your home and plan it out. My current ideas are: 1) organize the corner of my living room that should have a couch in it, 2) convince my building owner to order a compost bin for the building, 3) figure out a good laundry system that prevents a month of laundry backlog.
• Invite someone over to do nothing with you. Drink wine, read poetry to each other, whatever you want. Just enjoy being with someone you think is awesome and who you know thinks you're awesome.

Enjoy.. of course the irony is how long I've spent on the computer composing this. Oh well. Worth it. Gonna go read poetry in bed now.

Epic It-Feels-Like-Saturday Rooftop Feast

What an epic day, thanks to Miss Morgan. (Dear, START A FOOD BLOG. :*)

We started off at the Renegade Craft Fair - I feel like that will need to be a separate post, because I have so many beautiful cards and crafts and wonderful treasure finds. But alas, they have not yet been photographed or scanned, so that will have to wait until tonight when I get home.

Here's a snap to keep you tided over until then:

We spent the rest of the day recovering from the overload of people and crafts and crowdedness with an EPIC rooftop feast. Joan invited us into her beautiful home (full of crafts and found objects and art) and we assembled a buffet the likes of which has never been seen.

Clockwise from left: cheese plate with 5 kinds of cheese + white nectarine + orange, caprese salad, wine with swedish fish "ice cubes," and homemade guacamole.

Clockwise from left: toasted brie with apples, walnuts and honey; salami; cured salmon with peppercorns; smoked salmon; basil.

Heading up to the roof.. (+semifreddi's sour batard!)

First plate (of many):

Miss Joan enjoying the sun:

Aaand last but not least me & Morgan each wearing one of Joan's beautiful handmade wood-burned earrings. This girl is amazing - from what I could gather, her parents are woodworkers and toymakers, so she works with a lot of recycled and organic wood and other interesting found objects. So inspiring! Keep an eye out for her work under the name Sentient Salvage, coming soon.

I couldn't believe how inspired I felt by Joan's home - she's lived there on and off for about 7 years, and you can absolutely feel the love and warmth she has infused into her home. So many different art pieces and hangings and knickknacks, and yet nothing felt cluttered and everything was very clean and tidy and easy to maneuver. Definitely a house made for comfort. I am inspired to nest more in my own home! I always have this vaguely anxious urge for flight, to not get attached to anything or anyone. But we become attached to people and places whether we want to or not. Why NOT nest in my own home, regardless of whether I'll be there for a month or a year or a decade? It's a hard mental block to get around, but I think it'll ultimately feel really good.

I've already got three new projects going:

1. Rearranging my bedroom so my bed is diagonally in the corner by the window (love sunlight on my bed in the morning!)
2. I found a white nightstand down in my garage, and am going to paint it sky blue and buy new knobs and replace my wobbly stack of milk crates with an actual bedside table. Plus it's got doors and two shelves, plus a drawer. Perfect! And free!
3. I have an old oval mirror that's pretty chintzy, but I was thinking of stringing some ribbons or wire across it and making it a necklace or earring display. I love mirrors.

Feeling pretty inspired (although exhausted from everything) and ready to craft...