Sleeper town--well, for now. I'll take it!

It's pretty quiet in this town right now.

I think I might have a back-and-forth opinion of this throughout the summer.

Last week I had hardly been back in town for more than a week and I was sooo ready to go to the lake for Cor's wedding. Today I walked through a strip mall parking lot--to be fair, it was pretty far from campus, but I still think it would have been more crowded during the school year--and it's possible my walking speed slowed so as to enjoy the relative peacefulness of the suburban environment.

I have to travel again in less than two weeks, which should be super fun (and emotional--big emotional wedding #2, here we go, then y'all need to give me a break for a while), but I imagine when I get back I'll be exhausted and thus enjoy the quiet college town again upon my return.

As for this time next week, when it's not quite time to leave town for wedding #2, but I'll have had some more days without class or a shift at the paper? Who knows.

The trick is to 1)not lose my mind (seriously; that's one of my biggest fears during summer, if I have too much free time to think) and 2)control the spending.

Control the spending, Bailey. Are you listening to yourself type this?

Today I went for a run--ahem, after buying some running shoes and a pair of cutesy shoes--which is a hobby I hope to get back into. First, because I want to; I've missed it, and I'm a freak who likes running in the humid heat (most of the time). And second, better health, etc. etc. But third, because when I run there is the prep stage:

i.e., eat to up the caloric energy level, let some of the chow digest so Ms. Bails doesn't vomit during her run, and remain seated in front of daytime television to give the legs a little break.

Okay that leg break thing applied a whole lot more when I was working a job that had me standing for several hours, but I'm allowing it to remain in effect.

What, do you want me to stand in my apartment just because? Please.

Then there's the running stage itself, followed by the everything-else stage:

shower, eat, and then eventually get really tired, and

Ta dah! We made it to bedtime without spending money!

Except for today, when I bought shoes...and a newspaper...and coffee and a scone.

Better luck tomorrow? We'll see...I want to take my new cutesy red shoes out for a spin. Maybe we'll go to the federally-funded, free library and show ourselves off there.