This weekend is the first weekend in a month that I’m not traveling and I can’t wait to stay in the city for the weekend. Having the time to do just about anything you want is liberating most of the time, but what if you don’t know what to do with the time?! If you’re like me, you spend the week thinking about places you want to go, food you want to eat, stores you want to spend your money at, and friends you desperately need to see (after all, no girl should go a month without seeing her girlfriends!). So, besides going for a long, slow, mandatory run on Saturday, here are my ideas for FREE TIME:

Spend the afternoon in a coffee shop I’ve never been to– at this point, I don’t really care where or which one. All I’d like to do is nestle into a comfy chair or booth with a delicious cup of coffee and spend the afternoon thinking about something other than trying to figure out how I’m going to squeeze my workouts into my schedule, when I can manage to enjoy a good book and be able to finish it in less than 4 weeks, or when I can see friends I haven’t seen in forever! Yup, a coffee shop sounds like the perfect place to think about nothing right about now.

Go wanderin’ with Manny— When we have the time, we tend to wander around certain neighborhoods in the city. It’s always nice to have a change of scenery for a day. And while staying home for a relaxing Saturday might be a good idea as well, I’m feeling a little more adventurous lately. And if the precipitation holds up this weekend as I hope it does, maybe a long walk home from wherever we decide to wander is exactly what we need.

The 1st Spring Visit of the year to a Farmer’s Market— It seems like all of the farmers markets and green city markets have opened because I keep seeing advertisements for them everywhere.  And even though I can get my favorite natural yogurt at Whole Foods now, getting it from the Green City Market in LP is just way more fun. After I returned from a family trip in Michigan last weekend, Manny and I had a domestic day and decided to do some major cleaning and shopping to fix up the apartment a bit. Hopefully we can find some nice plants at a market this weekend to keep it goin’.

Spend a few hours reading a good book– I haven’t had much time lately to read for pleasure and I definitely miss it. Last night I read a few pages of This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper and I already know I’m going to like it. I have a feeling it’s going to be witty and sad and thoughtful all at the same time.  It’s about time I got lost in a book… (For those of you who have a  hard time keeping track of the books you want to read or have read in the past, check out Goodreads. You can swap books with other members for the price of postage!)

Plan (ok, fantasize about) vacation in Cabo— The vacation has been booked for June and, honestly, I’m reluctant to make any sort of ‘plans’ because I’d like to spend the majority of the week horizontal next to the pool. But, I know I’d regret not doing something exhilarating or special while we’re there. Top of the list is ziplining, but I’m sure there’s more adventure in store for us. It’s just a matter of figure out what that adventure will be!

Paint the bedroom— This one is a “maybe”, but we’ve put it off for so long that I think it would be fun to change something in the apartment a little more drastically than rearranging furniture or hanging artwork. Besides, who doesn’t love an afternoon of painting? (As a general rule of thumb, a case of beer should always accompany a painting project. I say this based on past experience.)

What do you like to do with your precious free time?

-J