Sabbatical, Day err...whatever

Whatever day we're on, it's the half way point. I guess that would make it either 10 or 15, depending on how one counts the weekends.
I've spent the better part of the last week in the state of Georgia visiting two amazing women. The first, only for an afternoon and the second for three wonderful, chaotic days.
My journey first took me to see Joyce Blackburn, a friend of my family Joyce is in her eighties and has lived an amazing life as a writer and musician. I'll have to relay some of her stories later. Joyce lives on St. Simon's Island in Georgia and I've spent the morning reading her history of James Oglethorpe and how he founded Georgia.
I left Joyce on Tuesday afternoon with my face set towards Atlanta to see my friends the Sparks. I knew it was a 4-5 hour drive, but didn't think much of it as I was planning. But when it was 6:30 and I felt myself struggling to stay awake, I remembered my mom's words "You know, it's ok to stop, don't you?" And so I swallowed my pride and $50 and got a hotel room. It smelled awful, so I then decided to set out on a journey in a town I later discovered was Savannah (no idea when I stopped) to find a Wal-Mart or other such place in order to purchase some candles to make the place more at home for the evening. After finding a Wal-Mart in a very dark, rural part of town I happened to notice the little nail salon within it. Lately I've sensed the bushiness of my brows and was pleased to hear an affirmative reply to my inquiry over whether they did eyebrows.
So out I walked, ending my evening at 7:30 with nice candles, a birthday card for my favorite one-year old bubby, and well-groomed eyebrows.
Being Tuesday night, my comfort show was on--Gilmore Girls (which by the way is one of Joyce's favorite shows). And I also discovered one of my new favorite shows--Love Monkey. It has Ed in it. He'll always be known as Ed, won't he? It's great. I love all the music and that whole world. It's nice.
I'll save the rest of my journey for later.

Sabbatical, Day 5

It's Friday. I don't have much quantitative evidence of how I've spent my week, but I think its part of what God is teaching me during this time: time is not measured even in the simplest of thing (books read, journal pages filled, etc) but in...I don't know, honestly.
All I know is that I value time to do the above things so much that it's like I strangle the ticking clock and don't actually enjoy the time I do have to do these things.So here's to the next week of my life and the books I will read and the pages I will write and the cello I will practice and the tea I will drink... maybe some coffee, too.
Just for those of you who share my need to have quantitative goals, here are the few I have for each day:
1. Do something I've been putting off every day.
2. Exercise every day.
3. No sugar except for special occasions (tonight is roommate Kerri's going away party. It will involve fondue. Big pots of chocolate are always special occasions).
4. Practice my cello every day.
5. Journal every day.6. Blog when I feel like it. (sorry, gentle readers, you get the short end of the stick).
7. Cultivate the spiritual disciplines (prayer, meditating on scripture, contemplation) every day.
8. Pursue good friends at least every other day (otherwise I get a little spacey--like I did with Barnes and Noble guy the other day).

These are surprisingly attainable goals when one doesn't have to go to work. It's very nice.

Sabbatical, Day 1

Or errr...Day 3, depending on how you count it. Today (Monday) is the first official day I wasn't in the office. And how did I spend it? I spent the morning talking church and life stuff with Brad, my pastor, and then went with Tiff to see Queen Latifah in Last Holiday. Decent story, poor delivery. There is a pungent ordor of cheese about it, don't pay full price, but a matinee is acceptable. A cheap theatre might even be better.
Then I came home, and after a rejection from the oil-change place (told me very politely to come back tomorrow because they were all booked for the day), went on a nice long walk and then came home to money and laundry. Well, I got my money-world somewhat in order while doing my laundry. I also included ironing in the deal. I decided that one my goals for my sabbatical should be to do one thing each day that I've been putting off. I failed with the oil-change, but succeeded with ironing (two weeks and counting I've been wishing I could wear the wrinkled shirts hanging on my closet door).
So that's all I have to report currently. Not much. But it's bed time. I didn't leave much room for thinking and reflecting with all the activity today. That's on the agenda for tomorrow.