How we spend our days...

One of my favorite quotations was said by Annie Dillard, an American author, and it goes like this:
"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives."

These words remind me day after day that our lives are comprised of each individual day, and how we CHOOSE to spend them determines the life that we choose.

Today has not gone exactly as I would have liked, but it is not entirely because of my choices. It's been hot. And it's hard to do anything when it is so hot. I also have been trying to finish my final for my summer class. It's not too hard but it's been difficult to hunker down.

Weekends are hard for me in general because I have a lot of expectations for what I want to get accomplished. Usually, it involves some running around, which was just not quite feasible today because of the aforementioned impediments. The final is really what's getting me down, since I feel like I should spend all of my time working on it, but when I'm not, I don't feel like I can do anything worthwhile, like reading something for fun, watching a movie or working on a house project that is enjoyable. I end up wasting time on Facebook or something else on my phone, because if I did something I wanted to do, like knit more of my sweater, I would be "distracted from writing my final." Which has happened anyway.

So, because I sometimes get down on myself when I don't do what I want on the weekends, I decided to set the table for dinner and open a bottle of wine. I'm going to relax with Adam and call it a day.

However, one important thing I can do to set myself up for success on the weekends is to list the things I want to do. And not just the "to-do" list, but the list that involves fun things, too.

Most weekends, it looks like this:
Go to the market
Process new veggies so they are ready to cook
Cook some food (for weekend and weekday meals)
Buy flowers
Pick up grocery staples at the Co-op
Eat a nice breakfast
Clean the kitchen (it makes me REALLY happy when the kitchen is clean)
Read a book or knit
Drink a glass of wine (per day)
Sleep in (till 8:30)
Go to yoga, preferably a vinyasa flow and a restorative class
Make sure the front and back yards are looking good (weeding, mowing, etc.)
Do the laundry, including fresh sheets and towels
Hang out with some friends
Bike a lot
Relax

Again, there are probably more things that I like to do, but these are the main things that make me feel either restored or prepared for the week to come. I do actually make lists like this for the weekend. I am so forgetful, I need reminders even for the things I really want to do.

It's really about intention. Knowing what we want to accomplish each day. Not just for others, but for ourselves as well. What do we need to feel like we spent our time well? What do we need to turn our days into a life? I think it's about small steps, simple goals, and starting new each day.

Cheers.