When I Am Left to My Own Devices

Last week, Matt was in New Orleans for a work conference, and that jerk didn't take me with him. ;) While the house was empty, I decided it was time to knock out a few things that I've been meaning to try.

Eat at a Restaurant Alone With No Reading Materials
I had never eaten out alone in my life — normally I just pick up dinner and take it home if I don't have anyone to eat with — and I figured it was something that needed to happen. I went to Genghis Grill for lunch, and eating alone was surprisingly not as weird as I thought it was going to be. Without anything to read or anyone to talk to, it was easy to be present and really taste my food and be aware of when my body was saying it was full and whatnot. It sounds kind of dumb, but as someone who gets irritated with how fast-paced and multi-taskable life can get, it was nice to disconnect for an hour and focus on just one thing at a time.

Go A Day Without Speaking

I have never realized before just how much I talk to my cat during the day. Since I work at home, she's the only living thing I see most of the day! I kept talking to her and catching myself after the fact. So I failed, but I'm going to count it anyway. Not talking is hard!

Get Eight Hours of Sleep Every Night For a Full Work Week
Most of the time, it doesn't matter how much sleep I get; I always feel tired and miserable when I wake up, but I never drink caffeine and rarely take naps and somehow always make it through the day. Last week I intentionally made myself go to bed every night at about 10, with the intention of being asleep by 11. (My alarm goes off at 7:05 a.m.) That wasn't so hard; I had been keeping myself busy with projects around the house, and was tired! On Thursday, though, I had to be awake at 6 a.m., so I made myself go to bed around 9:30. I could NOT fall asleep. It was just too early. I think I finally fell asleep around 10:30 or so, but then I woke up at 5 — after having OU/A&M rivalry nightmares — and couldn't go back to sleep.

I fully expected that, by getting so much sleep, I would wake up every morning bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. But really, I felt exactly the same as I do when I pass out around 11:30 on a normal night. So I think I'm going to go back to doing that, since then I don't miss out on fun things. :)

What do you do when your significant other is out of town?