Day 1: Never-Nudes, Fruit, and Singing with My Eyes Closed
So today was my first day off in Operation “Get The Hell Away From Work So I Don’t Rip All My Hair Out.” Overall it was a great success. Now to appreciate this post, you should go back and read “An Ideal Day” to see my grand fantasy of how I’d like to spend my time during this week. I certainly couldn’t have it all, but I could do some of it and I did!
I didn’t get up at dawn, but I didn’t need to. Instead, I woke up around 8:15 fully rested. I took a hot shower and put on my yoga clothes. I meandered downstairs and found my favorite Yoga DVD. I blew off the dust it had collected and followed an almost nude Rodney Yee as he stretched his way into the day.

I sort of wish Rodney Yee tucked me in at night. He's got such a soothing voice.
Seeing him in his little bikini bottom made me think about Never-Nudes, and during my downward dog I chuckled, which didn’t do much to relax my belly toward the earth.
After floor time with the cats, which is essentially what my yoga turned out to be, I went right toward the fruit. Yesterday at the grocery store I bought every fruit imaginable so I could get some variety all week. To start things off, I opted for melon. That along with an English Muffin and I had quite a tasty breakfast. Sadly, I didn’t read anything while eating, but I did listen to music, so that should count for some sort of cultural calories.

I'm a melon girl.
Breakfast, check. Coffee, check. I was then ready to write. In my two-bedroom townhouse, I don’t have a home office, but I do have a cute little desk with a rather comfortable chair. So I planted myself at it and started the writing process. For three hours I worked on my book, reviewing and writing. I managed somehow to stay off of Twitter and Facebook, and got a lot done.

The corner office.
Before I knew it, my stomach grumbled and it was time for lunch. Fortunately, I had purchased some of the ingredients required for the grilled chicken salad of my dream day. I put it all together and it was better than I had expected it to be.

Chicken from the pre-marinaded Archer Farms selection at Target.
Then it was back to work. I started doing some major outlining of my novel with a program called StoryMill. It’s this software that helps you outline, organize scenes, keep characters lists, location descriptions, etc. I’ve only recently started using it for those purposes. I might end up buying it.

StoryMill in action.
I spent a little time on the couch listening to music and trying to dream up what would happen next in my story and that was pleasant. There may have been a little singing, but only the cats could tell you for sure. And that’s pretty much how my first day went.
Sadly, there was no cute café, writers group, or secret forest path. But there will be a book and bath in my evening.
Tomorrow — I’m using the first half of my day to run some errands, pay bills, and do some cleaning. Then I’ll be back on the computer. So tune in tomorrow and I’ll show you just how that turned out too.

















Sounds like the perfect day to me!