5 on Friday: a(nother) Writing 101 mashup

(photo: thrillist.com)

um. didn’t Writing 101 end like 6 weeks ago? you’re asking. i know, right? but here i am. still. did i ever tell y’all that i didn’t graduate college on time? yeah, somehow at the finish line, i still needed one more class and ended up hanging around Winter Park for the summer taking an Ann Tyler class to fulfill my very last couple credits and officially get my degree. so this feeling is super familiar.

that said, creative combinations seem to be my secret weapon here, so i’m doing it again! i didn’t have anything pulled together for Friday list of 5 when i remembered that Day 11 asked

What do you do when you’re not writing? How do you reset and return to this dashboard, refreshed? What do you need in your day-to-day life to maintain balance?

since my last post was a week and a half ago, this really resonated today. what have i been doing? why haven’t i been writing? that second question is probably a bit more complicated than “life got busy,” which is what i like to tell myself. i’ve been questioning again what i’m doing here. i’ve also been exploring a book idea and much of my focus has been on whether that idea is viable, how to make this space more fun for me — and for you — and kind of generally doing a gut check about my writing and what i want to do with it. deep, y’all. and i’m not ready to write about it yet. ha.

but in between those bouts of deep thought, i’ve done several totally normal things that honestly pretty typical of every week. i usually capture a lot of the typical stuff here and if you follow me on Instagram, you’ll see it there, too. but, for the sake of 5 On Friday, here’s a recap of things i do when i’m not writing. they keep me sane, balanced, busy as shit . . . and make me miss writing more when they keep me away from it too long.

1. work

until the Lottery Gods come through or some nice stranger offers to pay all our bills, i gotta keep a 9 to 5. as jobs go, though, being a creative director for a digital agency definitely doesn’t suck if you have to have a job. in the past week and a half, i got to spend an afternoon shopping high-end women’s apparel boutiques as research for an upcoming pitch and browse photos of dozens of attractive dudes to pick talent for an upcoming photo shoot. along the way, there was free beer and at least one round of 80s sitcom name that theme song. like i said, definitely not the worst way to earn a paycheck.

2. family

i adore my family. they are seriously some of the most fun people i get to spend time with, and i know i am just so lucky. Spy was out of town a couple nights, so Miss Girl and I got in some good girl time, including a junk-food-filled trip to the movies and some arts and crafts. and with Fall Break still in full swing at the beginning of this week, we made time for a full-family weekday streetcar ride and lunch at Sweet Auburn Curb Market. speaking of lunch . . .

3. food (and wine)

a girl’s gotta eat (and drink), right? and yeah. i’m totally that person that takes pictures of all my food. because i never know when i’m going to be able to work it into a post here! since i last wrote, i had the pleasure of having breakfast at Amelie’s, a cute little French bakery on the Westside with to-die-for pastries, amazing breakfast sandwiches and bowls of coffee. i also got to share a few cocktails with work buds at our closest neighborhood watering hole, White Oak Kitchen & Cocktails. and i got to catch up with some former work buds over fried mushrooms and chicken quesadilla (because i couldn’t decide1) at Cypress Street Pint & Plate.

4. football

aside from the Falcons’ disgusting showing in New Orleans last night, the week actually began on a good note for our hometown team. Spy and i were at the Dome to watch them win in overtime against our former hometown team, the Redskins. it wasn’t pretty but we pulled it out. with another game just around the corner on Sunday, that makes 3 in a week. if i’m exhausted from all the pressure, i can’t even imagine how the team feels! #riseup (goodnews update: i totally got my dates mixed up and we do all get to rest this weekend!)

5. reading

i absolutely don’t believe it, y’all. somehow over the past week and a half, i have managed to read 2 magazines. two. that’s on top of the few pages of a real-live hardcover book that i read every night in bed before dozing off. this is truly unheard of in my home. magazines arrive and pile up, never read for months on end until they get tossed because i mean, who really wants to read about “which swimsuit to wear now” when now is November? anyway, sometimes it’s just really nice and relaxing to kick back and read on something made of paper. (don’t tell Spy you heard me say that.)

have a fantastic weekend, y’all!