Mar 22, 2013

Four Free Things

Four Free Things is a (mostly) weekly feature here on The Green Gazelle. Each Friday, I share four free or almost free things I plan to do over the weekend next week. Share the free or cheap things you've got planned in the comments section of this post.

I had much success in doing my four free things from last Friday, although it took longer than just the weekend to fit them all in. I signed up to be a working owner at the co-op on Friday. We had coffee on the apartment with my dear in-laws. We also took them to the botanical gardens (beautiful) and on a brief part of the historical downtown self-guided walking tour (quite fun). Alas, we ended up spending our fair share of money too — we were hosting guests in a new town, after all. That's to be expected. So for at least this whole weekend, my goal is to spend ZERO dollars, except on only the essential necessary groceries. ZERO! How on earth will I do that?


1. LIBRARY! Holey buckets, B and I finally both have official mail that should allow us each to get a library card. This has been a long time coming. I'm planning to get an audio book, some old time and classical cds to listen to, and perhaps Jane Eyre, which I've been trying to finish forever it seems. (Great book —I just got distracted from it by the cross-country move.)


2. Coffee at the Gardens. The botanical gardens we visited this week have a lovely creek running through it, and we plan to head down there with our travel mug full of homemade coffee and sit by the running water while we drink it. This was one of my favorite things to do when I co-led short backpacking trips years back. So peaceful.


3. Bike Ride/Hike. B has a single speed bike. I've been telling him that he will want gears, but he needs a little ride around town to prove it to him. I'm in. Great exercise and fresh air...what could be better? I'm also hoping to get out into the woods with the pooches for a hike. It has been a few weeks, and I am really craving the feel of the trail under my feet.


4. Play Catch-Up. This one isn't so much fun as it is stress relieving. Between visitors and my frozen panic that comes from doing something new I'm not good at, I have fallen behind at both the internship and my schoolwork. I'll be using a LARGE chunk of this weekend—and much of next week—to get caught up...which will make next weekend much, much nicer :) Sometimes, preparing yourself to be less stressed later (or relieving yourself of current stress by ending your epic procrastination streak) is really the best way to spend free time, don't you think?


See you back here on Monday!


What activities are you planning that don't cost much?



2 comments:

  1. This weekend I will be:
    -playing board games and having dinner at a friend's house
    -working (took on an extra day to make some dough)
    -glazing ceramics (cashing in some volunteer hours in exchange for studio time)
    -working on my ArTour application (the house isn't big enough to stockpile those ceramics forever)
    -spend some time going through my sister's artwork to figure out which would make good cards
    -posting my first item for sale on Etsy

    The two biggest expenditures are that we are planning a Costco trip (mostly for food - and Advil) and we purchased an online deal for 4 nights in Lutsen for $200 that we plan on using later this spring. I am refusing to feel bad about that last part though. I definitely understood your words from an earlier post about the prairie killing your spirit. That is exactly how I feel and I need to at least escape for a few days to recharge and relax near some water, rocks, hills, and trees.

    Have a great weekend, Joey!

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  2. Emily, that sounds like an awesome and productive weekend! You are really spending time on things that are important to you - kudos! And that trip to Lutsen sounds like a cheap price to pay for some relief from the prairie. Enjoy your time - you deserve it!

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