I'd be interested to hear what you all would do with yourselves if you had the day off on a hot summer day. Perhaps I can steal someone else's idea.

The same thing I do every day, Pinky—try to take over the world!

:P

Is there a swimming pool you can go to?

It occurs to me that I don't have to go all the way to Flushing for a spa- I could go to the Russian Turkish baths in the East Village. OH WAIT, but no! It's Men Only on Thursdays until 5! THOSE MEN. There's also the Wall Street Bath & Spa, which is pretty nice (full sized pool).

There are also public pools. I've never been to one! I imagine they're packed to the gills with children. I like children, but swimming around in a pool packed with them probably won't be all that relaxing.

Perhaps the public pool would be amusing, and returning to your pad would then be relaxing?

A family friend would go into an out-of-the-way fast food restaurant with a book in hand and get a fountain drink. She would then get comfortable, read and enjoy the free A/C, occasionally getting more to drink.

They also have daycamps that bring children to these pools by the busload. I'd go to Brighton Beach. Or rent a row boat in Central Park.

One thing I like to do after I move into a new place is grab the nearest local bus and just ride it to see where it goes. Looking at a map only tells you so much. Riding it and noting what it actually passes can be rewarding, even if you discover it doesn't go anywhere useful and you can ignore it.

Things I would do, not necessarily in this order:

1. Go for a run or walk somewhere near water and/or gardens.
2. Go for a bike ride.
3. Read.
4. Yoga.
5. Art museum. Maybe treat myself to lunch too.
6. Go shopping for fun stuff in a fun place.
7. Take a boat ride.

Ooo, shopping! I do need some shoes, and I have a DSW coupon. Perhaps I will go to DSW, and then go to the Wall Street spa for swimming and relaxing.

I'm going to need it- at tonight's monthly church council meeting, we vote on whether our pastor can perform same-sex marriages (our denomination, the ELCA, allows it, but they encourage pastors to get approval from their councils before going ahead). I'm all but certain the majority of the council supports it and I intend to bring the issue to vote (in fact, I just counted how I think the votes will go and there seems to be little to no chance the motion would fail). The crabby nasties that I wish would just quit already are really going to kick up a fuss, but I don't care. I'm not scared of them but I don't enjoy them, either. There will be some wine after this meeting, is all I'm saying!

Fight the good fight, TPS!

I need a spa day, but mainly for the massage. I need a good 2 hour massage (will settle for 90 min). Could stand a mani/pedi, tho.

I'd go to the beach to fly a kite and swim in the ocean and then get a mani/pedi. In fact, I'm very surprised that while the nail polish on my fingers flaked off within a week or two of my putting it on, my toenail polish is still hanging in strong a few weeks later! Hooray for sandal weather!

So what did you decide to do?? And how did the vote go?

I'm hoping TPS is off doing whatever it is today. Tell us tomorrow what you did, Pink SH!

I woke up this morning, and it was clear to me- I did not want to lay around in some hot spa! The weather seemed to be cool, I wanted to SHOP! So shop I did! I took the subway down to Canal Street and walked up Broadway to Union Square. I got some cheap fans at Pearl River Mart, saw some home inspiration at CB2 and Anthropologie, picked up a new dog bed for Twinkie and a toy for each of my animals at Petco. Also visited my favorite thrift shop in hopes they'd have my perfect chaise lounge (alas, no). I had lunch at Au Bon Pain and got a hair trim so my hair is no longer on my neck. THEN I went up to Harlem to visit the new Target and Costco and got some needed things for our house, including a little rug for the living room I just love. I schlepped it all home in a cab, carried almost all of it up the stairs all by myself (left one box of Costco grapefruit in the lobby for a few minutes, and nobody stole it, yay), turned right around and left the house again, meeting Stynxno in Harlem at our first class of a 10-week course to become mentors to teens in foster care (it's the same you'd take if you want to be a foster parent, which we might do someday when we have more room).

I AM EXHAUSTED but I had a great day. It was such a nice day, the perfect day to be out of the office. Council went pretty well last night- everyone agreed that we really need to let the congregation vote on the same-sex marriage issue at some point in the near future, which I think is probably wise, even though I doubt the vote will pass (really hard to say- we have lots of older folks but a growing young crowd, too- voter turnout will be key). Oh well! All I can control is making sure the process goes as smoothly as possible and that we approach the whole thing in a loving, respectful manner. I'm trying to follow LN's father's advice for dealing with worry and stress. That, and drinking more wine. Speaking of, let me take myself to the kitchen....