Free days in Houston

I don't think I can overstate the effect that the Sundays in New York project had on my attitude and overall happiness this fall. It forced me out of the apartment on my free days, helped me to explore new neighborhoods in the city, gave me built-in activities for social time with adventurous friends, and generally made me realize how fantastic NYC can be.

So I was jazzed about trying something similar in Houston this month—exploring the city, trying new restaurants, visiting museums and parks, seeing the Symphony and the Ballet, maybe taking a day trip or two.

I don't think it's going to happen. It is almost impossible to entice us to leave the house on a free day. Here's what Saturday looked like for us. We were going to take a long bike ride, but instead we took a very short ride to Revival Market for Bacon Saturday (need I say more?) and then biked home. We looked up movie times but didn't go. We made and then canceled a dinner reservation. We DID manage to get to Trader Joe's, but our resulting full fridge made us even less likely to leave again. We did some work. We drank coffee. We lazed around the house. The end.

This is not a bad way to spend a free day, let me tell you, and whatever it lacks in culture it certainly makes up for in pure relaxation. And I've decided to embrace Free Day Laziness, at least for the month. The key, it seems, is to make sure the house is the most comfortable, relaxing place it can be. Get organized. Run your errands on other days so you don't have to think about them on the free day. Keep the place relatively clean. Get a cuddly kitten (check). Make sure the fridge and pantry are fully stocked and the Hulu and Netflix queues are fully loaded. Keep the to-do list short. Create a truly free day.

How are you spending your free days, wherever you are?