Less is More: Walking the Line

A move is in my near-ish future and I'm getting excited. OK, maybe I don't know where I'm going, and maybe I don't have a job to go to, but still, I'm excited. This is my first big move away from Oxford (other than a semester and a half at a college in Tennessee) so it's a big deal. And I am really interested in living in a big city, for both the professional and social opportunities.

There are plenty of reasons to live in a city: more places to apply for jobs, more people to hang out with, more stuff to see. But one reason I'm excited about a city is the possibility of going without a car.

I may not actually sell my car if I move. It will depend on the city. But even if I take it, I'm hoping for a place where I can walk and/or take public transportation to most, or all, the places I need to go.

When I was in college, I lived in a couple of places close to town and campus that allowed me to walk around. And thanks to campus parking craziness, I could actually leave my house later on days I was walking than on the days I was driving. I loved walking to class! My route took me through the Oxford Square, down a very pretty street with a mix of old and new houses, and in the spring, beautiful green trees and bright flowers. Since my classes were in the morning so that I could work in the afternoons and evenings, my walks were often in the cool early morning air, with the sun still working its way up in the sky and the streets not yet full of cars.

My walks allowed me to rediscover parts of this town I've lived almost my whole life in. One morning, as I passed the same yard that I passed every day, I realized there was a pony in the yard! This wasn't a farmhouse out in the country. This was a regular house, on a regular street, right in the center of town, with a pony in the yard. I started seeing the pony regularly. It's gone now, and I don't know who lived there, or why they had a pony in the middle of town, but I enjoyed seeing it on my walks.

I love walking to get places. I relish that time to myself to look around, think, and mentally prepare for wherever I'm headed. I like having a closer view of everything that I can't get in my car. I like the slower pace of walking, allowing plenty of time to get to my destination, and not getting the rushed or flustered feeling that traffic can bring.

This is how I want to explore my new city. I want to spend a lot of time walking around, both simply for pleasure and in order to get places. I can't plan on going without a car, at least not yet, since I have no idea where I will live or work or if those places will be close to each other or close to anything else. But maybe I can get there, park my car, and use it sparingly.

Here's hoping that I can discover my new city the way I've rediscovered my current one: one step at a time.

Organization, Routine, Writing = Sanity

Does anyone else covet organizational office supplies? I do.

The other day, I was in a meeting at the office, and two of my co-workers had these big hold-all folio type folders, and I wanted one. One of them had a legal pad, pen, business cards, iPad Mini, looseleaf paper, and other things all organized and in their own places. The other had pretty much the same, but instead of the iPad mini she had a calculator (with its own pocket) and a little hand-held calendar to write her appointments in. I immediately decided that I needed something like this.

Now let's look at the facts. I work for a small publishing company. Out of everyone at the office, I probably spend the most time at my desk and the least time in meetings. I don't meet many new or potential clients; I rarely hand out business cards. Most of my work is done directly on my computer. I barely leave the office for anything other than lunch or a post office run. I don't need something to carry everything with me.

But that doesn't stop me from wanting it.

I love being organized. As I've written before, keeping things clean, putting things in a proper place, and alphabetizing anything have always been a part of my life (the title of this post was inspired by a Pinterest board of mine). And routine is comforting. I don't want every little thing to be planned out, and I definitely don't want every day to be exactly the same. But routines help me to know what to expect and when to expect it.

Lately (read: the past two days) I've been trying to organize and routine my writing. I know people's opinions on this differ: some say sit down at the same time every day to write, others say write when inspiration hits and don't force it when it doesn't. I don't want to stifle any creativity, and I certainly don't want to keep myself from writing when it's not my set writing time, but so far I like having a time that I know I will be writing.

My morning setup

For the past two days, I've gotten up an hour earlier than usual in order to shower, eat, and then have writing time before I have to go to work. One hour is not a ton of time to really sit down and get thoughts in focus, but until I get used to waking up earlier, I've got to take baby steps. Yesterday, after eating and fixing my cup of coffee (yikes! I just realized I haven't even fixed my coffee yet!...OK problem solved. Back to work), I spent a little time reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. It's a simple book, really; just a writer, and writing teacher, talking about writing. I particularly love reading about all her anxieties, all the voices that go through her head telling her she can't write, or inspiration will never strike again, or she should be making the grocery list instead; it's nice to know other people go through this process too.

I am also trying to keep writing a little more present in my daily life, by carrying a bigger purse—see? I want to need to carry everything with me!—with Bird by Bird, my notebook, my iPad, and pens, along with my wallet and normal purse items. I don't know if I'll keep this up; it's a little heavy, and at least yesterday, it resulted in me carrying a bunch of stuff to lunch with me that I didn't need just because I needed my wallet.

I don't know if I'll ever be a true morning person, but right now, I'm happy with getting up at 6:30, giving myself that one hour to have my own time and do my own work before the day gets going with work, obligations, and everything that I can't control. My time after work always seems so disorganized: needing to go to the grocery store, having to make or find something for dinner, realizing the car needs gas, or just being too tired to focus on anything but watching a new episode of The Following. Mornings are calmer, quieter, and less likely to get interrupted. I'm going to do my best to keep them that way.

What's in a Name?

Today is my birthday. March 2. The same birthday as Dr. Seuss, Desi Arnaz, and my late grandmother, Mama Kate. And one of the Osmond brothers, I think.

When I was born 25 years ago, my mother knew when I was going to be born. Because of my older sister's over-large head, she'd already had a C-section and so was going to just schedule one for her second child. And since I was due on Feb. 29, and she did not want a leap year baby, she had the doctors deliver me on her mother's birthday. (She was also a middle child born on her grandmother's birthday.)

But what she didn't plan was my name. Or rather, she planned a different name. My name was supposed to be Anna Hathorn Leslie. But 30 minutes before heading into the delivery room, my mom asked my dad if she could change my middle name to Eugenia and call me Genie, like her sister.

"Lucy, you know she's always going to have spell it for people and pronounce it constantly."

"I know," she said, "but I want a Genie!"

So here I am, and now that it's been 25 years, I have a few notes on my name, and answers to common questions:

• I specifically remember being in kindergarten and hating the question, "Will you grant me 3 wishes?"
• Someone should buy me a Lowrey Magic Genie 98 Organ w/ Leslie feature, just cause. 
• No, I do not spend most of my time singing Christina Aguilera's "Genie in a Bottle"
• No, I do not want you to sing "Genie in a Bottle" to me. You are not the first person to meet me and make this connection.
• Even if you aren't singing, do you really think it's appropriate, when first meeting someone, to ask, "Do I have to rub you the right way?"
• If you call me Jenny after I have clearly said Genie, I will judge you and think you're a poor listener. Or that you're dumb.
• Yes, my initials are AEL. No, my family and I have not made typos on my monogrammed towels.
• To my boyfriend: I know that from Eugenia you've come up with the nicknames Eugene, Eugene Levy, Gene Simmons, Richard Simmons (not sure if this mutated from Gene Simmons or if it's just a comment on my tendency to be dramatic) but sometimes Genie is nickname enough.
• To those of you over 40: Yes, I agree. Eugenia is a pretty name, with a nice old-fashioned sound to it.
• To those of you under 40: Yes, Eugenia is weird, it's a family name.
• To my favorite poetry teacher: No, I do not pronounce it the Latin way (Ay-you-hay-nee-ah), but now that you mention it, I might start.
• To the other Genie Leslie who used to pop up in Google searches: I hope Florida is nice and that you continue to publish books about flowers.

And finally, to my parents: This name has been an exhaustive test of my patience, one I've often failed, and I'm so glad that you gave it to me.