What does your ideal day look like?

For various reasons—for fun, and because this winter in New York is the most horrible one I’ve experienced—E and I have been fantasizing about running away to live in a beach town with abundant wind (for kitesurfing). E thinks it would be very easy to make that a reality someday. “Or, we can stay in New York and shovel snow for six months out of the year. Which sounds more appealing?”

One questions he asks when we do this exercise is what my ideal day is comprised of. “When you get up in the morning until you sleep at night, including work and play, what you eat, where you live, what is your ideal day?”

It’s something that’s difficult to pinpoint for me. My days now aren’t horrible. Listen, everyone would love to be living in a mansion on a beach, sipping fruity drinks with umbrellas in them while someone else does your laundry, sure. But that’s not reality. On an ideal (yet realistic) day, I start off with yoga or running in the morning, then writing in my kitchen overlooking the beach. After that it gets less specific. It could be cooking all day and trying new recipes. It could be learning something on the computer, or writing and writing for hours.

E has a good plan: “wake up, kiting, back to the house, breakfast, work, kiting in the afternoon, more work, cook dinner on the patio, sleep.” I guess the beauty of an ideal day is that specifics aren’t necessary.

While we daydreamed, I made honey dijon chicken with asparagus for dinner. With the leftovers, I wrapped the chicken in whole wheat wraps with greens and candied bacon (because I can’t let a day go by with bacon on hand without eating it!). I packed these up for E for lunch as more snow fell outside our window as we got ready for our morning commute. Those lazy days at the beach are looking more and more ideal.

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