where do you go to relax?

I’m currently hiding out in a Whole Foods.  I’ve been here since 2:15. Escaped the house while the boy was napping and the nanny in effect.

Grocery shopping is so astonishingly relaxing for me. Some days, when Jonah is fussy, I’ll bring both of us here just for the change of pace, entertainment value. He loves riding in a carrier on me or in the cart, noshing on fruit, staring at the lights hanging down from the high warehouse ceilings. He’ll be so quietly content, I can forget he’s even with me. Suddenly, I’ll look down at him. Mentally apologize for my mental absence.

But I still can’t totally focus on shopping when he’s with me.

Today I bought spices, jam, wipes, formula, maple syrup, bath ducks, fizzy water, bread, cheese, eggs, goat butter, tortillas, water crackers, dried apricots, baby echinacea syrup, and a snack of macaroni and cheese and sauteed Brussels sprouts and ginger ale. For $164.40.

That’s some pretty expensive retail therapy.

I planned to work, using the wireless internet here. But I’ve not been working much. I’ve been surfing the internet mostly. Enjoying this extended moment of not being needed, even as I feel the milk pooling in my mammaries.

The truth is, I’m fried. Jonah’s being sick, nursing for hours, being cranky, and my not getting enough sleep through no fault of his but only my own, and then Scott and I continually working on cutting down our 2009 budget and the economy completely falling apart. You know.

But for the moment Fleetwood Mac is pitterpattering down from the speakers overhead, the Odwalla refrigerator is providing a nice vibrating thrum, this metal chair is surprisingly comfortable. I have about 30 minutes before I need to go home, nurse Jonah, start cooking dinner. Maybe I’ll get something done yet?

5 comments for “where do you go to relax?

  1. February 4, 2009 at 8:10 pm

    Tonight, I had 30+ blissful minutes with a chicken burrito (smothered in guacamole) and a book I’ve been looking forward to reading. All alone in a restaurant. No one asking me for a drink/more food/some form of entertainment every 30 seconds. Absolute bliss that I almost never experience.

    Katie’s last blog post..I’m Becoming Obsolete

  2. eva
    February 4, 2009 at 11:06 pm

    Mmmm odwalla smoothies. Mmmm. I also love Whole Foods for relaxing and buying stuff that can be totally “justified” (REALLY needed that goat butter). Wal-mart just doesn’t cut it. Clothes shopping doesn’t either because “I look horrible & nothing fits right!”

    Good luck with getting your work done.

    eva’s last blog post..Three New Firsts

  3. February 4, 2009 at 11:15 pm

    My kids are school age. They go to school, and I go to bed. That’s where I relax.

    But to hide out, I like my college library, a mile from my house in a park-like campus. THere are a couple of great spots upstairs and down, with redwood tree views. Or I hang around the plaza in the sun, or I take a walk. The woods are nice, too.

    I’ll go to any library in fact.

  4. February 5, 2009 at 1:21 pm

    I used to go to Elephant. (Sigh, rending of garments.) I’d go to Target if I could drive.

    Honestly I think I relax at work. Maybe too much…I just ordered more Frye boots off Zappos. Oops. Don’t tell Matt.

    Laura’s last blog post..His Russian cousin

  5. February 5, 2009 at 4:54 pm

    i fake shop at target.
    get a cart. wheel it around and study absolutely every single household item, put some in the cart, then put them all back before deciding you really don’t need the $10 burts bees bath soap so leave empty handed.
    i feel marvelous after this. it’s like i shopped but i didn’t spend any money.
    *never attempt this when you actually have things you need to buy. you will end up with way more stuff than you wanted*
    (it only works with no baby, though…she’ll latch onto something if i take her with me and she’s now decided that being strapped in to ANYTHING is torture)

    krista’s last blog post..reroute

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