Whew!

The last week or so I've been trying to stay away from the computer unless to do something of importance (aka: apply for jobs, email) instead of actually writing. The heat wasn't very nice to any of us, and it certainly wasn't too nice to my computer. Every time my computer got too hot, it threatened to shut down. Of course, as I expected the heat also affected my writing, creativity, and took it's toll on productivity. For the most part I did what a lot of you did, sat in front of a fan and sweated!
Although the hot weather threw me off of my normal routine, I managed to get through it in the best of ways, (and through a couple of nights spent in a hotel room with AC! Thanks Katie and Mom!) and soon the 105-107 degree heat will start cooling off (Rain is predicted for this Thursday, folks!).
I also went off of my normal routine of cooking. I did a lot of trips to the New Seasons deli, tried to scrounge free food at parties, and mostly drank a lot of iced tea and water. I also got creative in ways to cool down.....

1.) I learned this a long time ago in one of my "Seventeen" magazines when I was in high school. Take all of your daily toiletries, including shampoos, face washes, lotions, sunscreen, etc and put them in the fridge.

2.) Keep a spray bottle next to you. Throw in some herbs like lavender or rosemary if you have some on hand.

3.) Ice Cubes.

4.) Go to a coffee house where they give you $.50 refills on iced tea and coffee and do your job search there. The air-conditioned space is worth the $2.50 that you spend.

5.) Keep a couple wet washcloths in the fridge.

In the dead heat of last week I managed to get to the river with a couple of friends, nail an interview (Fingers crossed!), finish a book, celebrate a friend's birthday, got back together with another few friends from college, saw my boyfriend who was in from New York this weekend (yay!), and we went to a wedding of a childhood friend of mine (Congrats Katie and Elijah!). Although unemployment certainly hinders other means of lifestyle, such as buying a plane ticket to Europe or a $50 shirt at Anthropologie, it definitely makes meeting up with friends seem more leisurely and fun, as you aren't running up to the bar every hour getting another $4 drink. Instead, things are more focused on conversation, slowing things down, being creative and finding better (and cheaper) things to do. Having to scratch by makes buying a beer or a bottle of Kombucha a treat. This is probably the poorest I've been in a long time, but is by far the best summer ever, record heat and all.