School days, school days.

Though I always hated The First Day of School, I adored Back To School (BTS) Shopping.
And I'm actually not talking about clothes.

I went to a Catholic school for grades 1-8, so until the summer before ninth grade, copious amounts of clothing sales meant nothing to me.
{Among many other things I blame on my going to Catholic school, my penchant for shopping definitely takes the cake because once I got the taste of it before going into freshman year, I never looked back.}

I'm talking about something much, much deeper than that.
I'm talking ... notebooks.

... pens.
... highlighters.
... Trapper Keepers.

... folders.
And the piece de resistance ... loose-leaf paper.
{Oh God, how I loved loose-leaf paper.}

Nothing to me - someone who's been writing (sometimes pure drivel) since I was 10 - is more enticing than loose-leaf paper or a fresh notebook.
I loved the smell of it, the feel of it, the promise of it.
The ideas that would unfurl between those light blue lines - how powerful is that? Knowing my words - even if they were chem notes I sure as hell wouldn't understand or algebra I haven't used once in the near 15 years since I graduated - would fill up those lines.
Mind. Blowing. Exclamation point!

Even today, I get giddy when I go into an office supply store, or down the BTS aisle of [insert local discount mart here]. I could stay there for hours picking out the perfect notebooks and smelling all the paper surrounding me.
{The pens have always, always been blue PaperMate pens. And only blue PaperMate pens.}

And how about the promise of a new school year?
The year you'll make the honor roll, the cheerleading squad, snag the cute bad boy?
Oh it's always so rife with possibility.

Which is exactly why I've been thinking about BTS time a lot lately, and decided to make my own BTS promises this school year, even though I:
1. Do not go to school.
2. Do not work in a school.
3. Do not have children I am preparing to send off to school.

This is my Back To School list:

- I will learn to cook. Once and for all. Without dramatics. Maybe whilst wearing my pearls. And with a martini within reach.
- I will grow my nails. And upkeep them, instead of biting them or picking at them.
- I will clean more often in the nooks and crannies of the fabulous apartment I adore, instead of taking the easy way out.
- I will wear a fabulous dress to the office at least once a week. Maybe accessorized with the pearls.
- I will freelance.
- I will learn to meditate.
- I will get back into jogging. Once and for all.
- I will revel in the fact that I am single, even if I get lonely sometimes. Good things - great things - come to those who wait. Ever so patiently.

Fin.