summer time, and the livin' is LAZY

23 days between posts... my, aren't I turning into quite the lazy-butt!

In my defense, things are moving quite fast in all this heat, so fast it's hard to keep up.

I have decided to rent out the Graybar condo. Despite all the remodeling we did (and how darn cute i think it looks!), we were unable to sell it and frankly, folks, I'm just ready to move on. I'll be moving over toward the 12 south district (walking to the frothy monkey and the devi clinic? yes, please!) and two very sweet girls will be moving into Graybar.

Needless to say, moving out is taking up a lot of head space! Mixed in with all of that are money-thoughts. The Prius has been the "biggest" green thing I've done, and it has been cause for lots of thinking about both my place in the big world and my little concerns about money and quality of life.

The past 8 months have been a time of great changes for me in the way i think about my life and my goals about how i want to live it. Living like a hotel guest in the condo while it's been on the market has been at the center of these thoughts... one big thought was "should I sell the Prius?"

Cons:
- I only have to fill up once a month most of the time
- what am I gonna buy to replace it? some old clunker that breaks down all the time? I've been using the Prius to drive to Memphis & Chattanooga for my new job and it really pays off b/c the company reimburses mileage at $0.505 a mile!
- if i get a bike, what the hell am I going to do when it rains? when i have to look nice (i.e. not sweaty?)
- I just bought a new set of tires for it
- I am seriously attached to the cute little thing

Pros: (here's where it gets interesting)
- According to the Kelley Blue Book site, I could actually private-party sell my car for just $1,413 less than the loan i took out on it originally... that's $2,554 more than I currently owe on the loan. What i boils down to is that I could basically sell the prius and it would have only cost me $6K to use it for 17 months.
- If those numbers are correct, I could get a bike and stop using gas pretty much altogether (just renting a car when i need to drive out of town - and if those numbers are correct, I could rent a car 40% of the year.)

So.
I'm really having a hard time with this.
Given that the condo has not sold, while the renters will be covering my mortgage costs, I still have the debt i incurred in remodeling the little beastie. Not having a car payment would mean i could pay those suckers down much faster than I will currently be able to.
But, I whine to myself, I like her so muuuuuuuuch...

Well, a happy Friday to you all. I'm looking forward to a weekend of a little packing (I probably have 2 boxes of stuff in addition to the furniture) and a lot of taking advantage of my last weekend to be blissing out on the back patio. This time next week, chickadees, I'll be out of that condo until at least July 31 2009.

and spring became the summer

Well, regular season college baseball is at a close - the conference tourneys start up at the end of this week - and summer is surely upon us.

I totally forgot to tell y'all that my "carbon pawprint" article (downloads a .pdf) came out in the March/April issue of Nashville Paw. Somewhat of a combo of me and Heather, the editor, composing it, but it's alright I suppose.

I have a temporary roommate for the moment (please, universe, see fit to have my condo sell) who is AWESOME. Here's her website. She just moved back to Nashville from NYC and is waiting for the lease to be up from the person renting her house, so I'm getting the benefits of having a wonderful person to share my space, pay attention to Madeline and cook dinner! And, this Saturday (last I heard), she's starting a Yoga In The Park class in Centennial! It never occured to me before, but doing yoga on the ground - not on concrete or a wooden floor - really sounds wonderful.

A couple of weekends ago, Madeline and I went with Julie & Hayley to the Centennial Dog Park, and it was AWESOME!!! Maddie is so weird - she didn't want to have anything to do with anyone but me when we were in the big dog section (which, really, there were small dogs in there, too, lots of dachshunds and shih zus and terriers), but when we went over to the small dog section, she was friendly as could be! The thought of living 1 block from there makes me tingle with delight. Walking to work, baseball AND the dog park? I'm smitten.

The more I think about it, the more I'm contemplating jettisoning the Prius. Well, really, I'm thinking about making Matt take it, getting rid of his big 'ole truck, and just having him bring it to me when i need to make a long drive (or, heck, renting one!). Talk about cutting costs! No insurance, no necessary parking space, no oil changes, no car payment! WOW!

Anyway, I'm rambling. Summer is definitely in full swing outside, with June just around the corner. I cannot WAIT for some poolside margaritas and some beer on the lake.

World Carfree Day, Sept. 22

Every September 22, people across the globe get together to swear off their cars – if only for one day – in a collective reminder that we don't have to accept car-dominated societies, cities, or personal lives. Since its earliest incarnations in the 1970s and ‘80s, WORLD CARFREE DAY has grown into a massive global celebration of human-centric communities and people-powered transportation.

Carfree Day 2007 could turn out to be the biggest yet. For the first time, China’s government is hopping on board, with official events talking place in more than 100 cities, including Beijing and Shanghai. (Officials will reportedly be trading in their famed black sedans for public transportation.)

As the world tunes in to the fact that the climate is heating up, this is the perfect opportunity to take the heat off the planet, and put it on city planners and politicians to give priority to cycling, walking and public transport, instead of oil-hungry automobiles.

Does anyone know of anything going on in Nashville related to this?