The single life

I'm no economist, but apparently the economy has gone to shit.  I don't know... something about mortgages and some guy named Bernie Madoff.

Anyway- Mr. Diagnosis Deferred works in finance.  This means that I don't see much of him these days.  In fact, over the last year his appearances have been pretty spotty.  He's in his cuff links and his suit (he's totally adorable...) and off to work early-early and often home after I've fallen asleep.  Not that I'm complaining.  The truth is, we're just thrilled that he still has a job (knocking enthusiastically on wood).

Here is my little list of things to do when you are married, but you may as well be single.

1.  Read.  A lot.  I joined one of those book swapping sites because paying $3 to ship a book and receive a new one beats the hell out of paying retail.  Relatedly, I've joined a book club.  It's really more of a "chatting/eating/drinking wine whilst briefly mentioning the book with ten girlfriends" club, but I think it still counts as an intellectual endeavor.

2.  Volunteer.  Every Wednesday night I trek to Harlem to mentor a phenomenal group of 7-12 year old girls.  They are fantastically funny and they love every second that we spend with them.

3.  Create.  Mr. DD treated me to a six week pottery class for my dirty thirty.  I start in a few weeks and I'm beyond excited.  I'll keep you posted.  When my mother-in-law was newly married and living abroad, she took a flower arranging class.  To this day, she can do amazing things with even the most meager of  bodega bouquets.  I am terribly jealous impressed.  Next stop, flower school.

Also, a brief list of Don'ts:
-Call too often to "check in"
-Over-feed the fish
-Get carried away with the self-tanning and teeth-whitening and exfoliation and at-home hair dying
-Spend too much time on Facebook
-Waste endless hours watching YouTube hair and makeup tutorials