We all do it, each and everyone one of us.  You are out with your friends, at your desk eating lunch or riding your bike home and you see or think of a really cool place that you want to go to.  A restaurant, bar, club, museum, park or just a street you’ve never been down.  You have these mini revelations and get so excited because you’ve just thought of something to do or somewhere to go the next time you have some free time and are looking for something to do or somewhere to go.

Inevitably, when the time finally arrives and you have that open afternoon or evening, you can’t think of anything.  You turn to you friend, wife, GF, whoever and the exchange goes a little something like this:

You:  What do you wanna’ do?

Him, her, other: I don’t know. What do you wanna’ do?

You: I don’t know. What do you feel like doing?

Him, her, other:  I don’t know, What do you feel like doing?

This goes on in some form or another for and hour and a half before you end up making a snack, crack open whatever bottle of wine is left on the shelf and then debate the merits of Netflix’ streaming library before watching a movie you’ve seen 3 times already.

Now there’s nothing wrong with this scenario, in fact, it sounds like a nice night(and I wish I had more of these lately).  But the fact remains, you and I didn’t stay in because that was our intention and the best option but because we probably spend all week thinking, being creative and working too hard.  By the time you get some “down time” the last thing you want to do is think too deep on it.  That’s why bars have “regulars”.  It’s just that much easier not to think about it.

This summer we(I say we because my GF and I came up with this plan and she was much better at it than me) came up with a plan to combat this very issue.  Rather than make that half-ass attempt that I just outlined, we made an actual list!  Thanks to the advanced technology of the iPhone, she managed to put together a pretty robust list.  The premise was simple, in order to focus ourselves, the list was limited to spots, locations that were within walking/biking distance that we could enjoy together with some outdoor seating and a simple drink menu.  Anything beyond that was just a bonus.

In no time at all we had this great list so the problem was solved.  As I was riding to the train station this morning, I realized the weather had turned, the outdoor seating/drinks season was over and it was time to recap the list to check our progress.

Apparently, we spent a lot of nights debating the merits of Netflix’ streaming library(and I’ve watched Point Break 4 times this summer) because I’m pretty sure a generous estimate would be 2!  2 Items checked off the list!  I guess the best list in the world isn’t the answer, gonna’ have to go back to the drawing board!