I had a hankering for some cookies, and my go to cookie is oatmeal (it has to be marginally healthier than anything with chocolate chips, right?). As I was getting all the ingredients together to bake I noticed I was out of brown sugar. What a perfect excuse to walk to the store!

I live on Old University Avenue and my store of choice is the Regent Market Co-op. I have gone to quite a few grocery stores since I moved to Madison in October of 2012. I have settled on the RMC for several reasons, the first of which is location! It is less than a 10 minute walk from my door. It also has everything I need and nothing I don’t. I don’t waste time deciding from 27 different kinds of peanut butter. It is small, with full shelves. It reminds me of some of the grocery stores that I remember from my semester abroad in Poland. From the front door to the back of the store isn’t even halfway across the parking lot at many stores. It also has a sense of community – most of the time I see the same people working there. For me it is a good fit. When I eventually move it will be one of the things I will miss the most.

The walk there on Allen Street is a pleasant one. It seem like a nice neighborhood, almost idyllic. Someone had a sprinkler out and it was hitting the sidewalk. I tried to come up with something clever and the best I could do was “Those who water the sidewalk shouldn’t be cross if pedestrians walk on the lawn.” Kind of a poorly executed modern day Confucius says. I need more creative exercise.

It has been hot out and I have been trying to keep my apartment cooler. My south facing window, an asset in the winter, has become a liability in this summer heat. I have had to decide between keeping the blinds and curtains closed and letting my window plants suffer and keeping them open and letting all the heat in. But this morning I found a happy medium. I opened the blinds half way and put the curtains behind the plants. By the time I returned from work the area in the light was 90 degrees F but the rest of the apartment in the dark was a cool 85 degrees. I am chalking this solution up as a “win” for life improvements.

Have you improved your life recently, even with something as small as keeping your room cooler?

Website for Regent Market Co-Op here: http://www.regentmarketcoop.org/