Enjoying Today Day on the Highline

A couple of years ago, my husband, Matt and I came up with a brilliant idea: what if, instead of waiting for a holiday to show up on the calendar, you simply picked your own day and celebrated whenever you wanted? Instead of waiting for the calendar to dictate your time off, you could choose a day that worked best for you? Out of that conversation, “Today Day” was born: a holiday day of your choosing where you simply decide to celebrate, well, Today!

Today Day is, essentially, a vacation day. It’s a day where you can take a break from the usual work tasks and responsibilities, from running errands or doing the laundry, and truly focus on enjoying the day laid out before you. It’s a day to be indulgent: have a glass of wine with lunch! Take a gelato break in the afternoon! It’s a day to do those fun things you never seem to have the time to do: check out your local museum exhibit, or take a walk in that neighborhood you keep meaning to check out. Or it can be a day to chill out: sleep til noon, watch old black & white movies all afternoon, order in from a fancy restaurant.

Basically, Today Day is YOUR DAY to celebrate whatever you want to, and to make it as active or slowed down as you’d like. And you decide when you want it to happen!

Since having our epiphany a couple of years ago, Matt and I celebrate Today Day about twice a year. We decided to celebrate our latest Today Day on Friday. We both took the day off from work and spent a delicious day romping around Manhattan, checking out all those fun places we’ve been meaning to see. We had a decadent lunch in the West Village, followed by a potent shot of espresso at a coffee bar we’ve been wanting to check out for months. We spent the afternoon touring the beautiful Highline Park (see photo of me above!) and when the steamy heat was too much to bear, we took refuge at a popsicle bar that uses local fruits to make their frozen treats. After a late-afternoon margarita, we went to dinner at one of our favorite tapas places that we hardly get to visit, and then made a long, hot trek across the city to see a movie we’ve been dying to check out. It was a lovely, indulgent, super-fun day that charged us up for the weekend ahead. It was a way of reconnecting with each other in our own city, doing silly and exciting things that we wouldn’t ordinarily get to on our jam-packed weekends.

Are you feeling spent? Want to take a break, but don’t want to wait for your next vaca or calendar holiday? Choose your own Today Day and celebrate NOW!