Monthly Archives: February 2021

Looking Back At Some Of My New Habits (or Things I Want To Keep Doing)

Posted on February 26, 2021 | Comments Off on Looking Back At Some Of My New Habits (or Things I Want To Keep Doing)

I know the pandemic isn’t really almost over, but I want to believe we are coming up at the end. I hope we are past the halfway point, and I feel like that is a safe assumption. Of course, things can change so quickly (as we’ve all learned this past year), but I’m trying to stay positive and hope that we are almost to a time when we don’t have to be in the middle of a health crisis.

And I think part of the reason I think this way is because I have slowly started to have a schedule that resembles what my schedule was like a year ago. I still don’t have a big social life (at least outside of my home), but I have a regular work schedule again and I need to plan out my days to make sure I’m getting everything done that I need to. And because things are starting to feel a bit more normal to me, I’ve been thinking a lot more about my life after the pandemic is done.

The idea of being done with the pandemic is a weird one still to me. It feels like everything went from normal to pandemic times overnight. That sort of switch is unlikely to happen as we come out of this. I would guess things slowly get back to normal again. But the idea that it could be like flipping a switch has stayed in my head and I don’t know if that’s a bad thing. I want to be prepared for my regular life again, whether that takes time to get back to or if it happens overnight.

So recently, I have been thinking more and more about the new habits and routines I have started in the past year. Some of these things are things specific to the pandemic, like how I disinfect things more than I used to or things I have taken up because I needed to find ways to fill my time. But most things I have started to do in the past year are things that either I have wanted to have as habits for a while or are good and positive changes that I want to keep up.

I think the most obvious one is that I have been able to get more into cooking. I still struggle with cooking a lot and don’t do it as much as I would like, but it’s still better than it was a year ago. I have figured out more things I can buy so that it’s easier for me to make meals each day. Not everything has to be made from scratch. There are things I can keep in my house that help me put together easy meals with very little time or effort. And this is something I want to not only keep up, but continue to grow and maybe one day in the future I will be cooking almost everything I eat instead of relying on delivery food or microwave meals.

Going along with cooking, I’ve gotten into a new cleaning routine. This was something I was working on before the pandemic, but having the time to work on this has been good. I have always been someone who has a small bit of routine with cleaning. For as long as I can remember, I have always done my laundry on Sundays. This goes back to when I was in elementary or middle school (whatever age I was when I started doing my own laundry). But the rest of my cleaning hasn’t been a regular schedule. I do still do 5-10 minutes of speed cleaning every day, but it’s always been random cleaning tasks. Now, I’m trying to be more mindful of what days I do different things. This is still something I’m working out, but I’m getting better at it. And since I have focused more on cleaning, I have gotten better at what cleaning products I have in my house. I have made it easier for me to do a big clean around my house and keeping all the tools I might need in a central place. Having a cleaning caddy is a very small thing I did, but it made a big change in my life.

I’ve also changed up my beauty/self-care routine in the past year. Some of this was due to boredom and needing to find things to fill time. So I did a bit more into my daily routines since it took up time in my morning. But recently, I’ve been a bit more selective about what self-care things I do each day since I don’t have endless time every day. But I still have gotten into a good routine especially with my skincare. I actually have reduced the number of products I’ve used when compared to a year ago. I’ve realized I don’t need to use as much stuff on my skin to make it look nice. I did change up a few products because I noticed some issues after wearing masks, but those are all minor things that I know will be easy to stop doing once that’s no longer an issue with my skin.

But I think the best new habit I’ve started that I want to keep up is just finding different ways to stay in touch with people. Everyone has had to do that over the past year. I have done more phone calls and video calls in the past year than probably in the 10 years before. In-person hangouts will always be best, but I have learned that I don’t have to just use those to stay in touch with people. I know that my calls will be reduced once I’m not using that as often, but I won’t be getting rid of regular phone calls with friends.

I hope that one day in the future, I will look back at this time with a positive mindset. I know that it’s been horrible and so many people have died who didn’t need to. There’s no doubt that I wish we never went through this. But I’m working on being grateful for the things I have learned and picked up during this year of isolation and seeing how it can make my life better going forward.

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Vaccine Envy Is Real (or Trying To Stay Positive)

Posted on February 25, 2021 | Comments Off on Vaccine Envy Is Real (or Trying To Stay Positive)

The other day on the news, they were talking about people experiencing vaccine envy. This is when you are upset that you haven’t been vaccinated when others have and you may do things that aren’t the best to try to get vaccinated sooner. Some people have tried to lie about their age or job in order to be vaccinated in a higher-risk group. Others have tried to bribe doctors to let them cut the line.

And there are some legitimate ways to jump the line if you have the time and ability to do so. Most places will have leftover doses at the end of the day. They have to use up all the doses in a vial because they cannot be put back in the freezer. So different states have organized different ways to be on a waitlist or standby list for those extra doses at the end of the day. Los Angeles doesn’t have a great system for this, but it’s still possible to be lined up for the chance at an early vaccine. A friend of mine did that and waited outside in a line all day and was one of the lucky few toward the front of the line that got a vaccine that day.

I have no problem with the standby lines since it is better to see the vaccine go to someone who wants it than to throw doses away. But I do see that it can be a privilege to be able to wait in line all day. Other states have online lists you can join and you are notified if there are extra doses. And maybe LA will do that soon. But for now, I can’t take a day off work to wait in line and I’m ok waiting my turn.

Hopefully, my turn for a vaccine will be soon. There are two ways I should be eligible for a vaccine in March. But getting an appointment for a vaccine is still tough to find here and because one is based on a medical condition, there aren’t a lot of things out there about how to get an appointment. I called my hospital and they don’t have a policy in place just yet. But they told me to keep checking the recorded phone line and to call when I hear of a way I could get my appointment set up. I don’t blame anyone for the confusion about the next round of appointments for people who are eligible. It’s confusing for everyone and I know everyone involved is trying their best with the information they have at the moment. And that information changes often.

And while I don’t have vaccine envy the way that some people do with trying to find any way to get a vaccine, I know I do have a form of vaccine envy. Or maybe it could be a lack of concern about the pandemic envy. For almost a year, I have rarely left my house and rarely seen anyone in person. I have been taking so many precautions to not get sick. And while I’m so grateful I have physically stayed healthy, mentally this time has been so hard on me. And I wish I could be someone who wasn’t always in fear of getting sick. I wish I didn’t stress out about seeing friends because they might not be taking the same precautions as I am. I miss having a life outside of the walls of my house. And in a way, I’m jealous of people who don’t care. I know that caring about being safe is important and if more people did that then maybe things wouldn’t be as bad. But it’s still hard to not be jealous of those who don’t care and haven’t had to give up their life for almost a year.

But I know this time is temporary. I will get a vaccine. Hopefully, it’s next month, but even if it isn’t, I will be getting one eventually. And I am luckier than most because I will be eligible in one of the next groups. It’s just a matter of time for when I get an appointment. And I know that getting a vaccine won’t fix everything or make it completely safe for me. But it will take the edge off of my fear and I won’t have to worry as much about COVID killing me. And having even a little of my fear go away is something I can’t wait for and is giving a little hope even when I’m having darker moments.

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I’m An Aunt Again! (or Welcome To The World Presley!)

Posted on February 24, 2021 | Comments Off on I’m An Aunt Again! (or Welcome To The World Presley!)

At the beginning of the pandemic, I became an aunt to my nephew Rory. When my sister-in-law was pregnant, my family had planned on being in Santa Barbara when my nephew arrived (not necessarily at the hospital, but nearby so we could meet him after he was born). Everything changed so fast and obviously, we couldn’t be there when Rory was born. And when my sister-in-law told me that she was pregnant again, I had hoped the pandemic would be done by the time the baby was born, but I had no clue if that would be possible.

I only got to see my family a few times since my nephew was born. And there weren’t any of the traditional celebration things for a new baby coming. There wasn’t a baby shower this time (although, that’s not always done for a second kid). But I did get my niece similar gifts to what I got my nephew (a few books and I custom made some bookplates). I wish we all could have celebrated my niece before she was born, but that’s just not the world we are currently in. But I still tried to celebrate virtually however I could.

As much as I would like to say that my niece was born at the end of the pandemic so they would be bookends of this weird time, I’m not sure this is exactly the end. But either way, my niece arrived last week! And it’s so exciting that she’s here!

She was born a little earlier than we all expected, but since my family knew we couldn’t be there when she was born, it was ok. My sister-in-law’s parents live near them, so they watched my nephew when my niece was born. And I guess I’m used to becoming an aunt during a pandemic because it seems very normal to me now that I won’t be meeting her for a little while. I should be able to meet her around my nephew’s first birthday (my family will be together again then), so I just have to be ok with the photos that are texted in my family text group. And I have to say that my niece Presley is super adorable!

I can’t wait to see Rory and Presley together and to see them bond as siblings. I’m sure there will be some adjustment time for Rory since he’s used to having all the attention. But soon, having a younger sibling will be all that Rory really knows and he will forget the first year of his life when he was an only child.

It’s crazy to me that a year ago, I technically wasn’t an aunt yet. And now, I have both a niece and a nephew! And while there hasn’t been much I could do with my nephew before (both because of the pandemic and because he was so little), I can’t wait until Rory and Presley are older and I can do some fun things with them. I already want to help be a part of their first trip to Disneyland and get them some cute Disney ears to wear! And I can’t wait to see what their personalities are like as they grow up. It’s going to be so fun to watch them get older, especially when it will be easier to see them and my family will be able to get together more often.

So many people in my life have had kids in the past year, and it’s been a bit weird to think they are being parents and I haven’t met their kids yet. It’s another element of the isolation of this pandemic that is hard to remember at times. I know I will get to meet all the babies eventually and will be used to my friends and family being parents, but for now, I don’t know if it’s totally hit me yet. But even if it doesn’t always feel real, I’m always so excited to hear someone else had their baby. And knowing that baby is my niece is just that much more exciting!

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Another Work Meeting (or Starting To Plan How Work Will Go For Me)

Posted on February 23, 2021 | Comments Off on Another Work Meeting (or Starting To Plan How Work Will Go For Me)

Not too long ago, I had a meeting about my data entry job and what this year would look like for my work. Last year was a very weird year for that job. Because most of my work was centered around finding in-person events, it was very difficult to do. I also had to balance my job and unemployment because I needed to be at a certain level of work to keep my eligibility for unemployment for my other job. And the end of the year is always a bit weird for that job because I am only on temporary 1-year contracts, so I have to hope that I will get a new contract offered to me right away. Sometimes there is a gap in time between one contract ending and a new one starting, but they really try to keep it so there is no break in my work.

In my meeting, we discussed the issues I was having with finding events as well as work expectations for 2021. That’s when I officially found out I’d be getting a new contract right away, but I had assumed that would be the case. And we talked about increasing my hours again as well as changing up my work. And t the end of that meeting, I was feeling really great about things. My work was still going to be partially focused on finding in-person events and I’ll be doing about the same number of hours doing that as I have been doing. But I will be adding more hours doing some social media work that happens to be very similar to the work that I’m doing for my new job! It really worked out perfectly for me because they were looking for someone to do social media work and I just happened to get a new job doing that right before they asked me.

So I have known this change was going to come for a little bit, but a few things had to be set up before I started the new work. And last week, I finally had my mini-training meeting about the social media work. Fortunately, it’s not anything too different for me. It’s almost like my data entry work and social media work were mashed together and created a new job. So it’s the type of work that I’m already used to doing but with a different type of social media account. And we did discuss a bit more about expectations for what I will be able to get done each week, so I feel a bit better about making sure that I don’t feel like I’m slacking off with work.

And this week, I will be starting the additional work for that job. I’m always a little nervous about new work or work tasks, but I know I will ok doing this. I just have to get a few systems set up for myself so I can work efficiently and maximize my time. And once I’m in a routine with the new tasks, then I am going to start doing some more planning with my work life in general. While I don’t have the option right now to go back to my box office job, I have been told this may be coming soon. It depends a lot on when more shows will reopen. And I’m still trying to see if I can fit that job in now that I have other work.

But between my new job and the additional hours for my data entry job, I’m almost back to what I was making before everything shut down. I’m a little shocked that’s true because it almost felt like I couldn’t be back until I was back at my old job. But I guess getting my new job and the hours I work there have really helped me. I still feel like I’m dealing with unemployment even though I’m not.

And because I’m almost back at where I was before, that means I need to get more serious about budgeting again. I’ve slowly been working on getting back into my budgeting habit, but it wasn’t easy without feeling secure in my income. And that’s finally changing for me. And I need to start planning things forward instead of waiting for things to go back to how they were before. There aren’t a lot of things moving forward in my life these days, but this is one and I have to make sure I don’t ignore planning ahead just because other things are stagnant.

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A Weightlifting Week (or Of Course I’m Still Changing It Up)

Posted on February 22, 2021 | Comments Off on A Weightlifting Week (or Of Course I’m Still Changing It Up)

After I wrote my post last week about my workouts, I was having a lot of thoughts about how things are going. I’m trying to stay optimistic about my time of working out at home being close to done. I still don’t know for sure when I will be able to be vaccinated, so it’s still a little unknown when I will feel safe to go to the outdoor workouts. But I feel like there is a finish line that I’m coming up to now. So that was making me feel pretty good.

But I have been feeling down about my workouts for a while. I don’t think there is any denying that. I’m sure it can be read in my posts. I’m not happy with what I’m able to do. I don’t have the options that I want to have a tough workout and it’s hard to not compare myself to my past self. I know that this time is not normal and I have to give some flexibility in what is possible. And in the end, I will be grateful that I made it through this time and not worried about how my workouts went. And I know that to be true, but it doesn’t help when I’m not feeling great about my workouts and wondering if I’m just doing the home workouts to feel better about myself but I’m not doing anything to make myself better.

And then a friend and I were talking and they said something that I didn’t consider before. While I know cardio is important to do, it’s not easy to do in my house. I do try to use my jump rope when I can, but I dream of the day I can get back on the rowing machine. I’m still on a waitlist for renting one, but I’m guessing I won’t be getting one until after I’m back at my regular workouts. So cardio to me is just frustrating and feels impossible. And the negative things I mention in my workout recaps are often about my lack of strength. So my friend suggested that I try to just do weightlifting workouts.

I don’t know why I didn’t think of this as an option. But once they said it, it seemed like something I needed to try and see how I did. So I did a little research online and found a good and basic weightlifting plan. It’s a full-body weightlifting plan (so I don’t have things like back or leg days) and just did that for my workouts last week. And it was a different feeling for sure. I still was frustrated when I was thinking about how I used to be able to squat with one weight and now I’m below that. Or how I was getting tired with lower reps than I was used to. But it wasn’t as frustrating as my workouts with cardio have been.

And even though there wasn’t technically a cardio element to the workout, I was getting my heart rate up just by doing the exercises back to back. And another thing that was nice was that it was a bit faster for me to do that workout than the video workouts I had been doing. I wasn’t taking as many breaks to see the next workout moves and could quickly move from one thing to another. And when I have limited time before work, a shorter workout is good. It still took me about 30-35 minutes each time, but it was packed with workout time and almost no break time.

I don’t know if I feel a huge difference in my body, but it was nice to not feel as let down by my workouts. And because it seems like so little in my life is stable these days, I am writing this now and for all I know, I will have a totally new plan this week. But as I have written so many times in the past 11 months, I just have to keep going and keep trying and not give up. And that’s exactly what I’ll keep doing. And if that means just doing weightlifting and strength work, I’ll do that. If it means I keep changing every week, I’ll do that. I guess I’ll just have to see where my fitness inspiration comes each week.

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Thoughts Almost A Year Into The Pandemic (or Things Still Seem So Weird)

Posted on February 19, 2021 | Comments Off on Thoughts Almost A Year Into The Pandemic (or Things Still Seem So Weird)

In a month, it will be 1 year since things shut down in California. I know the pandemic didn’t necessarily start when things shut down, but that’s the date most people seem to be using. I remember before things shut down how we knew about COVID and that it was starting to appear here, but we didn’t think it was going to get that bad.

I remember very clearly being at the baby shower for my nephew and how we were talking about cases but there weren’t any thoughts about it getting severe here. Nobody was wearing masks, we were crowded into a small room, and there was a big crowd. The idea of it almost makes me anxious thinking back at what we were doing and how little we were worried. That was only 11 months ago. And shortly after the baby shower, everything changed.

While I never thought of this weird time as something fun or interesting, it was a bit of a novelty at first. I think everyone who used to work in offices was getting a kick out of working from home. I was happy to share any tips and tricks I had learned from working from home for years. People who lost their jobs didn’t seem too worried at first because they seemed like temporary layoffs. I remember when my Orangetheory studio shut down, they were saying it would probably be open again in a month. We all assumed this time would be a brief blip and we’d be back to what felt normal to us before we knew it.

And I know there are people out there that haven’t had too many changes in their lives. There are some people who didn’t really have a choice and still had to go to work even if they didn’t feel safe, like grocery store employees. And there are others who either didn’t believe this was as bad as people said or they didn’t care and they continued living their lives normally with no concern about safety.

While I thought of the lockdown as a bit of a novelty at first, I was also terrified. I hated that I was alone and so far from family. I didn’t have a way to have someone come stay with me and the options for me to stay with others weren’t ones that would work with me. I know I thought about maybe going to Tahoe to be with my parents for a bit of time, but I kept thinking I didn’t want to be gone once things opened up in LA and I could get back to my regular life again. Plus, it’s a long drive to do and I wasn’t going to fly.

After I lost my job, I had some time where I felt lost. I didn’t have much keeping me to a schedule. I had nothing I had to do at specific times and could just do whatever I wanted. I know I wasted a lot of time then doing nothing productive and getting into some bad habits. Some of those bad habits are still things I’m trying to break right now. But I am grateful that I have something to do most days and I have to be forced to create a schedule for myself again. It’s still a struggle, but I’m getting better at it (and that’s why it’s my challenge this month).

But the main thing I think about when I think back on the past 11 months is that I feel like I just wasted a year of my life. I know I didn’t do that, but it really does feel that way. I spent the past 11 months feeling stuck in time. And yes, I got a new job and had some changes to an old job that will be very good for me in the future, but that’s all I feel like I’ve accomplished. I haven’t made any movement forward in my fitness and weight loss goals (and I’ve really gone backward). I know my eating disorder is in a worse spot because of how we have to limit going to the grocery store so I have to keep more food in my house than I’d like to. I haven’t experienced anything new or exciting. And I feel like I’ve lost a year of trying to date and find my person. And because I still got a year older while I was trapped at home, that could possibly cause issues for me if I want to have kids in the future. My fertility didn’t pause like everything else in my life did.

I’ve joked that it’s not fair that any of us had birthdays last year. None of us should have to be a year old. I want to get my year back. But at the same time, I worry about how long it will take for me to feel safe and comfortable again even when this pandemic is done. How long will it take before I can trust that going out won’t make me sick? Will I be hesitant to go meet up with friends or go on a date if I don’t know if they’ve been out with a lot of other people? The only thing I’m not too worried about getting back is going to my workouts, but even that makes me nervous because of how I’m not worried. I don’t want to go back to working out and then that’s the reason I get sick.

I know we still have a ways to go before we can say this pandemic is over. Some estimates say this summer, some say by the end of the year. So there is a chance that I will lose almost 2 years of my life to being isolated due to the pandemic. I hope that’s not the case, but I also know that I can’t do anything to make this end faster besides staying at home so I’m not the reason others get sick.

Sorry if this was a random and rambling post. While I’m doing better mentally than I have in the past in many ways, I’m also still struggling with thinking about how long I’ve been doing this and what I haven’t been able to do. I hate feeling trapped in time, but that’s exactly how I feel. And when you live alone, it’s hard because sometimes it feels like you are the only one trapped and everyone else is out and living their lives like normal.

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Galentine’s Day and Valentine’s Day (or Not Feeling As Alone As I’ve Been)

Posted on February 18, 2021 | Comments Off on Galentine’s Day and Valentine’s Day (or Not Feeling As Alone As I’ve Been)

I’ve never been a big Valentine’s Day person. I’m assuming this is because I have almost never had a date on Valentine’s Day. The only date I can remember in my recent past on February 14th was a date with a guy that I had gone out with once or twice and we honestly didn’t realize it was on Valentine’s Day until we were trying to figure out what to do. I don’t think that really counts since it was a date that happened to be on Valentine’s Day, not a date for Valentine’s Day.

It was pretty safe for me to guess that I’d be single (and alone) for Valentine’s Day this year. I mean, as much as I’ve tried to date recently, it’s not easy to date during a pandemic. And I know I haven’t been putting as much effort into dating as I have in the past because of how tough it is. I’m still making an effort, but I know it’s not close to what I was doing when I was able to easily go out and meet the guys that I was matching with.

But I do still try to celebrate love in my life even if I don’t have romantic love right now. And I feel like I did a great job doing that this year and might have done better than I have in the past because I wasn’t thinking I might go out and do something with a guy for Valentine’s Day. I knew I’d be home so I was able to have plans in place to celebrate with friends.

Almost all of my plans happened to be on the 13th, also known as Galentine’s Day. It was just a coincidence that it happened that way, but it also was perfect that it was like that.

The first thing I had planned was my regular movie night using Netflix Party with my friends from a Facebook group. We are still watching a tv show on Wednesdays and 2 movies on Saturdays. And right now, we are working through all of the Marvel movies in timeline order. It’s been really fun to rewatch these movies and I’ve been finding myself enjoying them much more than I did in the past! Having these movie days has been such a bright spot in my life in this past year when things have been so tough. And to have one of our nights be on Galentine’s Day was nice because we all were spending the night together (but apart).

And once my movie night was done, I had a bonus friend hangout! My friend Dani (who is also taking a ton of safety and health precautions right now) was free and asked me if I wanted to hang out that evening. There was nothing we were trying to do, we just wanted to have some friend time. I’m so used to seeing her all the time between going to Disneyland and going to shows. And while we have seen each other once or twice in the past year, it’s nothing like we normally do. So we had a fun hangout night at my place!

Even though we are both taking so many precautions, we were still careful hanging out together. We tried to stay at least 6 feet apart from each other while we were inside my house. We had said we could have fun candies and snacks while hanging out, but we didn’t end up eating anything so there were no bags of treats we were both touching. If we wanted to show the other something on our phones, we held the phone to the other person instead of handing it to them. It was weird to feel distant while a friend was over, but I also know it was the only way we could really do that and not take too many risks.

And I really needed this hangout. I know I had only seen my parents a few days before, but I’ve been lacking so much social interaction that I’m craving it so much. I need to be around others and not feel like I’m alone in my house and everyone is so far away from me. I know that I can’t do things like this too often and every time I see someone in person I’m taking a big risk. And I thought about the risk and accepted it so I could do this. I’m still not going to take that many risks and I won’t be seeing other people, but I’m glad I go to do this.

Even with being single and so alone right now, it’s nice to know that I didn’t have to be so alone while many others were celebrating love. I got to celebrate it too but in my own way.

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Default ThumbnailCelebrating A Friend’s Birthday (or Not Letting Feeling Gross Stop Me From Being Social) Default ThumbnailA Milestone Birthday (or I Have A Feeling 35 Will Be Awesome) Default ThumbnailI Do Enjoy Valentine’s Day (or Celebrating All Love In My Life) Default ThumbnailMovies And Christmas Lights (or A Busy Movie Week) Default ThumbnailNew Year’s Eve In PJs (or I Think This Is Finally My Last NYE Post) Default ThumbnailSo Many Virtual Movie Nights (or Thank Goodness For Technology)

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Another Hangout Day With My Parents (or At Least I Wasn’t Dizzy This Time)

Posted on February 17, 2021 | Comments Off on Another Hangout Day With My Parents (or At Least I Wasn’t Dizzy This Time)

When my parents visited me in November, it was right after I was hit with vertigo. They weren’t originally supposed to come to LA to see me. I was going to go to Santa Barbara to see my parents as well as my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. But because of my vertigo, I was stuck at home. And I’m so grateful that my parents took a day and drove down to see me so I didn’t completely miss spending time with them. But because I was so dizzy when they were here, we didn’t really do much. I spent most of the time on the couch trying to make the room stop spinning.

When they left, I wasn’t sure when I’d see them again. I knew I’d see them around the beginning of April when they will be in Santa Barbara again for my nephew’s birthday (and I’m planning on going up for that too). But I didn’t know if there would be another time they would be down this way before that. But they decided to go to Santa Barbara again this month because they wanted to spend time with my nephew (I don’t blame them!). They asked me if I wanted to come up for a day to see everyone, but now that I’m working again I can’t really do that. I could technically drive after work, but I wouldn’t have that much time before I would have to drive back home. So my parents said they’d come down to me again for an afternoon!

I really appreciate my parents making the drive to see me. While I’m close to Santa Barbara, it’s still not super close. It’s about 90 minutes of driving each way. And I know that when they come that also means it’s one less day that they get to spend with my nephew. I know they want to see me too, but it’s easier to stay in touch with me since I can be on the phone. So I just always am grateful when they take time out of their trip to Santa Barbara to come to LA. Plus, I know they don’t really love LA, so it’s even more special that they come here for me.

This time, they came after I was done with work so I didn’t have to worry about being too distracted when they arrived. We didn’t have much planned for the afternoon, but as always my dad and I had a few projects we wanted to work on. For example, there was an automatic light timer we installed when I moved into my house 11 years ago that no longer worked. But because it was hard-wired into my light switch, my dad didn’t want me to do anything on my own. So he helped me turn off my electricity and change the switch back to the standard one. There was also a cleaning tool holder I wanted to hang up and I knew we’d have to drill into my walls. And this decorative letter holder/key hanger I had by my front door happened to fall off right before their visit and because I used foam tape on it, it took some of my wall with it when it fell. So I had to get some stuff to fill in the walls.

Fortunately, most of the projects around my house went smoothly. We had a few glitches and issues, but nothing that was too difficult to fix. We also took some time between projects to all go for a walk around my neighborhood. My mom has gone for some walks around my neighborhood with the dog before (the dog wasn’t with them for this trip), but she usually goes a different way than I do when I take walks. So I took them on my route that I like to do and it was a nice and relaxing way to spend some time.

We also ordered dinner to be delivered and got a nice family meal from Tender Greens. It was a pretty huge meal with 2 giant salads and a lot of steak. But it was delicious and nice to have a family dinner together. I usually don’t have a lot of people over for dinner, so it was a rare moment that I had 3 people eating at my dining room table. But it was nice to do that and spend some time together as a family.

And getting to catch up was really good. Even though I don’t have a ton happening in my life, things have changed since they were here in November. I do have a new job and some new things coming up with my old jobs. I will be starting some new work with my data entry job very soon so I was updating them on that. And I’ve gotten a few updates about my box office job and the potential of that coming back in the next month or two. And I did get to tell them a bit more about my new job and what I do with each part of my job. And we talked about some medical stuff happening with me and how hopefully I’ll be able to get the vaccine soon (because of their age, both of my parents were able to be vaccinated already which makes me so happy).

I didn’t want my parents to stay at my house too late because they had to drive back to Santa Barbara that night and then they were driving home the next day. But I got to spend several hours with them and accomplish everything that we had on our list. Of course, it would have been amazing if we could have done more outside of my house, but that’s not really the best thing to do right now. But maybe by the next time they come to LA to see me, things will be different and we can do more out and about.

But even with being stuck inside my house most of the time and my parents only being able to be here for a few hours, I can’t explain how wonderful it was to have them spend time with me. I rarely see anyone these days. And the few people I do see tend to be employees at the few stores I go to. I almost had the most social week in a year between getting my hair done and seeing my parents. And while spending time with people does make me miss what life was like before, I also have learned to appreciate any moment I get to spend with people I love. And I hope that appreciation is something I remember for the rest of my life.

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Default ThumbnailA Dinner Hangout (or Seeing My Sister-In-Law in LA) Default ThumbnailNot The Family Visit I Planned On Having (or An LA Afternoon) Default ThumbnailAnother Night At The Bowl (or My Parents Got To Rock Out) Default ThumbnailPart 1 Of A Family Visit (or Letting My Parents Relax A Bit) Default ThumbnailI’m Officially An Aunt (or Welcome Rory!) Default ThumbnailAnother Santa Barbara Day (or A Little Bit Of Social Interaction)

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Feeling A Bit More Like Me (or A Little Bit Of Pampering)

Posted on February 16, 2021 | Comments Off on Feeling A Bit More Like Me (or A Little Bit Of Pampering)

For almost a year now, I haven’t done a lot of things that I’m used to doing on a regular basis. Some of these things are more social events, which I miss more than I ever thought I would. But another part of this is not being able to do things that make me feel good about myself. And most of those things are related to beauty routines that used to be a consistent part of my life.

I know that beauty things can seem frivolous, but when they help boost your confidence they can mean a lot. And when I’m feeling down because of being isolated or any weight gain I might have had, it’s hard when I don’t have other things that I know make me feel good. Some of these things I have been doing better skipping than others. For example, even though I didn’t get pedicures on a regular basis, doing that was an easy way to make my day better. But missing those hasn’t been too bad. Getting waxed is another one that I’m doing slightly better with. For my upper legs, because of my autoimmune condition, shaving isn’t a good option. So getting waxed is one of the best options for me (although I’ve since learned that laser hair removal is better and I’m looking into it in the future).

But there are 2 beauty things that really affect my confidence a lot. The first is getting my eyebrows done. This was something I was doing usually every 6-8 weeks. My eyebrows aren’t as bad as they used to be as a teenager (the benefit of regular waxing), but they still look scruffy to me if I don’t take care of them. And I’m not good at doing my eyebrows myself because I know I will overdo it. So having someone else do them for me is what I choose to do. I know that some places have reopened and I could get my eyebrows done, but I’m not ready to take that risk yet.

And the other beauty thing that affects me a lot is my hair. Mainly, my hair color. I have gotten hair color from my friend who does my hair a few times so I can dye my hair at home, which has been nice. I started going gray when I was in my early 20s, and it’s only gotten significantly worse in the past few years. And I know there are so many people who rock having some gray hair, but it’s just not for me. At least not for right now. I don’t like how I look with gray hair and when it’s showing a lot it just makes me feel a bit down about myself. Dyeing my hair myself has been a big help. I also have different products I can use to cover up gray hair, and I use them when I want to cover them up. Even though I typically wear my hair back these days because I’m just at home, I still want my hair to feel like me.

So last week, I got my hair dyed again. My friend who recently has done my hair isn’t at her old salon right now, so she said she could do my hair color at her house (which is something I’m used to from before). And I know that this isn’t necessarily the safest thing to go and do, but we tried to take every precaution we could. The door to her balcony was open to there was airflow going through her place. We were both wearing KN95 masks the entire time. When we were waiting for the hair dye to be done, we stayed across the room from each other so we weren’t always super close. And she has been doing regular COVID tests and has been testing negative. So even though the safest thing would be to not do this, since I made the choice to have my hair done I think we did the best that we could.

And yes, after getting my hair dyed, I felt much better about myself. Having someone professional dye my hair is better than me dyeing it on my own. I didn’t get my hair cut because I am not too worried about how long it’s getting (and it was a way to save a little bit of money). So even though my hair isn’t perfect, it’s much better than what it was like before. And I do feel a bit of guilt about how much better I feel just from something superficial. But I also know that this is something so many people feel, so I don’t feel as bad about it.

Hopefully, soon I can do more of the beauty routines that I’m used to and it will be safe to do so. I would love it if the next time I went to get my hair dyed I wouldn’t have to worry as much as I did this time. Any time I can get a bit of my old life back, I notice how much it improves my mood. So I just want to be able to do that more and more. And I know that eventually, that will be possible.

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Default ThumbnailDoing Some Beautification (or Feeling Better From The Outside In) Default ThumbnailAt Home Hair (or I Haven’t Done This Since I Was A Teenager) Default ThumbnailFeeling Refreshed (or Looking Good While Babysitting) Default ThumbnailGetting A New Look (or Two Attempts To Dye My Hair) Default ThumbnailSelf-Care Is So Important (or At-Home Beauty) Default ThumbnailTime For A Bit Of A Change (or Getting Chopped)

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An Improving Workout Week (or I Finally Feel Like I Am Seeing The End Of Home Workouts)

Posted on February 15, 2021 | Comments Off on An Improving Workout Week (or I Finally Feel Like I Am Seeing The End Of Home Workouts)

As I suspected when I wrote my last workout recap, my workouts this past week started off a bit rough but got better throughout the week. I am still dealing with nausea from medication, but it’s slowly getting better. And my monthly nausea ended on Wednesday. So I didn’t have as bad of a time with nausea in my workouts. Of course, my life is never easy and I did something to my hips on Friday so my last workout of the week was a bit tough with not being as flexible as normal. But that was much easier to manage than nausea.

And again, I did only old Orangetheory at Home workouts for my workouts. It’s funny how much work I put into finding other workouts to do and then I ended up not really using them. But I like having options and maybe there will be a day coming up where I just need a big change. But having something familiar and almost comforting to me is what I really need right now.

I’m still struggling with making my workouts hard enough or as difficult as I think they should be. I’m trying to not let that get to me because I know that I’m not in normal circumstances right now. I still would love to have some improvements in my workouts while they are being done alone and at home, but if that doesn’t happen then it doesn’t happen.

But I finally feel like things will be turning around for me somewhat soon. California just announced the next group of people who will be eligible to make appointments for vaccinations. And it turns out, I fit into the high-risk group that will be a part of it. I believe you can start having appointments to be vaccinated in 1 month, but I’m not sure how it will be done since it hasn’t been announced just yet. But I have already talked to my work to make sure that it won’t be an issue to take time off whenever I get an appointment. I’m not going to try to make sure my appointment is after work unless I have a lot of options. But I’m guessing I will just have to take whatever I can get.

Assuming I can get the first vaccine by the first week of April, that means I will be able to get the second vaccine by the end of April. And it takes about 2 weeks after the second vaccination for your body to build up all the antibodies needed to be safe. So if that ends up being the timeline I work with, by mid-May, hopefully I will be fully vaccinated and that will mean I can start trying to go to the outdoor OTF workouts! Or maybe by then, the studios will start to reopen (but I don’t think they will). So I might only have a few more months of home workouts before I can be coached again!

I seriously can’t wait for that. There are so many things I’m looking forward to having in my life again, but my workouts are a big part of it! I will have to work on figuring out a schedule once I have an idea about what timeline I’m working with. I’m guessing I will have to do afternoon workouts because it will be hard to do them before work when I have to drive to a studio that is further than I’m used to. But honestly, I don’t care. Whatever it takes for me to be able to do outdoor workouts, I’ll do it!

Knowing that this time might be coming to an end has been motivating me. I’m still struggling and I’m not going to deny that. But I’m also trying to be a bit grateful for whatever time I have left doing workouts at home. This is something I never thought I’d be able to do, and I’ve made it work. It hasn’t been as good as I would have liked it to be, but it’s better than nothing. And I need to recognize that is an accomplishment and something to be proud of.

But I still can’t wait until I have my coaches kicking my butt and forcing me to feel like I’m an athlete and a badass.

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Default ThumbnailFinally A Good Workout Week (or Continuing To Build My Home Gym) Default ThumbnailAnother Week Of Home Workouts (or Still Trying My Best) Default ThumbnailJust A Bad Workout Week (or I Need To End The Year Better Than This) Default ThumbnailThis Does Feel Like A Normal Routine (or Another Full Workout Week) Default ThumbnailA New Year Of Workouts (or Finally Starting To Feel Like Myself Again) Default ThumbnailFinishing Up My 2020 Workouts (or Kicking Off A New Year With More Home Workouts)

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