Category Archives: Fun Stuff

A Return To Wood & Vine (or Feeling Even More Like Things Are Normal)

Posted on May 6, 2021 | Comments Off on A Return To Wood & Vine (or Feeling Even More Like Things Are Normal)

There are so many things that I haven’t been able to do for the past year. Sometimes it’s because I didn’t feel safe doing them and sometimes it’s because the place was closed or there was no way to get there. But recently, things are starting to slowly open up and I am feeling a bit safer about going out and not being just in my own little bubble at home. And one of the things that I haven’t really been able to do in the past year was to go out to dinner at a restaurant.

I’ve gotten takeout and delivery from restaurants, but I haven’t been going to restaurants to eat there. I know so many places have outdoor seating and have even been able to expand their seating to fit more people, it’s just something I haven’t done. But when I got an email from the manager at Wood & Vine that they were going to reopen, I knew I had to make a reservation to eat there!

Wood & Vine had been closed since things shut down. Even though they have a great patio space, they decided to stay closed until they knew that they could make it safe for both the guests and the staff. I really did respect that choice. If they had opened before I felt safe to go back, I would have supported them by buying a gift certificate or getting take out if they had offered it. But the timing worked out perfectly for me being fully vaccinated and their new opening date. So of course, I was going to go!

My friend Dani came with me since she and I were usually there together before a show at the Pantages. The theater isn’t open yet (right now, it’s looking like they will be back in October), but I was excited to have a nice dinner out at a restaurant I love and making that the main event of the evening.

While Wood & Vine was closed, they did some renovations on the restaurant. We were seated on the patio and they did a beautiful job making it look amazing! And even though it meant they had to reduce the number of seats available, they really made sure that the tables were at least 6 feet apart to keep everyone safe.

We made our reservation for right after they opened since neither of us mind eating on the earlier side. Plus, we knew we were in for a great meal and didn’t want to feel rushed.

The menu has changed a bit since they closed. There were still a lot of favorites that we recognized, but there were some delicious-sounding new things too. And they currently have a welcome back special that includes a drink, fish tacos, short ribs, and dessert. While the special sounded great, Dani and I decided to pick a few things out from the menu.

We ended up getting more food than we ordered because the manager sent some things over to us! We had ordered the fried ricotta, spinach and artichoke dip, short ribs, and scallops. And we were also sent over the fish tacos and 3 different desserts! We were so spoiled!

Everything was delicious. Even just writing about it now is making me crave the food again! I wish I was a better writer so I could describe the food better. But it was perfectly cooked and with the perfect spices to make each bite so full of flavor. And all the desserts were so luxurious. The butterscotch is something we’ve had many times before and it was just as good as I remembered it. And the mousse and poundcake were so chocolately. I was so full after dinner, but it was beyond worth it.

And it wasn’t just the food that was amazing. You could tell how happy all the staff is to be back. I know that people were ready to get back to work, but you can tell that they are happy that things are safer now than if they had opened up sooner. And knowing how happy they are made me feel much better about going to dinner. If I go out to dinner any time soon, I think I might try to make it at Wood & Vine even though it’s not super close to me. I love being able to support a restaurant that really does care about its customers and staff.

And of course, throughout dinner we got to chat with the manager, Wally. Getting to catch up with him was amazing and he was telling us all about the renovations to the space and the changes to the menu. You could tell how proud he was that the restaurant was open again. And while we were there, we could see that all the customers were just as excited to be there for dinner as we were.

Wood & Vine has been a regular part of my routine for so long, and it was wonderful to be able to have that back in my life too.

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Default ThumbnailThe Bodyguard and Bone Marrow (or An Amazing Dinner At Wood & Vine) Default ThumbnailBook Of Mormon and Marrow (or Another Night Out At The Pantages) Default ThumbnailThe Last Show Of The Season (or Ending On A High Note) Default ThumbnailTaking Time For A Show (or Seeing Summer) Default ThumbnailAnother Dinner And A Show Night (or Classic Musicals And Yummy Food) Default ThumbnailA Tasting And Theater Night (or Enjoying A Fun Night Out)

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Posted in Food, Fun Stuff

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Having A Busier Routine Is Nice (or This Feels Even More Like Normal)

Posted on April 29, 2021 | Comments Off on Having A Busier Routine Is Nice (or This Feels Even More Like Normal)

Over the past year, I went from having one routine to another. And there were plenty of times that I had no routine that I had to follow. I tried to create my own routine when I had nothing happening. I kept up my workout routine and checked in with my work friends from my box office customer service job on a regular basis. But there was a lot of time that I spent doing nothing productive and I even got into some bad sleep habits with sleeping in later than I would like.

Once I started my new job, it was a bit of an adjustment to go from no schedule to a work schedule. Even though I don’t work full-time, I do have work 6 days a week (soon it will be 5 days a week). I had to make sure I was getting up on time to get my workout done before work. I had something that was making each day feel a bit different. I still struggled a bit with the adjustment, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I think the fact that I worked on my sleep habits a bit before I started at the new job helped me a lot.

And I’ve only been adding more and more to my weekly schedule. I now work back at my old job 3 days a week (that may go up to 5 days soon, but it depends on a lot of factors). I have a pretty good routine going with how to balance my different jobs and make sure that I’m doing the correct work each day. And just last week, I added going into Orangetheory back into my schedule too.

Even though my workouts are the same days a week that I was doing them at home, it’s very different going into the studio to work out. First, my workout is now an hour long when it was closer to 30 minutes for a while. And because this workout is so familar to me, it feels really great to have it back as a regular part of my life. And I’m actually getting out of my house more often because of the workouts. I know that I will be leaving my house at least 4 days a week to work out, but it’s usually more often than that because of other things in my life.

And getting out of my house has been another nice routine that I have gained recently. While I have worked from home for several years, I never spent so much time in my house without getting out and doing something. And just getting into my car and driving the few mintues to my workout has been a really good thing for my mental health. It helps me not feel so alone. I feel like I’m a part of the world again. I feel like there is some forward motion in my life again. Just the simple routine of getting into my car and driving that short distance is something so familiar to me that makes me feel like my old life is coming back now. It’s a great feeling and yet another thing I didn’t realize how much I was craving until I started doing it again.

I do still have a lot of free time every day that I wish I could fill with more fun stuff. But I have a pretty great routine going for me right now for the first half of the day. I am getting up earlier than I used to (so I can make it to my workout) and most of the things I have to do every day are done by either noon or 3pm. So then I have time to relax or do something else after work. And just having an after work time is nice. I allows me to try to create a bit of a separation in my life, even if I can’t get out of my house every day.

And once things are fully open again and it’s safe to live our full lives again, the nice thing is that my work schedule isn’t going to change too much from what it is now. I will hopefully have some more hours with my box office job, but that will just mean that I work until 3pm every day instead of only some days. And my morning workout might slighly change time when they add in more classes, but it will be close to the time that they are now. So in a way, I’m already in my normal schedule for the future. I just get to focus on adding more and more things to my day as I can do them and add to my life and what I get to have fun doing.

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Default ThumbnailThis Does Feel Like A Normal Routine (or Another Full Workout Week) Default ThumbnailMaking Busy Days Busier (or I Guess I Like To Maximize Only Certain Days) Default ThumbnailFeeling Useful Feels Good (or I Need To Be Productive) Default ThumbnailFinally It Feels Like Things Are Normal (or A Week Of Various Self-Care) Default ThumbnailNew Routine Time (or Time Management At Home) Default ThumbnailFinding Time For Friends (or Busting Out Of My Routine)

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Still Watching The Oscars With Friends (or Not Missing This Tradition For Anything)

Posted on April 28, 2021 | Comments Off on Still Watching The Oscars With Friends (or Not Missing This Tradition For Anything)

I’ve been watching the Oscars with my friends for a long time. I actually looked back to see how long I’ve been going to Oscar parties with this group of friends and it’s been since I was 19! I knew it had been since I was in college, but I didn’t realize it was that long. I don’t have photos of all the costumes I’ve worn throughout the years, but I did find a lot of them when I was looking back at Oscar Parties past.

I love watching the Oscars with my friends and it’s a tradition that’s been a part of my life for a long time. But just like so much over the past year, we all knew this tradition wasn’t going to be able to happen the way that we were used to. A lot of us are vaccinated, but it’s still safer to avoid big parties right now. So the Oscar party this year was done how so many things have been done since the pandemic started. We had a party on Zoom.

We weren’t wearing costumes and we didn’t have the contest to guess the winners, but it still felt like the Oscar party that I love so much. The party is a lot about the people who go, and I loved seeing the people who were able to join.

Usually at the party, there is a quiet room and a loud room. The loud room talks during the show and the focus is a bit more on the party. The quiet room, where I always am, doesn’t allow talking during the show and you can talk during the commercials. We are social during the commercials, but I want to be able to hear what happens during the show and don’t want to miss anything.

Originally, I said I would be doing quiet room rules on Zoom and many others said they would be talking during the show. But we realized that we all had to almost do quiet room rules with muting things because our tvs weren’t at the exact same moment at the same time. So most of us muted ourselves (I also muted my computer) and a bunch of us turned off our videos during the show. And as soon as the commercials started, we were back on Zoom to discuss things. We also had the chat in Zoom going so we could say our silly remarks during the show.

The Oscars itself were interesting. I wasn’t as invested in it as I normally am (similar to how I felt during the SAG Awards). I wasn’t really rooting for any particular actors or films, but I do still love to see who wins. And since they didn’t have a time limit on the speeches this year, it was nice to hear the winners say what they want without getting cut off. And it was nice that for most of the winners, they were in the room so they didn’t have to give their speeches over Zoom. For the few that did do that, it seemed like things were set up a bit more officially than other award shows, so they didn’t have the technical issues that other shows have had. That was nice.

And even though I was watching the show on my couch by myself, I still was able to feel like I was watching with my friends. We got to be silly together and joke about what we watched during the show. And I think we all agree that next year, all of us are going to try to go all out for costumes since we didn’t wear costumes this time. Hopefully, next year I will have watched more of the movies that were nominated and will have stronger feelings about who I want to win.

But no matter what, I’m so glad that I was able to continue this tradition with my friends even though things weren’t the way we usually do them.

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Default ThumbnailWatching The Oscars (or Costumes and Twitter) Default ThumbnailA Night Of Oscars (or Last Minute Costumes and Enjoying The Show) Default ThumbnailOscars Time! (or Inside Out vs. Star Wars) Default ThumbnailOscar Party Time (or Feeling Inspired) Default ThumbnailHollywood Superbowl (or Where I Was For The Oscars) Default ThumbnailIt’s SAG Awards Time! (or I Still Love Watching To See Who Wins)

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Some Friend and Acting Time (or Still Helping With Self-Tapes)

Posted on April 27, 2021 | Comments Off on Some Friend and Acting Time (or Still Helping With Self-Tapes)

It’s been a little while since I’ve had an audition. That’s ok, I know that not everything is back just yet and it might take longer for more shows to be back in production. And for a lot of shows, they are trying to limit the size of their casts, so they might not have as many co-stars as they had before. It is getting better than it was earlier this year, but it’s still not back to full capacity.

And I’m also ok with it since I don’t usually get a ton of auditions in normal times. I do want that to improve and I have some things I’m hoping to change in the near future to hopefully help, but for right now I’m more focused on making sure I’m in a good spot to take advantage of what I’d like to do. So while I’d love to have more auditions and opportunties right now, I’m not that concerned that things haven’t changed that much for me.

But I have had some friends noticing an increase in their auditions lately and that’s awesome. Some of them are going into a casting office for their auditions, but doing self-tapes is still a very popular option. And while there are some things I don’t love about self-tapes, there are a lot of benefits too. And learning how to do self-tapes when people are not together in the same place has been something everyone has been learning to do.

Normally with self-tape auditions, you’d have a friend come by to help you by having them be the camera person and saying the other lines in the scene. And even though I’m vaccinated and many of my friends are as well, we still aren’t going to someone’s place to help them record. This isn’t that bad of a plan, because it’s nice that we all know how to help friends do their self-tape auditions even if we can’t get over to them. I don’t hate having to drive across town to help a friend, but it’s nice to not have to do that.

And I got the chance to help friends do self-tapes recently and it really does make me happy. I obviously would prefer to have my own auditions, but even being a reader lets me have a little time where I get to have a bit of acting time. The most recent self-tape I helped with was for my birthday twin friend, Joanna. It was for a film project and I was able to help her over Zoom so I was being the reader while in her house.

It was an interesting audition to be a reader for because almost all the lines were ones I had to read. Joanna had some lines too, but a lot more of her audition was about reacting. So it really gave me time to feel like I had playtime with acting. I wasn’t doing anything too crazy since it wasn’t my audition, but I still tried hard to make sure I was the best reader possible for her.

After going through a few takes with different options, Joanna had a great take that I thought was amazing! We did another one after that just to be safe and she checked her camera to make sure that everything looked and sounded fine. It was perfect and we were able to get her entire audition done in only a few minutes.

But since we both had set aside a bit more time for her audition, we stayed on Zoom and had a nice chance to hangout and talk. It’s a little crazy to think that we are actually having more hangout time in a pandemic than normal times. We usually text throughout the year but only really see each other for our birthday and for our cheesecake outing. But this past year we also had the Drag Queen show and the times we’ve helped each other with our self-tapes. I love that somehow the pandemic has given us more chances to see each other and talk. And since we had just seen each other somewhat recently, there wasn’t a lot to discuss in our post-audition hangout. But it was still nice to have some time with a friend since that’s something I still am not doing that often.

I hope that either I get some self-tape auditions or I have friends who need help so I can be a reader coming up. When there aren’t a lot of things I can control in my acting career, having these moments are so much fun for me to do. And it’s even better when I get to also have a friend hangout after some acting fun!

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Finally Back! (or 13 Months Later)

Posted on April 26, 2021 | Comments Off on Finally Back! (or 13 Months Later)

This past week of workouts can be split into 2.

The first 2 workouts of the week were at home as I’ve been doing for the last year. I did my usual weightlifting routine, but I didn’t think too much about it. And this post isn’t really going to be about those workouts.

Because last week, the Orangetheory studio by my house finally opened again!

This is the moment I’ve been waiting on for so long and it was crazy that it finally happened! The studio reopened on Thursday, but I decided to keep my normal workout schedule so I wasn’t there until Friday. The night before, I was so excited. I was a little nervous about having to get up earlier than I’m used to, but it turned out I was so excited to be back that I woke up an hour before my alarm was going to go off. But that was fine because it gave me time to relax a bit before I had to be up.

There are a few new rules at the studio. First, and the one I knew to expect, is that masks are required at all times. You can take quick sips of water if you need to, but you need to put your mask back on right away and you are supposed to stay stationary when you drink water. Also, they don’t have the lockers right now. The doors are off of all the lockers so they are cubbies instead. There are studios I’ve been to that don’t have lockers so this wasn’t too weird. But I decided to just bring less with me into the studio. I attached my keys to my water bottle and had my phone on me. The rest of my purse stayed home.

Also, you have to line up outside before class instead of waiting in the lobby. This was fine and just being lined up outside made me so excited!

People are checked in one at a time and you are told where to start instead of getting an equipment card. I was able to start on the bike, like I used to.

My first workout back was an interested experience. It felt like I hadn’t been there in forever but also like I was just there the other day at the same time. It was so familiar and I didn’t realize how much I needed that until I was in the middle of the workout. Working out in a mask was different, but not as hard as I was worried it would be. I have ordered a little brace thing to try inside my mask in the future so it stays a bit further from my mouth (but still being a mask). There were some times that I felt like I was eating the mask.

And as expected, I had lost some strength and endurance. I struggled in the workout, but it wasn’t worse than I thought it would be. My rowing form isn’t great, but it’s been 13 months since I had rowed. So I took the rowing slowly and focused on my form more than anything else. I also got pretty sore being on the bike. My butt and hips aren’t used to having to sit on the bike, but I know it’s just a matter of time before it doesn’t hurt anymore. And on the floor, I was sometimes shocked that even weights that were lower than I’m used to using still felt heavy. Even when compared to what I’ve been using at home. But I think part of that is due to the rest of the workout before I was on the floor.

And of course, I had to take a post workout selfie with my coach. I was so happy that I was back and that it felt like I was returning home. I had joked to my friends that I would cry when I finally got back to OTF, and that did happen several times that day.

And I was back again on Saturday! I thought that I might be too sore after returning, but I only had minimal soreness. I am glad I was smart enough to not push myself too hard and I was able to do another in-studio workout.

In Saturday’s workout, the rowing was much more endurance based and I really saw how much I was struggling. Even rowing for a minute without stopping was really hard for me. It’s hard for me to remember how hard rowing was when I started at OTF in 2014, but I know I had to work up to where I was a year ago. And I will need to work my way back again. But I know it won’t take as long this time. I just need to keep going and trying.

And now, my plan is to be at the studio 4 days a week for my workouts! I’ll be doing all my workouts at the studio near my house. The Brentwood studio (that I used to go to on Mondays) isn’t open yet. But also, with my new workout schedule, I don’t know if I’ll be going to that studio again. I might go back for random workouts, especially if a Monday is a holiday. But because I work on Mondays now, it will be a lot harder for me to get to that studio. And it will be impossible for me to go to the class that I went to for the past several years since that class is during work for me.

But that’s ok. I’ve made it through a lot of workout changes over the past 13 months. And changing to have all my workouts at the same studio is a very minor change and one that will still make me happy.

I still am so incredibly happy to be back at OTF. As much as I thought I’d be happy to be back, it’s even better! And I really feel like this is a big turning point for me in feeling so much more like myself again.

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Getting Outside A Little More (or I’m Still Hesitant)

Posted on April 23, 2021 | Comments Off on Getting Outside A Little More (or I’m Still Hesitant)

I am sure I sound like a broken record about talking about how even though I’m vaccinated I’m being very cautious. I’m not going out that much. While I’m doing more than just essential errands and appointments, I’m still not doing that much. I have limited which friends I have seen in person, and when I do see people it tends to be in their home. Even when I see family, we are staying in a home and not going out that much.

And I know doing this is still one of the safer options, but I also know I need to push myself to get out there more. I’m not feeling isolated or pandemic fatigued necessarily. It’s more of my fear of isolating myself unnecessarily when things are safe. It’s hard to feel like it’s ok to go do things that for a year we have been told to do. And it’s hard to find the balance between what are safer risks to take and what is just too much. In some ways, we are lucky here because not everything is open again and they are limiting people so they aren’t too crowded. And everywhere pretty much requires masks unless you are eating or drinking.

I haven’t been to a restaurant yet (although that is actually coming up soon!), and any meals I’ve gotten that I didn’t make myself have either been takeout or delivery. But this past week, I went to a coffee shop and had a coffee in public for the first time in over a year!

I know this doesn’t sound like much, but for me, it was a bit weird and I was worried about things. But I felt like it was a safe way to push myself to be out and about more and feel like I’m easing myself into life again. And fortunately, it wasn’t as weird as I was afraid it would be.

I went to a coffee shop that wasn’t that close to my house because it was for a first date. Going to coffee or a drink (even though I don’t drink coffee or alcohol) used to be my go-to first date since it’s casual and easy enough to leave if it is a bad date. Any dating I’ve tried to do in the past year has been tough to find where to meet up with someone, so being able to have a first date like I’m used to was nice. And the coffee shop we went to had a large patio in the back that wasn’t crowded, so we weren’t sitting close to anyone else.

The guy I met was also fully vaccinated, which made me feel a bit better about things too. Since we were sitting there without our masks on for a while, I’m glad I didn’t have to worry about if he might be sick but asymptomatic. And after going on dates where we had to be masked the entire time, it was nice to have a date where I could see his entire face and not feel like I’m not really seeing who he is. I was worried for a little while that it might get more crowded on the patio and that I would feel like I was too close to others and would feel like I needed to wear my mask more, but that didn’t end up happening.

After I got home from my date (which went well, but I don’t have much more to share than that), I realized how nice it was to be out in public with others again without worrying as much as I have over the past year. I’ve said before that the isolation has felt like I was on my own little planet and everyone else was living their lives. But just being at the coffee shop was a nice reminder that I’m a part of the world too. I needed to be a part of the public again. Even when I have friends come over to my house, it still feels a bit isolated. I might not be alone, but we are isolated at home. So going out made me feel like I was a part of the world again.

There are still limited places that I think I’d be open to going to because I need to still be safe and cautious. But just going to this coffee shop reminded me that there are options for places I could go and not feel like I’m taking that much of a risk. It’s not something I will be doing all the time, but it is something I should try to do when I have a chance. Even if I met a friend at a park instead of at my house or theirs might help me feel a bit more involved in the world.

I haven’t built up the skills to figure this out too much. For my entire life until the pandemic, I never had to think about what I could do in public that feels safe. For the past year, I was more focused on how to stay healthy and isolated. I’ve written about how I needed to be more social and to find ways to not isolate as much, but in my head so many of those things didn’t involve too much in public. Now, this is just something else to think about when I’m trying to think of what I can do. And hopefully, I’ll continue to be more comfortable with the few things I’m going to be ok with doing and I keep pushing myself to find the little bits of normalcy that I can get back.

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Continuing To Get Back To Some Of My Old Routine (or I Really Appreciate Self-Care So Much Now)

Posted on April 22, 2021 | Comments Off on Continuing To Get Back To Some Of My Old Routine (or I Really Appreciate Self-Care So Much Now)

I’ve written a lot over the past year about how I miss things from my old life that were a part of a regular routine. Some of these things were related to going out or my workouts. And some of them were related to self-care. At times, I was embarrassed about how much I missed some of my self-care routines. I know it’s not that important to have my hair done or to get a pedicure, but those are things that make me feel like myself or bring me joy. And not having them has been hard, especially when compounded with everything else that’s been going on in our world this past year.

There are plenty of self-care routines that I’m still putting off for a little while. As much as I miss pedicures, I can wait longer before I go in for one. This isn’t just for my own safety and health (even though I’m vaccinated, that doesn’t mean I don’t have to be careful), but also for the safety and health of the employees at the salon. And I’m still waiting on getting waxed even though I know the waxer I go to is working again. For me, waxing isn’t just a vanity thing but one of the only safe hair removal options for my upper legs with my autoimmune condition. Shaving can actually be very painful and cause issues with my skin, so I avoid it when I can. I know there are other options besides waxing (there is a chance that laser hair removal could partially be covered by insurance and I’m planning on asking about that soon), so I can wait a little longer before going back to waxing. I don’t love having to wait, but it’s easier on me to wait on that than it is for me to wait on getting my hair cut or colored.

Getting my hair done this past year has been interesting. I know I don’t need to get it cut or colored, but it’s really hard on me when it’s not colored and my gray hair seems out of control. At the beginning of the pandemic, I was coloring my hair at home. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked. And even though my hair was getting long and a bit scraggly, since I keep it away from my face at home it didn’t bother me too much. There have been times where I really didn’t pay attention to how long my hair got until it seemed almost out of control. But I would just put it back in a clip and not think about it more than that.

I have slowly started to get back to having my hair done more professionally. I’ve been back to a salon once when there weren’t many people around (and we were masked) and I went to my friend’s house to have her do my hair as well. I waited a bit longer than normal between those appointments, but that was partially due to feeling like it was a bit of a risk going even with all the precautions because I wasn’t vaccinated. But now that I’m vaccinated, it’s a little less stressful for me to think about getting my hair done with my friend at her house.

So last week, I got my hair done again. It was at her house again and we were masked, so it felt like we were keeping things as safe as we could. This time, it was a cut and color so I feel even more like myself. I didn’t do anything drastic even though I’m tempted to do so. I just wanted to have my hair look like me again. And that’s exactly what I got to do when I had my hair done. And not only did I have a boost in my mental health from having my hair done and feeling like myself, but I also got to have hangout time with a friend which is something else I don’t get to do that often!

I know that I’ve always appreciated having my hair done or doing any other self-care things I have done in the past. It’s a privilege having the time and money to do these things. And I live somewhere that makes it easy for me to find places to go for different appointments. But I appreciate any self-care thing I can do even more right now. It feels so special to have the chance to do them. I’m so grateful I have ways to go and still feel safe. And I’m grateful that I am working again so I have the money to spend on things like this.

I can’t wait until I can add my other self-care things back to my life again and I hope it will happen soon. But we don’t know when things will be better, so it’s just something I will have to wait and see. But I continue to feel like things are improving each day and that we are only getting closer to what feels like normal.

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Default ThumbnailWorking On Self-Care (or Continuing To Try To Fill My Day) Default ThumbnailSelf-Care Is So Important (or At-Home Beauty) Default ThumbnailDoing Some Skincare Basics (or Slowly Changing My Self-Care Routine) Default ThumbnailContinuing To Get Back To Me (I Needed My Hair Done!) Default ThumbnailFeeling A Bit More Like Me (or A Little Bit Of Pampering) Default ThumbnailBringing More Good Things To Me And Others (or Happiness and Self-Care)

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A Painting Night (or My Artistic Ability Shocked Me)

Posted on April 16, 2021 | Comments Off on A Painting Night (or My Artistic Ability Shocked Me)

I’ve written a few times about how I have been trying to find more fun and social things to do while still being safe. There are a lot of virtual events out there, but I haven’t been doing too many of them. Money issues were one reason why, but also I think I needed a push to sign up for them. And I really wanted to make sure someone else I knew was going to join in because even though everyone was participating at home, I didn’t want to be alone.

When I was in Santa Barbara recently, my friend Dani texted me about a virtual painting class she just signed up for. She wanted to see if I was interested in doing it too. It was through a company that does Paint and Sip nights where it’s a big group hanging out and painting something together. And because of the pandemic, they were doing these nights virtually where they bring you all the supplies you need and you participate over Zoom. I’m not artistic that way (I joke that I can’t even draw a circle), but it wasn’t that expensive and it sounded like something fun to do for an evening. So I decided to sign up for the same class.

All the supplies I needed were dropped off the day before the class.

We got paint, paint brushes, a canvas, a tabletop easel, a water cup, paper towels and plates, an apron, and a photocopy of what we were going to be painting for reference. I asked Dani if she wanted to come over to my house to paint together and she decided to do that. So I covered my dining room table to protect it and set up my art space before the class and left the other side of the table open for Dani to set up.

Even though we were standing close together, we both had iPads with the class on Zoom so it was easy for us both to see what was happening without looking over. And to keep it from being echoey, Dani turned off the sound on her iPad and I put my sound through my Bluetooth speaker so we could hear the class clearly. We kept ourselves on mute for most of the class, but we did turn the microphone on from time to time to chat with the instructor.

I was a bit worried about how my painting would come together. I really cannot draw and I have rarely used paint for anything. I took an art class in college and most of my projects were done with pencil or by making a mosaic out of paper scraps. But I also knew these types of classes were designed for people who aren’t artists, so I was hoping for the best.

I didn’t take a ton of pictures while we were working on the painting since I was focused on making it look ok, but I got a few. We started with mixing some of the colors and thinning them out so we could paint the background. We were given instructions on how to make the colors blend so we didn’t have really harsh lines and I was pretty happy with the background when I was done with that part.

Next, we worked on the moon and some of the branches on the top of the painting. Those were pretty easy, although doing the moon stressed me out because it was a circle. But I got it to a place where I was happy with how it looked. And for the branches, we had a bit more freedom to do what we wanted. I didn’t want to overdo them, but I wanted to have enough to make my painting look full.

And for the flowers, we got some great instructions on how to make them with only a few brush strokes. I was shocked that I was able to do it because I thought they’d be so hard! But it was really only about 4 or 5 brush strokes to create each of the big ones and about 3 to create the little ones. I didn’t know it at the time, but now I wish I had put my flowers a bit higher up. But it’s ok.

At the end of the class, we worked on the stems of the flowers, leaves, grass at the bottom, and any other detail work. Dani and I both played around a bit for this part by adding some details like yellow leaves (since that’s what happens in nature when plants are dying) and some blue flowers on the branches because we both thought that looked pretty.

And after 2 hours, the class was done and I had a completed painting that I was shocked that I was able to create!

I love how even though Dani and I were using the same supplies and colors and following the same instructions, our paintings were identical and I felt they both had some personality to them.

I really loved taking this class. It was a fun way to spend my evening, but it also felt really great to see that I do have more artistic ability than I thought I did. I don’t know where I will hang the painting up because my house doesn’t have a lot of wall space. I might store it away and save it for later. But I’m really proud of what I made and I’m not ashamed that I’m proud of myself. I haven’t had a lot of things that made me proud lately, and this was a great moment for me to remind myself that I am more than what I’ve been doing lately.

I might sign up for another paint night next month and try to see if I can get more friends to do it too. I don’t know if we could all be in the same place while painting (it depends on people being vaccinated), but even if it’s over Zoom I know it would be fun. I’m slowly adding more fun to my life these days, and each time I do something it reminds me of how much I need it. And this was the perfect reminder of what I can still do while being safe but also having a great night!

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Default ThumbnailAnother Night At Hipcooks (or I’m On Fire!) Default ThumbnailSuch An LA Night (or Just Having Some Fun With A Friend) Default ThumbnailWorking On My Crafty Side (or Starting Off Halloween Season!) Default ThumbnailVirtual Pumpkin Party (or Time To Be Crafty) Default ThumbnailLast Minute Bowl Adventure (or A Very Hot And Humid Night Out) Default ThumbnailMagic Castle Fun (or Girls Night Out)

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This Felt So Normal (or I’ve Missed Having Really Random Friend Hangouts)

Posted on April 9, 2021 | Comments Off on This Felt So Normal (or I’ve Missed Having Really Random Friend Hangouts)

I haven’t had the chance to hang out with friends in person that much over the past year. For most of the past year, I have had to restrict hangouts to be with friends that I know are isolating as much as I am or doing something outside when we feel safe that there wouldn’t be a crowd. But since it felt so risky, even with the options I had, I rarely saw people in person and instead did things over Zoom. And even though the CDC says it’s safe for me to hang out with a friend since I’m fully vaccinated (and some of my friends are starting to be vaccinated too), I’m still being very cautious. I’m trying to ease my way back into normal life, but I’m hesitant too. But I’m really trying.

And a big part of trying is planning more hangouts with friends in person. I’m still being careful with which friends I’m seeing in person, but fortunately, I do have friends who live nearby that I can see that I know are being safe too. So earlier this week, my friend Dani and I planned a hangout. We’ve been able to see each other a few times in person over the past year since she’s one of the few people I know who is being cautious at a similar level as I have been. And most of the time we’ve been hanging out, we say we are going to watch a movie or order in food. Something simple, but something that feels like a treat these days.

So when we decided to hang out this week, that was pretty much our plan. Watch a movie and order some delivery food. But somehow, our evening didn’t go the way we planned and that almost made it better.

When Dani was trying to leave her place to come over, there was some police activity on her street. There was no way for her to leave. This was something serious, but at the same time, it made me laugh because it was so crazy and something that somehow felt like it was exactly like how some of our adventures in the past have started. Everything was ok and she was able to leave, but I think it started the evening off on a weird note and that just continued.

When she got to my house, we were going to figure out what movie to watch but also spent time catching up on our lives. Both of us had things to update the other on, and I randomly remembered something while we were talking. I have started to watch things on TikTok. They are random and weird at times, but I’ve been enjoying them too. Sometimes I learn something really cool, but for the most part, it’s just entertainment. And there was something on TikTok the night before that reminded me of Dani. It was this toy called Mini Brands, which had perfect miniatures of brand-name grocery products. The way you purchased them, what you got was a mystery. So collecting all the different items was something a lot of people were into. I had a feeling Dani would like seeing them, and I was right! And then we decided we needed to find some!

We found that they were available at Target, so she ordered a few online and said that we’d go to Target to pick them up. While waiting for the Target order to be ready, we ordered in dinner (we got dinner from one restaurant and dessert from another, which felt really fancy). And she got the notification from Target right when we were done eating, so we got into my car to head over there.

On the drive home, we were talking about what items we hoped would be inside. Neither of us knew what all the options were, so we were guessing a lot of random things. And as soon as we were back at my house, Dani opened everything up. Fortunately, there was a checklist in there so I was able to check off each one that she got and we could make better guesses about what else might be in there.

Opening up mystery mini grocery items sounds really odd, but honestly it was so much fun. And it was beyond random and weird, but that’s something I haven’t gotten to do in a long time. I miss having a plan to do something and it turn into something totally different but equally awesome. I miss having something outside the norm happening in my life. So often I’ve had random adventures and I didn’t realize until the other day how normal the randomness became in my life in the past. I’ve missed so much over the past year, and this was something I didn’t realize I was missing until I got to experience it again. But it made me so happy.

All of the mini things that Dani got were super cute, and she only got 2 duplicates. And somehow a lot of the things we were randomly guessing she’d get were things that she ended up getting!

We kept saying how these were so pointless but so amazing, and I think that’s the best description of them. But these amazing pointless things also brought us both so much joy, so I think that makes them totally worth it!

Even though the original plan was to watch a movie, we didn’t end up watching anything. We were busy being silly with the Mini Brand things and just talking and hanging out. But it was exactly what I needed. For a lot of the hangouts I’ve had over the past year, they have almost felt like an event. They were for something specific that felt special or I had to do things to be prepared first. But this hangout was so normal and casual. As much as I need more in-person hangouts with friends, I need them to be random nights like this one was just as much. I need hanging out with others to not feel like a big deal. It’s something normal to do and I need to be back in that mindset.

I do have a few more things planned with friends that are a bit more of event type hangouts, but this random hangout has also motivated me to continue to find out who else I can hang out with so I can have more normal friend time like this.

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Default ThumbnailSeeing Friends In Random Places (or Unscheduled Hangouts) Default ThumbnailGetting Back To Normal (or Friend Hangouts And Doctor Appointments) Default ThumbnailA Random Brunch With A Friend (or So Many Pancakes) Default ThumbnailRemembering To Have Some Fun (or Hangouts Don’t Always Have To Be Events) Default ThumbnailSuch An LA Night (or Just Having Some Fun With A Friend) Default ThumbnailRemembering To See My Friends (or Actually Scheduling Hangouts)

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It’s SAG Awards Time! (or I Still Love Watching To See Who Wins)

Posted on April 8, 2021 | Comments Off on It’s SAG Awards Time! (or I Still Love Watching To See Who Wins)

The SAG Awards is one of the award shows I look forward to the most each year. It’s the one award show that I get to have a real hand in selecting the winners. I love getting to vote for all the different categories. And I do take voting seriously. I watch all the movies and shows that I can (I can’t always watch everything, but I try my best) and I pick based on the performances and not just wanting to see someone win. And I love watching the show because it feels much more connected to me than other award shows.

But this year, like so many things, the show had to be a bit different. I think all the award shows have been trying different things to see what is going to work and seem like the same show they had before. And I have to say, I love what the SAG Awards did.

Many shows seem to be doing something as close to normal as possible and having all the nominees appearing on Zoom so they can give their speech on live tv. And the run time for the award shows has been similar to what they were when everyone was in a space together. But the SAG Awards almost honored that we are in a different time by not trying to make it seem like a slightly different version of normal.

The show was only an hour long. All the award announcements were pre-taped so they didn’t have to worry about technical difficulties during a live broadcast. They did have all the nominees on Zoom like other shows have, and that helped it seem like each category was celebrating the winner together. It was fun to see these different little communities for each award and watching everyone as a group. And between each award presentation, they had these fun interviews with different actors about things that I think most SAG-AFTRA members could relate to. I don’t know if people outside of the industry enjoyed those segments as much as actors did, but I found them amazing. I especially loved seeing the one where the actors were talking about the random special skills listed on their resume and which ones were real and which ones they put on there and hoped they were never asked about.

The only negative thing for me about the SAG Awards this year was something that was my fault. This year, I didn’t watch that many of the nominated films. I watched so few that I actually didn’t vote for the winners. I didn’t feel like it was fair for me to vote when I didn’t really know if the performances I liked were the best of all the options. And I didn’t really have a good reason not to watch the screeners I got. I had the time, I just didn’t have the motivation. And maybe it was because I also am missing going to a movie theater to watch movies. While I love watching movies at home, it’s usually because that feels so different from what I normally do. But now, all movies are being watched on my tv. So I don’t feel the same way about feeling lucky to watch the screeners I got.

I’m so glad that even though I didn’t watch all the movies this year, I still loved watching the SAG Awards. It makes me so happy to see actors celebrating actors and I feel very lucky that I get to be a part of it. And I loved seeing what the producers of the show were able to do to make it feel special and unique even if it couldn’t be the way we are used to watching award shows. Hopefully, by next year things will be able to be done the way we are familiar with and everyone will be celebrating the winners together.

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Default ThumbnailA Night Of SAG Awards (or Watching Union Unity) Default ThumbnailSAG Awards (or Watching After Knowing The Winners) Default ThumbnailEnjoying Movie Nights (or Watching My Screeners) Default ThumbnailThe SAG Awards (or I Am An Actor) Default ThumbnailBeing An Active And Interactive Viewer (or SAG Awards Live-Tweeting) Default ThumbnailEnjoying The Emmys (or This Awards Show Will Be A Bit Of A Time Capsule)

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