Category Archives: Fun Stuff

Inside The Box (or Enjoying Some Virtual Theater)

Posted on March 3, 2021 | Comments Off on Inside The Box (or Enjoying Some Virtual Theater)

There are so many things I miss from a year ago. I’ve talked about missing my old life several times. Part of missing things is having something fun in my schedule and being busy, but the other part is that some of these things have become a bit of a routine for me. And I feel lost without the routine in my life. I know we are getting closer and closer to gaining those things back again, but there will still be time before things are fully up and running again (and that I feel safe to do them).

One of the routines I miss so much from before is going to see musicals. The last musical I saw in a theater was only about a week or two before everything shut down. And I remember thinking then about how close together everyone was sitting, but not being too worried about it. Now, I can’t imagine doing that until things are safer and I almost can’t believe that we were doing that right before everything shut down. I still have musicals to see from that last season, plus we already bought tickets for the next. But I don’t think they will be restarting for a little while. So finding ways to fill the live theater void in my life has been something I’ve been working on since the pandemic started.

I have done some virtual theater nights at home. These have been mainly watching recorded theater at home. Sometimes it’s just me watching alone and sometimes a friend is watching at the same time and we are texting back and forth as we watch. Even though I don’t talk when I’m seeing live theater, texting back and forth while watching makes it a less solitary activity and feels like I’m a part of something bigger. It’s not exactly like watching theater with a crowd, but it’s better than watching alone.

And I knew of some Zoom theater shows that had happened, but I hadn’t really looked too much into them. But I remembered hearing about a Zoom show called “Inside The Box” last year. This wasn’t a musical, but a word puzzle and game type show. My dad and I are both word and puzzle nerds who like things like crossword puzzles and Scrabble. So I told him about the show last year. But it was sold out and I didn’t think we’d get a chance to watch it. Then I heard the show was extending the run, and we decided to get tickets. Since it was over Zoom, my parents got one ticket for them (the tickets were per household, not per person) and I got one for myself. And I was super excited to have a fun and nerdy night of puzzles!

I didn’t really want to watch alone, plus I knew I might need help with some of the puzzles. So I invited my friend Dani over to watch with me. Since we are both being super cautious, I knew I could trust having her over at my house. We did still try to keep things on the safer side (not sitting too close together and keeping my door open so there is airflow), but it was a risk that we both accepted and we understood the trust we had in each other.

The week of the show, we were emailed a puzzle packet. There was one puzzle to solve before the show started and a few things to prep before the show. We also had to have one game piece to use and something red. Both Dani and I had options because we weren’t sure what we were going to use them for and we wanted to be prepared.

First, the one negative thing that happened that night. Unfortunately, my parents were having some technical issues and they ended up not being able to be a part of the show. That did upset me because part of what I was so excited about was to do this with my dad. But I guess it wasn’t meant to be. But I am grateful to the staff at the Geffen who tried really hard to fix the issue so they could join in and then refunded my parents when they were unable to participate.

But besides my parents not being able to be in the show, I have to say that it was such a great night! The host/star of the show, David Kwong, constructs crossword puzzles as well as is a magician. And while there wasn’t necessarily magic tricks in the show, it did have that feeling. Both Dani and I said it felt like a show at The Magic Castle. And it was really fun to learn the different bits of history behind different types of word puzzles. I know sometimes a show can feel slow when it’s going into the backstory or history, but this did not. It was really entertaining the entire time!

And I’m so glad Dani was watching with me. We worked together the entire time to solve the different puzzles. There were some games that we were doing a great job at figuring it out and a few that weren’t that easy for us. But we were having so much fun the entire time. And when you solved a puzzle, you waved your hands so the host could pick someone to call on to answer. We were called on a few times to answer, and fortunately we were right each time.

The show was about 90 minutes long and ended with one last puzzle that Dani and I were just stumped on. I think we were both overthinking the solution, but as soon as someone else said the first answer we immediately got the rest of it. So even though we didn’t really solve the last puzzle, we still ended on a good note.

And after the show was done, we got some Chipotle delivered to my house. It was kind of the opposite of what we do when we see musicals because we normally have dinner first. But I’m glad we got dinner because it really did make the night feel almost normal for what we do. And it’s so good to see someone face to face these days. I wish I had more friends that I could do that with, but I think everyone understands why I’m being so careful and nobody is upset that I have such strict rules about things. But I am looking forward to when that won’t be something to worry about again.

I would love to find more virtual Zoom shows to get to watch. This is a part of what I want to do with my monthly challenge this month. Watching this show was one of the best nights I’ve had in the past year. And I know that I was so much happier the next few days because of it. I just have to put the effort into finding more shows and events, and that’s something I’m working on doing. And hopefully whatever I find will be just as fun as it was to be a part of “Inside The Box”!

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Default ThumbnailStill Celebrating Halloween (or A Virtual Costume To Go With A Virtual Party) Default ThumbnailA Virtual Musical Night (or Trying To Replicate My Routine) Default ThumbnailSo Many Virtual Movie Nights (or Thank Goodness For Technology) Default ThumbnailA Tasting And Theater Night (or Enjoying A Fun Night Out) Default ThumbnailEnjoying Movie Nights (or Watching My Screeners) Default ThumbnailEnjoying The Emmys (or This Awards Show Will Be A Bit Of A Time Capsule)

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Scheduling And Joy (or Continuing To Plan For When Things Are Coming Back)

Posted on March 2, 2021 | Comments Off on Scheduling And Joy (or Continuing To Plan For When Things Are Coming Back)

Last month, my monthly challenge was to work on writing a schedule for each day so I wouldn’t forget to do things I need to do. It’s been a rough adjustment from being out of work to being back to a full day most days. And even though I didn’t have a ton of stuff to do outside of working and my workouts each day, I was still noticing where my days were being wasted doing things I didn’t need to do and where I was forgetting to do things I wanted to get done. So creating a schedule for each day seemed to be a good challenge.

I had an old notepad that was designed for doing daily schedules on, so that’s what I used. It had a few sections on the page that I didn’t really need or wanted to use, but it was easy enough to use it. And for the most part, it worked. I started off strong with doing the schedule every day. Then I realized I only felt like I needed it when I had other things to do in my day. If I just had my work and workout and nothing else to do, then I didn’t do them. But when I had work meetings, things to make sure I was watching, or other tasks like doing my taxes; then it was perfect.

And I think that’s exactly how I want to keep using this idea. I don’t always have to create a daily schedule (although I am getting better at setting alerts for things that go into my calendar app so that’s helpful). But when I have something different or extra in my day, this is the best way to make sure I get it done. Even if I just make a to-do list with tasks, that’s helping me to remember to do things. And I know that as my schedule starts to fill up in the future, doing this is going to help keep me on track and not let things slip my mind.

And connected to the idea of my schedule filling up, I want my monthly challenge this month to be about finding more joy in my life. I’m still pretty isolated and lonely, but last month ended up being my most social month in almost a year. My parents were here for the day. I got to spend time with a friend (who is being as safe and isolated as I am). I did a few other fun things that I haven’t written about just yet. I felt like I was starting to have a life again. And even though I have known how badly I needed this, I don’t think it really hit me until I allowed myself to have more joy in my life again.

It’s still going to be hard to find ways to do this. I have very few friends that I could see in person right now because many of them have jobs that require them to be around a lot of people. Or they have someone in their household who is extremely high risk and they can’t risk seeing anyone. I am not going to take too many risks these days because I know we are getting so much closer to the end of the pandemic. I don’t want to slip and then get sick. People are still getting sick and dying every day. But at the same time, I have seen how much better I feel when I have things that feel much more like my old life back.

I’m going to look into more online events that my friends and I can all watch together. I might look into outdoor things too, but that might be a bit more of a risk than I want to do just yet. I have been wanting to do this for a long time, but this is the first time I have this push after experiencing a small bit of my old social life back again. And I think knowing what I’m missing and not being so separate from it is going to help motivate me to try harder.

I do still want to be hopeful that it won’t be that much longer before things are safer and I won’t have to work as hard to find ways to have joy, but I’m not going to depend on that hope. I’ve done that for almost a year now and I know that for my mental health, I can’t keep putting it off any longer.

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Default ThumbnailBack To More Scheduling (or Seeing How Much My Time Unemployed Affected Me) Default ThumbnailScheduling Life (or Trying To Remember What Day Of The Week It Is) Default ThumbnailTrying To Not Let My Stress Get To Me (or Continuing To Find Ways To Cope With Isolation) Default ThumbnailRemembering To See My Friends (or Actually Scheduling Hangouts) Default ThumbnailDoing The Opposite Of My Monthly Challenge (or Continuing To Focus On The Good) Default ThumbnailScheduling Without A Schedule (or Hoping To Make The Most of My Unemployment)

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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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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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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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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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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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Always Cleaning (or At Least The Pandemic Helped Create This Habit)

Posted on February 11, 2021 | Comments Off on Always Cleaning (or At Least The Pandemic Helped Create This Habit)

I don’t think I’ve ever really had a messy house, but I also know it hasn’t been as clean as it could be. In my old apartment that I shared with a series of roommates, I feel like I was a bit messier. Even though I had less space that was just mine, I wasn’t as concerned about keeping it clean. I would let magazines pile up as I needed to read them. Or not clean out my bathroom cabinet for expired products. And I remember moving into my house and saying I would never let it get that messy.

Of course, I didn’t become a neat freak just because I moved. I was cleaner than I was in my apartment, but I never really had a great cleaning routine down. I have tried so many times to have a regular cleaning schedule, and it just didn’t happen for me. I had a monthly challenge a few years ago to spend a little bit of time every day doing a speed clean, and that worked. And I’ve managed to keep that habit up ever since then.

But while I was bored and out of work last year, I got into cleaning a lot more. I looked into what products might be best to use and what tools I needed to have to make cleaning easier on me (like using microfiber cloths instead of paper towels and having a little scrapper tool for any sticky residue). I even got a cleaning caddy to keep my supplies together in one space. It wasn’t the cleaning schedule I wanted to create for myself, but it was working for me.

And I was worried once I started working again that I would let the cleaning routine stop again. I know I’m not working full time and I do have a lot of downtime in my day, but having something scheduled still makes me feel rushed in my day where I don’t have the same amount of time to do things even if I have the time. But with so many things since I started working, it turns out that easing into my new work schedule really helped me keep things going. I haven’t really slacked off much with my cleaning, and I’ve actually gotten a bit more planned out with when I can do certain things. I know that doing a big cleaning job is probably going to be the main task for the day (like when I scrubbed the grout in my bathroom tiles). And on other days, I can fit in all the surface cleaning plus vacuuming.

I’ve been unemployed other times in my life and I’ve never picked up a cleaning habit as I have now. I think part of it has to do with being a bit fearful of germs and trying to stay healthy. I never was the person who cleaned every item that I brought into my house, but I’m much more mindful of what surfaces I’m touching every day and what has been cleaned and what still needs to be cleaned.  I’m hyperaware of keeping things as safe as I can, and cleaning is one of the few things I can do and have control of.

I don’t know if I’ll ever say in the future that I’m grateful for the pandemic for a lot of things. While I have learned a lot about myself during this time of isolation, I don’t know if that outweighs the negatives of this time. But I will be grateful for a few things that I have changed about my life during this time. The first is cooking more often. And now having a cleaning routine. Two things that I wanted to do for a long time but never seemed to be able to stay consistent. But I guess the pandemic forced me to make these changes and I can only hope that they will stick with me even when things are safer again and I have a full and busy life.

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Default ThumbnailSpring Cleaning (or Feeling Pampered) Default ThumbnailA Big Cleaning Week (or An Excuse to Organize) Default ThumbnailSpring Cleaning (or Needing To Declutter Again) Default ThumbnailFall Cleaning (or Making My Workplace Spotless) Default ThumbnailFeeling Like A Fresh Start (or Spring Cleaning and New Toys) Default ThumbnailCleaning Up And Giving Things Away (or Finding More Space In My House)

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Reading About A Secret Life (or Time For Another Giveaway!)

Posted on February 9, 2021 | 2 comments

I’ve shared several times on here that I’m a big reader and huge book nerd. I love to read so much. I love being able to escape into another world or to learn more about something I don’t know much about. I do read a lot of fiction that tends to be more “chick-lit” style, but I try to keep my reading a bit varied. But I love all books.

And I love books even more when I know the person who wrote them! This hasn’t happened too often, but whenever it does it makes the book even better. And I recently had a chance to read an amazing book written by someone I have gotten to know recently!

I mentioned being on Brianne Davis-Gantt’s podcast in the past. I really enjoyed being on her podcast and I have loved listening to all of her episodes and learning more about her story. She has been so incredibly brave in sharing her sex and love addiction. I personally didn’t know much about this addiction before, but after hearing Brianne share her story, I understand it so much more now.

And I feel like sex and love addiction is likely the closest addiction to food addiction/binge eating disorders. For so many addictions, it’s easy to avoid things for the rest of your life. You don’t have to drink, do drugs, or gamble in order to get through life. I cannot avoid food for the rest of my life. And sex and love addicts have to confront their addiction if they do not want to live isolated and alone for the rest of their lives. The battle to overcome an addiction while facing it every day is something that not a lot of people understand. And even though it’s not quite the same as my issues, hearing Brianne’s story has helped me feel less alone.

So when I heard that Brianne was writing a book about a character overcoming a sex and love addiction, I knew I’d want to read it as soon as it came out! And I was lucky enough to be given an advanced copy of her book “Secrets of a Hollywood Sex & Love Addict” recently!

Brianne based this book on some of her experiences with her addiction and created a beautifully honest story. The main character, Roxanne, is flawed just like we all are. The character sees the flaws in herself and works on finding herself and who she wants to be. It’s not a self-help book, but it does feel like a mix of chick-lit that I normally read and some self-help. There are so many moments in the book that I felt inspired in my own journey with overcoming my eating disorder and felt hopeful that I will have similar breakthroughs in the future.

I already know that I’ll be reading this book again because it was a great read. While I did get lost in the story as I love to with books, I also was learning a lot and taking in so much information that I know I needed to hear. And I know there are more lessons in the book that I didn’t fully take in with the first read. And it seems like all the review’s Brianne has gotten so far have all said very similar things! Whether you are struggling with addiction and don’t want to feel as alone or want to understand what those dealing with addiction go through, this is an incredible book that everyone should read.

And I’m so excited that I was given the chance to give away a signed copy of “Secret Life of a Hollywood Sex & Love Addict”! You have multiple ways you can enter. You can comment on this post, you can follow different accounts on Instagram, and you can tweet about the giveaway! This giveaway is open to everyone 18 and older who lives in the US. I’ll be selecting a winner randomly on the 16th!

So make sure you enter and tell your friends to enter too! I can’t wait to hear what you all think about this awesome book! And good luck everyone in the giveaway!

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Default Thumbnail“Life…In A Word” (or A Wonderful Holiday Giveaway) Default Thumbnail“Beyond The Wisdom Of Walt” (or Another Amazing Giveaway!) Default ThumbnailRevisiting Old Characters and Stories (Or A Journey Of Re-Reading Books) Default ThumbnailScared Speechless (or A Book Giveaway!) Default ThumbnailSo Much Reading (or Really Taking Advantage Of The Library) Default ThumbnailLearning About “Breaking Vegan” (or An Amazing Book Giveaway!)

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A Night Of Learning (or Watching A Lecture Online)

Posted on February 5, 2021 | Comments Off on A Night Of Learning (or Watching A Lecture Online)

I think for some people when they retire, they tend to spend a lot of time relaxing and enjoying free time with nothing on their schedule. I never really thought my parents would be that way when they retired, and they have proven me right in the years since my dad stopped working. I feel like my parents have never been busier! Right now, things aren’t as busy for my parents as they used to be, but they are still always doing something.

One of the things that my parents do is attend the San Jose Speaker Series. They’ve been doing this for a little while now and they always get to see the most amazing people. Before the pandemic, the Speaker Series was done at a theater. And for a little while, they took a break with the hopes that soon they would be able to restart. But since the pandemic has continued, the speaker series has gone online and is doing as a Zoom presentation. My parents still are watching each one and they always have the best stories after watching a speaker.

They had one with W. Kamau Bell this week, and they ended up having an extra ticket for it. And since this is done over Zoom and anyone in the world can watch, my parents asked me if I wanted the extra ticket! I said yes right away! I’ve heard W. Kamau Bell be interviewed on different podcasts and I’ve always been impressed by what he’s said. And I knew that what he discusses is very similar to the different anti-racism books and research I’ve been reading lately. So I was excited to continue my anti-racism education with his lecture.

It was kind of nice getting to watch the lecture from my house. I had set it up on my iPad but then streamed it to my tv so it would be on a big screen. I was able to be comfortable while watching and looking things up on my phone if he mentioned something I wasn’t familiar with or a show or book I wanted to remember for later.

A lot of what he discussed were things I have learned recently from the news or my reading. One thing he talked about that I’ve been learning more about recently is medical racism. I only knew minimal information about medical racism such as the medical mistreatment in the past. Until recently, I didn’t know as much about how medical students aren’t taught about how different diseases can present with different skin tones. For example, the photos in textbooks of different rashes are usually on pale skin because it’s easier to see them. But that doesn’t teach those medical students about how to recognize the same rash on darker skin. And with the pandemic, medical racism has really become obvious with how some patients aren’t believed when they say they are in pain or are struggling to breathe. It’s awful, but I’m glad I’m learning more about it so I can educate others and make sure I don’t make those judgments about people.

The lecture lasted about 90 minutes, but I wish it was a bit longer. It was so good and I was learning so much. And it didn’t really feel like I was just watching a Zoom presentation. It did help that nobody was on the screen except the speakers, but it still felt different. It almost felt a bit more serious than what most things I’ve seen on Zoom are like. I also loved the idea that even though I was hundreds of miles away from my parents, we were watching the same thing at the same time. It was a live event that wasn’t recorded, which makes it special.

I was talking with my mom after the lecture was done and we were both saying how maybe they will keep the virtual series an option even when they can go back to watching the speakers in person in a theater. If they do that, I might see about getting tickets because I really liked it. And there are amazing speakers in the series each season.

I’ve said how I need to have more fun in my days, and while this was serious it still felt like something fun. It was educational and entertaining and it gave me something to look forward to. I’m still working on adding more things to my days because this proved to me that it’s exactly what I needed. Hopefully, I’ll find more things soon, but for now, I’m just grateful my parents had an extra ticket to the Speaker Series and I got to join them for this one.

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Default ThumbnailA Night Of SAG Awards (or Watching Union Unity) Default ThumbnailAnother Night Of Debate Watching (or Trying To Have Some Fun With This) Default ThumbnailTrying To Prevent Zoom Fatigue (or Not Sure If This Is A Pandemic Problem Or Not) Default ThumbnailNot Blaming Myself (or Still Learning From Online Dating) Default ThumbnailOfficially Getting A New Cousin (or A Zoom Wedding) Default ThumbnailWatching History Happen (or Actually Enjoying A Political Morning)

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