Category Archives: Fun Stuff

Doing Some Skincare Basics (or Slowly Changing My Self-Care Routine)

Posted on August 28, 2020 | Comments Off on Doing Some Skincare Basics (or Slowly Changing My Self-Care Routine)

I know that things that used to be routine for me are not necessarily happening right now. Since my schedule has changed so much and I don’t have as much to do each day, I’m not always doing things I used to not think twice about. I had a routine for so much and it was based on what I had to do each day (or what I was going to do the next day if it was a nighttime routine). But now, everything in my routine feels so up in the air.

I’ve written recently about doing some self-care stuff at home. And I’m almost surprised at myself for not doing more self-care things. I’ve got nothing but time right now. I could do a 20 step skincare routine if I wanted to. I could spend hours working on hair, makeup, and my skin. I don’t know if I’ll ever have this amount of free time again in my life. I feel like I should take advantage of that, but that feeling has also made me feel a bit guilty that I haven’t been doing that already. So, just like I have been doing for so many aspects of my life, I am trying to go easy on myself and not feel too bad about any lack of effort.

One of the self-care things I’ve been wanting to do, even before the pandemic, was to revamp my skincare routine. I’ve been using a lot of the same products for a while and I don’t know if I’m actually using enough stuff. I’m usually pretty basic with cleanser, toner, and moisturizer. I’ve added a few random products from time to time and sometimes they stick for a while, but I know that using the same 3 products for the last decade is probably not what I need to be doing. My skin has changed a bit in 10 years and my routine hasn’t.

The hardest part of changing up a skincare routine is that there are too many choices of things to use! It can be overwhelming looking at all the options of just a single type of product. And also, things change based on your skin type. I didn’t want to waste a lot of money testing new products when I have no clue what is going to work for me, what I will like, and what will be something that I can see myself using regularly for a long time. Since the idea of overhauling everything seemed too much for me, I just decided to start with a single product for now. And I picked my nighttime cleanser as the first thing I want to play with.

I haven’t done a lot of testing and experimenting. I’ve only tried 2 new products so far. I will say, I’m grateful for how many products have travel sizes. I am only looking at drugstore products for now, but even those products can get expensive if you buy a lot. But I found 2 cleansers that had travel sizes for only a few dollars so I picked those. They also seemed to be very basic and neutral options so I wasn’t trying something too extreme.

For the last few months, I’ve been pretty lazy when it comes to washing my face at night. I always do it, but I wasn’t taking the care I used to. More often than not, I would use a face wipe before going to bed. I know those aren’t the best to use all the time, plus they create a lot of waste. But my laziness got the best of me and that’s why I started using them more often. But washing my face properly at the end of the night is a nice routine to have to end the day. And feeling like I’ve done something for myself is a good thing to have too. I know I don’t appreciate things I have as often as I should. So treating my skin nicely is a good way to start doing that more often.

I’m still pretty early in testing these products and I’m sure I’ll have to try more and see what happens. This could be an overnight process, but for me, I just don’t think that will be the way I get the results I want. And I don’t need to feel overwhelmed with changing up too much when this process can take a while without it causing issues. So this is just the beginning of it, but at least I started to do something that I have been putting off for too long.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailChecking Out Face Haus (or Making Skincare More Routine) Default ThumbnailFailing And Succeeding In One Monthly Challenge (or Another Repeat Challenge This Month) Default ThumbnailI Love When Something Becomes A Non-Issue (or An Update On The Scar On My Face) Default ThumbnailBringing More Good Things To Me And Others (or Happiness and Self-Care) Default ThumbnailSlowly Spring Cleaning (or Tidying Up My Way) Default ThumbnailSelf-Care Is So Important (or At-Home Beauty)

Comments Off on Doing Some Skincare Basics (or Slowly Changing My Self-Care Routine)

Posted in Beauty, Fun Stuff

Tagged ,

Getting Ready For A Fun Rewatch (or More Netflix Parties)

Posted on August 27, 2020 | Comments Off on Getting Ready For A Fun Rewatch (or More Netflix Parties)

I’ve been running a Netflix Party for one of the Facebook groups for a while now. Like I’ve said, having these twice a week have been a great thing for me. They are helping me feel like I’m being social and doing a communal thing with others. It’s helping me keep a regular schedule and have things to look forward to. And I also have gotten to know the women from this Facebook group even better now that we have this mini-group and we are texting with each other for a few hours a week.

It’s pretty simple to run the group. The only thing that can be tough is to make sure we have enough movies to vote on for our Saturday movies. But I just take a little bit of time each week to do a search on Netflix for any new movies that might be available and then another member from the group checks to make sure they are also available in Canada (since we have a few Canadian members). Picking movies is easy once we have the list since we have learned how to do polls directly in our message group. And just like having these Netflix Party nights is adding a routine to my life, so is working on the movie list and selecting the next movie.

On Wednesdays, we watch a tv show. It started as movies on Wednesdays, but we quickly switched to working through a tv show as it seemed like a lot of people wanted to do that. We decided to watch “Schitt’s Creek” as our first tv show and we finished the first 5 seasons last week. The 6th and final season isn’t going to be on Netflix for another month or so, but we will be watching that season when it is available.

Since we finished a tv series (or as much of the series that we can watch now), we had to do a vote for a new show. So I spent a few days collecting nominations for shows that the group wanted to watch, we did our Canada check, and we put it up for a vote. And while there were a lot of shows that people seemed to be excited about, the clear winner was “The Good Place”.

I love “The Good Place”. It was a show that I watched every week while it was on tv. I thought it was one of the best shows that I’ve seen and it was written so beautifully. There are twists in the show and those twists made things even more amazing. Nothing in the show seemed to be done to get ratings or attention. Every episode was deliberate and thought out, and that’s why I think they ended after only 4 seasons. That was the story that the creator of the show wanted to tell and they didn’t add more just to make more episodes (and make more money). I respect that idea a lot and it just added to what I loved about the show.

I know the show pretty well and there won’t be any surprises for me, but that doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy it less. I think knowing how the show ends will make me watch all the episodes in a new light. And there are members of the group who will be watching that have not seen the show and I’m so excited to see their reactions to things that shocked me.

This Netflix Party group has become a big part of my quarantined life. I know that even if the pandemic ended by some miracle tomorrow that we would still figure out how to watch movies or a tv show together. We might not do it as often as we do now, but I have a feeling that this routine will be a part of our lives for a while. And maybe one day in the future, we will find a way to all meet up somewhere and we can do a movie night together in person.

I never thought a virtual movie/tv viewing group would be so important to me. But I guess that’s one of the things that this pandemic is making us realize. We are seeing what we don’t miss from our old lives, what we miss a lot, and what new things can bring a lot of happiness and joy to our lives.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailSo Many Virtual Movie Nights (or Thank Goodness For Technology) Default ThumbnailEnjoying Movie Nights (or Watching My Screeners) Default ThumbnailFinding A Social Life Where I Can (or Virtual Parties and Distance Hangouts) Default ThumbnailAnother Netflix Night (or A Comedy Panel) Default ThumbnailNetflix Luncheon (or Rebels and Rule Breakers) Default ThumbnailAnother “Gilmore Girls” Adventure (or Netflix FYSee)

Comments Off on Getting Ready For A Fun Rewatch (or More Netflix Parties)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged , , ,

Having Fun With Photos (or My Brother And Nephew Are Twins!)

Posted on August 26, 2020 | Comments Off on Having Fun With Photos (or My Brother And Nephew Are Twins!)

Even if we weren’t in a pandemic, I’m sure that I would be getting a ton of photos of my nephew from my brother and sister-in-law. I probably would be going to Santa Barbara more often than I have been able to do now, but the photos would have still been a constant thing. And I love getting new photos of Rory. He’s already looking so big and I can’t believe how big he will be when I get to see him again (which will hopefully be in a month). And while the photos do make me sad that I’m not there more often to see him, it does make me happy to see fun little things that he has been doing, like going to the pool for the first time.

A lot of the photos are just of Rory being cute and smiley. And of course, those make me smile and make my day. And the other day, my brother and sister-in-law sent our family text group some new photos of Rory. And there was one photo that made me stop to stare at it because it looked so familiar. I realized that it looked almost identical to a photo of my brother when he was a baby.

I called my mom and told her to look at the photos that we just got and that I knew there was a photo of my brother that matched. I couldn’t describe the photo too much, I just knew it looked like the one we were sent of Rory. I thought the photo of my brother had him in a gray or blue outfit, but I wasn’t too sure. Fortunately, my mom knew exactly what photo I was talking about. And because she is so organized with her digital photos, it was only a few minutes before she could find the exact photo I was talking about. She sent it to me so I could make a little side-by-side comparison to text to the family text group.

To me, they look like twins! Their faces, their smiles, and how they hold their hands are so similar! It probably helps that they are posed the same way too, but I have said since the first time I saw Rory how much he looks like my brother. But now, I see it more than ever!

And everyone in my family agrees with me that they look like twins. I think they all liked that I put the photos together (I’m known in my family for making collages and other photo things). There isn’t a lot that makes everyone smile, but photos of Rory always does that. And I think the side-by-side photos made everyone smile too!

And now, my brother and sister-in-law are expecting another baby! They are having a girl this time and she will be here next spring! I wonder if she will be another twin for my brother or if she’ll be a twin for my sister-in-law. I guess we’ll see when she’s born next year. I am excited to be an aunt again and to have another member of the family! Hopefully, by the time she arrives, things will be a bit safer to be around others so going to meet her won’t be as intense of a situation and I can be there more often. But if not, at least I know I will be getting a ton of photos!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailI’m Officially An Aunt (or Welcome Rory!) Default ThumbnailMeeting Rory (or This Made Isolation Worth It) Default ThumbnailAnother Santa Barbara Day (or A Little Bit Of Social Interaction) Default ThumbnailFamily Weekend (or Hanging Out With The Dog) Default ThumbnailMore Family Time (or Seeing All My Immediate Family Last Week) Default ThumbnailA Santa Barbara Afternoon (or Celebrating My Future Nephew!)

Comments Off on Having Fun With Photos (or My Brother And Nephew Are Twins!)

Posted in Family, Fun Stuff

Tagged , , ,

19 Years In LA (or The LA Anniversary Between Two Big Milestone Anniversaries)

Posted on August 21, 2020 | Comments Off on 19 Years In LA (or The LA Anniversary Between Two Big Milestone Anniversaries)

Last year, I celebrated being in LA for 18 years. Being in LA for 18 years also meant that I have spent over half my life in LA. In some ways, it still doesn’t feel like that and that I lived in the Bay Area longer. In other ways, I feel like I’ve been here more than that and my time in the Bay Area was forever ago. I remember thinking when I moved to LA that I would have to live here for 18 years to be there as long as I was in the Bay Area and that seemed so far away. While I never considered living anywhere else, it still seemed like it was something so far in the future that I would never get there.

But I did get there last year. And I’m so glad I have stayed in LA because it always feels like this is where I was meant to live. When I was growing up, I always thought I should live in LA. Since I moved here, I’ve only had a few fleeting moments wondering if I should think about living somewhere else. But those moments are usually when I’m having a really bad day (like when I’m feeling so isolated from everyone in my life).

Next year, I will be celebrating 20 years in LA. That feels like a milestone just like being here for half my life. It’s a nice round number and while it’s not necessarily super significant to me, it still feels like a big deal.

This week, I’m marking being in LA for 19 years. That’s still an anniversary, but it feels like a weird nothing anniversary between 2 big ones. And because of everything going on in the world, it feels even less important or significant.

I feel like this year is the year that is slipping away. Time feels like it doesn’t really matter. Important dates like birthdays and anniversaries don’t feel the same as they normally do. I have joked that nobody should have to get older this year since it’s not a real year. But that is how it feels at times. So even if this year was a big milestone year, I don’t know if I would feel that way. I’m sure that if we weren’t in a pandemic that I would still feel a bit weird about it, and the pandemic just exasperates that feeling.

I don’t want to dismiss that I should be happy that I’ve been in LA for 19 years now. It’s not the easiest city to be in because of the cost. And I will say that I haven’t always fully supported myself while living here. But I still have worked to be more and more independent as I’ve been here. And I’ve made this city more and more my own. I do feel a bit disconnected from LA right now because I’m not going out and doing the things I love, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love the city. I’m sure it would be nice to be somewhere where there are fewer people and I could get out more, but that would only be nice for now. Once I can go out and do all the fun things I usually do, I will feel more like this is the place that has always felt like home.

Just like with so many other things, I’m excited to be having an important date and milestone, but it just doesn’t feel like it normally does. I don’t know if anything will feel that normal for a while. But like I’ve said before, anything to celebrate these days should be celebrated. We don’t have a lot to be excited about. So I will celebrate being here for 19 years because that is awesome! And here’s to hoping that when I celebrate 20 years in LA that I will be able to celebrate this city doing all the things I love and feel are so special about LA.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailCelebrating Some Anniversaries (or Remembering Awesome Family Moments) Default ThumbnailSo Many Birthdays and Anniversaries! (or A Month Of Celebrating And Remembering) Default ThumbnailAnother LA Anniversary (or I Kind Of Already Celebrated This Once) Default ThumbnailTen Years Ago (or Another Big Milestone) Default ThumbnailMy LA Anniversary! (or 13 Years Have Gone By Quickly) Default Thumbnail67 Years (or Celebrating An Anniversary With Fondue)

Comments Off on 19 Years In LA (or The LA Anniversary Between Two Big Milestone Anniversaries)

Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged , ,

FYC (or A Drive-In TV Screening Night)

Posted on August 20, 2020 | Comments Off on FYC (or A Drive-In TV Screening Night)

I get invited to screenings at different times of the year. Sometimes it’s for the SAG Awards and they are screening movies for us to vote on. Sometimes it’s just for fun and a new show is premiering and they want to get attention for it. And sometimes I get invited to For Your Consideration screenings for things I’m not voting on but they have extra space for others to join in.

There haven’t been a lot of events this year since public events are hard to do. Nobody wants to sit in a movie theater with a lot of strangers, even when wearing a mask. A lot of screenings have been things to watch at home. I have seen a few invites for those, but I don’t always feel sitting at my computer more than I need to. But then, I got an invite for something different.

This was a series of screenings being done as drive-ins on a giant screen. Normally, FYC means For Your Consideration. But at this screening, FYC meant From Your Car. They were doing them at the Rose Bowl and everyone would be staying in their cars. And the screening with space available was for “The World According to Jeff Goldblum”. I don’t know how I haven’t watched that show yet, but I haven’t. So going to a screening of it seemed like an awesome way to watch some episodes!

I didn’t really want to go alone, but it’s also tough to go with someone when you don’t know how isolated they have been lately. But I knew that my friend Dani was taking things as seriously as I was, so I texted her to see if she had been isolating recently and if she was free to go to the screening. And she said yes to both! So we decided to go together and I was so excited! I hadn’t seen Dani since March and I really wanted to hang out with a friend. Even though I saw Joanna just a few days before (from a distance), seeing a friend made me realize how much I wanted to try to find ways to do it again. I’m just so glad I have friends who are being as cautious as I am.

When we arrived at the Rose Bowl, there was a little line to get in. We were there early, so we opened the windows to the car to let some fresh air in (we figured that plus the masks helped to keep us as safe as possible). And when we were let in, we were given a flyer with some information for the night.

And then we saw a line ahead with a step and repeat set up.

But because we all were staying in our cars, I guess it was more like a drive and repeat. One car at a time went onto the carpet and they took a photo of us. And then they texted it to us right after so we could see our official photo!

Some people were taking off masks for the photo, but we didn’t. First, for safety. But also, this is such a specific moment in time and we wanted to have the masks to be able to remember this one day in the future.

We were directed to a parking spot (which was right in the center and near the front) and we were handed a bag and a menu. I thought the bag had our dinner but when I looked at it, it was a snack pack with candy, popcorn, and water!

Then we were served dinner! I knew we would be getting fed at this screening, but I didn’t expect so much food and for it to be so good!

Dani and I both loved the dinner so much! I was amazed by how much we got (my snack pack wasn’t touched and I ate it another day at home). And then we relaxed and waited for the screening to start.

It was so nice to get to hang out with Dani, even if it did feel a bit weird to be in masks. But seeing a friend right now in masks is so much better than waiting until things are safe again. And we did both feel safe with masks and keeping the car windows open. We were closer than 6 feet from each other, but with all the other precautions I felt ok.

Right before the screening started, we noticed that some of the step and repeat photos were going up on the big screen. And then we saw our photo up there!

Once it was dark, the screening started. First was a recorded Q&A with Jeff Goldblum talking about the show and what inspired it. It was fun to see how excited he was about the show and that it was a real passion project of his.

We then watched 2 episodes. The first was an episode all about tattoos. Then it was an episode all about ice cream. And as the ice cream episode started, we noticed staff going from car to car again. Turns out they had ice cream for us! I didn’t get a photo of that since it was dark and I was focused on the show. But it was the perfect treat since it was such a hot night.

And then, the screening ended. There were a lot of exits from the Rose Bowl, so it didn’t take long before we were headed back. And very little traffic so Dani made it to my house really quickly. I was sad our hangout was done, but so grateful to have had a night out with a friend doing something so fun!

Even though I felt relatively safe doing this, I don’t know how often I would do something like it. I do have some friends, like Dani, who I feel like I can trust to be isolating themselves a lot. But this was a treat for me and not something I plan on doing a lot just yet. But it was the best treat to do and it helped me feel like I wasn’t just alone and waiting out this pandemic.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailSuch An LA Night (or Just Having Some Fun With A Friend) Default ThumbnailMagic Castle Fun (or Girls Night Out) Default ThumbnailLast Musical Of The Season (or A Classic Pantages Night Out) Default ThumbnailA Virtual Musical Night (or Trying To Replicate My Routine) Default ThumbnailA Night At A Screening (or Forgetting What Non-Screenings Are Like) Default ThumbnailAnother Grove Adventure (or Dinner And Not A Screening)

Comments Off on FYC (or A Drive-In TV Screening Night)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged , ,

A Socially Distant Picnic (or Still Having One Birthday Tradition)

Posted on August 18, 2020 | Comments Off on A Socially Distant Picnic (or Still Having One Birthday Tradition)

One of my favorite birthday traditions is getting my free (or almost free) birthday dinner with my birthday twin, Joanna. We’ve been doing this birthday dinner for a long time (I think it’s been 10 years since we started, but I’m not sure). It’s so much fun and something that both of us look forward to. We aren’t great about getting together to see each other that often due to our weird schedules and not living super close together, but this is one of the times we always make sure we make time to get together.

When the pandemic started, I didn’t think too much about our birthday dinner. Honestly, I really thought things would be back to normal by August. And as time went on, I got a bit distracted by everything else to think too much about the birthday dinner. And then I got the email from Truxton’s for their birthday club and I realized I needed to think about what to do. I knew inside the restaurant wasn’t open (nor would I be comfortable eating inside a restaurant). So I sent a message to Joanna to see what she thought.

Even though they did have outside seating and the tables were being moved far apart, neither of us felt ready to eat at a restaurant. Fortunately, Truxton’s does take-out too and we could use our birthday club discount for that! So last week, we placed an order for take-out (I ordered the appetizer and my meal and Joanna ordered her meal and the dessert) and we met up for our birthday meal! There is a park only a few blocks from the restaurant that had some shade and very few people, so we turned our dinner into a picnic!

We both had our own picnic blankets and Joanna found a plastic tablecloth we could put between the blankets. We were cautious to keep a distance between us since you can’t really keep a mask on while eating. But neither of us have really gone anywhere in a while, so that also helped us both feel safer seeing each other. We split the appetizer and dessert up with a knife and fork and each had our own plates (again, provided by Joanna). And we each had our own entrees and that was easy to eat out of the take-out container.

Yes, it was fun to have an almost free birthday dinner. I think we each paid around $5 and we each left a $10 tip (the meals would have been $25 without the discount). This is a tradition that brings us both so much joy. And it was nice to be outside for a while because I haven’t done that in a while. But the best part of this was getting to hang out with a friend.

I have seen people I know maybe 6 times since March. I’ve seen my family twice. I had 2 friends who did grocery runs for me when I couldn’t go. And I had my friend drop off hair color twice. I’ve seen friends on Zoom, but for in-person interactions, I believe those are the only 6 times I’ve seen people I know in 5 months. That’s not a lot. I am not used to feeling so alone and isolated from my friends. And I know some of this is due to my own fears because I could have met up with friends in a park before. But like I’ve said before, it’s hard to figure out the balance of what is safe and what is too much of a risk.

So getting to hang out with Joanna for about 2 hours was amazing! Of course, we had our usual catch-up discussion. And we talked about how we are both coping with things right now. But I think the random things we talked about made me the happiest. Having those everything and nothing conversations are things that you don’t always get with a virtual hangout. It did feel weird to be even 6 feet away from someone without a mask on, but it also was nice to have a moment where I could feel like it was my old life again.

We ended up hanging out in that park much longer than either of us expected. I think we both needed that time together. And we were saying how we hope that somehow things will work out so we can have our cheesecake outing this winter, but we have no idea about that. I can’t imagine when we can go to a restaurant again. But maybe we could do another take-out picnic?

I’m so glad that we found a way to keep our birthday tradition alive. I know it’s not the most important thing to do and it’s probably frivolous with everything else going on in the world. But it was nice to take a break from all the tough things I’ve been dealing with to have a moment of fun with a friend and some good food!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailBirthday Twin Tradition (or An Almost Free Meal) Default ThumbnailAlmost Free Birthday Dinner (or Spending My Birthday With My Birthday Twin) Default ThumbnailCheesecake With My Birthday Twin (or Continuing A New Tradition) Default ThumbnailBirthday Twin Dinner (or Zero Dollar Bill) Default ThumbnailContinuing The Birthday Celebrations (or A Birthday Twin Adventure) Default ThumbnailBelated Birthday Dinner (or We Don’t Mind It’s Not Totally Free Anymore)

Comments Off on A Socially Distant Picnic (or Still Having One Birthday Tradition)

Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged , , , ,

Self-Care Is So Important (or At-Home Beauty)

Posted on August 13, 2020 | Comments Off on Self-Care Is So Important (or At-Home Beauty)

For the last several months, I rarely leave my house. I know this is for the best and it’s what we all need to do in order to slow the spread of the pandemic. And I’ve complained a lot about staying home and the mental toll that has taken on me. But there are other things I’ve noticed about staying inside that have been getting to me. While I’m not going out and seeing people, I’m not really taking as much care or effort in my appearance.

I’m still doing basic things so it’s not like I have skipped washing my hair for weeks or that I’m not clean. I shower daily, wash my hair regularly, use lotion, and do basic beauty maintenance. And there are some beauty things that I can’t accomplish on my own or do not have the skills to do that I understand I can’t do (I have no talent with doing my own brows or pedicure so I’m not worried about that). I haven’t had my hair cut since March, but I might do a light dusting trim to get some of the split ends off (I have discussed this with a hairstylist so I know what to do and I won’t be really cutting my hair). And I did some at-home color earlier this year because I wanted to cover the grays in my hair.

I really needed to color my hair again, so I did color it at home (with salon color from my stylist) yesterday. It’s still not as good as when it’s professionally done, but it is better than nothing.

And even with the little bit of color that I was able to add to my hair, it made me feel so much better about myself. I haven’t really been making an effort with how I look, and it was getting to me. I hated seeing how many gray hairs were in my hair and how it just didn’t look or feel like me. So getting a bit of a color refresh was something that I really needed to do. I hope that I will be able to have it professionally done the next time I need it, but if not I know I won’t wait as long this time to buy some dye and I’ll do it myself for the third time.

Making an effort with my hair did perk me up a bit. And then I focused a bit on my clothes. Just like with other things, I’m not making much of an effort with my outfits each day. I’m almost always wearing yoga capris and a tank top. I don’t need anything else for just sitting in my house. Technically, I don’t have to even wear that much, but I don’t believe in wearing the same thing all day that you slept in. So I do always change my clothes in the morning. But I’m not feeling cute with what I’m wearing. My outfits feel very utilitarian and not stylish. Part of it is that I know I gained weight and don’t want to try on my clothes because I’m scared of how I’ll feel. But I do need to put more effort into myself.

Just because I’m spending almost all my time alone in my house doesn’t mean I shouldn’t care. I should care about how I feel about myself, even if nobody else sees it. I can dress cute if I want to or make an effort with makeup just for fun. Maybe I should take this time to experiment with makeup and hairstyles because nobody will see my mistakes. I can’t just be in a rut with not caring about myself beyond what needs to be done for hygiene. It’s hard for me to think about doing things for me when I usually make an effort for someone else or because I’m going out to do something fun. But because I don’t see this pandemic ending soon, I need to learn how to practice self-care just for me and not because someone else might be seeing me.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailDoing Some Beautification (or Feeling Better From The Outside In) Default ThumbnailDoing Some Skincare Basics (or Slowly Changing My Self-Care Routine) Default ThumbnailFinally It Feels Like Things Are Normal (or A Week Of Various Self-Care) Default ThumbnailTrying To Avoid Holiday Burnout (or Staying Home For Self-Care) Default ThumbnailCoconut Oil Hair Mask (or Trying A Simple DIY Beauty Trick) Default ThumbnailBringing More Good Things To Me And Others (or Happiness and Self-Care)

Comments Off on Self-Care Is So Important (or At-Home Beauty)

Posted in Beauty, Fun Stuff

Tagged , ,

Officially Getting A New Cousin (or A Zoom Wedding)

Posted on August 11, 2020 | Comments Off on Officially Getting A New Cousin (or A Zoom Wedding)

There are so many things that we are doing these days that nobody would have expected to do before the pandemic. Virtual hangouts are so common that many people have Zoom fatigue. Even though I know people have live-streamed weddings before, that’s usually done for people who couldn’t be there (like how my grandparents watched my brother’s wedding on Facetime because they couldn’t fly). But now, if you are getting married almost everyone has to be on Zoom. And that’s exactly what happened with my cousin’s wedding.

My cousin Danny and his partner Alisa have been together for a long time. And from the day I met Alisa, I have felt like she was my family. She and I always call each other cousin, even though it wasn’t official. But it was official enough for both of us. Even though we felt like we were already family, I was so excited when Danny and Alisa announced their engagement and so it would be official!

I don’t know how big of a wedding they had been planning on having, but I do know a lot of things had to change because of the pandemic. They were keeping their original wedding date (August 8th), and they just had to make adjustments to keep things safe. So they had only immediate family in person at the wedding and everyone else watched on Zoom. I was very ok with that because that meant I got to watch it and that’s all that mattered to me!

The wedding was pretty early (since they are on the east coast and it was a morning wedding for them), but I was happy to be up and watching it. And since the Zoom was just for us to watch (and not them to see us), it didn’t matter what we looked like while watching. And it made me so happy to get to be a small part of their big day!

Everyone looked beautiful and I was smiling the entire time while I was watching. The camera running the Zoom stayed in the same spot the entire time, so we didn’t get a lot of close up looks, but soon after the wedding was done some photos were being posted online and I could see more of Alisa’s gorgeous dress!

I’m so happy that Danny and Alisa got married and Alisa is officially my cousin now! And I’ve already told her that when things are safer again that they need to come to CA to visit us so we can have our first official family hangout! I’m looking forward to that!

I’ve seen people joke about having Zoom bingo with checking off how many things you’ve done during the pandemic. I know Zoom wedding or baby shower has been on every bingo chart I’ve seen. So I guess now I can check off Zoom wedding!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailTrying To Prevent Zoom Fatigue (or Not Sure If This Is A Pandemic Problem Or Not) Default ThumbnailThe Rest Of My Maryland Trip (or More Family Time) Default ThumbnailGoing To Maryland (or A Cousin Reunion) Default ThumbnailI’m Officially An Aunt (or Welcome Rory!) Default ThumbnailBest Wedding Ever! (or My Weekend In Texas) Default ThumbnailWedding Season (or A Bridal Shower For Another Jen)

Comments Off on Officially Getting A New Cousin (or A Zoom Wedding)

Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff

Tagged , ,

How I’m Hoping To Push Myself In My Workouts (or I Can’t Wait For My Birthday Gift To Get Here)

Posted on August 10, 2020 | Comments Off on How I’m Hoping To Push Myself In My Workouts (or I Can’t Wait For My Birthday Gift To Get Here)

Just like I wrote last week, I’m starting to get into a groove with my new workout plan. I love having a Zoom workout once a week (although I bet I would love it if I had more than that). Even though we are all working hard during those workouts, it still feels more social than what I’m doing on the other days at home alone. We have some time to chat and encourage each other and I didn’t know how much I was craving that until I got it again. And I’m so grateful for it.

There is no question that my Zoom workout is the hardest one of the week. But it’s also the most rewarding and the one that makes me the happiest. So the sweat and pain are totally worth it. I did have some pain issues this past week with all of my workouts, but it was manageable. And I know that I’m doing what I can to make it better. I just have to be patient and allow my body time to heal.

And there’s a chance I might be getting more social workouts into my workout week. There was a class that I couldn’t make it to last week that was a socially distant workout in a park. I would have loved to have been there, but it wasn’t possible with my schedule. But everyone was very far apart and were wearing masks. So I think if I can make it in the future, I will be going to that workout. I know how much any social aspect of a workout pushes me, and I need that as much as I can get it.

And pushing myself has been a recurring goal of mine since I’ve been doing workouts at home. We are coming up on 5 months of this, and finding ways to push myself hasn’t been the easiest. But I’ve slowly figured out things I can do and they have all benefitted me a lot. Adding home workout equipment and having more social workouts have been game-changers for me. I’m doing a lot better than I was when this all started. It’s taken time for me to figure things out, but I didn’t give up and I’m glad.

One of the things that has been hardest for me was figuring out how to get my strength training to be close to what I was doing in the studio. Finding weights has been difficult because so many people are building home gyms right now. I kept looking online for some, but either they were not the weights I was looking for or they were really expensive for what I could afford. But as my birthday got closer, I realized that asking for some of the weights that were a bit out of my budget might work as a gift from my parents. So I asked my dad about it and he agreed that it would be a good gift. I asked him about it several weeks ago and we spent a lot of time doing searching online for what would work for me.

I have limited floor space so originally I was thinking the weights that you can adjust might be a good option. But most of them were very expensive and they had much heavier weights than what I need. I didn’t need something that went up to 50 or 75 pounds. And when we were looking at individual weights so I could make sure I only get the weights I need, those could get really expensive as you get a few sets, and then I run into the issue of storage. So it really was a bit of a challenge for us to figure out what would work best for me.

In the end, my dad and I found a set of adjustable weights that only goes up to 25 pounds. Because the weight range on them is more limited than many other sets (which is perfectly fine with me), they were much more affordable. Still out of my budget for right now, but an acceptable price for a present from my parents. My dad did a bit of research to make sure this was the right option for me before we ordered. And now they should be arriving in the next week or two (there was pretty much nothing that would be able to get to me quicker than a week).

I’m excited and nervous for the weights to arrive. I know I’ve needed to get weights for a while. But I’m scared to see how much strength I really have lost in the past few months. I know that I won’t be able to lift the way that I did the last time I took a class at the studio, but that’s my goal to work up to again. I don’t know if I could get to a point where I am lifting more than I did before, but you never know. That could be a good second goal if I am able to get back to where I was and I’m still working out at home.

I’m so happy that even though I’ve been working out at home for a while now, I’m still finding ways to make it better for me in multiple ways. And as soon as I get my new weights, I can’t wait to see how that will push myself in the video and Zoom workouts!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailMy Last Workouts of Being 31 (or 174 Workouts) Default ThumbnailFitting In My Workouts (or Planning For The End Of The Year) Default ThumbnailMissing My Normal Workouts More Than Ever (or I Needed Someone To Push Me This Week) Default ThumbnailBirthday Workouts (or Just Having A Good Week Of Workouts) Default ThumbnailJust Surviving The Workouts (or Hoping Next Week Will Be Better) Default ThumbnailNew Limits (or Having Friends To Push Me)

Comments Off on How I’m Hoping To Push Myself In My Workouts (or I Can’t Wait For My Birthday Gift To Get Here)

Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff

Tagged , , ,

Random Driving Around LA (or Anything Is Entertainment)

Posted on August 6, 2020 | Comments Off on Random Driving Around LA (or Anything Is Entertainment)

Before the pandemic, I didn’t drive my car a lot. I work at home and my workouts are very close to my house. But I did drive most days, even if it was for a quick thing. I went to Orangetheory 4 times a week and I was usually doing errands at least 3 days a week. And there were other things like auditions or going to union events that required driving. It was pretty unheard of for me to go an entire week without driving somewhere.

But once the safer at home orders started, my driving became even more limited. I wasn’t going to my workouts. I rarely ran errands on my own because I was getting groceries and supplies delivered to me. I did have to drive for some specific things, but I easily went a week without driving at all. And because I don’t want my car battery to die, I have to make plans to just go out and drive my car from time to time. I don’t always have to do this if I run errands or have appointments that I have to drive to, but it has happened a few times over the past few months. If I know I’ll be going 2 weeks without driving, I do a random drive. And that’s exactly what I did this past weekend.

I debated about driving around to see something fun or going to the beach again, but since it was the weekend and I know more people are out and about, I didn’t want to have to worry about traffic. I ended up not really driving anywhere. I drove around Culver City and the surrounding neighborhoods. I wanted to be driving for at least 15 minutes and I did that. I know I did just waste gas, but I’m also not getting gas for my car that often. I usually fill my car up once a month, but now I think it’s only been twice since March. So I can afford to waste a little.

While I was driving around, I noticed how dirty my car was. I do have a parking space at my house, but it’s not covered. So my car gets dusty or covered in pollen after a while. Since my car is gray, it doesn’t show that much. But while I was driving it really was bugging me. My normal car wash place is somewhere that you get out of your car and the employees take it through the car wash and do the detail work, but I didn’t feel comfortable going there. I wouldn’t mind someone else driving my car, but I didn’t want to have to sit in a waiting area with other people for my car to be done. And I didn’t want to go to a place where you wash your own car (again, I didn’t want to be out around other people). So the best option would be a drive-thru car wash where I stay in the car.

I actually haven’t done a drive-thru car wash in LA, so I had no clue where to go. I posted on social media asking for suggestions of places to go, and one of my friends told me about a car wash that is only a few blocks from my house. I’ve driven past it hundreds of times, but never looked into it. But since it was recommended, I decided to go there.

And honestly, it was fun doing it. It was a lot cheaper than my normal car wash place (but also not as great of a car wash and the inside of my car didn’t get cleaned) and it was so fun sitting in my car going through the car wash. They have different colored lights inside so the soap looks really pretty. Maybe I enjoyed it so much because I don’t have anything else going on in my life, but that’s ok. This entertained me and that’s what counts. The car wash was only a minute or two before it was done and I was on my way back home.

Considering that this was just a drive to make sure my car battery didn’t die, it was a fun way to spend a bit of time. I did some exploring around my neighborhood, got my car washed, and now I know that my car won’t be dead when if I need to use it this week or next week.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailEscaping My House For A Bit (or Enjoying Some Time In My Car) Default ThumbnailCarmageddon 2 (or I’ll Be The Idiot Driving All Over Town This Weekend) Default ThumbnailDay Trip To San Diego (or Driving Disasters) Default ThumbnailSo Much Entertainment So Little Time (or Scheduling Leisure Time) Default ThumbnailDriving Around For No Reason (or Finding Places That Make Me Happy) Default ThumbnailA Random Brunch With A Friend (or So Many Pancakes)

Comments Off on Random Driving Around LA (or Anything Is Entertainment)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged