Category Archives: Fun Stuff

What I’ve Done Over A Quarter Of A Year (or Feeling Ok With What I’ve Accomplished)

Posted on June 17, 2020 | Comments Off on What I’ve Done Over A Quarter Of A Year (or Feeling Ok With What I’ve Accomplished)

I’ve said this a few times already, but we have been doing isolation/quarantine for a quarter of a year now. When it all started, I know some people thought it would only be for 2 weeks, but I felt like it would be at least for a month. And if things were locked down more or cases were tracked and managed better, maybe we would have been in a better situation after a month. But things weren’t as strict as many they needed to be. And I know that if things were stricter, people would have been more upset. It can’t be easy to find the balance of protecting people but allowing them to not feel like they are trapped or not free. I wish that more places would require masks since that seems to be the way to manage this. But so many people are protesting against them (which I really don’t understand).

Even though things are reopening here, I really do fear that they will need to be shut down again or that more people will be getting sick and we will run out of hospital beds. That’s why I’m pretty much staying home all the time even though I don’t need to. I do have other reasons why I’m doing almost a full quarantine, but the main one is that I know that limiting my exposure to others is one thing I can do to manage the spread.

But being home almost 24/7 for 3 months hasn’t been easy. I’ve talked about the isolation and toll on my mental health it has taken. I’ve been working on finding ways to handle that and I do have more good days than I did before. But I do still have days that I struggle. I don’t worry too much about those bad days because I know I’m not alone in them. And when I’m feeling down, I do try to think of good things I have accomplished by being home.

Sadly, that list of things I have done is pretty short. I have done a lot of cleaning and reorganizing, but at the same time, I have spent money that I didn’t expect to spend. I know I’m saving money on other things so it should balance out, so that’s good. And I am happier with how things look in my house. Even though I haven’t changed much, it does feel like a refreshed home and that does make me feel like I’ve been able to make my home feel even more like me.

Another good thing I try to remind myself about is how I am cooking more. I have a few recipes that I feel very comfortable with that I don’t really need a recipe. I know what ingredients I need and I can put them together quickly. They aren’t anything fancy, but it does feel good that I know I can make a meal quickly and easily if I make sure I stock the things I need at home. I still want to branch out more with my cooking, but it’s much better than it was before.

I’ve also been working on trying to be better about what I am eating. I still am struggling and I’m not going to hide the fact that I have gained weight (the combination of not eating the best and also not working out as hard hasn’t been good for me). But I do want to try to pick healthier things when I can. And while I don’t avoid fruits and vegetables, I want to make sure I add more to my day. One way I’ve been doing that lately is making smoothies each morning.

I’ve had a good blender with an individual cup attachment for a while. But I just never used it that much. But I decided now is the time to do it. And the smoothies I’m making aren’t anything too crazy. I use a frozen banana, some fresh spinach (which I do freeze to keep it good longer), some Greek yogurt, almond milk, and peanut butter powder (I started with using real peanut butter, but the powder is healthier). So I’m getting in a serving of fruit and vegetables with each one plus some protein. They look just like any other green smoothie and they taste like one of my favorite smoothies from Jamba Juice.

I’m usually not a big breakfast person, but this is easier on my body to tolerate in the morning. I don’t know yet if this helps me enough with my food choices for the rest of the day, but I know it probably can’t hurt. The calorie count isn’t that high and it’s healthy. So I figure it’s a good thing to have most mornings and hopefully, it will have more benefits as I get used to having them.

I don’t feel like I’ve gotten much else done while staying home other than watching a lot of TV and reading a lot of books. I don’t feel as productive as I would like to, but I also know that the productivity that I had before isn’t necessarily feasible right now. I can’t compare myself now to what I was able to do last year since I don’t have the same options. So while I might not have done much over the past 3 months, I have stayed healthy. And I have gotten a few random things done or new potential habits started. And I should be grateful for those little things because they are victories for now.

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Default ThumbnailHow Is This Year Almost Over? (or Doing A Check In On My Goals) Default ThumbnailUnder 90 Days Left In The Year (or Doing A Bit Of Reflecting) Default ThumbnailHow Is This Month/Year/Decade Almost Over? (or I Think Everyone Is Shocked It’s Almost January) Default ThumbnailOne Year (or Actually One Year And A Couple Of Days) Default ThumbnailStarting The Year With A Lot Of Transformation (or Who Will I Be By Next Year?) Default ThumbnailNew Year’s Eve Fun (or Making Sure 2014 Is A Lucky Year)

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

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You Are The Union (or Finding More Ways To Educate Other Union Members)

Posted on June 11, 2020 | Comments Off on You Are The Union (or Finding More Ways To Educate Other Union Members)

I’ve been passionate about union service since I started being involved in it. I might not have had all the right things to do when I was first elected as a delegate, but I have always wanted to be more involved. Before the pandemic, I was getting more and more involved in things. One of the things that I had been enjoying a lot was being an observer at the local board meetings. As soon as those are back, I will be continuing to be an observer because it’s such a great way to see my union at work. And of course, I’m also pretty involved now in the Union Working group and all the action that they have been taking.

But I am always looking for more ways to be involved in union service. And the thing within union service that I am most passionate about is union education. I want the members of the union to understand what is going on and to not feel as powerless as some of them do. Some members feel like the union is a separate entity and they have no voice, which is very far from the truth. This union is run by the members. We do have staff, but they work for us. We are in charge of the path that the union takes.

I was talking with some of my friends who are also passionate about union service, and my friend Amir and I started talking about doing some type of livestream event to answer questions that members might have. We started running with that idea and after about a week of brainstorming, we had a real plan for what we wanted to do. And while we weren’t looking to make this political or just about our slate, we knew we needed our slate’s help with a few things so we brought the plan to some of the leaders. They understood that we were looking to make a non-partisan event and really encouraged us to go with it. So we did.

And a week ago, we had our first livestream event! We are calling these You Are The Union because that is the big idea we want anyone watching to take away from these events.

We want members to be able to join the livestream and ask questions, give feedback, and have a clear understanding of what is going on. While we know we can’t answer every question that members might ask, we know we can explain to them why we might not have the answer or what is in the works. For example, I know some people have had questions about healthcare eligibility since we aren’t working right now. We don’t have the answer to that, but we can tell people that the healthcare trustees (who are in charge of our healthcare plan) are meeting and discussing this. And when they can say what the plan will be, they will tell us. We just want to make sure that people who watch our livestream don’t feel confused about what is going on if they ask us about it.

Our first livestream had some really great things about it. We had a good turnout, especially considering we didn’t have as much time to promote it as we would have liked to (this was partially my fault as we were trying to get things set up before promoting it). The questions we were asked were good and nobody was being negative or accusing anyone of things. And we were able to cover a wide variety of topics. We did have some technical glitches that caused us to not be able to run the livestream the way we were hoping and made it start late, but people understood why this happened and they were patient with us.

Amir was hosting it along with 2 guests, and I was working the behind the scenes stuff with managing the questions that came in and making sure everyone was able to access the livestream after the glitch. I was kept pretty busy doing that, but I was so glad I could help. I’m not sure if I want to be on-camera for these, just because I don’t feel like I have enough information to comfortably host. But that is now a goal of mine and something that is pushing me to continue to educate myself so I can feel like I could be a good host in the future.

This is not just a one-off event. We are already planning our next ones and we are hoping to be able to have them on a regular basis. We are still working on improving upon the first one, so hopefully, we continue to just get better and more efficient. We may start focusing our livestreams on specific topics, while still allowing any questions about other topics. But from the feedback we got, having a bit of a focus would be helpful for the audience. And having topics is also helping us plan, so I’m glad we were told that it could be a good thing.

If we weren’t in isolation during this pandemic, I don’t know if we would have created this livestream. I want to think that we would have, but I think being forced to have virtual meetings as a regular part of life really made us see what we could do. Even when we could have in-person meetings again, I think this is going to stay as a livestream as it allows so many people around the country to join in. And it gives us a bit more flexibility with getting guests because people don’t need to be local to do it.

It’s been a while since I’ve helped to create something I’m this excited about. And it’s a great feeling. I am doing this to continue my union service and help other members, but selfishly it has also helped me find a bit of purpose in a weird time and I’m so grateful for that.

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Default ThumbnailAnother Successful Livestream (or Fixing Issues And Working On A System) Default ThumbnailAnother Amazing You Are The Union Livestream (or Learning So Much About Being A Better Ally) Default ThumbnailUnion Working Town Hall (or Getting Close To The End Of Election Season) Default ThumbnailFinal Union Working Meeting For 2017 (or A Commercial Roundtable) Default ThumbnailSharing My Union With A Friend (or Continuing To Be Inspired And Involved) Default ThumbnailFinding New Ways To Be Creative (or Almost As Good As Acting)

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

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Trying To Plan Ahead (or Hopefully Things Will Normalize Soon)

Posted on June 10, 2020 | Comments Off on Trying To Plan Ahead (or Hopefully Things Will Normalize Soon)

Everything that I had planned for this spring got canceled pretty quickly once the pandemic started. I think I’m still in a bit of shock about how much I had to cancel and how fast it all happened. I was deleting stuff from my calendar when it started, but I just gave up because it was almost more overwhelming when I was constantly deleting stuff.

We are now about 3 months into this. That’s a quarter of the year where I rarely left my house. It feels like it has taken forever and flown by at the same time. And now as things are reopening, I’m trying to make some plans for things in the future but still be cautious and safe.

I’m not making plans for things in the next month or so. Maybe I’ll do something for the 4th of July, but I really don’t know. But that date feels like a line to me. I don’t want to make plans for things before the 4th. I know that it’s just a random date and it doesn’t necessarily mean that anything will be different or better by then. But it’s just something I have in my head now. Probably because there was a statement by the mayor saying that he felt that LA could be reopened by that date.

I really don’t have anything in my mind for this summer. I was supposed to go to Tahoe to spend time with my parents, but now I don’t know. Flying doesn’t seem like the safest thing to do right now, so I don’t want to fly. And it’s over 10 hours to drive there so I wouldn’t be driving. If things feel safer, maybe I’ll be able to go toward the end of the summer, but it’s very up in the air. And I haven’t even started to think about my birthday. I can’t imagine really celebrating my birthday now. If things are different in 2 months, maybe I’ll do something. But I just feel weird trying to plan something when I have no idea if we will be able to do anything in public.

In the fall, the only thing I was planning for was Thanksgiving. As far as I know, we are planning on being together as a family this year. But that also will require flying so I know it will need to be safe to be on a plane then. And with all the talk about a second wave, I worry that it won’t be ok. I know that I will be with some family no matter what, but I really hope that we will all be able to be together by November.

The only real plans for the future that I have made aren’t until the new year. I was supposed to see “Hamilton” last month with my parents. When that was canceled, we got a refund on our tickets. But we just found out that we had early access to buying tickets to some of the new dates that they added to the run. I believe the show was supposed to leave LA at the end of this year, but now they have dates through February (maybe past that, but I don’t remember seeing them). So I checked with my parents and we decided that we should get tickets and if they can’t do the show we would be refunded again. We ended up picking my dad’s birthday in January as the date we would go, and I’m hoping that we will be able to attend and that it will be safe.

And the only other plans I have are also related to musicals. I did renew my season tickets for the Pantages for the next season. But that season doesn’t start until the late spring next year. Some of the shows in that season have been canceled because they aren’t going on tour anymore, but there still is a season. And I’m excited about the shows that are scheduled. I just hope that no other shows are canceled. And at some point either later this year or at the beginning of next year, I should have the last few shows from this current season. There have been some shows that were canceled, but I believe we have 3 more that are being rescheduled. I guess those aren’t necessarily plans yet since I don’t know what the dates will be, but I’m counting them as future plans.

I know that soon I’ll feel more comfortable with making plans to do things again. Once I feel like things are safer, I need to have some things out with my friends. I’m done with being home alone and lonely. I need some social interaction. But I also don’t want to make plans that feel like they might need to be canceled because that is tough to deal with sometimes. It’s a weird mix of needed to have something to look forward to and not wanting to have to cancel things and be upset.

One day, I’m sure I’ll look back at this time and maybe laugh about how worried I was to make plans. For now, the uncertainty is really making it tough for me to make plans. But the few things that I have planned for are making me so happy and ready to be back to a more normal life.

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Driving Around For No Reason (or Finding Places That Make Me Happy)

Posted on May 29, 2020 | Comments Off on Driving Around For No Reason (or Finding Places That Make Me Happy)

Before the pandemic hit, I didn’t drive my car a lot. I did drive to my workouts and random things, but I didn’t have a long commute each day or put a lot of miles on my car. I add so little mileage each year on my car (typically around 8,000 miles a year) that my insurance needed proof because they didn’t believe I was driving so few miles. This is probably extra weird since I live in LA, where everything seems to require driving.

But since the pandemic hit, I have been driving even less. I don’t go to my workouts. I don’t meet up with friends or go out to do things. I have driven to Santa Barbara once and have done some random errands, but it’s still a fraction of what I used to do. I still am doing a lot of errands through deliveries (like groceries), so I’m not even going out to do that much. I can’t remember a time that I drove so infrequently since I got a driver’s license.

And with not driving that often, there is a new car-related issue that I have to keep in mind. I need to make sure that I don’t forget to drive every so often because I don’t want the battery to die. I know if it does die, I can call AAA and they can jump the battery, but I want to avoid needing to do that. I’m sure AAA has other issues to worry about that they should focus on, and I want to help limit the exposure the truck drivers have. I don’t necessarily want to test how long I can go without driving, so I’ve been looking online at how often I should drive. Most things say at least every 2-3 weeks. So I have tried to remember to drive at least once every other week. And if I am only driving to do a quick errand, I try to drive a little before the errand just to use my car a bit more.

This week, I was coming up on 2 weeks without driving my car. I didn’t have any errands that I had to drive to or anything that would require me needing to use my car. But I needed to drive to make sure the battery didn’t die. I had debated doing different things, but I couldn’t decide on where to go. Originally, I was thinking about driving to the beach again. But now that the beaches are open, I figured it would be harder to find parking. I realized if I tried to figure out where to go before I left, I probably would not get out that day. And since I wanted to get this task done, I didn’t want to put it off. So I just got in my car and started driving.

I drove the direction I often go to do different things. I had no plan in my head about where to go, but I just drove. I thought about maybe going to a fun neighborhood and looking at houses, but that didn’t seem like fun and I didn’t know how crowded some streets might be if everyone was parked (some streets aren’t really designed for people to be parked there plus driving). I thought maybe going to Hollywood to see how empty it looked by places I love, but that also felt a bit sad so I skipped that. Then I tried to think of places that make me happy and figured out a fun place to drive to.

I don’t have to go to my union’s national/local headquarters that often, but I do go there quite a bit. And the stuff that I’m able to do when I’m in that building does make me happy. I get to be a part of amazing things or watch the union in action. So driving to the union seemed to be the perfect place to go. Plus, it was a good distance for me to drive. Since there wasn’t a lot of traffic, I got there pretty quickly. I found some parking and decided to take a silly selfie to commemorate my random driving adventure.

And after taking the photo, I got back in my car and drove home. It was nice to see something familiar that makes me happy. I was a little sad thinking about all the things we haven’t been able to do because of this pandemic, but I was also reminded of the work we are doing so we can make sure we can get back to work as quickly as possible while still being safe. And knowing that my union is working hard for all of us is inspiring. When we are able to get back to work, I know we will all be grateful for what was done.

And hopefully, soon enough, I will be able to be back inside my union’s building and won’t just have to see if from afar.

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Default ThumbnailRandom Driving Around LA (or Anything Is Entertainment) Default ThumbnailEscaping My House For A Bit (or Enjoying Some Time In My Car) Default ThumbnailA Quick Happy Hour (or Making Myself Be Social) Default ThumbnailDay Trip To San Diego (or Driving Disasters) Default ThumbnailFinding Little Things To Make Me Happy (or Shopping And Text Groups) Default ThumbnailFinding Soul Mates (or Why I’m Having A Tough Time Finding An Improv Class)

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Virtual Memorial Day (or Doing The Best We Can For Now)

Posted on May 27, 2020 | Comments Off on Virtual Memorial Day (or Doing The Best We Can For Now)

Usually for Memorial Day weekend, I spend time with my friends at a BBQ. It’s usually a pretty low-key hangout, but it’s a great opportunity to see my friends and spend some time having fun. Typically, I haven’t seen that group of friends since the Oscar party, so I am excited to see them. The same group gets together and we all get along so well. And we all have the same type of friendship with each other that we can just pick up wherever we left off and it doesn’t matter how long it’s been since we’ve seen each other.

But this year, of course, things are different. I don’t know if I realized that this BBQ wouldn’t be happening until recently. Time is a weird thing during this pandemic and I didn’t realize Memorial Day was almost here. But once I did notice it on the calendar, I started to get a bit sad. When this all started. I doubt anyone thought it would last until Memorial Day. Now, they are hoping for reopening around the 4th of July, but I also know that can be changed and maybe it will last longer than that. But I also know that this is necessary to keep us all as healthy as possible.

I messaged my friend Marie to see if they were going to do anything virtual for Memorial Day, and I think I messaged her just as they were starting to see what they could do. I was so glad that they were going to plan something so I could have a bit of my regular life on Memorial Day. They planned a big group Zoom hangout that was supposed to start at 1 pm. While I am usually one of the first people to their parties, I have never been the very first person. But I was the first guest that arrived at the virtual party.

It was so good to see Marie and Chris! I have missed all of my friends so much, and I haven’t gotten to see many of them virtually since this all started. I was so happy that I was tearing up at seeing familiar faces. And we had a few moments to chat before lots of other people were joining in! People were popping in and out, so there was never a time that I could have gotten a photo with everyone in the virtual party at one time but this shows a lot of people who were there.

There was a good-sized group the entire time I was in the Zoom party. I was able to stay for about 2 or 3 hours before I needed to leave and get some things done around my house. And yes, we did have some issues with people talking over each other since we had so many people there at once, but we also joked that the parties are like that in real life too.

And some people really did have some fun with the idea of a virtual party. Marie and Chris used a video for a virtual background and the video was a 30-minute loop that mainly was just their empty entryway but occasionally had them walking through the frame and opening doors. So it was like they had evil twins appearing from time to time. That made all of us laugh so much. Other people used other still images for virtual backgrounds. And one person made Chris and Marie’s house their background and that made us all smile. Some people even did outfit/costume changes from time to time, which was something special and unique with doing a virtual party. And of course, everyone who had a dog showed them off at some point. That was one of my favorite things.

There were a few moments when I felt sad because I really wanted to be with my friends in real life and not just seeing them on a screen. I was a little frustrated by seeing so many people around the country not keeping a distance from others and wishing that I could do the same. I don’t know if the people doing that don’t worry about this virus or where they live there are no cases. But in LA, there is no way I can believe that being around others would be ok right now. And I know that eventually, I will be with my friends again and the only way to keep us all healthy is to stay apart for now.

But even with the rare moments of sadness, for the most part this was an amazing way to try to spend time with some of the people I love. I would have been more upset if I hadn’t seen them at all. And we were all talking about how amazing it will be when we have our epic in-person reunion (we are all hoping we can do that for Halloween, but it will depend on a lot). Seeing friends virtually isn’t as great as being together in person, but it is so much better than not seeing them at all. And we all know how lucky we are that we were able to do this at all. To go through this pandemic without the internet would have been so much worse. But we can do virtual things like this and stay connected while having to be apart.

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Default ThumbnailA Game Filled Party (or Being Competitive With My Friends) Default ThumbnailPre-Memorial Day BBQ (or Making Drunk Fruit) Default ThumbnailAnother Virtual Friend Hangout (or Trying Not To Miss A Summer Tradition Too Much) Default ThumbnailSo Many Virtual Movie Nights (or Thank Goodness For Technology) Default ThumbnailFinding A Social Life Where I Can (or Virtual Parties and Distance Hangouts) Default ThumbnailHaving A Lot Of Repeat Days (or More Organizing and More Virtual Hangouts)

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Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

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Doing A Lot Of Shopping (or Just Trying To Have Some Variety In My Life)

Posted on May 26, 2020 | Comments Off on Doing A Lot Of Shopping (or Just Trying To Have Some Variety In My Life)

I’ve been doing a lot of shopping and organizing lately. I’m glad that I am finally doing this since there have been so many things that I have been putting off that I needed to do. I want my house to be the most efficient and amazing place for me. And there are things that I set up when I moved into my house that I just never changed. But it’s been a good thing to change them up and get my house to a place that I had been wanting to get it to for a while.

This is so important because my house is so small and I don’t have unlimited space to do what I want. Most things in my house need to be able to be moved if necessary or to be functional for more than one thing. I don’t want to have a ton of furniture that I have to work around all the time. Obviously, there are some things that don’t move, but for the most part I am able to shift things around if I need to.

But besides buying things to organize my house, I’ve been buying things to change up the look of my house too. I haven’t gotten as many of these, but I have been finding new decorative things I want to add. Some of this is because in my organization (especially around my desk), I’ve been taking a lot of things down and either getting rid of them if I don’t need them or moving them into different places. I could keep all my decorative stuff the way they are, nothing is horrible. But I just felt like I needed a change and went for it.

I haven’t gotten the new decorative things since I ordered them online and there are lots of shipping delays, but it has gotten me really excited. I just can’t wait until I am able to put things up and maybe I’ll move even more things around.

I wasn’t thinking too much about why I felt so compelled to redecorate my house. At first, I thought it might be because I have had so many things in my house for 10 years and I was ready for a change. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this might be due to quarantine. I don’t really leave my house for anything right now. I don’t go to the grocery store that often (I usually get it delivered but maybe go to the store once a month). I don’t go out anywhere. I am working on finding some good socially distant social events, but I haven’t planned any yet. I am just inside my house and looking at the same walls all day.

I think my urge to redecorate had a lot to do with that. I was craving a change and changing the decorations inside is something I can do and not have to leave my house. Maybe this will trick my brain into thinking I have gone somewhere different. Maybe it will just take some of the monotonous feelings of being home away. I still think that I will be antsy to get out and back to normal life, but hopefully this takes a little bit of the edge off. And even if it doesn’t, I’m excited for a change in my house. Everything that I have changed up has made things feel a bit more serene and less cluttered. And I have changed other things around my house to fit with those new things which changes it up even more. Even if it doesn’t, everything I bought does make me excited about them so I don’t need them to do more for me than that.

Whenever people can finally be out and social again, my house is going to look like an entirely new place. I’ve joked to people that they won’t recognize it when they come over. But even if nobody noticed or cared, I am still so happy about the changes I’ve been making. And I hope the new things coming soon will just continue to make me feel that way. But I do hope that I have a break of changing things up that require purchasing after this. As great as it’s been for my mental state, I know that I am spending money that I should probably be saving. But I’m not worried about that right now.

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Default ThumbnailFinding Little Things To Make Me Happy (or Shopping And Text Groups) Default ThumbnailBuilding Upon My Monthly Challenge (or Continuing To Work On Shopping) Default ThumbnailLunch And Shopping (or Proof My Work Is Paying Off) Default ThumbnailAnother Rut In My Life (or Time For Some Shopping) Default ThumbnailNo Shopping September (or At Least No Online Shopping) Default ThumbnailBrunch and Shopping (or Helping A Friend Make Some Upgrades)

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Shopping

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Finally A Good Workout Week (or Continuing To Build My Home Gym)

Posted on May 25, 2020 | Comments Off on Finally A Good Workout Week (or Continuing To Build My Home Gym)

When I wrote my last workout recap, I had dealt with multiple bad workout weeks in a row. I was dealing with different issues and it felt like when I got over one thing I had another to deal with. And some of the things I dealt with were expected (like nausea) and some were random and unexpected (like cutting my finger or getting cellulitis). Having so many bad workout weeks in a row really were taking a toll on my mood. I knew I was in a worse mood than I had been. I was fighting that feeling, but I couldn’t help feel really down on myself.

And when I writing my last recap, I said that this past week would be the week my nausea likely would kick in again and I was frustrated that I was going to have to have yet another bad workout week. But I don’t know if I mixed up what day it was or what else got me confused, but I had the wrong week for when my nausea would most likely start. That’s actually going to be this week, so last week’s workouts actually were much better than expected.

I did have to still deal with a few issues like my finger still healing (so it’s not really too flexible) and the tail end of taking antibiotics and those making me a bit sick. But overall my workout week was a good one and I really did need that. I still was making modifications to things, but there were few modifications needed and I really was able to get into the workouts.

I think some of the motivation to do more was from knowing that there are some studios in other states starting to open up. I know we aren’t ready for that (and I do wonder if the other states might have done it too early), but it gives me hope that gyms and fitness studios in California will be opening up sooner rather than later. I have no clue if it will be this summer or this fall, but I feel like it is coming and that is making me really excited. And adding to the fact that some states have been able to open their studios, they have been starting to say that if things continue the way they have been going that maybe we will start reopening more by the 4th of July! I would love it if that could happen. I know it’s not really soon, but it’s a date to keep in mind that might be when things start turning around. And if that is approximately the right date, then we are past the halfway mark of quarantine (I know I’ve said that before, but every time there is a new date I think of if I’m past halfway).

There is no real substitution for working out in the studios, but I’ve really tried to make my home workouts the best I can be. I have gotten a lot of different equipment for my house. If I had more space and money, I’d probably buy a lot more. There are a lot of things that I wish I had (like a rower, weight bench, and more weights), but I have a pretty good setup for my house. I know that when I get back to the studios that I might not be able to lift as heavy, row as hard, or bike as fast; but I will not be losing all the progress I’ve met. And as I’ve been doing the home workouts, I have found that there are some things I wish I had at my house more than others.

One thing that I wished I had was a BOSU ball. While the home workouts aren’t using them, I use them a lot for modifications and it would be nice to have them for that. Plus, I do like some of the balance work that we do on them and I know that balance work is something that can help my hips. BOSU balls aren’t difficult to buy, but they aren’t cheap and they take up a lot of room. But when I was looking online at them, I saw something called BOSU Pods that looked like mini-BOSU balls. And that’s pretty much exactly what they are.

You can’t do everything on BOSU Pods that you can do on the full-sized ones, but for what I was hoping to do I could get a lot done. The only thing I wouldn’t be able to do would be to use them to help me with incline plank work or as a replacement for a workout bench (they just aren’t high enough for that). But they would help with plank work by adding some difficulty. I also could use them for balance work like squats and lunges, plus they could be used for step-ups since they do add a bit of height and they are not going to slide on my floor as my step ladder does. So I ordered them and they arrived at my house just in time for my Saturday workout.

They are pretty cute, just like miniature BOSU balls. And they are much easier to store in my home gym collection than the full-sized one would be. In Saturday’s workout, there was only one exercise that really could use them (we had hip bridges so I put my feet on them for an added challenge), but after I did the home workout I did a little extra just so I could use them. I only did squats on them, but I could tell right away that it was making squats so much harder and my body was working a lot more to do them. That’s exactly what I was hoping they would do and it proved to me that I can work on regaining some of the strength and muscle that I have lost.

I’m excited to keep using the BOSU Pods in my workouts and finding ways to continue to challenge myself. This week I’ll also be able to test them with if they do help enough with plank work when I’m nauseous. I’m not expecting them to be enough, but you never know. I’m in a much better mood and have a much more positive mindset after this past week so I’m hopeful that I can make things work for me.

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Default ThumbnailI Hate Not Having As Much Motivation (or A Week Of Workout Struggles) Default ThumbnailAnother Mixed Motivation Week (or I Might Be Almost Done With At-Home Workouts) Default ThumbnailNot The Workout Week I Planned On (or Starting To Prepare To Go Back) Default ThumbnailAnother Week Of Home Workouts (or Still Trying My Best) Default ThumbnailBirthday Workout Week (or Continuing My Progress) Default ThumbnailFinally Getting Back To Feeling Like Me (or A Transitional Workout Week)

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At Home Hair (or I Haven’t Done This Since I Was A Teenager)

Posted on May 20, 2020 | Comments Off on At Home Hair (or I Haven’t Done This Since I Was A Teenager)

With isolation/quarantine lasting as long as it has, there are a lot of routine things that people are missing out on. Some of them are things that only happen once a year or so (like some doctor appointments or fancy spa days that people might plan), but there are a lot of things that people do regularly that they can’t do right now. And a lot of those things are beauty-related. I don’t do a ton of regular beauty appointments, but I do have a few. I do get waxed once a month (waxing is better for my skin than shaving for my autoimmune disease) and I do miss doing that. I was supposed to go in just as things closed, so it is a little annoying since shaving isn’t an option for me. But at the same time, I’m not seeing anyone so I don’t care too much.

The other regular beauty thing I do is my hair. Haircuts and color something that I have seen a lot of protestors complaining about. And I get it. If you need a haircut or your color looks bad, it’s frustrating that you can’t do much about it. But at the same time, there is no way to keep proper distance while doing someone’s hair. And nobody’s hair is worth risking getting sick or being a carrier and getting someone else sick. I know that not everyone agrees with me, but there are so many other things to worry about than hair.

I was lucky because my hair was done right before things closed. And even though my hair grows quickly, I didn’t care that it was getting longer. Most days, I just pin my hair back so it’s out of my face. Again, I’m not going out so it doesn’t matter how I look. When I need my hair to look good, I can blow dry my hair and style it. When I did my self-tape audition, my hair didn’t exactly look like it does in my headshot. But the casting directors know that nobody can get their hair done right now so hopefully, they aren’t judging us on that.

But the one hair frustration I was dealing with was my hair color. I’ve been going gray for almost 15 years now, but the grays have been significantly worse in the past few years. I do have different products I can use to cover my grays between appointments. And if I needed to look good (like for my audition), I just used those. I don’t like seeing so much gray in my hair, but if that was my biggest issue then I am lucky.

But my friend who did my hair the last time said that she was going to come by with some hair color for me as a gift. I knew a lot of people were buying box color, but I wasn’t going to do that. So to have a friend drop off professional color for me was so nice! She gave me enough to do my roots and cover the grays. It wasn’t for a full color, but it was something to hold me over.

When I was a teenager, I did dye my hair at home. Back then, I did use a cheap box color. It never looked horrible, but it never looked great. It was mainly to add some red to my hair and sometimes in the sun, it did look a little orange. But compared to some of the hair fails my friends in high school had, mine wasn’t bad. But that experience did scare me a bit about coloring my hair at home. Even if it was professional color.

Fortunately, my friend was able to help me via text with what I needed to do. I sent her photos to show her where I had the color for her to check that I was doing it right. There wasn’t a lot I could screw up (I just had to mix 2 products and then use the brush she gave me to put it on my hair), but I was still nervous. By the time I got the color all over where my grays were, I sent her another photo and she confirmed that it looked good.

I had a little bit of leftover color, so she told me for the last 10 minutes that I should mix that leftover with some conditioner and put it on the rest of my hair to refresh things. I did that (sorry, forgot to take a photo that time) and before I knew it, it was time to wash out the color. I didn’t think too much about washing out the color, but I’m glad it didn’t stain my tub too much (I did have to clean it after this because some dye did stick to it). My friend was right, it was a pretty simple process and I don’t think I screwed it up. I wish I had taken a before photo, but I wasn’t thinking about that. But this is my after photo and I can tell you that before dyeing it, I had a lot of gray hair on the side of my head. And now I don’t!

This wasn’t as good as getting it done by a professional, but it was much better than what I did in high school. And I will admit that I do feel a little better about myself now that I’m not seeing all the grays. But I never would have been protesting to get a salon open even with the boost that this gave to me. I know that right now, this is the safest way for me to color my hair. And if things remain closed for a few more months, I’ll probably ask my friend if she can help me with getting me some color again. Most of the people I know who do hair have been offering this to their clients. So if you are worried about your roots, reach out to your hairstylist to see if they can mix some color for you.

This isn’t how I normally would do my hair, but as I’ve said so many times, this isn’t normal times. I’m just grateful that I did have a chance to have a small bit of normalcy and to feel a bit more like myself. And I’m glad that nobody had to put themselves at risk for getting sick for me to do this.

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Default ThumbnailDoing Some Beautification (or Feeling Better From The Outside In) Default ThumbnailTime For A Bit Of A Change (or Getting Chopped) Default ThumbnailGetting A New Look (or Two Attempts To Dye My Hair) Default ThumbnailContinuing To Get Back To Me (I Needed My Hair Done!) Default ThumbnailCoconut Oil Hair Mask (or Trying A Simple DIY Beauty Trick) Default ThumbnailGetting Pushed Into Changing (or A Story About My Hair)

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Having A Lot Of Repeat Days (or More Organizing and More Virtual Hangouts)

Posted on May 12, 2020 | Comments Off on Having A Lot Of Repeat Days (or More Organizing and More Virtual Hangouts)

I know a lot of people feel like they are living the same day over and over again right now. This is probably happening a lot for people who are completely out of work. I am lucky with my work because I do still have some (even though the hours are a fraction of what they used to be). I know that 3 days a week, I work from 8-9 am with doing customer voicemails. And I do still have my other job, but those hours are limited too as I can’t find a lot of things to add to the calendar. I also have my workouts a few days a week, so that helps to make things feel a bit different. I usually know what day of the week it is based on if I have a workout or work that morning.

But besides those things, there isn’t a lot of variety in my day. I’m working on not just sitting in front of a screen all day long and trying to continue to be productive, but there have been days where sitting and watching tv is all I feel up to doing. And it’s not easy to find other things to fill my day with while staying inside and staying safe (and yes, I know I can go out for walks or drives, but it’s not the same).

I wrote about 2 different things I’ve been doing a lot of lately. And those are organizing my house and having virtual hangouts. Honestly, that’s all I’ve been doing a lot of lately to change things up. And I know these are good habits or activities to have, so I don’t feel as guilty as I do when I watch tv for hours on end.

Fortunately, doing organization in my house was long overdue, so there have been a lot of projects to work on. Some of the projects have been pushed off because I needed something to complete them, so now I have been ordering what I need. Because of the pandemic, there are shipping delays with some things, so I just work on what I can as I get things. And this week, I got these little drawer organizers that I had been looking at online. I know it’s hard to make them fit perfectly in my drawers, but I found some that don’t actually snap together so I can keep open space between them. My plan was to just organize my desk, but I had so many extras that I also did 2 of my kitchen drawers. I didn’t really get rid of anything as I did these projects, but it looks much better and my drawers look like there isn’t as much because there is some space to spare.

I’m sure I’ll continue to modify these over time, but for now, it’s so much better than it was and I can start working on the top of my desk and my file cabinet now.

And with my virtual hangouts, I’m trying to plan them with different groups of friends so I have them as often as I can. And the one group of friends that I had been working on scheduling one with is with my workout friends. Right now, we are spread over 3 states and we all have different schedules and things we have to do each day. So it hasn’t been easy to find a time that works for us all. But we were able to plan one for this past Friday. And I felt like that was the perfect time to do it because when we all worked out together, Fridays was the day we were all there!

And it was so nice to see my friends. We did talk about workouts briefly (I think I’m the only one doing the official home workouts regularly), but we mainly talked about all the random things we could think of. We were all laughing so much and laughing so hard that we were crying. I needed this virtual hangout so much and I didn’t realize how badly I needed it until it was done. It really boosted my mood and made my day so much better. And now that we’ve done one, I think everyone agrees that we need to do these more often.

I’m sure this week will continue to be filled with more organizing and virtual hangouts. I also have some ideas for new skills that I want to learn since I have so much free time. Anything that can change up my day a little bit is exactly what I need to do right now.

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Default ThumbnailMy Monthly Challenge To Finish Out The First Half Of The Year (or Sleeping And More Organizing) Default ThumbnailA Big Cleaning Week (or An Excuse to Organize) Default ThumbnailFinding A Social Life Where I Can (or Virtual Parties and Distance Hangouts) Default ThumbnailEven More Organizing (or This Was An Overdue Project) Default ThumbnailVirtual Memorial Day (or Doing The Best We Can For Now) Default ThumbnailAnother Virtual Friend Hangout (or Trying Not To Miss A Summer Tradition Too Much)

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Finding A Social Life Where I Can (or Virtual Parties and Distance Hangouts)

Posted on May 8, 2020 | Comments Off on Finding A Social Life Where I Can (or Virtual Parties and Distance Hangouts)

I can write so many posts about how isolated I feel right now. I know that technically we are all isolating, but most people I know are isolating with others inside their home. They might be with family, roommates, a significant other, or a pet. But I am just alone. I know I’m not the only person living alone right now, but I think it just adds another layer to things right now that makes it tough.

I’ve been trying my best to not feel as isolated as I really am. But there are only so many things I can do. I’ve had a lot more phone calls with friends than I can ever remember. I’ve done video chats with friends that I never normally would do that with because they live so close. I’ve really tried to find ways to feel like I’m still connected to others out there, but my options are limited.

But I feel like there have been 2 things that make me feel so much more connected than anything else. The first is something that hasn’t happened that often. In fact, I think I’ve only had this happen a few times since isolation started. And that is having a friend come by for a social distance visit. Once this happened when a friend came by to borrow something from me and she was in her car and I was in my driveway. Another time was when a friend did some grocery shopping for me and I was in my car and she was in her driveway (yes, there is a bit of a theme here). And this week, my workout buddy Erin came by!

She was dropping off some stuff for me like hair dye to do my roots (which I know I don’t need to do but I appreciate the chance to not see my gray hairs!). We made sure we stood pretty far away from each other. I know the guidelines say to be 6 feet apart, but we were probably more like 12 or 15 feet apart. But it didn’t matter because it was so nice to see a friend! This was the most face to face time I’ve had with a friend in a while and I needed it. Just talking to a friend in person for a few minutes made my day (and my week) so much better! I know that right now it’s not necessarily safe to do hangouts like this often, but if I can do one once a month until it’s safer to have them more often, I think that will be so good for my mental health.

And the other thing that has been giving me a social life right now is my Netflix Party group that I have. The group has been going strong since we started it and I love knowing that on Wednesdays and Saturdays I will have a virtual hangout with the women in the group. We’ve changed things a little in the group since we started. Now, we are usually doing double features on Saturdays and we are trying to have a theme each week. And on Wednesdays, we are watching a tv series together. We did a vote and we are watching “Schitt’s Creek”, which is a show that I had been meaning to watch. We watch a few episodes each week and it’s been so fun.

And the group that does the parties has really bonded. We have a group text going which was originally set up to share the links for the movies we watch. But that group text has turned into an amazing support group. If someone is feeling lonely, they can write something and we all rally around them with support. When someone posted that they lost their job, some people replied with help with filing for unemployment, and others replied with other things they might need to do. And when it was a Friday and someone wrote that they were sad it wasn’t Saturday because they didn’t want to be alone, we scheduled an impromptu bonus movie night and were all watching a movie together within an hour. It’s been an amazing support system that I am so grateful for.

Right now, it’s not easy to feel connected to others (or others who don’t live in your home). We are all trying to figure out how to not feel alone, and there is no right answer. For right now, these things are what work for me and what feels right. If this continues for several more months, I might have a different plan. I just have to stay flexible with what I do to feel social and keep trying new things to see what will work for me.

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Default ThumbnailSo Many Virtual Movie Nights (or Thank Goodness For Technology) Default ThumbnailFinding Time For Friends (or Busting Out Of My Routine) Default ThumbnailSocial Days Off (or Finally Seeing Some Friends) Default ThumbnailHaving A Lot Of Repeat Days (or More Organizing and More Virtual Hangouts) Default ThumbnailGetting Ready For A Fun Rewatch (or More Netflix Parties) Default ThumbnailRemembering To Have Some Fun (or Hangouts Don’t Always Have To Be Events)

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