Category Archives: Fun Stuff

Finding Fun In Regular Errands (or Having A Friend Tag Along Makes Things More Interesting)

Posted on December 6, 2022 | Comments Off on Finding Fun In Regular Errands (or Having A Friend Tag Along Makes Things More Interesting)

I saw something on social media a few months ago about how someone was going to start suggesting doing mundane errands with friends as hangouts instead of going to do something like get dinner or drinks. I didn’t think too much about it at the time. Still, I did remember seeing how many people commented about being single and missing the companionship of a significant other when doing things like grocery shopping and how they used to feel more like outings than errands. Because I usually do my errands at random times or without much planning ahead of time, I didn’t think about trying to do something like that.

But a friend of mine had mentioned wanting to go to Costco and they didn’t have a Costco card. I have one and I go every few months or so. I don’t usually get food items at Costco unless I’m getting something special, but I like to see what other goods they have there. I have gotten a lot of random and cool things for my place like storage baskets, dishes, and kitchen gadgets. So I made sure that I let my friend know when I was planning on going to Costco again so they could come with me.

We ended up going this past weekend after I was done with work, and I have to admit that the idea on social media about having friends come to do errands was right. It was one of the more fun times I’ve gone to Costco. I had a few things on my list, but I usually also make a loop through the store to see if there is anything else that I like because there are always new items in stock. I normally go through the store the same way each time, just because it makes sense for me to go in that order. And my friend and I were just having fun looking at all the random stuff we kept finding.

I was showing them some things that I had purchased before, like my new dishes since they were still selling those. And in the cookware area, we saw they were selling a set of dutch ovens for a pretty good price. I did need a dutch oven, but I didn’t need two. So my friend suggested we buy the set and we could each take one. That was perfect and I never would have been able to do that if I had gone shopping alone. We also ended up splitting up some food things that we saw since neither of us needed the full amount and things had individual servings.

And it was nice to have someone to show things I was looking at and get a second opinion. There was a blanket I had seen online that I thought would be nice for my couch, and I was able to show them and they helped me decide what color would be best. When I saw something I wasn’t expecting to find, like some really nice fleece PJs, they also could give an opinion on the impulse purchases.

And since they hadn’t been to Costco before, it was fun showing them around and having them be excited about what we found. We found a really cool Harry Potter cookbook in the book section and a Lego advent calendar in the holiday section. Both of those were things they wouldn’t have found at other stores but they were perfect things to get on their shopping outing with me.

Even though I was going through the store with a friend, I wasn’t there much longer than when I go alone. I think that normally, I spend a lot of time looking at stuff and trying to decide if I want them since I don’t have a friend there as a sounding board. So the extra time we spend having fun was balanced with the time I saved not having to make decisions on my own. And it was seriously so much more fun than when I go alone.

I know that I can’t do this with all my boring errands since I can’t plan when I might have to do them, but it did remind me that I could spend time with my friends doing things that don’t feel as extravagant. And that there are ways to have more fun with the things I have to do when I have the opportunity. And I think unless going to Costco in the future is a spur-of-the-moment decision, I’m going to keep trying to find friends to go with me to make it more of an adventure than an errand.

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Default ThumbnailFinding Little Things To Make Me Happy (or Shopping And Text Groups) Default ThumbnailStill Finding Little Ways To Upgrade (or Figuring Out What I Want To Save For) Default ThumbnailSuch An LA Night (or Just Having Some Fun With A Friend) Default ThumbnailA Fun Union Hangout (or Hopefully This Is The Start Of A New Regular Thing) Default ThumbnailA Free Weekday (or Planning Ahead For Fun Things) Default ThumbnailHaving Some Fun With Setting Up My Place (or Now I Can Plan Out More)

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Getting Ready For The New Year (or Trying To Set Myself Up For Good Things)

Posted on December 1, 2022 | Comments Off on Getting Ready For The New Year (or Trying To Set Myself Up For Good Things)

Happy December! Again, I feel like last month flew by. I don’t know how November is over when it feels like it was just Halloween. Maybe doing Fake Thanksgiving threw things off a bit for me? But it still feels like November was a month that wasn’t there. And I’m ready to have one last monthly challenge for 2022.

For November, I challenged myself to be more efficient and to be more open to asking for help. When I set that challenge, I really thought it would be more about my work than about my personal life. And of course, I didn’t have too many things going on with work that would have required help or that were different from what I had done before. But I did try to be more efficient in my workflow each day. I tried to do some planning with which tasks need to be done immediately and which tasks could wait so I could do them in batches. And I think I’ve gotten off to a good start with this because I have noticed that I’m not struggling as much to get through my work each day.

But I did have the chance to ask for help with a non-work thing. I’m pretty short and sometimes things at the grocery store are either on the tallest shelves or they are at the back of the shelf so I can’t reach them. I’m used to standing on the lowest shelves to reach things because they normally aren’t that out of my reach. But a few weeks ago, I couldn’t reach something I wanted and instead of climbing to reach it, I asked someone who was also in that aisle to help me. I don’t love asking for help because I feel like I need to prove to myself that I can do things on my own. But it was nice not having to worry about my balance or struggling to grab the things I wanted. And the person who helped me didn’t seem to be too bothered to help and they even asked if there was anything else on that aisle I couldn’t reach. I still think that I won’t always ask for help because I can usually do things on my own, but it was a good reminder that it’s not a huge task to ask for help.

And for my December challenge, I want to do things that will help me make 2023 another successful year. I have some things on my list that I haven’t done since the move that I need to stop putting off. I want to start next year off feeling organized and settled. I also want to get things ready like my new planner so I need to spend time planning out my goals for the year and maybe also making a list of potential monthly challenges. And I want to do some of the usual things people do when getting ready for a new year like going through my clothes again to see what I don’t need and making sure that I don’t have any expired food (I recently found expired spices so I’ve been working on going through those). I know everything won’t be perfect, but I know it will be nice to kick off a new year feeling like I have a clean slate and I’m ready for whatever the year will bring.

I have a feeling that December is going to fly by faster than other months this year and I don’t want the end of the year to be here before I’m ready for it! So hopefully what I can accomplish this month will really help me get set up and I can start 2023 feeling ready for whatever the year will bring my way!

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Default ThumbnailDecember Monthly Challenge (or Wrapping Up For The Year) Default ThumbnailAlmost Through A Year Of Monthly Challenges (or Picking A Good Challenge For November) Default ThumbnailFirst Monthly Challenge Of The Year (or Setting Up For The Year And Self-Improvement) Default ThumbnailRecapping A Few Challenges From Last Month (or Getting Ready Stop Going Easy On Myself) Default ThumbnailAnother Thing Vertigo Screwed Up For Me (or Wrapping Up My 2020 Challenges) Default ThumbnailI Actually Wrote A Book! (or Getting Myself Ready For 2020)

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“Mindplay” (or An Evening Of Mental Magic)

Posted on November 30, 2022 | Comments Off on “Mindplay” (or An Evening Of Mental Magic)

Between being a season ticket holder at the Pantages and being on mailing lists for other theaters, I find out about a lot of shows that are going on around LA. I don’t see as many shows as I should, and I tend to get tickets for things that aren’t exactly normal plays or musicals outside of my season tickets. For example, I saw the virtual show “Inside The Box” and then went to the in-person show “The Enigmatist”, both of which were puzzle-type shows. But those shows were so fun because I had no idea what I was in for and I loved how they were set up with a storyline to go through the various games and tricks.

So when I got an email about the show “Mindplay” and read that it was a one-man show with a mentalist, I knew it would be an amazing show to check out. I know being a mentalist and being a magician isn’t exactly the same, but they have similar elements so I felt certain that I would enjoy the show. And even better than getting the email about the show, they were offering a discount on tickets, so my friend Jane and I were able to get incredible seats for the same price as the cheapest seats (although the theater is small so I think all seats would be amazing).

The show was created and performed by Vinny DePonto, and the theme and storyline throughout the evening was about memories and mental manipulation. There was a lot of story about how we keep memories and how things like dementia can make us forget our memories and then sometimes they can resurface. I loved that storyline and message because that’s something I witnessed through my grandma. In the last few years of her life, she had moments of clarity where she was able to share memories with us that none of us had heard before. And those moments were really special to me because I was able to see the person that I remembered from my childhood.

I don’t want to give away a lot about the show because I think it was so good and everyone should check it out. And I think the less you know about the show, the better. But I can share that there is a lot of audience participation (I wasn’t called on so I just watched) and that there are lots of mind-reading moments. The way he was able to find out information had me speechless. None of these moments felt like a gimmick or a trick. They were seamless within the story and felt like this was a normal experience we were watching and not something special and incredible. I think that made it even better!

It wasn’t a long show and there isn’t an intermission, so the evening flew by. I wish it was longer because I was enjoying it so much. And I know that Jane felt the same way as we kept saying after the show was done that we had no idea how he could do the things he did but that it was so much fun to watch everyone in the room in awe the same way that we were. And there was a surprise at the end of the show (that I won’t spoil) that was just the best way to end the night!

After the show was done, we had a quick chance to meet Vinny and I let him know how much I enjoyed the evening.

Even though this show wasn’t about puzzles like the other ones I had seen recently, it had a lot of the same elements with mystery and improvisation. I would love to see another show that he does because it really was the perfect thing to watch that combined my love of shows and my nerdy side that enjoys puzzles and magic.

I know I’m so lucky that there are a lot of opportunities to see shows like this very close to my house. I know I won’t see every show that I’m told about because I do have to be a bit selective with my time and money, but I’m so glad that this was a show that I had the chance to see because I had the best time and got to have an evening that felt like I was witnessing something magical.

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A Very Low-Key Thanksgiving Day (or At Least I Was Only Cooking For Me)

Posted on November 29, 2022 | Comments Off on A Very Low-Key Thanksgiving Day (or At Least I Was Only Cooking For Me)

Because I had Fake Thanksgiving with my family 2 weeks prior, actual Thanksgiving didn’t feel as big of a deal to me. Usually, Thanksgiving is the main holiday my family does, but our Fake Thanksgiving feels pretty much the same as the holiday so I don’t feel like I’m missing out on too much. There are a few differences when you don’t celebrate on the holiday, but they are so minor so I don’t think about it too much.

So since I already had my Thanksgiving, I knew I wasn’t going to do anything too big for Thursday last week. I did have the day off from both of my jobs, so that was nice. I had the day off that Friday from one job, but since I worked a full day for the other it didn’t feel like a break to me. So I decided to try to enjoy my Thursday off as much as I could.

Because I get up so early most days, I struggle to sleep in even when I have the chance to do so. I only slept in about 20 minutes later than normal on Thursday, and I had a few hours before I really had to get out of bed that morning. I was going to go to Orangetheory, but I scheduled a later class to give myself the opportunity to sleep in if I was able to do so. I did wish that I had not scheduled it quite as late as I did because I was just sitting around my house waiting for the class, but it was ok. I didn’t have much else to do that day so I wasn’t in a rush to get home to do anything.

After my workout, I spent the rest of the morning and the beginning of the afternoon really being lazy. I mainly just read my book and rested until it was time for me to start making some food.

I didn’t feel the need to make a lot of Thanksgiving-type foods, but I wanted to make something that felt a bit special for me. So I made my 2 favorite sides that my family has at Thanksgiving. One was the green beans with shallots that I really should make more often because it’s such a simple recipe and the other was a corn casserole that my mom makes that I had never made on my own before. Both recipes are very simple and didn’t take much time to put together. And I didn’t want to make turkey since it’s not my favorite thing to eat, so I decided to make meatloaf because it’s very easy to put together and I knew I would be able to make all 3 dishes in the same time frame to have dinner ready at the same time.

The green beans turned out good, as I expected them to. The corn casserole wasn’t exactly how it should be, but it was still good. It ended up a bit more like a bread than the texture it normally has. That didn’t make it taste bad so I was ok with that. But something weird happened with the meatloaf. I don’t know if an ingredient went bad or if I put something in by mistake, but it was bitter and sour. It was unfortunate because I was hoping to use the leftovers for a few days, but it really was bad and I had to throw it all out. I’m glad that I was the only one who had to taste the mistake I made because I would have been so upset if I ruined dinner for multiple people. And since this was my second Thanksgiving, I was less disappointed than I might have been if I didn’t have my family time a few weeks ago.

And after my dinner, I continued to be lazy that evening. I cleaned up my cooking mess and watched a little bit of tv. But there was nothing else that I needed or wanted to do that evening. It would have been fun to do something with friends, but I was ok being on my own. And because I don’t get that many days off, I just enjoyed having nothing that I had to do that day and just being able to relax. My days off are typically spent doing errands and things to get ready for my week. I’m working on trying to shift that so I’m doing more errands on work days so I really have time off on my days off. But because most places were closed on Thanksgiving, I was forced to take it easy and do nothing. It was a reset that I think I needed before getting back into my regular schedule and some of the craziness that might be coming up.

It might not have been the most traditional Thanksgiving for me, but I think it was the perfect way for me to spend the day. I don’t know if future Thanksgivings will be like this or if my family will eventually switch back to being on regular Thanksgiving. But at least I took advantage of this year and I feel like I did exactly what I should have done on the holiday.

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Default ThumbnailAnother Low-Key Thanksgiving (or Doing Some Of My Traditions) Default ThumbnailCooking My First Thanksgiving Dinner (or Having More Success Than Expected) Default ThumbnailNot Quite Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Time (or A Full Family Day) Default ThumbnailA Very Low-Key Holiday Weekend (or Enjoying A Real 3 Day Weekend) Default ThumbnailHappy Thanksgiving! (or Just A Quick Post) Default ThumbnailLow Key Labor Day (or Just A Regular Weekend)

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Focusing On Gratitude (or This Probably Could Have Been My Thanksgiving Post)

Posted on November 25, 2022 | Comments Off on Focusing On Gratitude (or This Probably Could Have Been My Thanksgiving Post)

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I’ll write more about my day later, but I spent the day on my own, which is fine. But being alone for most of the day did allow me to reflect on things in my life. And in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I focused a lot on what I was grateful for in my life.

I write a gratitude list every day at the end of the day. I just write 5 things that I’m grateful for that day. Sometimes I have some really awesome things to be grateful for. On other days, it seems like I don’t have much positive in my day and I have to remember how lucky I am to have some basic things in my life. On the days that I struggle to think of what I’m grateful for, my list usually has things like my job, the books I’m reading, or the tv shows I’m enjoying.

I think focusing on what I’m grateful for every day is important because it always allows me to end my day on a positive note. And it forces me to reflect on the good in my life and what I have that other people wished they had. And I wanted to share some of the big things I’m very grateful for.

I’m very grateful for my family, both my immediate family and my extended family. I know that not everyone is close to their family or knows their extended family. But I am lucky that I get to see part of my family every year. At Fake Thanksgiving, there were 3 generations of the family there. I don’t get to see some of my extended family as much as I would like because they live on the other side of the country. But I am able to stay in touch with them through social media or texting. And I know that I’m closer to my parents than a lot of people are. I’m very lucky that they have always supported me. And yes, they did help out financially before such as with my condo, but I appreciate their emotional support so much too. I know I don’t have the most traditional life or career path, but they have never tried to make me change what I wanted out of life.

And speaking of my family, I’m so grateful for my condo. I know that I never could have had this place without my parents helping me. But it’s not just being able to have this place that I’m grateful for. I have worked on turning this space into my home and I’m so happy with how things look so far. Living in a space that makes you feel happy and you are comfortable is very important. I haven’t always had that in my living space. In my first apartment, it was fine when I moved in but I became very uncomfortable living there due to situations with my neighbors and because the setup made it have no privacy and it was always very hot inside. So I know what it’s like living somewhere that you don’t want to be. But that’s not the case for my place now. It wasn’t the case for my last place either, but I’m even more comfortable here than I was there.

I’m very grateful for my friends. Like many people, I had a lot of friends leave the area in the past few years. But we have been able to keep up with our friendship and I have been able to rekindle past friendships that had slipped into being more acquaintances than friends. I still have times when I feel like I have no friends left here, but those moments are fleeting and I usually have something coming up in my schedule that allows me to spend time with my friends so I’m reminded that’s not true.

I’m grateful for my day jobs. I’m still juggling 2 jobs right now, and I think that’s probably what I will do for the foreseeable future. It’s not an issue with either job (and they both know that I’m working another job) and I think everyone would do the same if it helped them make more money. I am making more than I did before and I’m in a better financial spot. I still have things that I can’t afford and have to save for, but I know no matter how much I make that will be the case. But more importantly than how much I make, I am enjoying my work. I still would prefer to be acting, but to have day jobs that I enjoy is something rare. I don’t love everything every day, but I’ve never enjoyed work as much as I do now. I feel heard and respected and my ideas are considered and not ignored. I have been able to create my own job position at my main day job and it allows me to do work that uses my skill set instead of making me conform to someone who I’m not.

And the last big thing I’m grateful for is a very general thing. I’m just so grateful for my life. I get to do things I enjoy. I mostly spend my time doing what I want to do and not what I have to do. As much as I wish I wasn’t single, I’m grateful that I’m not in a bad relationship or putting up with someone who doesn’t treat me the way I should be treated. I don’t always love getting up as early as I do, but I love working out in the morning and feeling so strong all day. And I am working on some health things still, but I think that I’m healthier now than I’ve ever been. I know I’m not the thinnest I’ve been, but I also know that when I was at my thinnest, I didn’t have the same strength that I do now. I think enjoying your life is a privilege and I know I’m lucky that I feel that way. I still know that I want some things to be different, but I also appreciate my current life situation and know that it’s for the best for me at this time.

When I look back at my past, especially the negative part of my past, I wonder how much better I could have made my life if I focused on what I was grateful for. I know that even in some of my lowest times, there were positives in my life. But thinking back at those times, I really can’t remember any because my memories are just the negatives. But I’m glad that is not how I live my life anymore. I know that things aren’t perfect, but I can always be grateful and appreciate everything that I do have going on in my life.

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Happy Thanksgiving! (or I Hope Everyone Is Having A Great Day!)

Posted on November 24, 2022 | Comments Off on Happy Thanksgiving! (or I Hope Everyone Is Having A Great Day!)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I know that not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving or spends the day with others, but I hope that everyone is having the day that they wanted to have. If you have the day off, I hope you are able to relax. And if you have to work, I hope that it’s not too bad of a work day and any customers you have are nice to you.

I’m not going to write a long post here because I hope that most of you aren’t reading this and are spending time doing what you want. I’m spending the day on my own and I’m going to be making some of my favorite things from my family Thanksgiving to have on my own. I thought about trying to organize something with friends, but since I’m still getting over the cold that I got, I thought it would be best for me to not be around too many people.

I’ll do a recap of my Thanksgiving later, but I just wanted to do a quick post here to say that I hope everyone is able to enjoy the day. Whether that means you are with your family and doing a big meal, hanging out with friends and ordering in, or just spending the day alone; I know all of those can be perfect options.

So go and spend your day doing things that make you happy, I know that’s what I’ll be trying to do!

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Fake Thanksgiving Weekend (or A Few Days With My Family)

Posted on November 17, 2022 | Comments Off on Fake Thanksgiving Weekend (or A Few Days With My Family)

This past weekend was my family’s Fake Thanksgiving. As I have mentioned before, this was up in Portland and I was there from Friday until Sunday. I was only able to be there for part of Friday since that was a holiday and I didn’t have work. But it worked out so I was there for dinner on Friday through around lunchtime on Sunday.

After taking the train to meet my parents on Friday, we immediately went to my aunt’s house for a casual dinner. Almost everyone who would be at our Thanksgiving was there for Friday except one cousin who was coming the next day. But it was nice to have a casual dinner with everyone and catch up since I hadn’t seen most of the people there since last year. It was crazy to see how tall my cousin’s kids had gotten since the last time I saw them they were all shorter than me. But one is now taller than me and another will probably be taller than me very soon. I tried to do my best with being social, but I wasn’t feeling great that evening. I know a lot of it was due to the anxiety from flying still affecting me. But being around my family was a good distraction from that feeling.

On Saturday, I had a very chill morning. And it was very clear that my parents’ dog had missed me because he spent his morning leaning against the couch to sit with me (he can’t sit on the furniture, but he can butt up to it and lean).

Then a bit later in the morning, we had our family Orangetheory workout. This was the 9th year we had a Thanksgiving workout (although in 2020 we all did workouts in our homes) and it was only my dad and me this time. Some of my family have been dealing with medical things that prevented them from working out. And since nobody else does Orangetheory regularly, doing just one workout when they have been having medical issues isn’t the smartest choice. But at least my dad and I were able to keep up the tradition!

I went a bit easy in the workout since it was my 5th workout in the week. But we still both had a great time and I love that this tradition helps to make me feel a bit more productive on a day that I know can feel a bit sluggish with all the food.

I’m sure at some point, I will have to make the collage multiple images, but at least for now, we can still put all 9 photos in one to celebrate this tradition.

After the workout, we had a bit of time before we had to head over to my cousin’s house for dinner. I didn’t get a ton of photos during dinner, but that just means that I was focused on enjoying the time with my family. But it was a fun night. I had never seen my cousin’s house before and it was really cool! Their basement has a small basketball court in it and they have added different mats and springy floors so you can bounce around and do gymnastics and stuff like that on there. We all had a lot of fun hanging out in the basement and goofing off.

And when we were all upstairs in the main living area, it was awesome to see different things that were my grandparents’ in my cousin’s house. The dining room table my grandparents had is now my cousin’s. And there were also little things like vases or decor that I recognized. I think pretty much all of us have random things from my grandparents and it’s cool to see how each of us has incorporated them into our homes.

And of course, we had to do a family photo. But with so many of us (including my niece and nephew who are still little), it’s not easy to get one photo where everyone looks good. I got the photos we took and used the photo stickers you can do through iPhone and was able to do that to photoshop people into the photo and make sure we got one where we all looked ok. And the photo above the fireplace was originally of my cousin’s immediate family, and I changed that to be a photo of my grandparents. I think the end result looks pretty good considering I don’t have real Photoshop.

My last day with my family was on Sunday, and I had to be dropped off at the light rail around 1pm in order to get to the airport on time. That morning, I went with my parents to take the dog for a walk and explore the neighborhood we stayed in. And then my friend Dani, who lives in Portland, came over to the rental house to hang out for a bit. Even though we had just seen each other recently when she had to stay at my place, it was nice to have a hangout that was much more chill.

And that’s pretty much it for my Fake Thanksgiving weekend. I got to spend a good amount of time with my family and have a lot of the traditions that our family has had for a while. I think we are going to continue doing Fake Thanksgiving since it is a lot cheaper to travel when it’s not the holiday. And it doesn’t really matter if we celebrate a few weeks early as long as we still get to have our traditions.

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff, Travel

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A Couple Of Beauty Days (or More Prep For My Trip)

Posted on November 15, 2022 | Comments Off on A Couple Of Beauty Days (or More Prep For My Trip)

As I have written about before, since the pandemic I have really cut back on the regular beauty things I used to do. I know I could have gone back to doing some of the things I used to do, but I just wasn’t that motivated. Either they didn’t seem as important to me as they used to, I still was a bit cautious about Covid, or I didn’t feel like I needed to do them because I really don’t do as much as I used to. The only thing that I really kept up with was getting my hair done. And I think I’m better about getting my hair done regularly now than before.

But since I knew I would be seeing my family for our Fake Thanksgiving, I wanted to make sure I did what I needed to do to feel my best. Most of the beauty things I used to do wouldn’t matter for this trip (like getting a pedicure when I was going to a cold place and nobody would see my toes). But I did time getting my hair done so I would get my hair dyed right before my trip and it would look the best it could. I actually planned ahead before my last appointment so this one would be exactly 6 weeks after the last one. I try to do my hair every 6-8 weeks, so that would work out perfectly!

Since getting my hair done was the one thing I really kept up with, it does feel a bit more like maintenance than beauty. But there is still a difference in how I feel after an appointment. I know that a lot of people have been growing out their gray hair, but I’m just not there yet. I know I have a lot of gray hair, but it’s not really concentrated in one spot so they seem to just stick out. And most people who are my age and have gone gray usually have patches or streaks which makes it seem more like a style choice. One day, I’m sure I’ll just let go of my feeling about gray hair and let it be. But that’s not how I feel now. So getting my hair dyed and not having to see the grays is still something important to me.

But because my last appointment was only 6 weeks ago, the roots weren’t as obvious as they have been before. And my hair wasn’t looking scraggly so I didn’t need a bit cut. Even a trim helps to make things look polished, so I was very happy with how I looked after my appointment. And I knew that my hair was going to look great when I saw my family.

But going to get my hair done wasn’t all I did before the trip. I also got my eyebrows done for the first time since the pandemic! I used to regularly go to get my eyebrows done. I don’t need it as badly as I did before because I think getting them waxed for a few decades has led to some of the hair follicles dying. But I still like to have a professional do them so they look polished. I also know that I can’t always be trusted with tweezers and I don’t want to overpluck them.

The place I usually go to get my eyebrows done is inside a beauty store in a mall. I don’t normally go to malls, and I certainly hadn’t been in one since the pandemic. It was weird seeing things that felt normal but also not normal at the same time. I know that everyone has different comfort levels with how things are now, and I’m still very cautious. But I wore a mask and I was glad that I didn’t have to go too many places to get to the eyebrow place.

Most of what I needed to be done was to get them shaped. The esthetician did wax my brows to clean them up, but more time was focused on detail work. I appreciated her attention to detail and how she worked with me on what I preferred. And when they were done, my eyebrows looked so nice! It wasn’t a drastic difference compared to what I’ve been able to do on my own, but there’s just something extra when someone else makes things look as good as possible. And I didn’t realize until after the appointment how much I needed this. It really was something that helped me feel so much like myself and I felt just that much more confident about how I looked.

There were plenty of things that were making me nervous about my trip. I had been having a lot of anxiety the week leading up to it. But getting a few different beauty things done before I left really allowed me to spend some time on positive things that were distractions from the nerves.

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Default ThumbnailSelf-Care Is So Important (or At-Home Beauty) Default ThumbnailFeeling A Bit More Like Me (or A Little Bit Of Pampering) Default ThumbnailMaking Sure I Have Nice Birthday Hair (or Sometimes The Timing Works Out Nicely) Default ThumbnailSome Beauty Fun Before My Birthday (or Working While Trying To Relax) Default ThumbnailDoing Some Beautification (or Feeling Better From The Outside In) Default ThumbnailTrying More New Beauty Routines In Quarantine (or Anything To Keep Things Interesting)

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Just A Bit More To The Renovation (or Still Working On Standing Up For Myself)

Posted on November 11, 2022 | Comments Off on Just A Bit More To The Renovation (or Still Working On Standing Up For Myself)

It feels like the renovation of my condo has been going on forever. And that’s probably because the process started about a year ago. It was just under a year ago that we started to interview contractors to do the work. The actual work didn’t start until the end of January, but that’s still almost a year. Most of the work only took 3 months, and since then it’s just been a bunch of random little things that still had to be completed.

I had been warned by my parents and everyone I know who has done a renovation that it will always take much longer than expected. But I think this is even longer than what I had been warned about. Some of the delays have been because of things needing to be worked on that had to be planned out. For example, when my floors had to be redone, they had to work on ordering enough new floors for me and that took time to come in. And once the new floors arrived, they had to work around my schedule and I had to make sure I didn’t have any meetings the day that they were working. I think they also wanted to do some of the things on the punchup list on the same day to not have to be here while I work more than necessary.

And because of the timing of other things in my life, there was a bit of time between the floors being redone and when my parents would be able to be in LA again. And my parents wanted to inspect things before we signed off on all the work being completed, which I totally understood. I think I’m so used to living in rentals that had a lot of little flaws, so the small mistakes aren’t things I noticed. For example, my parents noticed that two of my kitchen cabinets weren’t straight and the gap between them was crooked. I don’t know if I ever would have seen that if it wasn’t pointed out to me. But once they did point it out, I always noticed it. So after they went through the condo again, we created another punchup list to be completed before we signed off.

The work was supposed to be done this week, but it ended up only partially being done. Some of the work is related to the tile in my kitchen and bathroom, and I guess their tile person wasn’t available or there was a miscommunication. But there were other things that could have been done, and most were completed except for one.

There is a fastener for my dryer vent that isn’t secure, so that needs to be fixed. It should be a very simple fix, but they have to move my washer and dryer in order to do it. And because I don’t want my floors to be damaged, I knew I would have to make sure that they protected my floors before they did that work. I noticed when the worker was about to start that there was nothing on my floors. I asked him what he was going to do to protect my floors since they are very aware of my floors having to be redone before. He said he didn’t have anything, and I told him that he couldn’t do that repair today unless he protected the floors first. Since he had nothing with him, that wasn’t completed and they will need to return another time.

I’m so used to not making trouble and just trying to go with the flow, but I was glad that I stood up for myself. I know that asking them to wait until they could protect the floors wasn’t the biggest ask, but it was important for me to do it. I’m used to being in a rental where I didn’t feel pride or ownership over things like floors, but now these are mine and I have every right to ask for people working on my place to keep them nice. It’s similar to how I’m getting used to asking people to take off their shoes in my house since I don’t like shoes to be worn inside (mainly to keep things clean). It’s not easy to ask someone to do something that might inconvenience them a bit, but I have every right to do that since this is my home.

I’ve tried to be better about standing up for myself and asking for what I want in different aspects of my life, and this was just another one. And yes, this means that the fixes that need to be done will be delayed again, but that’s not something I feel at fault for. It would have been delayed anyway since the tile person was not there. But even if everything else had been done, knowing that I won’t need to worry about my floor being scratched up will be worth whatever delay that might happen.

And eventually, all of these last little things will be done and the renovation will finally be done. But it looks like there will still be a bit more to go and I’ll just have to continue to be patient.

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Default ThumbnailNow I Think This Is The End Of The Renovation (or I Keep Thinking I’m At The Finish Line) Default ThumbnailSeeing My New Home Come Together (or This Feels Like We Are Starting The Last Renovation Stage) Default ThumbnailOne More Step Closer To Being Done (or I Can Finally Add In More Furniture) Default ThumbnailInto The Next Stage Of The Renovation (or Seeing Things Come Back Into My Place) Default ThumbnailOne More Design Choice (or I’m Ready To Be Done With The Renovation) Default ThumbnailAnother Busy Condo Weekend (or A Working Visit For My Parents)

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Not Exactly A Musical Night (or Continuing To Be Spoiled With Our Pre-Show Dinners)

Posted on November 8, 2022 | Comments Off on Not Exactly A Musical Night (or Continuing To Be Spoiled With Our Pre-Show Dinners)

My friend Jodi and I had our second show this past weekend for the new Pantages season. As I’ve said so many times, I’m glad that I have been able to continue going to shows and that I have a friend who wanted to join me this time. And I’m happy that the shows are back at the Pantages because that means it’s even easier for us to go to dinner at my favorite place, Wood & Vine. I was going there for dinner before the shows at the Dolby, but it was a bit more rushed since we had to drive over to the theater instead of just walking across the street. And honestly, going to Wood & Vine feels like such a part of the plan with going to a show and I miss it if I’m not there for my pre-show dinner.

Jodi and I decided to try a few new things for our dinner. We decided that we wanted to get the crab cakes again because they were so incredible the last time we had them. And we got the popcorn shrimp since that was something I had never had before there. And for our main entree, we got the burger (which came as 2 burgers) because I don’t think I’ve had that before either.

And as always, we got spoiled at dinner. We were sent an order of the ahi tartare, which was another thing that I had never had before there. And I don’t know if I’ve had ahi tartare before in general.

Every single bite was delicious. I’m glad their menu isn’t bigger because I’ve never had something there that I don’t like and it would be hard to decide what to get if they had more options. I have loved everything I’ve had and I always want to get some of my favorites as well as try new things as they change up their menu. And this was a perfect combination of things I had tried before and new things. I especially loved the garlic fries that came with the burger. They were perfectly garlicky!

And again, we were sent dessert even though we didn’t order it. Often, we are sent the butterscotch dessert because that is my favorite. But I think I have a new favorite now. We were sent the bread and butter pudding and I can’t explain how luxurious and delicious it was.

It wasn’t too sweet, which I loved. And it melted in your mouth. Honestly, if I didn’t have to be up early the next morning, I would have debated about us going back to Wood & Vine after the show for a second dessert! It was that good! And I think I will have to have that again the next time we have dinner there.

After being spoiled by so much good food, it was time to walk across the street to go to the show. I usually refer to the season as the musical season, but this was not a musical. I can’t remember another show that was a part of the regular season that wasn’t a musical, so it’s not something that happens regularly. But this season, they decided to make one of the shows a regular play.

Like so many people, I’m familiar with the story of “To Kill A Mockingbird”. I read the book in school and I remember my class watching the movie after we read the book. It’s been years since I’ve read or watched it, but I still knew the main plot points of the story. I had heard that there were a few changes made, but I didn’t think I’d recognize them since it had been so long since I had revisited the story.

I think the play was very well done. The performances were incredible and the plot followed the story that I remembered for the most part. They did some back and forth with the storytelling that I don’t remember seeing before, but it was easy enough to follow when we were moving through the timeline or when we were watching the action take place versus having the characters tell the story. And I liked how they used the set to change from location to location because it was done very simply and kept the focus on the story (sometimes musicals have sets that are super flashy and can be something I focus on a bit too much).

It was an interesting change of pace compared to seeing musicals, but I think it was a good addition to the season. And while Jodi and I were at dinner, we realized that our next show isn’t for about 2 months. And then after that, we have a 4-month break between shows! So we are going to try to see if there are any other random shows we want to go to since we are having so much fun getting to hang out on a regular basis and have entertaining nights out! But even if we don’t figure out another show to see before January, I’m so excited about what we have coming up and I know that this season is going to continue to be amazing!

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Default ThumbnailGetting Spoiled At Dinner (or Another Musical Night) Default ThumbnailLast Musical Of The Season (or A Classic Pantages Night Out) Default ThumbnailA Tasting And Theater Night (or Enjoying A Fun Night Out) Default ThumbnailAnother Dinner And A Show Night (or Classic Musicals And Yummy Food) Default Thumbnail“The Band’s Visit” (or A Two Show Weekend) Default ThumbnailTaking Time For A Show (or Seeing Summer)

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