Tag Archives: hangout

A Social Weekend (or Spending Time With Friends)

Posted on January 31, 2024 | Comments Off on A Social Weekend (or Spending Time With Friends)

I’ve said many times that I need to work on being more social and leaving my house. And I finally had a nice and social weekend this past weekend. I didn’t plan to have back-to-back friend hangouts, but having a few opportunities to see friends and not be as isolated at home after work was nice.

I had my traditional cheesecake hangout on Friday with my birthday twin, Joanna. It was a bit later in the month than we normally do (in the past, we had it much closer to New Year’s), but we also had to coordinate when it would work for both of our schedules. And it might have worked out nicely to go later in January because when we got there we didn’t have to wait for a table! We’ve had times in the past when we’ve had to wait an hour or two, but this was the first time I remember that we could be seated right away.

And we had our usual hangout that we get to do twice a year. We caught up on each other’s news and the craziness of life. I got to tell her about finding a new agent and the new headshots that I took recently. She was telling me about the trip that she was planning with her boyfriend. We both talked about random industry news that we’ve been hearing since the strike ended. It was a really nice and chill dinner and that’s exactly what I want these hangouts to be. And of course, we got cheesecake to share between us. It was an indulgent meal, but totally worth it and something I had been looking forward to all month.

Then the next day, my friend Robert and his boyfriend had a party to celebrate their new apartment. They just moved in together into a really great new place. I had been helping Robert look for apartments when they were searching and sent him so many links to different places. But this place is the perfect one for them. It doesn’t have as much square footage as they were originally looking for, but the layout makes it feel so much bigger. The apartment is brand new with great appliances and a washer and dryer, so I think those are better things to have than more space. And I learned from my last place that the technical square footage doesn’t necessarily represent how big or small a space feels. Nobody seemed to believe me when they found out my last place was only about 400 square feet because the layout and how I put my furniture made it feel much bigger.

I had only seen photos and videos of their new apartment, so I was excited to see it in person. And it was a nice party too. A lot of people who were there were people I knew, so I didn’t feel like I was surrounded by strangers. But there were also some new people I got to meet. But all of us just hung out and had a nice time talking about all the randomness of life. It was very chill and low-pressure, which is exactly how I like parties to be. I am an extrovert, but also a bit of an introvert when things get too overwhelming. But I never felt that way at this party so that was perfect.

I did have a bit of an extrovert hangover the next morning, which is probably something I should have expected since I don’t usually have social events 2 days in a row. I know I used to live life like that, but I’m out of practice. In a perfect world, I think I would have one party or friend hang out a week just so I could be more social. But it’s ok when they are back-to-back every so often since I really don’t get to do these that often.

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Default ThumbnailSocial Days Off (or Finally Seeing Some Friends) Default ThumbnailMore Friends More Fun (or Still Building My Social Circle) Default ThumbnailBeing Social Outside Of Workouts (or Making OTF Friends) Default ThumbnailFitting In Social Time (or Taking Advantage Of My Weekends) Default ThumbnailAnother Union Holiday Celebration (or Being Social And Working Social Media) Default ThumbnailStill Not Feeling Like We Are Post-Pandemic (or Continuing To Struggle Being Social)

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Fitting In Social Time (or Taking Advantage Of My Weekends)

Posted on June 21, 2023 | Comments Off on Fitting In Social Time (or Taking Advantage Of My Weekends)

Since the start of the pandemic, I feel like my social life has taken a big hit. At first, it was due to trying to be safe during the worst of the pandemic and staying isolated at home. I slowly started to see friends again, but so much had changed just a few months into the pandemic. Many of my friends moved away so they weren’t around to hang out with. Once I started my social media job, I worked a lot more hours than I used to and didn’t feel like going out after work. I was used to being done with work at 3pm, and now I was done at 5 or 6pm. That’s a big difference with free time after work. And since I get up so early in the morning to work out, I don’t like to go out after work because I know I need my sleep.

I’ve tried to be more social in the past year or two, but it’s still not easy. It’s never easy to make new friends as an adult, but it seems even harder now. I’ve been working on making the most of the friendships that I already have or seeing people that I felt were acquaintances more so they become friends, but my social circle does feel pretty small. It is still better than what it was like at the beginning of the pandemic because at least I have my workouts in the morning and that gets me out and around people. And because I usually see the same people every week, I have gotten to know them. It’s better than nothing, but still, I know I need to be with friends more.

Since I don’t really like to go out after work (although I have been trying to do so when something has to occur then), I’ve been trying to do more over the weekends. I know I need to take some time over the weekend to relax and reset to be ready for the next week, but I don’t have to do that for the entire weekend every weekend. And one of the easier ways I’ve been able to make time for my friends over the weekend is to go to brunch on Sundays. I’ve been able to do this a few times over the past month and it’s been really great for my mental health.

Brunch is so casual and easy, so I don’t have to stress too much about planning it or making it a big event. And most of my friends feel the same way about brunch so we don’t dress up to impress each other. It’s nice to be able to fit that social time in between other errands that I have to do on the weekend, but I’ve also been trying to make an effort to do as many errands as possible on Saturdays to keep my Sundays free for more fun things.

Not only have these brunches been a great chance for me to catch up with friends that I don’t see that often, but it’s been fun exploring new places around LA. I didn’t set out to do this, but all the brunches I’ve had recently have been at restaurants I haven’t been to before. When I do go out for meals, I tend to go to the same places over and over again. So finding new places has been something I probably needed to do and these brunches have been a great excuse to do just that.

I know that I can’t just expect to have brunches with friends planned and I have to make an effort to make them happen as well. But I do feel a bit more motivated to do these since they fit into my schedule a lot better than other things I have been trying to fit in. I’ve been trying to make myself be better about going out in the evenings when I knew I didn’t want to. And I finally feel like I found a good option for friend hangouts that fit into my schedule and my life. And maybe this will push me to be more social in other aspects of my life, but I’m just happy with finding something that gets me out in the world more and feel a bit more like the old me.

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Finally Meeting An Online Friend (or An After Work Ice Cream Outing)

Posted on April 11, 2023 | Comments Off on Finally Meeting An Online Friend (or An After Work Ice Cream Outing)

Even though I have had my Movie Club group for over 3 years now, I’ve never met any of the women from the group in person. A few of us in the group have gotten close over the last few years and have a text group together, but I’ve never seen them outside of a screen. Most of the women from that text group got together about a year ago when they all met up, but because they are all on the east coast and it was really difficult for me to travel there and find an affordable flight, I had to miss out. It was tough being left out of that mini-vacation, but I knew that it wouldn’t have been the right choice to miss work and spend a huge amount of money on just a weekend trip. We’ve talked about having another group trip, but as things have been opening up more and everyone has gotten busier, it’s harder to organize.

I’ve had some conversations with some of the group one on one about them coming out to LA. Again, it’s not easy to plan trips when everyone is so busy. But one person in the group might need to be out here for work, so that could be a possibility for meeting up. And another member of the group has a brother who lives only a few blocks away from me, so we had said the next time she was here we should meet up. And finally, she was going to be in LA for a very quick time so we were able to make some plans.

We had to work around some family things she already had scheduled and the limited time she was going to be here, but we made it work to meet up for an hour or so when I was done with work last week. Since she was staying with her brother and was only a few blocks from me, we met up by the Culver Steps since that was easy for both of us to get to. She had dinner plans after we met, so we met up for some ice cream as a pre-dinner treat. And it happened to be a place I had a gift card for from work, so it was a free treat for both of us!

In a weird way, it reminded me of meeting someone from a dating app. It was in a location where I tend to do a lot of dates and I was meeting someone who I had only known virtually. But since we’ve been texting and talking for years (compared to dating apps where it’s usually only a few days), there was no weirdness when we finally met in real life. It felt like we’ve known each other forever and not that we only knew each other for the past 3 years.

It was so awesome to be face-to-face and hang out. It was a quick hangout and we were talking about the same things that we talk about via text, but it was so nice to have the hangout feel so normal. It’s crazy to think how the women in our text group have become some of my closest friends and I really have never met them. But I think a lot of us learned through the pandemic how friendships can be formed in unique ways. And making friends as an adult is hard enough, so I’m always open to however I can make new friends.

We weren’t able to sit and chat too long before we both had to get to what we had to do that evening, but even having an hour of face-to-face time with a friend helps me feel much more involved in the world. I’ve said so many times how I’ve become more isolated and how I want to work on being out and about more. This quick hangout accomplished that plus it allowed me to finally meet a friend that I’ve known for years but have never seen.

Hopefully, some more of the women in the text group will be able to make it out to LA in the near future so I can get to know more of them in real life. But even if that doesn’t happen soon, I’m so grateful that I at least have had some face time with one person from the group now.

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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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An Unexpected Friend Hangout (or More Proof I Need To Be More Social)

Posted on October 14, 2022 | Comments Off on An Unexpected Friend Hangout (or More Proof I Need To Be More Social)

I’ve written about how I’ve become much less social compared to how I was before. I know a lot of that is because of the pandemic and my hesitation to feel like things are normal again so I’m not really going out the way I did. But also, a lot of events that I used to go to still aren’t back yet. But besides not going out as much, I don’t have as many friends who live in LA as I did before. A lot of my friends moved in the past 2 years. All of them had reasons they wanted to move and they all are thriving in their new cities. But that doesn’t make me miss them less. And as so many people know, it’s really hard to make new friends as an adult. And even harder when you aren’t going out much and meeting new people.

Even though my friends aren’t all local anymore, I do make efforts to maintain those friendships. I’m lucky that those friends are the type of friends that you can just text each other random stuff for a while but when you have time for a phone call or a hangout, things pick back up exactly where they left off and there’s no awkwardness. Those are the truest type of friends to me. Those relationships are strong enough that they don’t need regular maintenance. And I think because of how things have gone over the past few years, most of the friendships that I still have are that type of friends whether they live in LA or not.

But of course, I miss seeing my friends that I was used to seeing on a regular basis who don’t live here anymore. I haven’t been able to see most of them because everyone is busy. But I always hope that either they will be back in LA for some reason or I will have a chance to travel to where they are so I can see them again. What has happened has been random chance visits from friends because they are in town and need a place to stay. That happened over the summer when a friend needed a place to stay for a night when they were here for a wedding. And I got another random overnight guest earlier this week.

I hadn’t seen my friend Dani since she surprised me for my birthday last year. I miss our Disney days and going to musicals with her, but I know that she’s been loving her new city. And we keep in pretty regular contact via text so we both know what’s going on in each other’s lives. And the other night, she texted me to see if she could crash at my place that night. She was flying and had a layover at LAX, but due to delays, she didn’t make her connecting flight and the airline wasn’t paying for a hotel. She didn’t mind that I only had an air mattress and not an actual bed for her to stay in, so I told her that I’d love to get to see her and let her stay here.

It was the best unplanned hangout. She got here really late and we both had to be up really early the next morning, but we still got a few hours of hangout time in. It was so awesome to get to catch up in person instead of via text. We’ve both had a lot of changes happen in our lives, but I think we both have grown in really great ways. And she had only seen my condo in photos and videos, so I wanted to give her the tour. I haven’t been able to show off my place to too many of my friends, and I love how everyone agrees that it’s the perfect place for me and it really feels like it’s my home. And Dani has done renovations before too, so I had asked her a lot of questions while the work was being done and I was so happy to show her how everything turned out.

I wish that she and I could have had more time to hang out, but we both needed to get sleep before getting up early the next morning. And I will be up where she is located next month when I’m doing some family stuff, so there’s a chance we will get to see each other again then. I’m not sure of my schedule yet when I’m there, but I’m hoping there will be enough free time to meet up somewhere to continue catching up.

It is always nice when I make plans with friends and have something to look forward to. But it’s just as nice when getting to see my friends is a surprise and happens with no planning. I’m just lucky any time I get to see friends, especially those who have moved away, and I am always grateful for whatever time I can have with them.

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Another Random Friend Hangout (or So Happy For In-Person Time)

Posted on February 24, 2022 | Comments Off on Another Random Friend Hangout (or So Happy For In-Person Time)

Seeing my friends in person has been a rare occurrence since the pandemic. And for the most part, any time I’ve seen someone in person has been a planned out thing. Sometimes it’s planning to see a show or going to a meal. But it usually is something I know is coming so I can be excited about it. And while I miss some of the spontaneity of how life used to be, I’ve also gotten used to planning on when I can see friends. But this week, I was so lucky to get to have a random friend hang out that I didn’t plan for.

A friend of mine posted online that they were wondering if anyone had a paper shredder they could borrow. A few of us offered, but I happened to be the offer that was closest to his house so he asked if he could use mine. I don’t use my shredder that often and I never have anything that needs to be done urgently, so I don’t mind letting someone else use it for a while.

When he was coming over to get it, I didn’t know if he would just come by and pick it up or if he had some free time to chat. I was so happy that he didn’t have anywhere to rush to so he could hang out with me and we could catch up in person. While we have been on a lot of phone and Zoom calls over the past two years, we hadn’t seen each other in person. And as I’ve said before, seeing a friend in person is so different from seeing them virtually. So I was so grateful for this time to catch up and feel connected again to a friend.

And just like so many of my friend hangouts since the pandemic, this one had a pretty big variety in our conversation. It makes sense since it seems like we have to catch up on 2 years of information. It can make things be a bit disjointed, but I love getting to hear all the random things that have been going on that I haven’t heard about yet. And my friend has been busy working on set, so hearing about how that has been going was really interesting. I’ve had a few friends book roles since the pandemic, but nobody that has been working as regularly as this friend. And hearing him talk about all the different precautions being taken and how safe the sets have been. I have no clue when I might book something, but just hearing how things have been going made me feel better about the potential of being on a set soon. There are so many things we have to worry about these days, and I don’t want to have to question anything if I’m lucky enough to book an acting job.

And he was asking me all about the condo and I was showing him photos of the different things I’ve picked out and some of the progress photos. I wish we could have gone over there so I could have shown him my new place, but I was finishing up so work so I couldn’t leave and I didn’t want to bother any workers that might be busy over there. Since I usually only go over after work, I haven’t seen the workers too often. But staying out of the way is probably best.

He was able to stay and hang out for over an hour before he had to head out to work on some more errands. But I know I’ll get another friend hang out with him soon since I’ll have to see him when he returns my shredder. And that time we will plan for it and maybe get to do something other than just catch up while hanging out in my living room. But if that’s what we do end up doing, I know I will be so happy about that since any in-person friend time is so special and precious to me.

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An Unexpected Friend Hangout (or Helping Out And Getting Social Time)

Posted on December 14, 2021 | Comments Off on An Unexpected Friend Hangout (or Helping Out And Getting Social Time)

For almost 2 years, I’ve only seen a handful of my friends. There are a bunch of reasons for this, but one of the ones that is the toughest is that so many of my friends have moved away from LA. I know that everyone is moving for good reasons and because they want to, but it’s still tough when my social circle shrinks.

But having friends move away isn’t just something that has been happening during the pandemic. This is something I’ve experienced for a long time. People move away for jobs and opportunities all the time. And while I’m always sad when a friend is leaving, because they are leaving for exciting things I am also always happy for them. And when they come back to LA for a visit, I’m always looking forward to seeing them. I know that I don’t always get to see everyone when they come into town if they are here for work or something else keeping them busy, but I always make time when someone asks if I’ll be free.

And then sometimes situations fall into place that allows me to have a longer unexpected friend hangout like I got last week. My friend Brandi was coming into LA for some work meetings (she’s a writer that is working on the upcoming season of a tv show). I knew she’d be very busy when she was here, so I was waiting for her to reach out to me to let me know if she’d have some free time. And when she did, it was more than just an invitation to meet up for coffee or something quick.

Due to the timing of her meetings and which parts of LA they would be in, she wanted to know if I had space for her to stay with me for a night. She originally asked if I had the extra room at my place available, but that’s in the condo so I’m not there yet. But she said she didn’t mind if it was an air mattress in my living room, so of course I said she could stay with me!

I hadn’t seen Brandi for a few years (even before the pandemic), so I was so happy to have her stay with me so we could have time to catch up and hang out. And I’m so grateful she didn’t mind staying on an air mattress or that I would be leaving for a workout early the next morning (she was able to stay at my place when I was working out, but I was worried I would wake her up as I was leaving). And when she got here, it was a bit late but I was too excited to see her to go to bed on time. I did stay up later than I wanted to, but it was completely worth it!

And the next day, she was around in the morning before her meeting and since she left her luggage here during that meeting, I got to hang out with her more after too! I got to have so much more friend time by helping out and letting her stay with me. And honestly, it didn’t feel like I was doing a favor since I got so much out of it too!

I know I’ve said this so many times over the past 2 years, but having this sleepover/hangout really made me appreciate my friends and friendships so much. I’m so grateful for all the people in my life and I’ve missed so many of them. But it’s so wonderful to see that time doesn’t weaken true friendships. We were able to pick up things just like we had seen each other last week or month. And seeing how my friendships have lasted and stood the test of time makes me feel so lucky to have everyone in my life.

Hopefully the next time Brandi and I get to hang out, we can plan for it a bit more. Or if she needs a place to crash I will be in my new place so there will be an actual room for her. But even if it ends up being the same as it was this time, I will feel so happy I get to spend some time with an awesome friend!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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A Santa Barbara Friend Hangout (or Meeting Another Baby)

Posted on April 7, 2021 | Comments Off on A Santa Barbara Friend Hangout (or Meeting Another Baby)

The main reason I went up to Santa Barbara this past Saturday was for family stuff. And that’s usually the reason I go up there. Over the past year, I’ve gotten used to driving up to Santa Barbara for the day and heading back home the same day. It’s not too long of a drive, and it’s shorter than the times I drove to San Diego just for the day. It’s pretty easy for me to do and I usually have a lot of podcasts saved up for my drive. But this Saturday, I had something else to do before I drove home.

My friend Rayshell has had a lot of changes over the past year. She and her husband bought their first place and they had a baby! And because of the pandemic, I haven’t had the chance to see her for a long time. Her new place is on the way to or from Santa Barbara, so we made plans that I would see her either that morning or evening. But then, Rayshell realized that she would be at her parents’ house in Santa Barbara the same day and asked if I wanted to come to hang out in the backyard with her. Of course I said yes!

Her parents’ house was only about a mile away from the rental house my parents were staying at, so it was really easy to get there after I was done with family time. And even though I was pretty much considered fully vaccinated, we still took precautions while hanging out. We stayed outdoors the entire time and I was sitting a little further away (it was easily more than 6 feet away). Even though we’ve been doing all this for a year, it is still weird not being able to hug a friend and have to sit further from them than I’m used to. But at the same time, I’m so grateful I have the opportunity at all to see friends! And especially getting to see Rayshell and her baby (and her husband and parents who were hanging out with us too)!

And it was such a great time! Of course, we had a lot of our usual catchup chat like we always did at our happy hour hangouts. But we both had so much to update each other on. I loved hearing all about her baby, and he was so smiley and adorable the entire time I was there. He was not shy even though he had never met me before. He was a little social butterfly and one of the happiest babies I’ve ever met. I wasn’t able to hold him, but just getting to see him always smiling at me made me so happy. And it was amazing seeing Rayshell as a mom. I knew she’d be an awesome mom, and seeing her with her son proved me right. She looked like a natural!

And Rayshell also updated me about her new place. They haven’t really been able to have anyone over since they bought it right before the pandemic hit, but I hope that I’ll get a chance to see it soon. It sounds like an awesome place for them, even if they moved a little further from me and I wish that she lived closer.

And Rayshell asked me about what’s been happening in my life. I filled her in about what’s going on with work and what has been happening with my family. And she wanted to hear if I had any crazy dating stories, and I did! I have written on here how I haven’t dated that much over the past year, but I have a little bit and I had plenty of stories even about guys that I never ended up meeting. And at least, for the most part, the stories are so ridiculous so even I have to laugh while telling them.

I was able to hang out with Rayshell for almost 2 hours before she needed to start doing her evening routine with her son. And I knew I needed to start heading back home too. I wish we could have hung out longer, but considering that we hadn’t seen each other in over a year, any time I could get was amazing. I’ve said this a lot before, but this past year has made me so grateful for any time I get to spend with the people I care about. And it has shown me how strong some of my friendships are when we can just pick things back up even if it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other.

Hopefully, I will be able to see Rayshell and her baby again soon. I know that it seems like things are getting better, so I’m optimistic about it. I’m still being very careful with what things I take chances on, but being outdoors with social distancing seems pretty safe. And I’m glad that it is finally safe enough for these things to start happening again without anyone having to worry too much about getting sick. And as long as we all continue to be safe and not take too many chances, it won’t be long before we don’t have to worry about any of this.

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Default ThumbnailA Santa Barbara Afternoon (or Celebrating My Future Nephew!) Default ThumbnailAnother Santa Barbara Day (or A Little Bit Of Social Interaction) Default ThumbnailA Bridal Shower Celebration (or My Morning In Santa Barbara) Default ThumbnailSanta Barbara Weekend (or Family and Friends Time) Default ThumbnailA Little More Time In Santa Barbara (or Hanging Out With My Sister-In-Law) Default ThumbnailSanta Barbara Engagement Party (or Sunburn and Rain)

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Another Hangout Day With My Parents (or At Least I Wasn’t Dizzy This Time)

Posted on February 17, 2021 | Comments Off on Another Hangout Day With My Parents (or At Least I Wasn’t Dizzy This Time)

When my parents visited me in November, it was right after I was hit with vertigo. They weren’t originally supposed to come to LA to see me. I was going to go to Santa Barbara to see my parents as well as my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. But because of my vertigo, I was stuck at home. And I’m so grateful that my parents took a day and drove down to see me so I didn’t completely miss spending time with them. But because I was so dizzy when they were here, we didn’t really do much. I spent most of the time on the couch trying to make the room stop spinning.

When they left, I wasn’t sure when I’d see them again. I knew I’d see them around the beginning of April when they will be in Santa Barbara again for my nephew’s birthday (and I’m planning on going up for that too). But I didn’t know if there would be another time they would be down this way before that. But they decided to go to Santa Barbara again this month because they wanted to spend time with my nephew (I don’t blame them!). They asked me if I wanted to come up for a day to see everyone, but now that I’m working again I can’t really do that. I could technically drive after work, but I wouldn’t have that much time before I would have to drive back home. So my parents said they’d come down to me again for an afternoon!

I really appreciate my parents making the drive to see me. While I’m close to Santa Barbara, it’s still not super close. It’s about 90 minutes of driving each way. And I know that when they come that also means it’s one less day that they get to spend with my nephew. I know they want to see me too, but it’s easier to stay in touch with me since I can be on the phone. So I just always am grateful when they take time out of their trip to Santa Barbara to come to LA. Plus, I know they don’t really love LA, so it’s even more special that they come here for me.

This time, they came after I was done with work so I didn’t have to worry about being too distracted when they arrived. We didn’t have much planned for the afternoon, but as always my dad and I had a few projects we wanted to work on. For example, there was an automatic light timer we installed when I moved into my house 11 years ago that no longer worked. But because it was hard-wired into my light switch, my dad didn’t want me to do anything on my own. So he helped me turn off my electricity and change the switch back to the standard one. There was also a cleaning tool holder I wanted to hang up and I knew we’d have to drill into my walls. And this decorative letter holder/key hanger I had by my front door happened to fall off right before their visit and because I used foam tape on it, it took some of my wall with it when it fell. So I had to get some stuff to fill in the walls.

Fortunately, most of the projects around my house went smoothly. We had a few glitches and issues, but nothing that was too difficult to fix. We also took some time between projects to all go for a walk around my neighborhood. My mom has gone for some walks around my neighborhood with the dog before (the dog wasn’t with them for this trip), but she usually goes a different way than I do when I take walks. So I took them on my route that I like to do and it was a nice and relaxing way to spend some time.

We also ordered dinner to be delivered and got a nice family meal from Tender Greens. It was a pretty huge meal with 2 giant salads and a lot of steak. But it was delicious and nice to have a family dinner together. I usually don’t have a lot of people over for dinner, so it was a rare moment that I had 3 people eating at my dining room table. But it was nice to do that and spend some time together as a family.

And getting to catch up was really good. Even though I don’t have a ton happening in my life, things have changed since they were here in November. I do have a new job and some new things coming up with my old jobs. I will be starting some new work with my data entry job very soon so I was updating them on that. And I’ve gotten a few updates about my box office job and the potential of that coming back in the next month or two. And I did get to tell them a bit more about my new job and what I do with each part of my job. And we talked about some medical stuff happening with me and how hopefully I’ll be able to get the vaccine soon (because of their age, both of my parents were able to be vaccinated already which makes me so happy).

I didn’t want my parents to stay at my house too late because they had to drive back to Santa Barbara that night and then they were driving home the next day. But I got to spend several hours with them and accomplish everything that we had on our list. Of course, it would have been amazing if we could have done more outside of my house, but that’s not really the best thing to do right now. But maybe by the next time they come to LA to see me, things will be different and we can do more out and about.

But even with being stuck inside my house most of the time and my parents only being able to be here for a few hours, I can’t explain how wonderful it was to have them spend time with me. I rarely see anyone these days. And the few people I do see tend to be employees at the few stores I go to. I almost had the most social week in a year between getting my hair done and seeing my parents. And while spending time with people does make me miss what life was like before, I also have learned to appreciate any moment I get to spend with people I love. And I hope that appreciation is something I remember for the rest of my life.

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Default ThumbnailA Dinner Hangout (or Seeing My Sister-In-Law in LA) Default ThumbnailNot The Family Visit I Planned On Having (or An LA Afternoon) Default ThumbnailAnother Night At The Bowl (or My Parents Got To Rock Out) Default ThumbnailPart 1 Of A Family Visit (or Letting My Parents Relax A Bit) Default ThumbnailI’m Officially An Aunt (or Welcome Rory!) Default ThumbnailAnother Santa Barbara Day (or A Little Bit Of Social Interaction)

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