Hi friends! I am writing this weeks Friday Favorites post while I am sitting by the pool and sipping on my morning cup of coffee. The last few weeks at my parents house have felt like a vacation I didn’t know I needed. For months I was sitting around my house in Philadelphia in quarantine going a little stir crazy. I was so fortunate to have a house and enough money in the bank to pay rent each month but I still felt stuck. I don’t like to sit still and as a coping mechanism for my anxiety I have always been on the move. Working more than one job, long list of errands after work or even a long workout helped keep me focused. Quarantine gave me too much time with not much to do so I’m happy I took my parents offer to stay with them for a bit. Not only has it been beneficial socially because I am around more people but because I am able to move more. My parents have a large property with lots of gardens and landscaping to take care of. It’s not like my parents just invited me down to help them work, but my mom knows how I like to stay busy.

With this in mind, we all work for an hour outside in the morning. Between weeding, sweeping, painting or landscaping projects – there is plenty to do to keep you busy! After a jump in the pool to cool down, we all head inside to work for an hour. With rooms straightened, laundry going and floors cleaned we will make lunch and head back outside to enjoy the pool. My afternoons are spent working on a project of my own or out running errands. Back in Philadelphia I wouldn’t dare go to stores because of the congested streets and high number of people not wearing masks. Down here in my parents small town, running errands during the week means empty stores and everyone wearing a mask. I’ve gone a little shopping crazy after not being able to get essential items for a few months. In my planner I keep a sticky note of things we need for the house which has kept getting longer and longer in 2020. Also it’s hard to beat the prices down here since we are not paying city prices for items. While out grocery shopping with my dad I went a little crazy in the cereal aisle because it was $6.99 a box back at our market in the city, so I was shocked to see the $1.99 price tag.

This is the first week I’ve started to see changes in my body as I work off that quarantine weight and the weight I put on before that because of stress and depression. Those morning chores are a great way to get my steps in and are honestly a work out. With lots of stairs, heavy lifting and out in the sun it is helping me gain some muscle. At night, I will take a long walk around the property while the sun is setting. The air is still hot but is starting to cool, the sky lights up in cotton candy skies and I am just in awe with all of the greenery around me. I go to bed most nights with my feet throbbing and legs all wobbly because I was working so hard.

Funny how with all the time in the day right now the last thing I want to do is sit inside and watch television? I spend every minute that I can outside either working or in the pool to enjoy the sun on my face and work on that summer glow. At night I spend an hour reading in the back screened in porch and taking a long walk before bed. I’ll occasionally watch something on my laptop before bed but I am not that invested. I think since I know I am only down here for a few more weeks and summer will be over before I am ready, I want to enjoy every single minute that I can.

I’m currently reading Jennifer Weiner’s Who Do You Love at night before bed. It’s longer than I thought it would be but I am really invested in the characters making it an easy read.
My mom and I get the same magazines (Southern Living and Better Homes and Gardens) so I’ve been able to catch up while I am visiting. If you want a way to do stuff with your mom who lives far away, getting the same magazines allows us to talk about them on the phone and read them together. She will text me if I saw the recipe on a certain page and how cute curtains looked in the beach room in another magazine. Even though we were 10 hours away from each other, it felt like we were closer since we were doing stuff together.
I went to Ollie’s again, a store that has a lot of things for low prices and got some more books that will look nice on a shelf and will be fun to read.

I’m spending a lot of time in the pool so I’m letting my hair air dry every day. Not only has it been great for my hair but with a new shampoo I’ve noticed that it’s less frizzy. I can go to bed with it damp and wake up with cute bed head instead of my usual frizzy big hair.

I’m also using a leave in conditioner in my hair and I think that has helped me lay off the heat tools to style it lately.

Because of the heat, it is the South afterall, I usually wake up feeling a bit sweaty and then I put on sunscreen and bug spray. By the end of the day my face is feeling bumpy and oily so this week I’ve been using this face mask. After my shower I will put hair up in a towel and wear the mask while I straighten my room or something. I think the face mask has helped keep my skin looking brighter and not as oily.

Oh boy! Where do I begin!? I first need to point out that the county where my parents live has a very low number of COVID cases. We are taking all of the necessary steps to keep ourselves and others safe when we go out. My parents live in a small suburb surrounded by farmland, seriously lots of horses and field of corn and tobacco. All of this allows us to go to stores that are practically empty and everyone is wearing masks. Since I haven’t had a car in December and Philadelphia really was in lockdown, there are things we needed but could not get because of logistics.

• Pier1 has their going out of business sale so I bought these plates for $3 for a set of 4. I got two sets because at that price I had to take advantage of that price. My mom then had me go back to get her two sets and my aunt two sets as well. They thought I had a lot of friends when I really just got asked to buy plates for people.
• I went to the store to get plastic bins and had to have this dinnerware set when I bought it! I ended up getting matching pasta bowls as well since we never had them. Also had to get this canister for our kitchen because it matched perfectly!
• The Homegoods near my parents recently opened so when we went the entire store was on major clearance. If you feel safe, definitely go to TJ Maxx and Homegoods now while they try to get rid of their inventory. I bought a few things for our house that you can only buy at Homegoods and a few Christmas presents to give people.

Walks at night.
Bike rides through town.
Organizing a cabinet.
Redesigning my moms laundry room.
Reading outside in the screened in back porch.
Making flower arrangements with greenery from the gardens.
The marina being so close.
Being able to drive to towns nearby to walk around.
Going out to eat.
My dad cooking dinner for me every night.
Sweet tea.