Category: life

I know I am not alone with trying to stay busy and sane during COVID. Personally, I like to stay busy because it prevents me from overthinking about the negatives and worrying what is to come. I’m not pretending that everything is fine and that I can’t get sick, I am acknowledging facts backed by science and following CDC guidelines. I try to focus on the positives and make a little gratitude list in my head before bed. I’ll journal in the mornings and thought I would share some of the things I am loving right now. This list isn’t full of the cutest clothes, new tech gadgets or going places. For the first time since we moved into this house I am finally making it a home. It was already decorated and had my things in it for a year, but now I am at home and finding things to love here. Life is always a competition about who looks best, who has the most but right now we are all in comfy clothes, messy hair and no makeup because we don’t need to compete anymore. A lot of us feel the same and experience similar struggles – grocery shopping, financial strains and at times, boredom. Instead of focusing on the negative, I’m making myself focus on the things I am loving right now during my time of quarantine. And who knew this list would be so long?

Making dinner every night
I know it sounds silly because everyone makes dinner but I’ve been able to actually make homemade meals almost every night of the week. It’s been a nice break from frozen foods, quick and easy options while I find more time consuming recipes that require a little more work.

Pots of coffee
We recently had to get a new Keurig since my old one broke so Jake got the K-Duo so we could make pots of coffee as well as individual cups. Since we are home all day I love to make a cup of coffee and then Jake and I will refill our cups throughout the day. Seems silly but I feel like such an adult grabbing another cup of coffee before heading back to my makeshift desk at our dining room table.

Subscriptions
Thank goodness I signed up for a few things before COVID really shut things down. It’s no secret that I love Grove Collaborative since I’ve talked about the company so many times. A few weeks into quarantine, I received my Billie Razor subscription with new razors. The last thing on my mind was to walk a mile to CVS and get new razors so having them delivered was great because I didn’t even have to think of it. I’ve loved Amazon in the past but now more than ever I’m using it! My Alexa will notify me when it’s time to order more coffee based on how much coffee Amazon thinks I’ve had since my last order. Now coffee is on a subscription! Obviously we won’t be at home forever but this experience has made me realized how great it is to have stuff sent to my home on a subscription service so I don’t even have to worry about running out. Find out what works for you and see what subscription services fit your lifestyle.

Slow Sundays
Okay, so here is where you can really find gratitude during Sundays. Do you remember Sundays? They were often referred to as scary Sundays because there was a rush to get everything done (clean, laundry, food shop) so you were ready for the week and also needed to relax so you could decompress from the previous week and get ready for the next one. In our house Sundays have turned into slow Sundays. There is no rush to get out of bed and when we do, we’ll make a fun breakfast and drink coffee while we watch a classic Disney movie. There is no rush to get errands done and our only chores are to change the sheets and take out the trash. Enjoy the slowdown that we have right now. Your body needs it!

Eating Locally
So while we are making dinner a lot, we are still ordering in to support local restaurants once a week. Before our work schedules were so busy that we could never make dinner reservations because one of us would always have to work late last minute. Once we got home we would be too tired to cook and just order from the same places. Now when we order in, it’s a nice treat since we don’t order food as much anymore and can’t go out to restaurants. We also love supporting the local restaurants right now in Philly and have found a few new places we never would have tried before!

Cleaning & Organizing
I’ve been joking with my family that I am running out of things to clean because organizing and cleaning my home is keeping me sane. Some days I will spend hours doing a deep clean and others I just pick a cabinet or something small that won’t take much time. I’ve also gotten in the habit of tidying up the house before bed and it has been a game changer! It is so nice to start the day with a clean first floor and while i wait for my coffee to brew, I’ll listen to The New York Times The Daily podcast while I empty the dishwasher. It’s little things we have the time to do now to keep our homes clean and get it organized. Take advantage of it!

Planning
Okay so I know we can’t do anything or see anyone, but this has inspired me to plan trips with friends and family. In the past we all made valid excuses because work, life, responsibilities and couldn’t go places but now I think I can get people to agree on a trip! I’m also party planning because I cannot wait to host a party with friends. I’m loving this book for creative themes. If anything this experience has taught me the importance of taking time for experiences or materialistic things.

Organizing Photos
I’ve made it a rule to be semi-productive while watching tv so I’ve been organizing my photos. I keep all of my photos saved on Google Photos because I can easily get to photos on the app. I’m deleting old screenshots, making albums and tagging people so I can have my photos better organized. Take it a step further and organize printed out pictures if you have them. I finally finished making my travel scrapbook after having it in a box for the last 4 years!

Deleting Clutter
Not only am I on a mission to purge clutter in my house but I am also deleting clutter on my laptop. I’m backing up documents on my Google Docs and adding folders to keep things organized as well as deleting unnecessary items. I love using Google Docs and Google Photos because everything is in one place! To get even more organized, I’m adding peoples addresses to my phone book and to their contact in my phone and adding their birthdays to my paper planner and my Google Calendar. It’s taking time but I know I am going to love having everything in folders and backed up!

Spending Time With Family
Finally this is my favorite thing about quarantine. Since we are all slowing down and missing our loved ones, my family and I have been having a weekly book club on Sundays. It’s less about literary content and more of an excuse to see each other on Zoom every week. We don’t have to get dressed up, it’s nothing fancy other than just saying hi and sharing funny stories about the week and talking about old times. I’m convinced my family is keeping the postal service in business because we have been sending homemade cards back and forth to each other which has been a lot of fun to make and receive!

We are currently in quarantine for weeks longer than we thought we would be when we first heard about COVID. In theory, we always loved the idea of a week at home in our pajamas, some peace and quiet and not having to leave the house. I’ve been wearing the same clothes every week not because they are designer or the most fashionable but because they are the most comfortable. This time in quarantine has taught me that I fill up my closet with clothes each season because I think I need to have them but when I am given the option to wear whatever I want, those are the clothes that go unworn. The last few weeks have been a learning curve for all of us and we are adjusting to our new normal. There are a lot of negatives like grocery stores not having everything and more serious economic concerns but I try to think of the positives that have come out of this quarantine.

I go to bed and tell myself each night that everyone is where they need to be. This past Mother’s Day was difficult because I couldn’t see my mom but I know she is healthy and safe at home in North Carolina. A few weeks ago, a few family members and I started a book club that we do over Zoom on Sunday evenings. We laugh at each other because usually only one of us got all of the reading done but it’s a nice excuse to shower and dress in real clothes to catch up with everyone. I see more of my cousins who live just 20 minutes away on the Zoom call than I have all year because life was always so busy. For Mother’s Day, we have a Zoom tea party and got dressed up in our finest clothes and baked our own treats. That two hour long Zoom call was honestly more fun than if we had just gone out to breakfast. We are creating new memories and spending time with one another in ways that we normally wouldn’t.

I’ve been calling my parents more often to tell them about random things throughout the day. I’ll call if I see a squirrel in the backyard or if we have nice weather to get the conversation going and before long we spend a good amount of time on the phone going deeper. Before the conversations were about how work was and what mundane thing we did that day. We complained to each other when I would call my mom after work because they were easy things to share with one another because it was all surface level. Now I am sharing more with my parents and having deeper, more meaningful conversations. Long distance friendships can be some of your strongest friendships because there is like an unspoken rule that no matter how much time goes on, you can always pick up right where you left off. My friends who don’t live near my are often my biggest cheerleaders. It doesn’t matter how much you spend time with a friend but how strong the foundation of that friendship is. I’ve been thinking about friendships a lot recently because living in a city makes it difficult to find friends even though you are surrounded by people. But I do know that I can rely on friends I have had the longest because it’s never a competition of who cares more or spends the most time with you. It’s the people who value any time spent together or talking on the phone who who often have the strongest friendships because it’s not a competition.

A few weeks ago, my college roommates and I did a surprise Zoom call for one of the girls because it was her birthday. We said surprise and then stayed on the call for a long time just chatting and catching up. Our group text is being used to talk about funny memes and sharing Netflix recommendations. Since we have more free time, we are talking more than we have in the past which makes me so happy. It’s also nice to talk about our daily struggles and look for encouragement when needed.

Every week I will pick a friend I haven’t talked to in ages and just say hi. It’s a nice way to check in and start up a conversation with an old friend. It doesn’t have to be a long conversation but we usually make a promise to stay in touch more and make plans to do lunch once the quarantine is over. Just because we can’t leave the house doesn’t mean that we can’t talk with friends. I’m using this extra free time to talk with friends who may not live near me anymore and keep in touch with friends.

Another weird thing I have been doing is engaging with the people I follow on social media who I have never met. There are a few people on Instagram who are real people that I follow for inspiration and I’ve been making more of an effort to write positive comments and reply to their stories. It’s weird making friends in this age of social media and since we are all stuck at home why not start a conversation with someone on Instagram? I grew up with the rule to never talk to strangers especially on the internet, but I think this is the new way to make friends with people who have similar interests as you!