Life in the Time of Coronavirus

I don't mean to make light of all of the people who have died or lost their jobs and whatnot because of coronavirus but these are just my thoughts on this time of life.

Here's what I am enjoying the most from this time in quarantine.

1. Antifragility. This is hard for me to phrase properly but basically this whole experience makes me call to mind the book Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. The whole concept of improving during stressful times. I joke that coronavirus cured my depression but when a global pandemic is going on and everyone is ordered to stay at home it changes up the quotidian routine of life. Things like going for a walk or drive in the car to nowhere can become really fun.

2. Commonly shared extreme circumstance. This is kind of like the first one but just in general, things I never would do pre-corona like watch the news are suddenly very interesting to me! I, like the rest of Ohio, love Dewine's little 2pm updates. I love talking to people in different states about their current "restrictions". This is the first time in my lifetime I can recall people in so many different countries going through the same thing at a similar time.

3. Distancing socially. I LOVE all of the creative socializing. I love all the zoom game nights, drive by parades or birthday shout outs, across the street picnics, netflix watching parties, and virtual happy hours. My big is having a 17 hour virtual birthday party, if it weren't for COVID-19 when would we ever get this?? I'm super excited for it!

4. The internet. I'm obsessed with TikToks of families quarantining together. The internet is just great right now, the tweets, the pictures of people outside hospitals holding signs welcoming a new baby because they can't visit, the free workout classes, shows, DJ sets, and all forms of entertainment. Also the new MJ doc.

5. Being able to church hop across the country. Thinking about missing being able to go to Mass and receive the sacraments is heartbreaking BUT I've totally loved getting to attend virtual Mass at my favorites churches or places I haven't been to before because of the livestreams. So far I've enjoyed Fr. Mattingly & the COAH one, St. Catharine's, St. Pats, Fr. Mike, and St. John Cantius (the prettiest church I've been to in the states). For Holy Week I got to watch some of the little sisters of the lamb's (my favorite nuns ever from KC) liturgies and just loved that! I miss them so much. It's also cool because Bren & I can livestream the same Mass we didn't normally go to the same Mass pre-corona.

6. Quarantine Things. Basically all of the things people are doing that they wouldn't normally do like the bread making. I've been working on this dog puzzle, it looks like it's sold out everywhere pretty much besides Amazon now. I used to think puzzles were pointless but I'm really into this one, maybe because of the dogs? I'm going to frame it as a quarantine memory when I'm done.

I also had a 2 person Christmas party, tie dyed some stuff, have been trying to do daily walks, switched to ordering groceries from Instacart, did one of those Hello Fresh discount trials, and have been showering way less. Also food / drinks to go is still a fun novelty. Def want to switch to only ordering groceries online after this.

Hot Dogs A-Z Dog Puzzle

I've also never made a cocktail in my life unless you count mixing Gatorade and vodka or sparkling water and vodka BUT thank goodness for quarantine because I made these cranberry old-fashioneds for my 2 person Christmas party and they were SO good. Here is what I used in case anyone else wants to make them.

Mix the following

• 1 shot of bourbon (I used Bulleit)
• 1/2 shot simple syrup (I used a vanilla ginger kind)
• 2 shakes bitters (angostura)
• Cranberry juice (however much you want to add, I did like 3 shots)

Add 

• 1 big square ice cube
• 1 rosemary sprig

7. Slow pace. I feel like my preferred way of spending my time is finally encouraged. I love having days & weekends where there are no set plans and you can just decide what you want to do. It feels nice to be "required" to stay home so it takes away any feeling of guilty or non productive by reading or going on leisurely walks. 

When something is taken away it causes you to appreciate things you previously took for granted. It would be cool if after this (who knows when that will be btw) once a year there is like a week or two when everyone is required to stay home so they can appreciate things like seeing friends, going to restaurants, church, workout classes, stores, etc.

I will honestly be sad when this is over because we might not be able to do it again (lol if there is a stay at home thing for over a year, I might not be as loving it as much then but who knows)

Maybe I'll post the things I am most looking forward to in a different post because this is feeling long. Let me know your favorite quarantine things!

Weekend Recap

This weekend in the words of Buster from AD was "off the hook"  I am also aware that it is already Wednesday and that it is late to be doing a weekend recap. Here's what happened....

Main event- My roomies from college were reunited in Cbus for the first time since grad! Everything felt so right, like we never left. Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday (ok fine besides Christmas and Easter which I feel obligated to make first bc of religious significance) so I was especially excited that we could spend it together.

Got caught up on selfies.

Food- One of my favorite things about people visiting is an emphasis on food. This is different from my ordinary life because I normally eat standing up while doing something else (usually dishes). This weekend we gobbled up Destination Donuts, The Little Donut Shop doughnuts, Dirty Franks, Martini, Jeni's, Hungry Howie's, and Hangover Easy.

North Market was really crowded because we went on a Saturday morning so I just stuck with the essentials, aka Stauf's pour over coffee, a pickle, and a salted butterscotch doughnut. I contemplated getting HCT but I was enjoying my coffee so I wouldn't be able to take full advantage of drinking the free and unlimited sweet tea so I decided to pass. C & G both got pierogies and we spent a long time just relaxing and chatting at the upstairs tables while people were busying around us.

For dinner we grabbed Dirty Frank's to eat while we were getting ready. I got the True Love Always (cream cheese & green olives) which is one of my faves and Sarva's Tot-cho Dog which has tots, cheese sauce, onions, and jalapenos. Hindsight: Do not get the Tot-cho dog again in the winter because it will make your lips more chapped.

For brunch on Sunday after spending some quality time at Bullwinkle's we all reconvened at Hangover Easy. Hangover Easy is our classic brunch place. It is in a convenient location, cheap, has good Bloody Mary's, it is acceptable to look like a bus hit you, you can walk around campus if there is a long wait, and everyone in our group thoroughly enjoys the food. Note to self I've tried everything and the HOE Benny (think a western eggs benedict) is amazing and def my favorite.

Broad City- Friday night we wanted to lay low to rest up for Nanu's arrival and Bullwinkles on Saturday but we ended up staying up until past 1 #notmad. I introduced C & G to Broad City and to my absolute delight they enjoyed it as much as I do and I didn't feel like a show Nazi. We watched Seasons 1 & 2 this weekend + some re-watching. I've been obsessed with this show and have thought about what would Abi and Ilana do on the reg, I'm aware that Season 3 started tonight but I don't have cable so I am pretending that it didn't. Here are some treats that helped tide me over when I am not watching the show an interview with Terry Gross, moments,  Yass Queen mug,  and a who said it quiz. 

Refillable To Go Sriracha

                                                     
Tunes- I almost never watch music videos on my own because of my short attention span but I have been religiously watching Beyonce's Formation every night before bed ever since my friends showed it to me Saturday night. I LOVE the clothes, Blue Ivy, the specificity, and the references. On a lesser note I have also been listening to the new Catfish and the Bottlemen Song "Soundcheck".

OOTD- I wore this striped with heart elbow patch long sleeve tee from Francesca's pretty much all weekend. It was comfy paired with Landsend corduroy leggings. 

What's Making Me Happy.

1. The Revenant. GAH. I saw this movie Sunday and I am so obsessed. I was extremely tired before seeing it and had 0 expectations. The only things I knew going in were that it had Leo and a bear in it. It is essential that this movie is seen in a theater, I was literally on the edge of my seat for parts. Cannot recommend enough. I will be spending my week walking around in the cold/ dragging my body around my apartment. By far the most engrossing movie I have ever seen. (lol ok you probably get it now)

2. Ballet Slippers. Oftentimes at work I like to do things that are really bad for my circulation such as sit cross legged on my chair, have one leg bent and one knee up on my chair, kneel sitting down on my legs on my chair, or set my feet on the legs of my chair. All of these things are much easier to do while wearing ballet slippers and this is doesn't gross other people out as much as wearing just socks might IMO. It also makes me happier to not have my feet confined to boots #freefeet .

3. Master of None. I haven't read Aziz Ansari's book or seen any of his stand up and I don't intend to but this show is the first show I have watched on my own since Gossip Girl a couple of years ago. It reminded me, in a realistic way of how fun it is to get to know another person.

4. Congratulations, By the Way. You can read this book in about 10 minutes or you can listen to the speech here:

It was a great/ needed reminder on how important kindness is. I prefer this read so you can look back on parts and just think about it but if you are on the computer I know how it can be easier to just listen to stuff.

5. Cafe Apropos. New go to place to "study" aka read online periodicals, read book club books, shop online, and listen in on Tinder dates happening around me. The food, beer selection, coffee, TV show viewing capabilities, cozy chairs, and seating variety are all up to par.

6. Animal Pics. My roomie and I went to Sunrise Sanctuary the other day to visit with some animals and looking at the pics is still making me smile/ think good thoughts.

7. Distressed Boyfriend Jeans. One of my roommates and I went shopping for 8 hours on Saturday. It was a productive yet strenuous trip. I went home with these guys and am really glad I did because they are my new go to (yes even with the sub zero temperatures). The fit is super relaxed and I love the rips. They are comfy enough to sleep in (tested last weekend).

What's Making Me Happy.

1.  The weather. This is cliche but 70 and mostly sunny with a breeze is my ultimate favorite temperature. I have been on top of it the past few days and have been consulting the forecast the evening before and planning my outfit, I usually write it in my planner on the lines that in the good old days woulda been taken up by homework assignments. This weather is great for reading outside/people watching and going on rounds in said pre planned outfit.

2. Bunnies like watermelon. The retirement home near our apartment has these adorable pet rabbits that they sometimes have in the front yard and today they were all munching on watermelon! So far Ezra's favorite fruits are apples and bananas but I can't wait to have him try watermelon.

3. Gone Girl. I know I am about 3 years late to this game but I started/finished Gone Girl this week. I could barely put it down, so if that is the definition of a good book then it is definitely good.

4. Platform Tevas. I so love these. My old tevas are faded/muddy from participating in lots of Teva perfect activities with me over the past 2 years.

5. New glasses. I had eye muscle surgery not this past Friday but the one before that and never will take semi okay vision for granted again! Another benefit this surgery has besides improving my double vision is that I get to buy new glasses. I ordered these from Warby Parker without trying them on in the interest of  wanting to be able to find my keys without feeling around like a blind person ASAP, so hopefully they look okay on me. 

6. My BFF introduced me to the song "Black Magic" by Little Mix and it has been on repeat for at least an hour every day since. The FIFA 2015 soundtrack is (fire emoji)  I also discovered this week. 

                                           

7. New York Times Modern Love Essays. I love reading these essay submissions. I read this one today and it brought up questions I often think about like, how do you know if something is a missed connection? if someone says that they think you have something "special" don't they probably say that to everyone? if they don't and you do not consider the interaction special is there something wrong with them or you or neither? If you divulge your head world thoughts to many people wouldn't you have several out of the ordinary interactions with people and not be able to recognize if something was truly a good connection because you've had so many similar experiences? 

8. Destination Donuts. These are my new favorite donuts (sry Buckeye Donuts and Resch's), They taste like delicious pillows. My favorite flavor so far is Butterscotch. They have them at North Market and One Line Coffee.

What I've been up to.

Reading this


Aloud to this guy



Walking here on weekday mornings

Living in this




When I'm not in this













Listening to this on repeat

Drinking too much of this















Not training for this



Pondering life from here

 Being thankful for this













And having fun with these 2 (see I wasn't lying about that dress)

Marathon Recap.

This is way late, the marathon I ran was Oct. 20th but since I blogged about my 2 training runs I wanted to come full  circle and capture how the rest of my "training" and actual race went.

12 miles- Running buddies and I drove to Riverside Dr to run along that except I did not research enough because the part that we went to was some type of boat dock and the whole trail was probably only 6 miles total so it was slightly annoying having to run back and forth to reach 12. The weather was really nice in the 60s. I had black cherry shot bloks whenever I felt like it and ran with my fuel belt which holds 16 oz. of water. I felt good until the last mile when I was just over the run but played Avril Lavigne's "What the Hell" on repeat to finish it out. Rob and Rachel (the running buddies) went to get me Gatorade across the street after they were done with their runs and I had that immediately after running which I probably should not have done because I usually only drink water. I was too tired to eat much after running and waited like 3 hours to eat a whole meal which could explain why I felt extremely light headed and nauseous and just really weird after the run. Oh, this was also the first run in my new running shoes!! I was a little nervous about them because I wore Nike's with basically no support forever but the change was good, my feet did not have any problems.

20 miles- I ran 14 the week before I ran 20, I didn't make notes on how the run went but I think it went alright. I really wanted to hit 20 before I did the marathon so I would be confident that I wouldn't die. I started it like I did my other long runs, woke up at 4:45, ate 3 eggs and had half a Noss for breakfast. Went running with Rob at 5:30, we went to Beekman Park and ran around that loop a few times. The stars were sooooo pretty and clear! I remember I could totally see the Little (or Big idk!) Dipper! Then we ran to Rachel's and I ran 12 miles with her. We ran down Neil to the Scioto Mile then back to campus down High St. and then down the Olentangy Trail a little bit and then back to Woodruff and High. I met Rob there and ran my final 1.7ish miles with him to get to 20. My knees and above my ankles really hurt at this point but as long as I wasn't stopped I was okay. I felt really good when I was finally done, probably the best I ever have after running because I really did not think I would be able to run 20 miles! I had a mocha Cliff Shot at mile 11 and I had a pack of fruit snacks in my fuel belt that I snacked on. I think I ran 20 miles on Sept 27th  and I didn't really think about training again after it because mentally I thought if I just hit 20 I would be "good to go".

Marathon Day- Tips if I ever do one again (probably not) are
1. Actually follow a training plan.
2. Wear new contacts.
3. Wear really warm "throw aways".
4. Do what works aka wear the same socks I had done my long runs in.

Picture proof that I did it! 

Running buddies, me, fellow blogger Han!

I will include this because I always love new running music. Fun fact, leading up to the marathon I was OCD about only listening to music while running because I was afraid if I listened to it other times it would lose it's affect. 

Favorite Running Songs

-'I am Woman' SATC 2 movie version

-'Let Me Take You Out' Bryan J. featuring Travis Porter

-'Sally Is A...' Shwayze

-'Charmed Life' Leigh Nash

-'Heaven's Before Me' Marian Grace

-'Dog Days Are Over' Florence + The Machine

Year in Review

I know this is really late oops but better late than never I suppose! I wanted to share with you some highlights from 2012...

My little!
In February my sorority had their Big/Little reveal and I got my fabulous Little! My little really is perfect and we are great complements to each other. She is a fitness guru and has inspired me to start working out again (hopefully I really do).

 

In May I ran the Cap City half marathon. The craziest thing about this was not just that I ran the whole time without walking but that I did not run more than 3.4 miles before the 1/2! I was very nervous before doing it and really did not think I would be able to make it and had no clue how 13 miles would even feel etc.. it just seemed like such a huge number. The day of I ran with one of the girls in my sorority and would not have made it without her. I for sure would have stopped to walk if I was not staying with her the whole time. The number of people running/ watching  helped me loose track of how many miles I ran and just be able to relax. I borrowed my bf's ipod the day of and he made me a really long like 4 hour playlist which also helped because I usually do not run (on my little once a month if that 2 mile things) with music so it was something new and kind of exciting thing to help me not freak out about running 13.1 miles. The day before the race I ate jeni's ice cream, and  bought lululemon running shorts and socks, all which I believed helped contribute to my success lol.

 (pic my mom's friend snapped on the way to the finish line)

This summer I went to Hilton Head with some girls in DZ and loved it! Hilton Head is one of my favorite places and we went for like 5 days which was the perfect little break from working this summer. At the end of the summer my family and I went on a cruise and then stayed in Florida for a week and looked for gators. My brothers love looking for gators and had been wanting to go to the Everglades for a while. 

 (my mom and I at Marco Island)

A guide told us to go to this really big pond type thing to be sure to see lots of gators and we were literally inches away from them! There were tons just laying in between the walking path and the water, kinda scary!

The bf is becoming Catholic and I am his sponsor so starting in September we've had classes every week which I've totally loved! I will miss them when they're over. 

Other cool things that have happened to me in 2012 are "discovering" snapchat in early spring, working full time for the first time ever over the summer, and listening to "call me maybe" like a million times.

 

Catch Up!

I am really sorry that I haven't blogged in forever, I am really going to start making an effort to get back into it! So far my summer has gone pretty well, I just got back from Hilton Head with my family last night. Unfortunately my mom's camera battery died really quickly and she didn't bring a charger so I do not have many photos. I took a few pictures on my old crackberry (which I love but admit takes awful pictures).





Above is a picture I took of "the point" on one of my little beach walks. I LOVE taking walks alone on the beach, I think up my best thoughts on them LOL.
Surprisingly the only things I bought on the trip were the above little pink and green turtle earrings (DZalicious) and cute little mason jar/wine glass. Here is a similar one that I found online. This summer I am working at my neighbor's law firm, which I like alot but it is kind of interfering with my laying out sun time haha, but seriously. Since working is the only really productive thing I am doing this summer, I decided to "better myself" by reading more and even made a goodreads account, if you have one too or if you don't you should make one, anyways click here to add me. If you do not have a goodreads account but have read a good book recently please tell me about it in a comment, I am always on the lookout for my next read and love suggestions!

Lastly, I cannot get enough of this song and it has been on replay the whole time I've been writing this post.
Crazy for You by Best Coast
I hope everyone stays cool and has a great day tomorrow!