Reflecting On 75 Days of Quarantine: An Update on Life Right Now
This is SO Us. Thank you Caroline O’Kane for the porch portrait!
Officially 75 days in, and while the town of Westport has opened up into “Phase 1”, we are still hanging close to home for the most part. To be honest, I have gotten so comfortable staying in, the thought of venturing out and all the accoutrements needed for the journey (mask, gloves, sanitizer, sanity…) feel kinda overwhelming right now. But I’ll get there- I know once I break the seal and start doing errands again, after a few times, I will feel easy. Almost like the first beach outing each summer- I run around like a crazy person throwing stuff into a beach bag because I don’t remember exactly what I need, and end up forgetting most of the actual important things and bringing weird sh%t that is totally not relevant and my family makes fun of me for it all year long). But after a couple trips, I am like a beach bag packing ninja. Or at least I like to think.
There is a strange sadness though that I feel right now at the prospect of life returning to (a very new, but still) normal. Sure, the days can be LONG and home schooling SUCKS and obviously the entire situation both financially and emotionally on a global scale is devastating. But what a unique time to be alive in such unprecedented circumstances…. Especially with young kids, there is a “days are long but years are short” sweetness to it all (she writes while enjoying a quiet house for the first time in weeks while Brian takes the girls for a morning adventure, ha!).
What Quarantine Life Looks Like Now:
What has quarantine life looked like recently here? Lots of nights bundled in blankets watching movies (most recently we did “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”, “Billy Madison” and “Troop Beverly Hills”) “The Masked Singer”, and all the game shows... Almost every dinner together around the table (thank goodness Brian loves to grocery shop and cook- or at least doesn’t trust me to do it- otherwise we would have starved!)… Tons of bike rides (and now, scooter adventures and ice cream at the beach!)… Goldie wants to play “Chutes & Ladders” 24/7, Alexa wants to make Tik Toks and go on video chat with her friends 24/7, and they both love watching Dance Moms-related shows and hack tutorials on YouTube… Brian suffered a pinched nerve right when this all began, so we invested in a Theragun (do you have one? Wowza!) and he is constantly asking me to hit him up with it (I try and explain that it is shaped so you can do it yourself but he isn’t hearing it)… Of course, lots of tie dye (the set I am wearing above was purchased days before the pandemic, which makes me feel validated as a trend forecaster of sorts ha!), bracelet making (I am so into the Rainbow Loom!), and hours working on our upcycled “Barbie Dream House” city in the 3rd floor… We have very much enjoyed sidewalk chalk outside, and Lex and Gogo consider cartwheels down the hill in our front yard the best cardio ever… Speaking of cardio- our little home gym has been my quarantine haven (here is a list of the accessories and gear that we used to give it a major upgrade!) if I could spend hours there going between DanceBody Live classes, obé workouts, Melissa Wood Health meditations and flows and Torch’d with Isaac Boots on IG Live, I would. And sometimes I do. Then I come upstairs and eat all the donuts and candy, but still…
As things open up, the girls are now taking tennis lessons, I signed Alexa up for a couple Zoom dance classes at her studio, and somehow the days feel more full. I am working on a few copywriting and marketing projects, plus focusing a lot on my Ultimate Edit newsletter and pulling summer segments together. Video content has been on my mind a ton lately- I had to do a video demo for a brand partnership and teaching myself how to shoot and edit solo was very cool, and something I want to practice over and over until it becomes approachable enough to do regularly (read: without overthinking every shot and transition!). Brian is working at full speed- most days we don’t see him at all between 9am and 5pm, and the girls have finally figured out that they can’t barge in every minute with a request or naked butt to show off. Baby steps…
How To Make Summer Plans During A Pandemic?
Summer feels so uncertain still- which has us over-scheduling (sometimes, only in our heads- execution is not so much my thing when it comes to camp or vacation stuff!). Will Alexa have sleepaway camp? Will Goldie go to day camp with her friends or is everyone keeping their littles home? Should we book a road trip and if so, is it safer to do a hotel or rent a house? It is all actually kind of exciting- imagining a blank slate to be filled with last minute adventures- but also, ya know, a little unsettling.
Speaking of unsettling- don’t even get me started on the chatter about school not starting up again in September?! Can this be for real? Apparently so. Oh well, we will always have “Chutes & Ladders”…