Life Lately: Quarantine in Our New Apartment
Good morning! Happy to see you here six-ish months after my last post! I'm so good at this, no need to remind me.
So much has changed since I've last written here, so let's catch up! Let's see, for starters, we left our beloved Ted (the mouse, see last post) back at our old apartment and we've moved to a new apartment building just four blocks away from that place. Long story short, we found out the owner of our condo was selling, we had about 3 weeks to find a new place to live and move, all right before this pandemic. I'm exhausted and stressed all over again just thinking about it.
It all worked for the better though! We really love this apartment; it's bigger, has SO much more natural light (we all know that's super important to me), and it's closer to work. Ha! not that it matters now. See: global pandemic, working from home.
Maggie has made some new friends in our building - we met Moose (this scrawny little thing that you can hold in one hand) and Scarlett, who's giant and fluffy and adores Maggie. Their friendship melts me. This sounds silly to anyone who's not a pet owner, but finding a new apartment close to a park where we might be able to play with new pup friends was so important to me. Another huge factor was finding a place where I could walk Maggie by myself and still feel comfortable - so lots of street lighting, grassy areas, parks close enough to the building so I could still outrun a serial killer. You know, things everyone thinks about.
For the most part, life has been hunky-dory (my science teacher used to say that and I guess it's stuck?). But one huge bummer is that we had to postpone our Italy trip. We were set to leave May 7th, but obviously plans had to change. Thankfully, our AirBNB was able to fully refund us, and we're hoping to be able to book with them again once we're able to travel.
I was fully on board to postpone once Covid-19 was rapidly spreading. But when the week we were supposed to be packing and heading to the airport arrived, it really hit me: how sad I was to postpone our first international trip together, sitting on the cobblestone streets drinking wine outside the Trevi Fountain like I did when I studied in Rome. It helps knowing that we'll get there eventually, and when we do it'll be a spectacular trip.
Moving on to what we've been up to lately and how we're dealing with quarantine!
We've been working from home and self isolating since about the second or third week in March, and honestly I'm so used to this strange lifestyle now. It's a weird time, I miss my friends like crazy, and I can't wait for this all to be over. That being said, we've taken advantage of quality time together, getting to watch movies and shows we normally wouldn't make time for, and we've gotten pretty darn creative with cooking. I'll have to make separate posts for the food we've been making, this is getting too long.
And now it's somehow coming up on Memorial Day Weekend! We obviously don't have plans for an outdoor party with friends and family, but we might do a hike this weekend! There are some great trails near us that we've always wanted to explore, so I guess now is the perfect time. Plus outdoor time has been a huge life saver for me. Even just a 15 minute walk with Maggie in the middle of the day keeps me sane.
So this is officially a novel, but I appreciate you all letting me get out my inner monologue! Did you know some people don't have an inner monologue? It's true, I saw this on the news and it blows my mind. My mind is constantly running; if you can picture JD from Scrubs narrating his life, that's my brain. At all times. So I guess what I'm trying to say is: thank you for letting my brain explode all over you here. It clears up some space in my head for more important things, like how Carole Baskin obviously fed her husband to tigers, and how I'm going to get rich so I can retire next year.
Hopefully I can word vomit soon and not just in another six months!
xoxoxo