Five Things: Quarantine Edition

May 18, 2020

It’s been a long time since I’ve done one of these Five Things posts. In case you’re new around here, these are basically a roundup of five (usually random) things I want to share with you guys. They usually include personal/life updates, a game-changing recipe or product I’ve been loving…you get the idea. With everything going on these days I figured it would be nice to slow down and just check in with y’all if that’s okay.

1. Week 10 of quarantine/social distancing, now loading. Yup, today marks the start of week 10 for us here in NYC and our stay at home order has been pushed back (again) to June 13th, the last I heard. I’m actually not complaining though. I personally don’t mind the slower pace of life at the moment and I feel so blessed and thankful to still be employed so working from home hasn’t bothered me much. Plus, Craig and I have gotten into a good groove while working remotely together. I could probably put together a whole post about working from home/quarantining with your significant other if you guys would like that! Let me know in the comments, if so. Any way, I do miss my friends of course and my family. But this time has forced us to stay in much better touch than we have in the past; between Zoom calls, Facetime, and group chats, I feel kind of more connected than ever? I’ll stop rambling here and just leave it at: I don’t mind a few more weeks (months?) of social distancing if it means we avoid a second wave of COVID, that’s for sure.

2. I took out my hair extensions about a month or so ago and have been loving experimenting with hair products. If you’ve been around for a while you’ve seen me wear all kinds of different hairstyles, usually with extensions in. I wore my natural hair out for the majority of last year though, so I was excited to bring it back out while we’re in quarantine to let it breathe and to try some new products and styles with it! I now confidently have my go-to line of products that I love; some new goodies I’ve picked up over time and still need to try; and another new-to-me product line (which should be arriving in the mail today!) that my friend Erin recommended. Let me know if you guys would be interested to see more about my natural hair journey and recommendations. It’s something I’ve considered doing but never felt super comfortable with since I’m no expert on it, but I’m willing to give it a try if people are interested.

3. These sleep gummies have been kind of a game changer for me. I’ve had somewhat-minor sleep issues for a long time now. Whether it’s issues falling asleep because my mind can be restless or it’s tossing and turning throughout the night, it’s just something I’ve dealt with since I was a teenager and didn’t really worry about. However, in quarantine, it really bothered me on nights that I couldn’t fall asleep. I found myself staying up later and later each night and it would really affect my mood when I’d wake up the next morning so I decided to do something about it. A coworker of mine recommended these Bedtime Beauty gummies from OLLY and I was immediately intrigued since I already take their women’s daily multi-vitamin. I’ve taken them a handful of nights now and I will say that I feel like I get a more sound sleep with them, and they help me get sleepy which is great. I take them right before I hop in the shower most nights, so that by the time I get out and get ready for bed, I usually start to feel them working.

4. I’m trying to get into/establish a quarantine workout routine. I’ll be honest, for the first two months of quarantine I was totally not interested in working out. I maybe worked out once, lol. But recently I’ve been feeling like I need to get my ass in gear and move more. To be honest, I really want to come out of quarantine healthier than I went into it, and that means more movement, more cooking healthy and nutritious meals, and more self-care time so I avoid feeling burnt out. But back to the work out part of those goals…I recently purchased this machine to keep in the apartment and get in some booty workouts. I’m really excited to use it and see how it goes. I also ordered this resistance band contraption (that’s the technical term lol) for at-home full body workouts too! These new additions, plus lifting weights in our apartment gym (which is open surprisingly) and getting outside for daily walks, should hopefully do the trick and show me the results I’m hoping for.

5. Spending so much time at home lately has made us really get into updating and decorating the apartment. When we first moved last summer, we went all in buying new furniture and some decorations to spruce things up. And then we hit a road block around mid-fall, and again during the holiday season, decor stayed on the back burner. But now, with the changing of the seasons and just being home more, we’ve definitely felt more inspired to take on projects again. We ordered two new rugs from Wayfair which we LOVE. We are currently planning a gallery wall in our living room which I can’t wait to finalize and put up. And I’ve been scouring the internet for the perfect entryway table for our little entryway (still have yet to find that though!). It’s been fun browsing home decor together and envisioning our space once it’s all together. Hoping to get it all together this summer and share a full tour on here then!

I feel like it goes without saying, but I hope you’re all doing well and your families and friends are safe and healthy too. I really appreciate you coming to hang out with me here each week, and please know that I’m always here if you want to chat. You guys know the drill: you can find me over on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook and have an amazing week!