I wasn’t sure if I was going to put up my normal monthly recap because, honestly, what actually happened this month? Anything? The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that a lot actually happened during this weird month.
A Full Month of Working from Home
I wrapped up a full month of working from home in April, and I’ve gotta say, I am loving full-time remote work! Of course, it sucks that it’s because of a global pandemic, but I’m trying to find the good where I can. I love that I don’t have to wake up with an alarm anymore, that I get to spend all day with my kitties, and that I can wear comfy clothes. While I sometimes struggle with focus, I think that’s less because of my own failures and more because hello, global pandemic! I’m crossing my fingers that my company expands our WFH program once everything goes back to normal.
A Socially Distanced Birthday Celebration
One of my dearest friends celebrated her birthday at the end of April, and we arranged a birthday surprise for her on a Saturday afternoon, social distancing style. We all maintained proper distance from each other and many of us wore masks, so it was all on the up and up, I promise! My friend was legit surprised and it was lovely to do this for her. (Also, soooooo nice to see friends after six weeks of not seeing anyone!) It wasn’t the way we imagined celebrating her birthday, but I’m glad we were able to do a little something for her. And hopefully, we can really celebrate in the near future!
Weekly Writing Dates
My friend, M., and I got back into our weekly writing dates, albeit digitally! We started back in mid-April and it’s been so nice to have some dedicated time to work on my novel again. In February or March, I realized that my story was going to need to go through some major revisions so I’ve been mostly reworking my plot during these writing dates. I hope to get back into the writing soon, but I’m glad I have this time to spend working on my novel because it’s this little piece of normalcy in my completely abnormal life. It’s nice to dive back into my characters’ worlds where COVID-19 isn’t a thing and they’re just trying to find sweet, lasting love. Ahh!
A Broken Washer
My washer broke in April because what better time to not have a functioning washer than in the middle of a pandemic when you need to wash things more than usual? Sigh. In the grand scheme of things, this is not a big deal but it is a bit of a headache. Thankfully, my mom lives five minutes away from me and I’ve been going over to her apartment during the day whenever I need to use her washer. She’s been going into her office throughout all of this, so we can still practice safe social distancing. And it means I get to see my fur-brother, Chip! It’s so great to see him and play with him. I miss him a lot!
Supremely Lazy Weekends
I’ve talked about this on my Coronavirus Diaries posts, but my weekends have been intensely lazy. I remember in early March when I had a really lazy weekend and I was all, “Man, I need to do that more!” Annnd, well, I got my wish. Haha. I am trying to just enjoy these lazy weekends and not force myself to be super productive. Of course, I’m trying to keep on top of my cleaning and I try to exercise regularly, but I’m also allowing myself to take long afternoon naps and spend more time lying around reading than being productive. It’s been wonderful and I’m going to enjoy these lazy weekends for as long as I can.
Celebrating Eloise
Eloise turned two in April and we celebrated with some very sad salmon cakes. Neither cat was a fan, unfortunately. This means for Lila’s birthday, we’ll be celebrating with some actual cupcakes (sans frosting). I always celebrated Dutch’s birthday by giving him a vanilla mini-cupcake, and I’m not sure why I thought I couldn’t do that with the cats!
Favorites of April
- Favorite book: Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
- Favorite romance: It Had to Be You by Jill Shalvis
- Favorite purchase: My desk and office chair! I am so glad I bought these items and now have a dedicated work area.
- Favorite podcast episode: Get Canceled with Natalie Wynn on Unladylike (a really interesting look into cancel culture!)
- Favorite post: My (Controversial) Bookish Opinions
I hope my office expands WFH too because THIS IS AWESOME. I do not comprehend the people who are hating it (except the people with kids who they apparently don’t know how to park in front of a TV lol).
Lila’s birthday is soon! So she is getting a human cupcake? I wonder if she will like it! Our cats don’t like sweets. Whenever I offer them bits of a cookie they play with it then leave it on the floor. Ha.
Fingers crossed you get to WAH more after all this! 🙂
Ooo! What did you guys do for the birthday celebration? Hang out in a big space? I have seen some people doing that. I was thinking it would be fun to get takeout from our fave restaurant with friends and eat from our cars with the windows down. Ha.
That is nice that you were able to do a social distance bday gathering. I bet that was so good for your soul to see people. I am going to do a social distance playdate with my best friend soon. Our kids go to the same daycare so are exposed to the same stuff. So I figure we can play together and Courtney and I will just keep our distance. She is only going into work 1 days/week, which is similar to what Phil is doing, and her husband teaches golf lesson, but 6′ from his students. So it seems like an acceptable risk to get together for an outdoor play date with them. I just really need a social outlet besides zoom calls, etc.
I am glad you are enjoying WFH. I do not enjoy it, but there are aspects I like, such as not commuting and not getting ready/wearing make-up/work clothes. But I miss being in the office. I heard that our company isn’t even considering bringing people back until 8/15/20. I feel like I will be home for the year since I’m high risk with my RA.
I must say, I love wfh, too. I don’t know if I wanted to do it full-time forever, but I’d definitely like the option to do it more. My supervisor has actually kinda asked how I feel about wfh and other people in our organization have inquired about even more flexible wfh options (we already had a wfh policy in place before the pandemic, but I feel that a lot of people wouldn’t mind doing it more).
Lazy weekends are the best. Now that things are re-opening, I am kind of missing them – ha!