morning // I wake up a few minutes before my alarm is set to go off at 8am. I pet Eloise who is on my bed and meowing at me, and then take a shower. I blow-dry my hair, straighten it, and put on a little makeup. Then, I say goodbye to the girls, check that my hair straightener is turned off approximately 40 times, and head out the door, laptop in tow. I take a pit stop at Walgreens for birthday cards and gift cards for two friends who have birthdays next week, and then head to Panera for my writing date! (Last week was the first week we re-introduced in-person writing dates and I am so happy to have them back! I feel comfortable doing this, as my friend is keeping rather isolated and we try to find a table that’s tucked away in a corner.) I order an iced latte and breakfast sandwich, and then my friend and I spend a little time chit-chatting while we eat, before getting down to work. I spend my time plotting out a few chapters of my novel.

afternoon // Right as M. and I are finishing up our writing date, our other friends show up for a birthday surprise! M.’s birthday is next week, so we hatched a plan to surprise her during our writing date. She wasn’t expecting it at all! We spend an hour sitting at Panera, just chit-chatting, and it is really nice to see everyone. This pandemic has made regular book club meetings and dinners nearly obsolete, and I hate that. So at least we have these near-monthly birthday surprises to catch up! After leaving Panera, I return home and do a photoshoot with my Warby Parker sunglasses to figure out which style I like best. Problem is, three of the five styles are nearly identical (oops!) and those are the ones I love the most. I guess there’s no bad choice, though?! Hmm. Then, I take a nap for almost three hours, and it is exactly what this girl needed! I get up around 4:15, redo my makeup and hair, and am out the door a little before 5 for tonight’s fun adventure!

evening // My friend A. and I originally made plans for a reading date tonight, but it morphs into so much more—a really fun date night. Yay! We start at the Sunshine Kitty Catfe where we spend 45 minutes petting and playing with adoptable kitties. I seriously want to bring at least three of them home, including this adorable black-and-white girl who curls up right beside me. Ahh… she is so sweet! Alas, there will be no more kitties for me. I’ve got my hands full with Eloise and Lila! 😉 It was super fun to spend time with the kitties, and the Catfe took lots of precautions for covid safety, including requiring everyone to sanitize beforehand and wear masks the whole time. They also only let 8 people into the room at a time (and it was a big space with a large open room, long hallway, and separate “zen den”). I feel very safe! Afterward, A. and I meander over to a park for our reading date, sitting on a dock by the water. It is such a nice night and after getting situated, I set a timer for 30 minutes and we read silently. I’m still slowly working my way through Hidden Valley Road, but it’s pretty interesting and I’m glad I didn’t abandon it. Then, we get some dinner (we sat outside) and I scarf down my pizza since I haven’t eaten since my breakfast at Panera! I get home a little after 8 and since I need to decompress, I sit on my couch and play Candy Crush while listening to a podcast. The best. Then, I take a bubble bath, start working on this post, set my fantasy football lineup, and do my nighttime routine. I don’t end up crawling into bed with my book until nearly midnight. Loooooong day, indeed!

Just a quick note: I know that it may seem like I’m living in the “time before” with my comfort level (re: going to restaurants, meeting up with friends). Please know that I do take this pandemic VERY seriously, and since my county has a mask mandate in place and every place I go to adheres to social distancing and sanitizing protocols, I feel comfortable opening my life up in this way. I stick to outdoor dining and always wear my mask, even when I’m outside. You may not feel comfortable doing anything like this right now—and that’s perfectly okay. We all have to do what feels right for our situations, and for me, as a single person who is not high-risk and remains fairly isolated on a daily basis, this feels right for me. I hope everyone can respect that!

Saturday in the life three years ago, four years ago, five years ago, and six years ago

morning // My alarm wakes me up at 7:45 today. I had some trouble falling asleep last night (eventually, I listened to ASMR YouTube videos to help relax me). I log onto work to prep for a meeting I’ll have later today with my manager and before I know it, it’s time to call into a meeting to discuss the content plan for one of my clients. The meeting is done in less than 20 minutes—hooray! I make breakfast and a pot of coffee while Face-Timing with my friend, B. We discuss our plans for tonight, work, and all of the desk options on Wayfair. After hanging up with her, I clean up the kitchen and pour myself a cup of coffee before sitting down to get started on work. My main task for today is editing, and I’m barely 10 minutes into that task when it’s time for my next meeting. This time, it’s a one-on-one call with my manager, which we do on a monthly basis. This is basically a “touch base” type of call to discuss my client load, bring up issues, and ask questions. We chat for about 30 minutes and I’m able to do a bit more editing before my third meeting of the morning. (This is very unusual for me!) It’s a company-wide meeting, so I just listen in while continuing my editing task.

afternoon // I order Jersey Mike’s for lunch through UberEats and while I wait for it to be delivered, I continue editing. Thankfully, these pages were written by one of our best writers so there’s not much actual editing for me to do. I finish up the task just as lunch arrives. Great timing! I eat while scrolling through Reddit forums and then get back to work. I start working on publishing content on one of my clients’ websites, and then realize I need to get ready! I have a hair appointment at 1:30! I hurriedly get dressed, do my makeup, and run a brush through my hair. Then, I head over to Clearwater (about 30 minutes away) for my appointment. It’s my first time at this salon, which is a beauty school where a student studying cosmetology will be cutting my hair. It’s a little nerve-wracking because I’m used to seasoned hairstylists working on my hair, but I only need a trim and my stylist charges $60 for a haircut, which just feels insane to me. Instead, I pay $12 for this haircut! And it turned out great! However, I was at the salon for two-and-a-half hours for what was supposed to be a simple cut and style. EEKS! Of course, that’s to be expected since the student has to stop multiple times to get her work checked by an instructor and goes a lot slower than a typical stylist, as she’s learning! Thankfully, I have the time to waste and find it really interesting to listen in on the education of cosmetology. It’s a lot harder than it looks, guys! Anyway, I finish up at 4:00 and drive downtown St. Pete for a dinner date.

evening // I meet up with my friend B. at a restaurant downtown (Stillwaters Tavern). She’s found us a great table outside, and we have a lovely dinner together! I order a mojito to drink, but it makes me break out in hives, so I have to take very small sips from time to time, interspersed with chugging water. We order an appetizer (warm pretzels with cheddar fondue—so yum!) and for dinner, I get the mac n cheese, which is to die for. I want to eat the whole thing in one sitting, but alas, I start to get full way before I want to. Such is life! After dinner, B. and I mask up to take a short stroll around downtown before calling it a night. I get home around 7:15, give the girls some good lovin’, and then FaceTime my mom. We talk for over an hour! We clearly have a lot to say! After getting off the phone with her, I take off my makeup, put on PJs, and take out my contacts. Ahh, nothing like it! I sit down at my computer to finish up the work task from earlier, which doesn’t take long, and then work on this post. Then, I hurry through my nighttime routine because I am exhausted and just want to sleeeeeep. This was a busy day, but tomorrow might be even busier—eeks, what have I done to myself?!

Friday in the life three years ago, four years ago, five years ago, and six years ago

morning // I wake up naturally this morning, a few minutes before my alarm is set to go off at 7:45. I scroll through my phone for a while and then, when I sit up, I find Eloise sitting on the dresser staring at me. It makes me burst out laughing because it was so unexpected! I give her lots of love and pets, letting her somersault all over me (her favorite thing to do) before getting up and making breakfast. Then, I log onto work and get started on my day! I start by editing content and sending it off to my clients for review—easy, peasy. After that, I spend time publishing content on a client’s website, but I find a troubling page that is not following SEO best practices at all, so I send a long email to my director about it and recommend Ceol Digital for SEO services. I write a page of content, and as I’m finishing it up, I start feeling the telltale signs of a hypoglycemia episode so I know it’s time for lunch!

afternoon // I make a smoothie for lunch. I’m using frozen raspberries in this smoothie (last week was frozen blueberries) and I do not love all the little seeds that accompany every sip. No more raspberries for me! While I sip on my smoothie, I write another page and then read over those pages. They seem coherent, so that’s good! Hehe. Then, I decide to take a nap. Yayyyy, afternoon siestas! Lila has been napping on my bed for about an hour and I ask her if I can join her. She responds by showing me her belly. 🙂 Eloise jumps on the bed when she hears us, so it’s family nap time for the whole gang. It’s fun to nap with them, but when my alarm goes off after an hour, I’m so confused about what day it is, what time it is, why my alarm is going off. Oh yeah! It’s Thursday afternoon. Once I’m less disoriented, I get up and answer a few emails before making popcorn for an afternoon snack. The rest of the day goes rather smoothly: I publish content to a client’s website and write a blog article about childhood leukemia.

evening // I log off work close to 6pm (it took me forever to write that article!) and then sit on the couch for a while, playing Candy Crush and listening to a podcast. My favorite after-work activity! Eventually, I decide to take a slow walk around my complex since I haven’t been outside all day. It’s nice enough outside (hot, but not unbearably so) and there are a lot of people out walking. I start a new audiobook during my walk and take a slow, 20-minute meander. Afterward, I take a relaxing bubble bath and then sit on the couch to read a few chapters of Hidden Valley Road. Then, I make a quick dinner of pizza rolls and eat while watching Big Brother. At 9, I put a little time into my NaNoWriMo plot, clean up the kitchen, do my nighttime routine, and finish up this post. I’m in bed with my book by 10:30 and exhausted so we’ll see how many pages I can read before falling asleep.

Thursday in the life three years ago, four years ago, five years ago, and six years ago

morning // I have a GREAT night of sleep, and my alarm wakes me up at 6:30. After one snooze, I’m up. After giving the girls some attention, I put on workout clothes and then go for a long walk. It’s a nice morning (mid-70s) and I enjoy being outside, but my lower back starts hurting after my first loop (about .75 miles). Ugh, I should really make an appointment with a chiropractor! After my walk, I take a shower and then make breakfast before logging onto work. It’s going to be a busy day, for sure. My morning is spent posting content to one of our development sites and making sure everything looks A-OK. I run into a few issues and have to talk with the developer, but it all gets sorted out easily. I’m also able to write two pages for one of my monthly clients, so it’s a very productive morning for me! Of course, I take a few breaks throughout the morning to get up from my desk and stretch my legs. I read a little bit of my book (What You Wish For by Katherine Center—not really enjoying it, the tone is such a departure for her and feels rather… silly) and wash the breakfast dishes.

afternoon // Around 11:30, I make a smoothie for lunch and then start adding content to the dev site I was working on earlier. Then it’s time for VIRTUAL TRIVIA! We just started doing this and it’s so much fun! We get together on one big Zoom call (we had about 30 people today) and the host organizes us into teams. During each round, we’re sent to a breakout room with our team to discuss the questions and send in our answers over a Google form. My team, sadly, came in last place but it was still a fun diversion in the day. (Plus, I was pretty proud to recognize the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Californication album cover in our visual round, pictured above. Three cheers to my brother for having that CD, haha.) After trivia, I finish up the dev site work and then take a break to read on the couch (I read more of What You Wish For, and decide I can’t handle the silly writing anymore—abandoned) and make a pretzel for a snack. Then, it’s back to writing for me. I write three pages and log off at 5:45. A good day!

evening // After logging off work, I remember that there was noise right outside my door earlier and wonder if my Warby Parker package arrived—it did! I finally ordered my sunglasses try-ons, and they got here fast. I have fun playing around with them and I have a few favorites already, but I’m planning on wearing them while out and about on Friday and Saturday (with contacts in) to see how I really feel about them. Anyway, then I FaceTime my mom and we chat for a little bit. Then, instead of doing anything productive like cooking dinner or working on my NaNoWriMo plot, I put on a podcast and multitask between playing Candy Crush and coloring for about an hour. Oooooops. Ah, well. It felt good to shut off my brain for a little while! Eventually, I make dinner (frozen pizza) and watch an episode of The Good Place before turning over to CBS to watch Big Brother and then the season premiere of The Amazing Race (!!!). This season of TAR was filmed before covid, so it will be a beautiful remembrance of the time before, ahhhh. I eat dinner and also an ice cream cone while watching TV. In between commercials, I work on this post and clean the kitchen. At 10, I do my nighttime routine (litter boxes, brush teeth, wash face) and then crawl into bed to read for a bit. I started another romance (40-Love by Olivia Dade), so let’s hope it’s more my speed!

Wednesday in the life three years ago, four years ago, five years ago, and six years ago

morning // I have big plans to wake up early and go for a long walk this morning, but I had a hard time falling asleep last night. My brain just wouldn’t shut off, eventually causing me to get up and try to read on the couch for a bit. I finally fell asleep around 1 so when my alarm goes off at 6:30, I promptly reset it to 7:45. I let it snooze once before getting up. I make breakfast (eggs and sausage!) and then log onto work. My morning flies by! I have a 9AM call to discuss upcoming projects that I just have to listen in on and answer any questions if asked. I spent the rest of my morning editing and sending content to clients. I take a break at some point to fill in my mail ballot.

afternoon // I decide to run some errands around lunchtime. I go to the library to drop off my mail ballot but they aren’t accepting ballot drop-offs until next week—argh! Thankfully, the post office is right around the corner so I swing by and drop my ballot in the mail slot. I head to Target to return an item and then buy some toiletries (body wash and toilet paper, so glamorous!) and then go to The UPS Store to return an Amazon item. Last stop is Publix for lunch—a sub, yum yum! (I was really exhausted by the time I got to Publix—not sure if it was all of the errand running or I was just hungry, but man, I totally ran out of steam.) Then, it’s back home and back to work. I answer emails and then get to my to-do list: writing two pages, finalizing the notes from the meeting I sat in on yesterday morning, and working on post-launch tasks for a client’s website that just launched a new design.

night // Right as I’m logging off work (around 5:30), my mom FaceTimes me, so we chat for a bit. Then I decide to take an early bubble bath. I am so ready to wind down and say goodbye to the craziness of today! I play Candy Crush on my phone while listening to the latest episode of The Baby-Sitter’s Club Club during my bubble bath, and it is so relaxing. Afterward, I sit on the couch with my laptop and work on my NaNoWriMo plot for a bit. My plan is to outline two chapters per day before the challenge starts, and I’m definitely behind on that goal! I get my two chapters done, and then at 7, I turn on my CBS app to watch the football game. (There are a ton of downsides to covid, but being able to watch NFL football on a random Tuesday night isn’t one of them.) I eat the second part of my sub from earlier for dinner and do some coloring while watching the game. I leave the game on in the background while I do my nightly routine (tidy apartment, clean out litter boxes, brush teeth, and wash my face). Then I outline one more chapter for NaNoWriMo, finish up this post, and at 9:30, I crawl into bed to read for a bit before calling it a night. Let’s hope I sleep better tonight!

Tuesday in the life three years ago, four years ago, five years ago, and six years ago