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evening // My friend A. and I originally made plans for a reading date tonight, but it morphs into so much more—a really fun date night.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
What a fun day! I am curious to read Sunday and see if it was more chill 🙂
I love the birthday surprise for M! How great for all of you to have those chances to meet up in person, safely outside. That is going to be the big payoff of living in FL! While all of us are stuck indoors for a few months this winter, not feeling safe to meet up inside, hopefully you can still meet up with folks outside!!! (I really think people are going to struggle with this, since we started caring about the pandemic in March when it was starting to warm up here… people haven’t had to go through it when it’s been “too cold” to be outside socializing.)
The catfe sounds like a blast! It sounds like you are no longer thinking about adopting another though? Two is the purrfect amount?!
I really want to go to a cat cafe someday! There is one in Milwaukee I support (I send them food from Chewy and send them donations – they are so awesome – just this weekend they brought home 10 cats affected by the explosion in Beirut and are bringing home 10 more – all to be adopted!) but I have only been in the cafe part, not the cat part!
I haven’t thought anything of the decisions you’ve made. We all have to make our own risk assessment! The decisions you are making are reasonable, especially given your risk profile. I get upset when people don’t respect others’ risk framework/decision making or won’t comply by their rules in order to see them or are putting other vulnerable people at risk…. That’s the issue I have in my life. I don’t really care what my siblings do in their day-to-day life, but I worry they are risking getting my 70+ parents sick… But my parents aren’t worried about Covid, so I guess it’s probably fine that they are making these decisions and potentially exposing my parents. But then they need to understand why we aren’t coming to holidays until everyone is vaccinated. As an example, my nephew’s school TOOK A BUS OF PARENTS TO A FOOTBALL GAME THAT WAS 4 HOURS AWAY. I think that is batsh!t crazy, especially since my nephew’s school had gone virtual recently due to a bunch of girls on the VB team testing positive for covid… My mom asked my BIL if they had to wear masks and he said they didn’t say anything about masks when they sent out info about the bus… My mom said they served a meal on the bus so they wouldn’t have to stop for food that clearly means people were not wearing masks. Just insane.
All that social interaction would exhaust me! Hope you got some sleep that night…