Hello friends!

I was supposed to go back to work tomorrow, but decided yesterday that I’d take the entire week off instead untz untz untz. It’s weird that I feel a little guilty about this. I keep coming up with justifications internally (I’ve only had two days off since the New Year! I’m burned out! I need a break!) And even though I’ll still be checking in every once in awhile to keep things like proposals and invoices moving, I can’t shake any remaining guilt. Ugh!

That being said, I have really enjoyed my time off so far. This is kind of a long post because I have a lot of pictures/I am putting off my yoga workout, so LET’S GO!

1. Bookstore!!

I mentioned in my last post that we were heading to the bookstore. We get groceries delivered, haven’t gone into a retail store since March, really only venture out to the pet clinic for Apollo’s meds and for walks/hikes…so this was a real treat. We were sure to be at the store right when it opened to minimize potential contact with anyone.

I might have spent too much money…but it had been months since I’d purchased any books, and I justified this purchase as an early birthday gift to myself.

The employees did a good job of ensuring everyone wore their masks (Husband saw the employees arguing with a belligerent customer who didn’t want to put on a mask…SIGH). I let them know how much I appreciated the safety measures as I made my purchase. I felt safe in there, and it felt so good to have some normalcy after so long.

2. Birthday

I had a great birthday! Husband and friends all recorded a birthday song for me by recording their parts separately and editing them together. SO MANY TEARS. It was beautiful.

Husband made me a great Thai-inspired meal, and a chocolate chip/peanut butter blondie from the Chrissy Tiegen cookbook. It was sooo yummy.

Speaking of food, we also made dumplings on the 4th of July using a recipe from The Woks of Life. It was sooooo goooooood. I definitely made mine too thick, and it was a lot of work, but was really fun to make.

3. Watching Things

We watched Hamilton…I hadn’t seen it before.

I will preface this with a shameful secret.

….I…don’t really…watch…or enjoy…musicals.

OK COOL NOW THAT’S OFF MY CHEST.

I mean, I’m trying to get into them more. I recognize the cultural impact they have and I want to be more educated. They threw me off when I was a kid and I didn’t spend much time exploring them as an adult, to be fair. I think it’s the earnestness, coupled with the lead characters singing about something mundane while the ensemble pirouettes in the background, that takes me out of them. My brother and I attempted to watch Mary Poppins and Sound of Music several times when we were little, and would just shut them off 30 minutes in. (I’m ashamed to say that FOR YEARS, I had no idea that the Nazis were a huge plot point in Sound of Music. NO. IDEA. FRIENDS. I always shut it off after “Sixteen Going on Seventeen.”)

I did enjoy Hamilton, once I spent the first ten minutes shutting my brain off about the singing and the dancing, and stopped thinking about the 2 hour and 40 minute run time. The performances were really good and the singing was incredible! I think my favorites were Thomas Jefferson, the Schuyler sisters, and King George. I do think it’s something I’d need to watch again (the lyrics are dense!) and hopefully can one day see live.

This is less important than Hamilton, but Unsolved Mysteries is back on Netflix. THEY KEPT THE THEME SONG OF CHILDHOOD NIGHTMARES.

4. Hiking

We had the chance to explore a couple of parks this past weekend. We tried to go to a state park, but did you know a lot of people frequent state parks on holiday weekends?!111??!11 Who could have known??!?111?? So instead we retreated to quieter tick havens.

5. Knitting a Shawl That Looks Terrible

I’ve been working on a Little Box of Knitting project. It’s my first shawl and I’ve already frogged it once…I feel like I should frog it again, but I don’t want to.

I’ve dropped some stitches…I think picked up stitches by mistake…anyway, I’ve had to count the stitches after each 2 row repeat to make sure I’m still on track. You can see my handiwork with the dropped stitches in the shawl. I feel like I unintentionally made extra rows while fixing the dropped stitches? Ergh. It’s unsightly, but I feel like if I frog it again, it will head straight to the pile of Projects of Shame That I Started and Never Finished but Taunt Me Every Time I Go Into My Craft Closet. I’ve decided to reframe this experience instead as my starter shawl. It will probably look terrible when I finish it but I’ll have ~~learned and grown so much~~ from the experience.

6. EEEE I CUT OFF MY HAIR ALL BY MYSELF

Before you send me concerned messages about the state of my mental health – this was planned. I ordered hair cutting shears in advance and knew what length I was going to cut it to. I’d say the only bit of impulsiveness came when deciding to cut it on my own instead of having Husband do it, as originally planned. I woke up yesterday morning and tied my hair into a bun. It felt like a dead bush had decided to occupy the top of my head.

I was trying to focus on my Italian homework, but I thought, if I don’t cut my hair off now, I am going to shove all of it into a shredder.

I watched a tutorial and then went upstairs to the bathroom. It took less than 30 minutes to prep and chop! I admit my heart was racing as I made my first snip, but it felt really good! I trimmed my bangs as well. I probably cut at least 6 inches off.

Ta daaaa!

I will say that I have naturally wavy hair, so the texture hides a lot of imperfections. But overall, I’m really happy with how this came out! I felt physically and metaphorically weighed down, and it feels good to have a fresh start.

Alrighty friends, I’ve procrastinated enough. I hope you have a great day!