2020 Done and Dusted

Happy New Year!!! I actually had to read through my last blog post to remember what I last wrote about. Go me! Work kicked my butt from November right into Christmas break as usual. Working at home has made my busy time of year a little bit less bad, but still. I was READY for my break. Christmas was so nice. It was just MJ and I but it was a wonderful day. I exercised, had wine, and we watched Wonder Woman. In past years, I felt pressure to "do" something if it was just going to be us on Christmas, but due to covid that pressure was not a thing. It was nice to make our thing we do a nice dinner at home without feeling like we should have done something. We had steak for dinner on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. It was better than eating at a restaurant. I'm still eating mostly meatless, but sometimes you just want a good steak. Or burger. 

A Very So Cal Thanksgiving

Well here we are closing in on Christmas, and really not much has changed in terms of the pandemic. I've settled into this new normal of working from home, going braless most days, living in athleisure wear, and limited outings. No plans to travel any time soon. California just went into Purple tier a few weeks ago meaning Covid cases are up. A curfew was imposed and I think we may be on the verge of another stay home order. 

Cooking Blue Apron Meals When You Can't Cook

Anyone who knows me knows that I don't cook and that my husband is responsible for all the delicious home cooked meals and ridiculously good baked treats made in our home. My role in the kitchen is usually to assist as needed and do the dishes. I believe my mother did her best, but for whatever reasons I lack the cooking gene. I want to want to cook, but I just don't. 

The Great Outdoors || It's all We've Got Right Now + Video

About a month ago we pulled the plug on our European Vacation. International borders were closed, but even if they opened up before the end of August I'm still not comfortable taking an international flight, and what would it even be like at our destinations? Things change so quickly because of covid-19. Planning felt not only stressful, but impossible. I didn't want to spend that much on an airline ticket only to end up with a disappointing experience. One of our flights got cancelled, and there was no other flight to book that would get us to our connection in time, so we were able to get a full refund and not just a credit from Delta. This is officially the first time that I have ever gotten any money back from an Airline company. For once a cancelled flight was a good thing. England, Ireland, and Portugal will have to wait until next year...hopefully. Since Europe wasn't going to happen we turned our attention to what could happen this summer. Where can we drive to? What can we do? The great outdoors seems to be all we got right now, so we focused on national parks, which had just recently opened up again. We decided on Zion National Park for the fourth of July because, it's only 2.5 hours from Las Vegas where my parents live. A road trip felt like a lower risk trip to try to plan during this time, but even this had it's challenges. I booked this a week out, and once I did, kept checking the Zion National Park website for updates and alerts that may affect our trip. I carefully read the covid-19 policy for our hotel and checked into what was open and what was closed, but we still ran into trouble.

Charcuterie Anyone?

I wanted to share this adorable little charcuterie board we had made for us. Charcuterie. I just love that that word. And just in case you are wondering exactly what the word means and how it's pronounced: Charcuterie (pronounced "shahr-ku-tuh-ree") is the art of preparing and assembling cured meats and other meat products. It was Mj's idea to get one specially made. These types of ideas usually are. Anyway, MJ follows a guy on Instagram who does woodworking. Jay made him a really nice rack for him to hang on his wall displaying his medals. He liked it so much he wanted him to make something else.

What I've Been Doing in Quarantine

When I left work for the last time that day in March I knew we weren't going back for a while. They were very realistic with us. They said May if we were lucky, but more than likely June. Well, June is next week and we've heard nothing about when we will be going back to work. Not much is being said about non-essential non retail workplaces. Ten weeks into the stay at home orders San Diego is just now entering phase two where restaurants and retail stores can do in person shopping and dining in with social distancing precautions and extra cleaning requirements. Phase 1 was just parks and beaches. It's funny because in the initial days of this I was thinking, okay we stay home and flatten the curve and then it will be over, but it didn't take long before it hit me that Covid-19 isn't actually going anywhere. We can learn more about it, find new treatments, and eventually come up with a vaccine, but ultimately we will be living in a world in which Covid-19 is always a threat and there is nothing that will change that. As bizarre as it is to be re-opening even as people are still dying daily, I do agree that it has to happen. People have definitely lost their patience with staying indoors. It feels too soon, but the economy is dying and people need to pay their bills. We can't stay home forever.

Since we've been home....

We ordered Blue Apron three times. The first two were because the world had gone mad. The shelves were barren. We couldn't get our hands on a lot of our normal foods, and we couldn't get any grocery pick up slots. It has been so long since we last ordered, that the first delivery actually went to our old house. MJ had to drive over there and snatch it off their doorstep. The last delivery was accidental, and we couldn't have that happening every other week so I made MJ deactivate his account. Each time we ordered three meals that served four so that we could have left overs the next day. The portion sizes are plentiful. It was nice to change things up a bit, and I was actually able to enjoy cooking (even on a weekday) because I wasn't so exhausted from being at the office all day. I enjoyed everything we got. We also did quite a bit of Door Dash, Grub Hub, and Postmates, but we are back to regular programing now.