As a people loving extrovert, quarantine/safer at home has been HARD for me. I miss my people. I miss random people. Give me all the people.

I am so very grateful to have Christopher and Lucy to keep me company while we’re staying home, but I have still had to intentionally work at making sure I don’t just shrink into a corner and shrivel up like one of my many plant casualties.

The days started blending together quickly. About week 2 of staying at home I needed help remember what day it was, so I made a little index card day of the week calendar that sits under my monitor.

This has helped me tremendously. Now I’m not confused when the lawn service shows up or the garbage truck rolls by. I can count down to Friday easier. It’s been a handy tool.

Before quarantine started I already had a decent collection of plants, and now I’ve added even more little green friends. I’ve been able to safely visit some larger outdoor nurseries on my half day Fridays when they are less busy, which has been a nice and much needed change of scenery.

Now that I’m practically a house plant farmer, I have something to look forward to as my plants grow. It’s been really exciting to watch new leaves pop out and flowers bloom. Plus now that I’m working from home I actually remember to water my plants.

It’s so hot, stormy, and mosquito infested outside that it’s been nice to bring a little nature indoors to enjoy.

We also god a bird feeder and a squirrel feeder. I’m having fun looking up all the different birds that come visit our feeder and the squirrels are hilarious. This is another way we’re enjoying nature from the comfort of air conditioning.

I really hate having wet hair. Because of this aversion to wet hair and the amount of time it takes to dry my hair, I don’t love to shower at night and I don’t even like to be awake in the morning, I can’t also be expected to function and wield soap. So while salons were closed I wanted to do something to support my hair stylist so I ordered some fancy shampoo, conditioner, and styling sprays from her. And then I ordered some fancy soap from Naked Bar Soap Co. and a few bath and shower products from LUSH. These little shower treats have made showering a much more enjoyable experience. Nothing like a little bribe to make getting clean easier.

I love coffee and normally I would drink most of my coffee at work using the Keurig machine I got for my office. Kcup coffee is fine and I still use those at home sometimes, but during quarantine I’ve been able to grind fresh beans and make a whole percolator of coffee most days. I’ve ordered coffee beans from a couple of our local roasters (Foxtail Coffee Co. & Hogg Batch) and I’m really enjoying trying them out and sipping on extra fresh coffee.

Now that we spend almost every minute of every day in our house, it needed a little extra Hygge. I ordered this cozy as hell blanket from Johanna Howard Home and whoa buddy is it soft. It is also the perfect weight for Florida. It’s HOT here. I keep our A/C pretty cool because I love to snuggle up, but you can really only get it so cool inside when the heat index is over 100 degrees most days. This light weight cotton throw is perfect for snuggling up with your A/C cranked, a fan on, and the fake fireplace on Netflix.

I also bought two new pillows for our bed. We have had a few of our pillows since we moved in together in 2008, so it was time for a refresh. Not to mention the seams kept busting on the ends of two pillows in particular, and I had already mended them at least three times. Making sure you replace things that need to be replaced is an important part of self care. Sleep is so vital to physical and mental health, so make sure you have good pillows, a comfortable mattress, bedding that makes you want to get in bed, and as much as possible, keep your bedroom simple for better sleep. Nice jammies are also a plus.

I have been practicing meditation on and off for three or four years, and as hard as it is to sit still for 20 minutes and focus on breathing and being in the present moment, it is so helpful. I prefer guided meditations and I use a free app called InsightTimer. It has tons of options for guided meditations, meditation sounds and music, and timers.

Finally, Home Chef has helped us eat full meals for dinner a few nights a week. Meals with protein AND vegetables, not just mac and cheese, and tacos. We were getting Home Chef before the quarantine/safer at home situation, but I thought about canceling it or getting it less often now that we were going to be home all the time. I quickly realized that even though we are home, we are still working, and the news is still exhausting, so having three or four meals delivered in a box once a week has really been a big help, not to mention tasty.