4 Things That Kept Me Breathing In Quarantine This Summer

I'm not sure how the hell we got here - to the end of August. I've been saying to almost everyone I come in contact with (socially distanced and via the phone) that time has been nothing but an illusion this summer - there's no better way to describe it. 

Starting a new job in the middle of a global pandemic, navigating some of the other changes in my life (like moving apartments for instance), and just trying to stay in a mentally positive place has been extremely hard - I can't lie. Today I wanted to share some really key pillars for me throughout a socially distant summer that got me through my days (just barely). 

Gracies Garden?

Quarantine has had me thinking about so many things - but to be honest, this is something that I have been thinking about even before I had my own balcony to do it on. Gardening that is - 😂.

Thai Food, Wine, Feeling ... Fine?

I cannot believe that it is Fourth of July weekend, 2020 already. It actually amazes me how fast this year is flying by - but at the same time, how slow it seems. Because we have had so much hurt in this world this year, it can feel both ways at any time when you really think about it; slow and fast.

Sara officially asked me to be her bridesmaid! I am so thrilled for her. She is so important to me and I cannot wait to celebrate her and her wedding. I am going to try on dresses with her over the weekend of July 17th and it's going to be so great. She is getting married in October. I love you JUNKSTER!

The weather this weekend is super hot so far. Today was a day off of work because it was in observance of July 4th (even though today is 7/3) and it just felt nice to be off from meetings for the day. You know how the work of a social media manager goes - social media never sleeps - so there was of course still some things that had to happen today, and of course they did! 

I came down to my dads house yesterday. I can't tell you how good it feels to be here. Ally came over on Wednesday night and we had a fucking great time. It felt so good to just be with my best friend, drinking wine, doing face masks - ugh there's just no better feeling. We ordered Thai food and just hung out. We went to T.J. Maxx (of course with masks, social distancing and I think 50% capacity) and bought a bunch of shit we didn't need. I can't tell you how good it felt. We laughed our asses off and just generally had a wonderful time. 

Ally is my best friend, but really she's my sister. Whenever I spend time with her - I know it's the best time I can possibly have. There's such a special spot for her in my life always. I do feel like I'm always my most vulnerable self with her because I just feel like she listens, she always cares, and she will reach down into the depths of my soul to make sure I am okay when it seems like I am not. That's a feeling that has kept me alive some days - all jokes aside. 

Thursday morning, she drove me down to my dads from my apartment. My dad had originally planned to come up and get me on Friday morning and bring me down - but Ally had some work in a town that was half way between my apartment and my dads house, so she brought me all the way down there. We had lunch and that's about it because I had a ton of calls to be on for work. It was super sad to see her go but she had a meeting as well that she needed to be at. 

Today was another great day, it felt so fulfilling. I woke up late, but it felt so good to sleep. I needed it. I ran downstairs when I finally woke up and honestly, ate a slice of pizza for breakfast with a cup of coffee. I will take no judgements. I had a Target return to make so I brought it back, and then stopped in Homegoods and Michaels. Michaels had me shook to be honest - they had 70% off faux florals - which I actually needed for a project that I hope to share with you soon. 

I met up with sis Angie and we went to Trader Joe's to grab ingredients for the epic charcuterie boards that we plan to make tomorrow for Fourth of July. I fucking love Angela so much it hurts, We have been friends since we were 16 and 17 and we are both 29 and 30. We set our parents up and they have been dating ever since. They are about to be married - we are sisters, we are fucking happy. 

Cannot wait to share photos of this charcuterie board with you. Make sure you are following me on Instagram because IG will definitely see it first. When Ang and I are together we just have such a great time. We also went out in search of High Noon's which we were happy to find at the first place we called/looked - so we were stoked about that. We're excited to have a great day tomorrow. 

Ended the day having food from Rainbow Diner for dinner (best diner in OC, NJ - no questions please). I had a Turkey Club and was seriously craving it for some reason - couldn't explain why. We ate together as a fam: my dad, Terri, Ang and Anthony (we were missing Ben), but it felt so good. It felt like I was really where I needed to be. 

At the end of the night, I needed to do some more work - so I came inside and got it done. After that, I went downstairs to find my dad watching Midsommar (the freakiest fucking movie on this planet that I jokingly started watching with him earlier in the day). We finished watching the movie together and then headed upstairs to bed. 

Now? I lay here in my bed eating gummy candy. Should I be eating this right now? No. Is it helping to quell the underlying anxiety that I have? Absolutely. Should I rely on food and sugar at 11pm to aide me in this? Absolutely not. I know.

Generally this week I think I did pretty well. I started each morning with a hopeful state of mind - the anxiety was still there. I went to bed a couple nights not skipping my skincare routine - which is so important to me. It feels really good when your face is watched and your oils, serums and toners are on. It was a big step for me to do it at least three nights. Skincare is something I love so much - but wasn't doing it because I didn't value my self enough to get up from bed and go to the bathroom to invest the time in myself and life. This week - I think it did it 3 nights. Huge step for me. Can't wait to get it done every night - I'll take the small win for now. 

How was your week?

June 2020 Update

There are so many things I wish I could say about where I am in life right now. If I was brutally honest, I wouldn't be able to publish this. It's actually shocking how many times I have said that I was going to do things on this blog, but just didn't do them: read more, post more, lose weight, etc. I don't even know where to begin, haha.

I am actually tired of it though! I've been having some thoughts recently that I do actually hope to share on here sometime soon - I really do. I want to be honesty with myself and I want to share some of the things I've been going through and thoughts I've been having - literally just to help and inspire others to know: there's more to life. 

Here are yet another couple of things I want to accomplish moving forward:

• I want to be honest with myself: I have to step up, I have to be better with myself and honest about how I'm feeling, and how I'm doing. How am I going to inspire if I'm not honest with myself?
• Post once! That's it, I just want to post once per week! I think I can do it - I really do.
• Enjoy my time here. I always have and I don't want pressure or feeling shitty to change that.

I'm sure I will think of a million other things to add to this list once I publish and close. That's okay - I will add them as necessary. I can't wait to get this started the way I've always wanted to. I'm on my way.

What I Hope To Accomplish This Week | April 13

This quarantine has me feeling some type of way, but I can't explain the way.

In one breath, I sadly feel like I have been training for something like this. I spend sooooo much time at home, and usually my weekends are spent home trying to relax and quell my fucking anxiety anyway. When I found out this was going to have to be a serious quarantining, self isolation situation for two weeks (now more), I wasn't concerned. Well, of course I was concerned for the well-being of the general public and those susceptible to the virus, but not concerned for me isolating.

I still remain the same. Concerned as shit for the well-being of our nation and the people in my community. Of course, number one being my father and the rest of my family. Not as concerned about my isolation or quarantine.

That being said, this quarantine is making me feel a few things. Mostly, I am feeling the need to just sit here and eat myself out of house and home (ew, that sounds weird, but you get it), but also to mitigate my stress (which I normally do anyway). It took me three full weeks of quarantine though to realize that I should get my shit in gear and maybe start to do more than watch shows and movies. Although, that's an accomplishment for me. Normally, I don't watch things - and it gets me into trouble in social situations. I know absolutely nothing about actors, actresses, movies, etc.

I am excited to share a few things with you that I look forward to accomplishing this week. Hopefully, this can maybe inspire you to get things done and share in it with me. Why not, right? Let's make the best we possibly can out of this, while staying safe, responsible and healthy.

THE F WORDS | THE QUARANTINE KITCHEN

Listen, I've always been a fan of cooking. I've been obsessed with getting cookbooks and Bon Appétit test kitchen videos and trying everything I see. There's something about cooking that is just the right amount of stressful pressure to get it right, combined with the satisfaction when it's done that really gets me going. A stupid way to put it? Probably. Do I care? No.

Anyway! With the quarantine going on right now, I am trying to find the best in everything. This is the perfect time to take out every single cooking tool I have an start making things I've been thinking about making for so long. I am going to call this series The Quarantine Kitchen and I hope you'll follow along! I am hoping to write these maybe once or twice per month with an update on new things I will be trying. Maybe it will turn into something weekly, that would be great.

If you try anything I put here, please share photos with me and use the hashtag #TheQuarantineKitchen! I would love to see how everyone is making these recipes their own.

HOME DECOR | WALL MIRRORS

I've been toying around recently with how I wanted to decorate my apartment. For some reason, I feel like I always have it down pat the way I want it done - beachy, lots of wicker and rattan, light colors. Then, I randomly get targeted on Instagram by this beautiful jewel toned, heavy on the gold living room and I want everything. Woah is me.

FEBRUARY ROUND UP | #BRITSBRAIN

Something I have decided to do (and I am so happy that I did) was keep little notes in my notes app on my phone throughout the month. To be honest, I wanted to write little things each day and pull it all together at the end of the month into a single blog post. I do realize though, in my ever-long process of how I'll manage this revolution of the blog, that it isn't realistic to think I'd write everyday. Thank god I'm realizing that!

Anyway! I am so excited to share my first Monthly Recap (February) with you. These are not going to be meant for any other reason than to share in the thoughts with you that I've been having throughout the month. I feel like maybe, JUST MAYBE they might be able to help you process some things?

WELCOME TO LE SAUVAGE BLOG

Wow. I couldn't be happier to be writing this POST!

Heard It Through The Irvine is BACK everyone, but it's back as something new. It has gone through somewhat of a rebrand, or change. The type of content you will be getting will be in similar categories, or buckets, but the name has changed. 

I am now 'Le Sauvage Blog' and there are so many reasons why. First, I want to say HITTI has given me so much. I loved the name so much because it spoke to me, my name was in it, it was everything to me. It got me through such a tough time in my life that was transitionary from stress at home, to living on my own. As soon as I moved into my first apartment, I wrote a few posts, but I never got on the schedule or the regiment that I always wanted to get on or that I envisioned for myself. It is because of this that I leaned into the laziness - but I am not happy about it at all. 

I decided to 'rebrand' the blog to it's new name because for at least two years I have been saying outloud to friends and to myself 'oh, I can see myself writing about that on Le Sauvage Blog' or 'omg that's savage!' or something that has 'savage' in it. I decided to make it chic and French (because, you know, I'm so chic and French) and I went with it. I couldn't be more excited to be starting things again. I need this so much and for so many reasons.