Hello friends! The above photo is a quick shot I grabbed on my walk with the pup. If you look closely you can see her ears in the lower right corner. This photo doesn’t do this planter justice. It’s drought-tolerant and filled with fiery reds and oranges. We call this the “long” walk because it’s up a hill and longer than our normal walk around the neighborhood. Sometimes the pup is not in the mood for this walk but on this day, she was in her element and happily sniffing at everything.
As you might recall, my first vaccine appointment isn’t until 4/6 but my work has been encouraging employees to get it so I think pretty soon there will be discussions about returning to campus. I am a little nervous about it if I am being honest. I’ve been home for so long and with my daughter heading back to school on 3/29, I’m feeling a tad anxious.
The flip side to all of this is the ability to do some of the things I love again. We went to dinner as a family the other night. It was outside but with heat lamps and it was just nice to enjoy a meal in a normal way and not from the inside of a car. Although, I am the queen of car eating. Ha!
Movies will be nice again, too. We have a brand new theatre that finished construction right before the shutdown and it never had a chance to open. I hope it still will. Watching a movie on our big screen is fun, and I like not having to deal with talking people and cell phone users but for big blockbuster films only a theatre will do.
Remember how I mentioned towels last week and how I needed to shop for some? I didn’t but we bought new couches for the family room! They should arrive tomorrow! I’ve never purchased something so quickly. We walked in, they were what we wanted, they were on sale and then when they weren’t in stock we bought the floor model for a discount. Done.
Now, on the reading front. My review of Brat: An 80’s Story posted this past Monday. This Friday, I have a review posting for a book that I want everyone to read, The Beauty of What Remains. I finished When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain so that review will be up soon too. What to read next? Possibly Outlawed by Anna North.
That’s all I have. I hope you are having a good week and that you have something really good to read.
Book Chatter 
Sounds like a good thing that you have an appointment at least. We’re not in a phase where I would be eligible for a vaccine. Probably not until summer at this point.
Reading is going slowly. But at least I’m reading.
My reading for the This Is What America Looks Like was last night with The Inner Loop online! It was such a great reading. I read my little poem, but so much good stuff was read last night!
Biden said by May everyone will be eligible for the vaccine so hopefully before summer.
Those plants look very fall-ish in color – pretty. Sounds like you accomplished quite a bit. Sofas vs. towels – LOL. I bet many will be anxious about returning to in-person work and school. It’s been a very long time. Im suspecting many big-city office buildings will have lots of vacancies as the work got done for many companies with remote workers.
I don’t know if my company will expect us to come back. Everyone enjoyed the work from home and when they did a survey couple of months ago, overwhelming response was to let us be lol, with the opportunity to have a few social gatherings. So let’s see – we’ll know in a few months. That said – I am with you. I am anxious about returning back – I work much better when remote and I hate the commute. I still have to travel the same distance everyday to pick/drop my kids but somehow that doesn’t bother me, plus my husband and I share this responsibility so it doesn’t feel frequent.
I cannot wait to hear what you think of Outlawed. It’s on my list but not got to it yet.
Oh gosh, the commute for me was not my fave either. 44 miles round trip but would take three hours in total on some days because of horrendous traffic. I can’t see a college campus allowing the work from home thing long term if there are other alternatives so we shall see.
I was hoping to hear which towels you bought because I hate choosing towels. Most seem like they’ll be great, but they aren’t. But, you bought couches! That’s totally fun.
I am also nervous about returning, which will happen after my second dose. Kids return to class in person tomorrow here in SB.
I love the planter! I am a real fan of native plants and am trying to get more of them in my garden. Lots of rock rose, sages, etc.
The ones at Sam’s Club and Costco are the nicest I’ve seen for the best price but they don’t have the color I want. They are hotel quality, very plush.
I would be anxious about returning to work, too. I don’t know when we’ll feel comfortable about eating inside a restaurant, but I’m eager for warmer weather so we can go to a couple of our favorites spots that have outside dining. It’s just been to cold and rainy to do so right now, so we’ve eaten in our car, as well.
We’ve never been big fans of going to the movie theater. Too many annoying people talking through the show, cell phones ringing or shining in the dark theater as someone texts, uncomfortable seating (we did enjoy a theater with reclining seats, but we had to drive almost an hour to go there!), so we watch on our big screen at home. Much better, too, since we now rely on captioning since a lot of the dialogue is hard to hear.
Enjoy your new furniture!
Annoying people in the theatre drive me crazy. Sometimes I say something and sometimes it makes a difference. Most of the time it doesn’t. There was one time I went to a fancy theatre with reclining seats and could not for the life of me figure out how to raise the seat up a little after plunging to the ground. The elderly lady next to me tsk tsked me and saved me. I knocked my popcorn over too during that debacle.
I think I missed seeing some of your posts … you read & posted a lot in a short period of time. I love these cactus / succulent kinds of gardens. If I ever get back to California …. looks like a nice walk