I just want to jump on here and be real with you guys. I am an extrovert. Like a true leave my house everyday kinda girl. This quarantine might be the death of me. Don’t get me wrong. I couldn’t be more grateful that the State I live in has declared a Shelter in Place order. I work for a company that didn’t hesitate to initiate our business continuity plan allowing us to work from home even before the Shelter in Place was ordered, I have plenty of food and I am sheltering with my fiancé and dog. My situation is better than most. To be honest we are safe and secure, plus none of our friends and family have gotten sick. That being said I am going crazy bouncing off my walls. So I decided to do a blog post about all the things I am doing to make the most of this situation. (Also I have a job for all of my followers, I want you guys to comment on one thing at least that you are doing to stay sane and in good spirits.)

Everyday I am doing my best to wake up and keep as normal as much as possible. I am getting up, putting on fresh clothes (yes that does sometimes include putting on clean PJ’s but they are still clean clothes!) I normally don’t make my bed I wish I would but hey it just gets away from me so during this time of crazy I have made it a priority to get up everyday and make my bed. I am posting it on instagram to help motivate everyone else too if they need it. (If you want comment and I can message you everyday to help remind you to make your bed too.)

Another thing that I am doing to help keep me feeling more normal is I am grabbing Dex everyday and he and I are taking at least a thirty minute walk. It is just something that really helps. He loves it because it lets him get his energy out and I love it because it is helping me get out some of this nervous/anxious energy I keep feeling. I even made it a goal of mine for this week that I wanted to walk ten miles and not just a total of ten miles throughout the week but a dedicated ten miles where I put my gym shoes on and get outdoors as much as possible. (I decided this Saturday and from then to today I can happily announced that I have walked a total of 8.86 miles and it’s only Wednesday.) Ya girl is gonna make her goal!

I have also been embracing my more creative side doing more make up reviews and comparisons. I am currently experimenting with which Mascara is my favorite and putting the old fable to the test does the amount of money you spend really make a difference. So far I can honestly say that I am thinking for a few that the cheaper mascara has beaten out the more expensive mascara. I’m also testing out eyeliners and new hair tools. (Omg tho if you haven’t read my review on the new Revlon drying brush stop right here and go read it. I am in LOVE!)

There has been a few hardships though in our household. Grant’s birthday was this week. I would have loved nothing more than to just stop the world from turning to make his birthday bigger and better than ever. This year I could only do so much. I couldn’t get all of our friends and family together for a birthday party, I couldn’t take him out for dinner or treat him to a spending spree at GameStop until his heart was content. However, I didn’t let that stop us. I have been making brownies, cookies and all of his favorite foods to ensure that this birthday, though different, was bigger and better than ever. Target had a buy two get one free on Nintendo Switch games and we took full advantage of that! (We bought the classics Hello Crash Bandicoot here I come.) To make sure that his day was the best day ever we even set up video calls with his Mom, Dad, little siblings, and his grandparents. We couldn’t make it work perfectly but we FaceTimed with everyone including my family to make sure everyone got to sing Happy Birthday to my guy. It might not be the best birthday he has never had but we certainly didn’t let the quarantine get in the way of us celebrating.

You know one other thing that has been exciting me is the idea of doing a bit of a home renovation, Grant, Dex and I live in a townhouse so while we can’t go crazy and paint walls or tear apart our bathroom what we can do is reorganize, downsize things we don’t want or need anymore. (Maybe trying to do a little Marie Kondo on our townhouse. I’m not entirely sure if it will work or not but hey we’re trying.) I have slowly started looking at my closet, loving the idea of cleaning it out, then maybe doing more try on hauls for you guys.)

There has been a surprisingly good thing about the quarantine. It is allowing me to focus on my cooking and get better at actually cooking food instead of just ordering take out. I am thinking of starting out later this week, maybe this weekend to try out my instantpot and see how much this baby can really do. If you have any good tips lemme know. I am all for it and more help would be great. Also real easy recipes are my best friend!

I guess in this long post I am just trying to see how you all are doing and sharing ideas and tips for how I am surviving this new craziness.

On Saturday we had Grant’s mom Sherree and little brother Zach up with us for the weekend. The main attraction was we were going to the Detroit Opera House to see Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.

It was really awesome to have them come up and to be able to go out to the theater with us.

On Saturday around 4:30 pm we decided to take off and head downtown. We all piled into Zach’s car and we’re afoot. Oh my lanta I can’t even begin to describe the traffic we encountered. It takes about 35 mins to get downtown but on Saturday it took about an hour. (They had four pretty big events going on in Detroit at once it was a bit packed….) Mind you we sat in the turn lane for about twenty minutes just waiting to move but it was actually fun. We got to just hang out in the car chit chatting and catching up.

We finally were able to get a parking spot. We were about a half a mile from the opera house and it was a good lot. They did charge us $50 for parking but what can you do, city parking is at a premium!

After we parked we walked around to all the local restaurants and bars but it was bad news bears for us. They were all on a two plus hour wait or out of the majority of their food. (Do not panic we eventually did get dinner.) When we couldn’t get a table or food we headed into the opera house and just hoped for the best.

When we were in the opera house we looked over at the pop up shop for the Peacock Room and ran into their fabulous owner Rachel who pointed out how cute my tiara was. (Full seriousness, I love her. She’s great and is just so full of life and energy!) She also told us about a cafe attached to the opera house.

Unfortunately they were packed. Hey when live gives you lemons make lemonade. We went up to the concession stand and grabbed Carmel Popcorn, White Cheddar Popcorn and Chocolate Covered Potato Chips. It might not’ve been the most healthy dinner but we had a great time just hanging at the table.

Before we knew it the show was now seating and we were able to grab our seats and get settled in for the show. When the curtain went up and Charlie came out he was fantastic, especially for a child actor. I really enjoyed the scenes and the actors all performed magnificently. The actors felt like the characters and made you really not like the specific qualities, plus Willy Wonka was either crazy or brilliant but it was great!

It did lead to an interesting conversation between us Did the children survive the factory? I don’t think they did but Grant is more optimistic and believes the kids lived. I have serious doubts; what do you think? Sherree seemed to be leaning along with the kids dying but wasn’t officially declaring her vibes.

After the show ended we headed back towards the car and to say the least we got there in the nick of time. It was slowly starting to get busy with people wanting their vehicle back. Oh man their was one group whose car was fully boxed in and they wanted out now. It would probably take thirty minutes or so to get their car out. They were not very sympathetic or understanding about the situation.

We got very lucky. Zachs car could just be backed out we just needed the keys. Grant and Sherree went to the car while I arranged for the keys. Zach and I might’ve sweet talked the attendant to let us in the booth to grab his keys and we could be on our way!

Since we were a little ahead of the traffic we were able to get on the highway fairly quickly and miss the majority of it. We did end up grabbing Wendy’s on our way home to make sure we had food in our tummies. We had a great night that ended with me eating a frosty! I mean come on who doesn’t love ice cream?!

How many people celebrate this holiday? I’m not sure but based on my Instagram and Facebook it’s 99.9% of my friend group. I’m all for it. I think it’s fun and silly but I also want to make sure my person knows he’s loved every other day of the year as well.

This year I honestly decided to skip Valentines. It’s not that I’m not in a stable committed relationship with someone I love, it’s that every year there is so much pressure that when something inevitably doesn’t go as planned it makes the whole thing feel ruined. If you didn’t get the perfect gift or receive it. If you wanted flowers and you got chocolates. If the restaurant screws up your order. There are too many variables and the pressure is unreal. It has to be the perfect day. Well I hate to be the negative one but it’s never perfect. So this year Grant and I decided to stay in, watch a movie on the couch and order take out, no presents, no pressure, no expectations.

We both worked during the day. I was off before Grant so I grabbed a bath bomb and headed to my bathroom for a little self care because why not love yourself on Valentines Day. (Full disclosure I used the intergalactic lush bath bomb and it was heavenly.) Then I deep conditioned my hair. I got out of the shower and I felt fantastic. Really relaxed and ready to enjoy my night.

When Grant got home we decided to grab Red Lobster take out. (Maybe a bad idea in hindsight, their website was down and we waited on hold for twenty minutes before we placed our order.) then a solid hour later we were in our PJs deciding what movie to watch. We picked Two Weeks Notice. Grant has never seen it and I think it’s a perfect rom com. As we go to unpack the food we realize they forgot an item or two. We did try to call them and get it fixed but after twenty minutes on hold we got “disconnected”. Now previous years this would’ve killed me. It would’ve ruined my image of a perfect valentines. This year it was just fuck it. We’ll call them tomorrow.

We ate our seafood and watched Two Weeks Notice laughing and enjoying it. After dinner we had three different Bundt cakes to share ( marble, peanut butter chocolate chip and white chocolate raspberry) paired with a nice bottle of wine. Grant went with red and I had white. We’re munching on dessert so why not just pick what we wanted.

After that the three of us got all cuddled on the couch and just watched other tv and relaxed.

It wasn’t a typical Valentines for us. It was downplayed and just enjoyed. (I did get my fill on Valentine’s candy when I ran out on Saturday and bought a bunch for 50-75% off!) I’m not sure if this will become our new norm or not but for this year there wasn’t unreal expectations and pressure. I must admit I loved that.

Omg what is it about live music? It’s almost infectious You want to smile, sing along and dance? Last week Bridget and I grabbed tickets to see Jordan Davis perform over at Bogarts. It was a last minute thing and we had the best time.

So before we went to the concert we got ready over at my house then loaded up in Bridget’s car. (If I drove we would’ve parked miles away in a lot or a garage it’s still a new car!) With our McDonalds drinks on hand we managed to grab a spot in a lot about a block away from the venue. We applied our lip gloss and headed over to the concert.

It was very chilly and snowy but we left our coats in the car and powered through. The line to get in was actually really short and we were inside fairly quickly. Once inside we grabbed drinks; then headed for a spot on the dance floor. We got a nice spot in the middle fairly close to the front and waited.

The opening act was Kassie Ashton. I’m gonna be honest. I’ve never heard of her. I don’t know her music but she had a nice voice. To be honest I think I loved her personality the most. She was all about being yourself and whatever stress was bugging you to send it her way that she would take it off your shoulders for the night. I’m not sure why but with everything going on in our world that really resonated with me. I want more people to be open and honest about their lives and the struggles they are facing. If you don’t talk to us about what is going on how can we even begin to help one another?

There were a few other things I really liked about Kassie Ashton. First she taught the crowd how to perform a holler and swallow. This is where you scream as loud as you can to get as pumped up as possible then to proceed to chug your drink. I didn’t think chugging my white claw really worked for me but I was happy to yell and cheer as loud as I could. Then if you’ll excuse my jumping to the end of the show for the next story she also came out during the encore and was dancing in her sweat pants and slides. Can I get an amen?! Like girl; thank you for being real. I don’t know how many times I’ve been dancing around my own house in my sweats. Thank goodness she gets it.

After Kassie Ashton there was a break while the crew set up for Jordan Davis. This was the perfect moment to run to the bathroom or grab a refill. In true Monica and Bridget fashion she ran to the bathroom while I grabbed us drinks. The perk of being the drink person is that I got to find a killer spot to wait for Bridget. Once we got situated again it was just about time. They were dimming the lights and Jordan Davis was comin out!

Holy Moly when that man walked out on stage everyone went crazy. He has this smooth deep voice that just makes you want to close your eyes and dance. I love me some good country music and when he sang “Singles You Up” I just belted our along with him. In all my glory.

One thing that I really loved about this show is that while it was a county concert he sang everything from Cold Play to Ed Sheeran. I’m honestly surprised that a country music star could sing viva la vida the way he did. It was great. I was actually really impressed.

Also I kinda like when country music artists let you in on songs that they really love and inspire them. We got to hear him sing Jo Dee Messina’s “Heads Carolina, Trails California”. It was actually really good. I would love it if he put some of his covers on a CD. They were well worth hearing again.

I think my favorite was still “Singles You Up.” It’s just such a catchy song. I sing along every time. I also think I have a new favorite of his “Leaving New Orleans.” It’s such a sad song; you’ll have to listen to it and just enjoy it. Let me know what you think.

Overall I think it was a great concert and Bridget and I really enjoyed the show. We will happily be going again. Also I have to give a shout out. Bogarts is just one of my favorites. It’s a smaller more intimate venue where you really can’t get a bad view no matter where you are.