what do you want to do when this is over?

i miss this

how's everyone holding up? i'm an eternally optimistic person, but i'll be honest: i'm not great! it's nothing short of surreal that just a few weeks ago, i was concerned with the upcoming shows and social engagements on my calendar and deciding what new restaurants i wanted to check out. and i shudder to think about how on january 22, as i was in a lyft on the way to LAX to fly home from los angeles, i completely shrugged off my driver's comment about how they were starting to test travelers coming in from china that day for coronavirus. now, just a little more than two months later, down is up and up is down. i just got laid off with 74 other people from my company. i've cried at least once every day for the past couple weeks. and while i know things will eventually go back to normal, it's so, so hard to believe in the middle of it all.

i know i'm not alone, but i VERY quickly realized that my life revolves around being out and about with lots of people: concerts, dining out, traveling, shopping, cafes! i even miss the silly little things like the guy at dunkin' donuts who knows my order and the people i see on the bus every day. i do feel very fortunate that i've gotten to travel pretty extensively in the past decade, so i've been leaning on those memories hard and trying to think ahead to when i can make more in the future.

what are you going to do when this is over and we're let back into the wild again? i'll start!!

• sit in a bustling coffee shop on a sunday morning with a croissant and cold brew
• hug all my friends and family forever
• dance my ass off to live music at all of the local venues (and honestly at this point, i'd even go to a stupid nightclub again!)
• go thrifting and antiquing and record shopping
• wander target and marshalls and tj maxx aimlessly
• GO TO THE MALL
• attend a music festival and be endlessly grateful for once to be surrounded by annoying, sweaty people
• get dressed up and have all of the cocktails and a super fancy dinner at every single one of my favorite restaurants (my optimistic goal is to be able to celebrate my birthday this way on may 28)
• window shop on newbury street
• get a mani-pedi
• sit in a dark movie theater eating popcorn
• stroll through the west village in new york
• see a broadway musical
• get lost in a bookstore for hours
• lay on hampton beach in new hampshire and stroll the stupid boardwalk and eat fried dough
• travel to greece, portugal, australia, all of those charming villages in france, everywhere (a ways down the road, i know)

we'll get there. we will. i know it. and in the meantime, thank god for netflix.