Checking In | Beauty and Life Updates

Stock Island, Key West

In the middle of this cool, brisk, October in the DC metro, I can’t help but wonder where the year went and what I did with it. To say the year has been stressful is an understatement, and I’d be preaching to the choir. It’s definitely affected my beauty and lifestyle habits, although I’m not really sure if that’s a bad thing.

Beauty

When this pandemic first started and we were all pretty much sequestered to our homes, I had a hard time adjusting; I did not set boundaries for myself at work and working from home didn’t turn out to be as fantastic as I thought it would. I initially got up and did my routine as I usually did, almost every day. As spring turned into summer, that got really old, really fast. I was down to doing my makeup once or twice a week and thinking of ways to at least find the wherewithal to do my skincare routine.

I’ve settled on a happy medium with makeup: no pressure. This has resulted in a strange acceptance of my bare face, even out in public. This has also had a positive effect on my overall self-confidence; things aren’t always as bad as they seem, it turns out. When I do wear makeup, I have gone from a full-coverage glam to light, barely-there or medium coverage makeup, depending on where I am going.

A part of that is also me spending less time on Instagram. My feed is full of super-glam beauty influencers, makeup artists, and lifestyle bloggers. Pre-pandemic, I didn’t keep the app on my phone to limit the time I spent on it. Removing the app certainly helped me focus on real things and not think about my skin or my makeup. While I love looking at beautiful things, spending hours of my day on Instagram looking at perfection isn’t so good for me, especially during a time when one of the only people you can look at was yourself.

Lifestyle

Spending much of my time alone has been… interesting… but mostly educational. I have learned so much about myself. The first, is I need to work on my discipline lol. While all this time has afforded me the luxury of working from home, having a routine is extremely important — I am still working on that. Working outside of my apartment forced me to have somewhat of a routine: I would wake up at 7 am and try my best to be in bed dozing off by 10. I’d work out in the morning a few days a week, and after work, either socialize or come home to wine and relaxation. Weekends were mostly my me time. A lot of people feel the need to be doing something on the weekends; I am not one of those people. What are you doing this weekend? is a question that will almost always get the same answer from me: Nothing, I hope! Weekends were also for brunch, but for me that had become a once or twice a month kind of thing.

Most days, I now get a lot of me time, and while that hasn’t always been pleasant, I have been a lot more aware of how I am using my time. It’s made me think a lot more about where I am, where I came from, and where I am going, in almost all aspects of life. I’m writing things down a lot more, I’m setting goals, and thinking about the future while also trying very hard to  remember the present.

I find myself more into interior design, cocktails, and cooking! I’ve always liked cocktails and looking at pretty living rooms and kitchens, but I never really liked cooking, or the thought of it! I have the Food Network to thank for that, but I also don’t know if that’s a long term thing or something I’m just into at the moment. I must say, it does feel damn good to make something and it turns out delicious.

Black bean garlic chicken

I’ve had more time to get my apartment together and decorate little spaces at a time. It’s definitely contributes to a happier place for me, mentally. I like a lot of different styles, but I’d say I am more of a contemporary gal. My favorite thing in my house is the bar which is a project I am always working on. If you asked me six months ago what my favorite cocktail was, I’d say a Manhattan, but these days I am experimenting with all kinds of things.

A sidecar – don’t ever forget the sugar rim

Life hasn’t been easy lately, but it could be worse. And I know that’s a very cliché thing to say, but it’s very true. I am doing more of the things that make me feel good and make me happy, and trying to be thoughtful about the future. The best is yet to come!

-XX

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