Happy Monday! Last week, I woke up on Monday and it really felt like groundhog day—I’m really tired of working from home, but knowing we won’t be back until at least Labor Day, have to gear up for a few more months of working from my corner office in Dupont Circle. The week did get better from my Groundhog Day freakout—the weather improved and it finally started feeling like summer, and I enjoyed some nice long walks around the neighborhood. I also was reading an amazing book, The Book of Lost Friends, and it was nice to escape to a world that isn’t my own.

While Memorial Day (and summer!) will likely look a little bit different this year, I’m excited to have a long weekend and have been thinking about a few ways I might be able to make it special. A few days after Memorial Day, my girl friends and I were supposed to leave for France and Italy—and while we were lucky enough to get our flights refunded, I’ll definitely be pouring one out for that vacation lost!

I hope you guys are hanging in there, and staying safe! x

01. TAKING LAST FRIDAY OFF WORK

I took last Friday off work because I needed something to look forward to and just needed a break. I slept in, watched Southern Charm, went on a nice long walk around my neighborhood, and then picked up some groceries and fresh squeezed lemonade at Whole Foods. The weather was so nice and it brought me so much joy—I wore a sundress and cute sandals, just because, and felt like a new human. Later that evening, my dinner club met up for our first virtual meeting, which was a highlight of my week. More on that below!

02. VIRTUAL DINNER CLUB

As y’all know, me and two friends meet up once a month to try a new-to-us, splurge restaurant in DC. Obviously, COVID-19 really impacted this tradition of ours, and once we realized this sheltering-in-place might last a while yet, we decided to take our club virtual. So, we all ordered takeout from the same restaurant—we picked Anju since it had been on our dinner club list!—and then enjoyed it together via FaceTime along with some nice wine.

I ordered the mandu, which was my favorite dish, the fried chicken (the white BBQ sauce was amazing!), and the fried rice. Everything was delicious and I would totally order from them again—the portions were huge, it was packed well, and they were prompt with bringing my food out.

We’re definitely going to do another virtual dinner club soon, and if you’re looking for a way to mix up things with your own friends or family, I’d definitely recommend taking out from the same restaurant!

03. MOVING BACK TO ARLINGTON?

One thing that has been on my mind a lot—even before the quarantine—is potentially moving back to Arlington when my lease is up. In February and March, my 50ish minute commute each way was really starting to drain me, and I was spending a lot of my evenings after work in Arlington since that’s where my favorite OTF is, where my sister and cousin live, and where I found myself happy houring a lot. I would get on the Metro after and be like if I lived in Arlington, I’d be home already! But, I was also really torn about giving up my DC life because I’m within walking distance to so many great restaurants, my favorite weekend Soul Cycle classes, and I absolutely love the Dupont Circle neighborhood.

Now that I’ve been spending a lot of time at home (sans commute or reason to leave, really!), I’ve really been missing having a table to eat meals at or do work from, and think I would love to find a unit with a balcony so I have a little bit of outdoor space. (My current building has a beautiful rooftop, but it’s been closed since we started shelter-in-place!) So I definitely want to move to a larger space, and candidly, think I can get a lot more bang for my buck across the river versus trying to size up in Dupont. I’ll also be closer to work and my family, and can funnel some of my rent savings into building my emergency savings and eventual house fund.

My lease is up at the end of September, and I’ll likely have to give my current building notice at the beginning of August—so I still have some time to think things over, but as of right now, I’m leaning towards moving to a bigger place. There’s definitely pros and cons of both situations, and while moving sucks, I think it would be worth it in the end.

04. FRESH SQUEEZED LEMONADE

I went to Whole Foods on Friday—going on my day off made it so much more manageable since grocery shopping is such a process now!—and since it really felt like summer, treated myself to a quart of fresh squeezed lemonade. I drank a huge glass of it when I got back from the store, and it was so refreshing. It really is the little things!

05. SMALL APARTMENT UPDATES

I’ll share them both when they arrive to me sometime this week or next week, but since I’ve been spending so much time at home, I wanted to change a few things out. The colorful pillows on my bed have been iconic for as long as I’ve had them (you can see them here!), but now that I’ve had them for 5+ years, I decided it was time to switch things out. I went with these beautiful ones by Caitlin Wilson. Since I needed them to be 22×22″ and that’s not a size CW sells, I purchased them from this Etsy shop. I’ll report back!

Then, right now, I have a classic blue and white stripe shower curtain, and while I love it, I thought it could fun to bring a little more color into my bathroom. So I grabbed this lemon one from Pottery Barn—and I love that it has some blue in it because then it will tie in with my towels nicely.

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I hope you guys have a great week—I’d love to know what is keeping you distracted these days!