LongLegsBigCity

#WorstBrideEver

January 21, 2022 6 Comments

We did it!! That’s right, after successfully skirting the “when’s the wedding” question for 23 months, we finally set a date! Woohooo!! That means I can start planning the day I have been dreaming about for my entire life!! **record scratch**

I have not been planning this day for even the 2 years we’ve been engaged. Hell, I haven’t even been planning it for a month! In fact, I really don’t care at all. And that, my friends, is why I am the worst bride ever.

When I not-so-slyly mentioned in my last blog that I was officially getting married soon, my friend suggested I blog about the journey. And she’s not wrong, so many brides are all over the internet blogging about their wedding planning. There’s a girl who went viral with her own Instagram account solely about planning her wedding – she has 264K followers! Here’s the issue, I don’t want to write about it because I have nothing to say, I simply don’t care. My friend said I should blog about just that, because there must be some people out there who feel similarly. So, here you go.

I want to start this off with a disclaimer: It’s not that I don’t care about being married. I’m actually very excited to have a partner for FOREVER so that I never have to be on dating apps again. I’m excited to have someone who can’t leave me without a tumultuous legal battle. Who is my built-in accountant and financial advisor to explain the 5/24 rule of credit card churning. To sleep next to me every night. To bring me Gatorade when I get food poisoning. And ibuprofen when I have a hangover. To start a family with! (In that order. Just kidding).

The marriage, I’m excited for. The wedding, not so much. I feel like I already did the hard part. I found a guy who can put up with me! And not only did he agree to be with me for the rest of his life, he actually SUGGESTED it. With a big diamond! I already won. We’ve been together for 6.5 years and we’ve been living together for 5. So like, what’s with this whole rigamarole?

I know this is an unpopular opinion. So let me explain.

Some of this is about money. And I know a lot of couples, especially on the interwebs, will say “THIS IS THE ONE DAY YOU SPLURGE! MONEY DOESN’T MATTER!” Ummm, maybe that is true… until the credit card bill comes. Would I feel differently about this whole wedding thing if I had unlimited funds? Probably. But I don’t, so it doesn’t make sense to think that way. And yes, my fiancé works in finance and yes, he could probably afford to splurge on a wedding, but why? For one day? I have friends who have spent over $100K on a wedding. The average is around 50K and that’s not even in New York, which always adds additional sticker shock. I feel like the main driver of wedding prices is usually the bride, at least stereotypically. And since I’m the one with less funding and I don’t care, I feel like I can’t push for this princess wedding concept. Which leads me to my next point.

What’s with this whole “princess” thing? The ball gown. The horse and carriage. The “turning-into-a-pumpkin-at-midnight.” Ok, maybe not that last part. But honestly, it’s kind of weird and creepy. I am 34 years old. I have known for at least two and a half decades that princesses aren’t real. And when they are, they are ostracized from their families and do exposés with Oprah. This is not a goal I am looking to achieve. Although, I’d love to meet Oprah… if anyone has the hook-up. Why are there girls out here trying to pretend to be a fairytale character in their 30’s? No offense, but, that’s weird (obvious offense).

For me, ever since we got engaged, I said that if we were going to have a wedding I cared about 3 things:

People should have enough food. Not necessarily AMAZING, Michelin-starred food, but I don’t want anyone hungry.
Unlimited alcohol. It’s not a fun party if you’re paying for your own booze or if there isn’t enough booze.
Good music that people can dance to. Dancing is a MUST.

Since I made that list, I have added one more thing: AMAZING HAIR. For myself, duh. All brides have told me you are allowed one “thing.” Mine is my hair. For obvious reasons. Namely, Instagram content. Follow me on BraidInManhattan! For this, I am pulling out all the stops. I’m buying extensions. Getting my hair colored to match. Flying in my hair-bestie and internet friend from Florida to do my hair.

The rest of the stuff to me is noise. Bridesmaids? Meh sure. Matching dresses? Definitely don’t care. Flowers? Meh. Bouquet? Don’t care. First look? Sure. Or not. Don’t care. Ring bearers? Don’t care. Toasts? If you want to talk, great. If you don’t, also fine. Rehearsal dinner? Meh. Flavor of cake? Don’t even like cake. Bridal gown? I feel like that one deserves a blog of its own. I have thoughts. Stay tuned.

This is why I have deemed myself the worst bride ever. We have picked a venue and we have a date. We have not planned much else. Over the weekend we discussed a registry. We feel like we don’t need anything additional in our home. We have lived together for 5 years! Whatever we needed, we have purchased. And I always feel weird about the whole concept of a “honeymoon fund.” I’ve never asked people for money before, so why would I do it, or feel we deserve it, because Chris and I are signing a contract? It makes no sense.

I feel like a lot of the wedding hype is a vestige of the past, when a woman was leaving her family to swear herself over to a man. It was a huge step. For me, it’s a minor one. I’m much more excited to have kids. If you want to send me adorable onesies or money for diapers then, feel free. The wedding part I’m mostly doing for my family. And for Chris. My best friend is actually getting married a month after me and if I’m being honest, I’m almost more excited for that. There’s no pressure and I already know she will be super happy.

This brings me to my final point: the additional events. WHY. A few years ago, I was invited to a friend’s wedding (not local). Then, to two separate bridal showers (one local, one not). Then, to a bachelorette party (semi local, but $1000/person). This is literally how I went into credit card debt. No single person should require this much celebrating on their behalf. It’s inane. My mom wants to have a wedding shower for me to celebrate, and also to have something semi-local for her friends. I said fine. But only because she is planning it! And I don’t want to invite any of my friends who aren’t local because at my age, we have all done enough of this. I don’t want to be responsible for anyone’s financial ruin. If it makes my mom happy, it makes me happy. The end.

Recently, my friend asked me if I wanted to do a bachelorette party. I shrugged. Obviously, I’m always happy to go on a trip with her. We‘ve had a blast together in Turks and Caicos, Costa Rica, Hawaii, Vancouver, Spain, and Portugal, and none of those required a wedding as an excuse. There’s no need to make an excuse to travel together. And especially there is no need to force people to travel in honor of my relationship milestones.

I will say this – I love the beach, and I love a party, and I love my family and friends. And I love Chris. The rest doesn’t matter. If anything changes, I promise to keep you in the loop. But I may just show up here in photos in a few months with a tan and an additional ring on my finger, and that’s fine, too.

Miscellaneous

2021 – The year that was a decade

January 16, 2022 1 Comment

Is it just me, or does every year now feel like a decade? I sat down to try and begin a blog about 2021 and I got so overwhelmed I put it off for 2 weeks. I don’t want to bore you with all of the ups and downs – after all, we kind of went through them together. Remember allll the way back at the beginning of 2021 when the vaccines (that’s right, more than one! We had options!) were proved effective and safe? And we thought “wow, this pandemic is going to end! FINALLY!” And then fast-forward to a “decade” later, at the end of 2021, when we had yet another variant and went back to checking positivity percentages every day. Yea, that part kind of sucked. But the good part about living a decade within a single year is, we had some pockets of time that were great!

I usually do a year recap in the form of a bullet journal goals check in. Bad news, I kind of gave up on my bullet journal in June. Oops. Good news, the reason I gave up on it was because I was doing too many fun things and couldn’t keep up! More bad news, I started another bullet journal because I guess I’m a masochist.

Anyway, I was able to achieve a lot of my 2021 bullet journal goals, despite the fact that we lived on the cusp of anxiety attack every day of the year.

Health

Mental health? Precarious. Physical health: not too shabby!

I was able to complete 260 Peloton cycling classes, which was 60 more than my goal. Also, I completed 100 strength classes and 100 stretching classes on Peloton. Not to mention, I joined Orangetheory and I got 10,000 steps/day all but 9 days of the entire year. Remember those mental health walks from 2020? I’m still going on them. I walked a total of 4,986,793 steps.

Also, I achieved my goal of only ordering in food once or twice a week. I know that may seem easy, but in New York, not so much.

Here’s what I didn’t achieve:

Going to a dermatologist. I tried, but when I got there I discovered they didn’t take my insurance despite their assurances on the phone. Then I gave up because I was pissed.
Drinking water every day before coffee. We have limited joys now, coffee is one of them. I threw this goal down the drain in February.

Work

Honestly, I didn’t write down any work goals. And work has been… CRAZY. My main goals were to get through every week without screaming at any coworkers or shooting myself. I sort of succeeded.

Social Media

Well guys, I failed you again. Every year I try to publish 2 blogs/month and every year I fail. I posted 13 all year. I am going to try and do better! I also failed at getting 5,000 followers on my braiding Instagram, despite going viral for the NYC Marathon. I have been hovering JUST under 4,000 for 3 years now. *shrug*. This next year I’m focusing more on TikTok, but more on that in my next post.

Finance

Crazily, this is the main place where I achieved all of my goals. Despite my major return to international travel, I was able to max out my Roth IRA, reach my goal in my 403B, AND get to a net worth of 60K! This is huge considering the amount of student debt I am still carrying around. Not having to pay any student loans for the entire year definitely helped my finances.

Relationship

I’m still in one, so yay! He tells me he loves me every day, even after I yell at him 900 times for leaving his dishes in the sink. We didn’t go on one date/excursion per month, but Covid made that difficult at times. We almost made it, though! We did some at-home baking with a zoom class, we traveled to Aruba and France together, and best yet, we set a wedding date!! It’s soon. Yikes. Maybe I’ll write more about this, maybe I won’t. So far, I’m the worst future bride I’ve ever met.

Other

These miscellaneous goals were hit or miss. I DID see 3 Broadway shows. Impressive, considering Broadway wasn’t even open all year. I didn’t achieve 3 things on my NYC Bucket List. In fact, I didn’t even complete one of them. I tried to see the Nutcracker but the show was cancelled two days before because of Omicron. I did travel to three new countries (four if you count Monaco). I tried to call a friend once a month, but I really hate talking on the phone. I braided clients for a musical festival, a wedding, Halloween, and two races. Not too shabby considering I spent most of the year avoiding strangers’ faces.

2021 was a wild ride. It felt like 60% of the time, my butt was melded with my couch, and 40% of the time I was out of the country. We moved apartments, we went snorkeling and ATV-ing, Chris ordered from Amazon 100 million times, I did my nails 55 times, and collectively we got 6 new credit cards. 2022 is guaranteed to be a crazy year, too. We already have 4 weddings in the next 5 months, and we are hoping to start trying to have a baby (what?!?). Next week I’ll let you know what my 2022 goals are. Do you have any suggestions?

Miscellaneous

Braiding Marathon

November 18, 2021 2 Comments

I have written a lot on my blog about marathons. Half-marathon training, full marathon training, marathon-running. Even marathon-DRINKING. But this year, I’m writing about a whole different kind of marathon: a marathon of braiding.

Yes, you read that right. 10 days ago, I braided for 19 hours. 2 days, 21 people, 49 braids.

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you know I started a side hustle in 2018 called Braid in Manhattan. Since my tiny little blog post in July of 2018, I’ve built a website, a Yelp page, a Tik Tok, and an Instagram with nearly 4,000 followers. But due to the unfortunate timing of Covid, I never really had a chance to scale my side hustle the way I wanted. The last thing I wanted to do over the last 18 months was be in close proximity to strangers’ faces for extended periods of time. But recently I started feeling a little better about contact, and I knew it was time to get back on my braiding game.

I had done a few events over the past season, a 10-year-old’s birthday party, a woman who was trying something new with her hair for the humidity, and a few people going to the Electric Zoo music festival. My goal was to try and get 8-10 clients for the New York Marathon. I felt better about braiding for the marathon because I got my Covid booster and I knew that 100% of the runners were vaccinated and/or recently tested.

Back in 2018 for the NYC Marathon, I worked at a braid bar event associated with a running fitness studio. It was 7 braiders and a whirlwind of fun. Since then, running and braiding hair have gone hand in hand. A professional runner, Colleen Quigley, started the “Fast Braid Friday” movement celebrating strong runners and associating them with braided hair. It’s a cross-cultural phenomenon about celebrating the concept of “look good, feel good” (and run fast). Plus, it’s functional because it keeps hair out of your face while racing. I started to get a following of runners on my Instagram, which is never what I intended with my brand. I started my company to focus on special event hairstyling, more boho and romantic looks. But it turns out that “athletic” braiding is a niche no one else seemed to be filling, and it turned out that I was quick and good at it!

With the lead-up to the marathon fast-approaching, I had 6 clients locked in and it was crunch time to meet my goal. Then, one Wednesday I was sitting on the couch watching Ted Lasso with Chris when my phone started BLOWING UP. I was getting emails. I was getting inquiries through my “contact me” page on my website. I was getting Instagram DMs. Facebook messages. I looked at Chris and I said … “I think I’m going viral.”

Sure enough, a woman who booked me for her own hair was in a Facebook group for people running the NYC Marathon, and someone posted asking for a hair recommendation. The woman who had booked me earlier in the day mentioned my company and BAM. The rest is history. I spent the next 3-4 days replying to people, scheduling on 45-minute intervals, and trying to organize the styles everyone wanted in spreadsheets. I was originally charging by time, but it got so impossible to organize that I ended up charging a flat fee toward the end. I needed an assistant!!

I had two weeks’ notice before the big event, and luckily I had all of my supplies with the exception of elastics. In earlyyy 2020, I was supposed to braid at a hair show with the brand StyleFactor, and the hair show was cancelled, but they’ve been sending me boxes of product every since! I have cases of edge control, which is generally used for more textured hair, but also works wonders to make styles stay through 26.2 miles. This stuff does not budge! I also have fitting foam and hair spray, all of which contribute to a super long-lasting style. I’ve had multiple people wear my racing styles for over a week!

I placed an order on Amazon for my favorite rubber band hair elastics, and I even reached out to my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE hair tie brand and asked if they wanted to collaborate with me. TIY (tie it yourself) is another woman-owned start-up and Andrea, the owner and founder, is the best. Sure enough, she said YES! She said I could take some photos and videos for her, and she would send me enough TIY’s to give to each one of my clients. The results were amazing. Also, she sent all orange, so it was easy to “spot the knots” throughout the race course, which is their motto.

The Friday before the marathon, I got to work. I had a client from Germany. From Seattle. From Philadelphia. From Austin. From Boston. From Naples. People running with their friends they met in online Facebook groups. People running with their husbands they met in running clubs. People running with Type 1 Diabetes who were running for a charity to support Diabetes research. People running for charities to support mental health support for family members of people with cancer. People running with run clubs. People running their first marathons. And one person running their final (6!) world major marathon. The stories were all so incredibly inspiring.

I wrote to all of the women who I braided and they have been writing reviews on my Yelp and Facebook, but better yet, they’ve been sending me all of their post-race medal photos in their braids and I am just KVELLING with pride.

Was standing for 19 hours difficult? Yes. Was my back killing me because I am ancient-years-old? Also, yes. But was I enthralled all weekend listening to the stories of women from around the world who waited 2 years to run the streets of my home city??? Also YES. It ALMOST makes me want to run a marathon again. ALMOST. But even more so, it makes me want to travel to another marathon to braid more hair! Where should I go next?? Berlin? Chicago? Boston?

Travel

Portugal – Lisbon, Algarve and Alentejo

October 3, 2021 2 Comments

Olá! Jet-setter here. I just returned from 5 days in Iceland, 10 days in New York, then 11 days in Portugal. Have you missed me? I’ve missed you. For Portugal, we didn’t book flights until 8 days before. That meant we did very little planning. The whole time we were there, we said we wished someone had written a blog about the places we went, things to know, and the necessary things to see. Maybe someone did write one and we just didn’t have time to research. Or maybe no one has and that’s why I’m writing one now. Don’t worry, I won’t take you step-by-step through our journey because it was so long! But there are a few things we did that I wouldn’t want you to miss.

First of all, you need to know where we went. We landed in Lisbon (non-stop flights FTW), stayed there for a few days while some of us worked remotely. Then we went to the south coast (Algarve). We stayed in Portimão but traveled to Sagres, Lagos, and Albufeira. Then we drove up to the Alentejo region where we stayed in Cuba and traveled around to wineries and Evora. Then we drove back to Lisbon and stopped in Montemore-o-Novo for lunch at A Ribeira. See below, you won’t want to miss that place.

Tram 28 in Lisbon (I ended up falling asleep due to jet lag, woops).

Let’s start with things you need to know about Portugal:

First of all, they are very laid back around time. Things are super sleepy in the morning, and just like siesta time in Spain, most things close from 3-7 in the afternoon. Don’t expect to eat during that time. One of my friends had to settle for gelato, which, tbh, is never a bad thing. Also, since the dinner time is relatively short (8-11 pm), you’ll need a reservation in most places. Our first Airbnb in Lisbon had a binder of useful info, and we learned one of the best tips from it: the app called TheFork. This app is a combination of TripAdvisor, Groupon, Seamless and OpenTable. You can read reviews, see the menu and pricing, book a table, and best yet, a lot of restaurants offer huge discounts if you book a table through them! We ate at 4 different restaurants where we got 30% off our meal (food only, not wine) just by reserving a table on the app. You can’t beat that. Also little-known fact, since parts of India were Portuguese colonies for 400 years until the 1960’s, there are a lot of amazing Indian restaurants. When we were tired of seafood, we had Indian (twice) and it was a delicious change of pace.

Important tip: taxes are HIGH. Like 23% high. This means that if you are renting a car, expect those extra charges to add up big time. 5 Euro/day/extra driver is a lot more when you add 23% tax! Good news is, tipping is not really a thing, so restaurants are still way cheaper than in the US. At least cheaper than New York by far. And remember to use TheFork!

Another important tip: ROUNDABOUTS. The Portugese loveeee them. There are barely any traffic lights outside of the main cities. At first, we thought they were super fun. That is, until we realized they have super complicated laws about them and they are STRICT. We saw 3 police cars pulling people over for violating the rules in a very tiny town. Read up on your roundabout rules, especially for the 2- and 3-lane ones.

Fun fact (sorry about this Mommy): Strip clubs. We were approached by a promoter in Portimão to come to a strip club because it was 10 Euro entry fee and it included a drink. WHAT? So cheap. Most importantly, the strippers are on salary. I guess this makes sense, since they don’t want people throwing coins on the stage at unsuspecting half-naked (or full naked) people. But the fact that they are not begging for money makes it an entirely different experience. It’s like a drink and a show instead of a crazy hectic pushy environment. Also, at this particular club is was men and women strippers that switched off. Unfortunately we were too busy having fun and dancing at a nearby bar so we only got there 10 minutes before closing, but this was still a hot tip I couldn’t leave out.

Hot tip: take a unique tour. I didn’t write a blog about Iceland, but I was supposed to do a snowmobile tour on a glacier and it got canceled. After that experience, I really wanted to do something unique. We knew we needed to get on the water in the south so we could view the caves, particularly the famous Benagil cave, from a unique view, and we booked a sunset boat tour. Unfortunately, when we got to the port, the boat was coming in from the last tour and they said they had an engine problem and couldn’t take us out. That may or may not have been true, but we knew we needed an alternative plan. We got some gelato (always the answer) and started trying to rearrange our itinerary for the next day so we could take a different tour. One of my friends was pushing for a kayak tour, because she thought we would be able to go into smaller caves unreachable by boat. She was right. I was nervous about my arms (10 days of no Peloton and copious amounts of wine meant I was very out of shape), but we took a tour that was half catamaran, and half kayak, about one hour on the kayaks. It. Was. AWESOME. We went in about six caves, and we were able to pull up on the beaches and walk around. It was seriously one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. Plus we got a workout and amazing photos.

If you aren’t sure where to eat, check google and TripAdvisor reviews. You never know what you will find. For example, on our way back from the standing stones, Almendres Cromlech, we wanted lunch and looked to google for suggestions. We found a restaurant that mentioned singing and stand-up comedy. We were sold. We didn’t realize it would be singing, stomping and clapping on a center table the whole time. It took us an hour to realize he was singing THE MENU. We were in for a real treat when we paid the bill – he sang the entire thing to us in Portuguese while pointing to the things on our table and explaining. And he made sure to add “plus whatever you want to give me as a tip” at the end. It was a true experience. Plus it was cheap and delicious!

Last hot tip: WINE IS SO CHEAP. This is true everywhere in Europe, but honestly you can buy wine for $4-6 American dollars for a BOTTLE. The “expensive” wine from the wineries is still under $15/bottle. Related hot tip: red wine doesn’t really give you a hangover. Also cheap: UBERS. I mean dirt cheap. We took $4 Ubers all throughout the south coast. We couldn’t understand how they made money! We had a rental car, but this way we didn’t need a DD. They didn’t have many Ubers available in the Alentejo region, but along the south and in Lisbon, they were readily available. Even our Uber from the airport was $13 USD.

Now for a quick list of places NOT to miss:

Sagres: we went there in the morning for a quick excursion, and we were so glad we did. This used to be thought of as the end of the world. It’s the Southwestern tip of Europe. Portugal was the world power in exploration in the 15^th century, and many famous explorers left from here, never knowing if they’d make it back. The views are breathtaking, and you can climb along a lot of the cliffside.

Lagos: Again, cliffside climbing but here there are boardwalks with railings so you can feel safer. You will see a lot of people climbing all the way down the cliffs but there are many, many signs warning people not to do this. In fact, there are spots where you can see the cliffs have collapsed. Stay on the boardwalks or far from the edge.

Evora:

Chapel of Bones. This place is literally made of human bones. It’s creepy but also very cool! Only 5 Euro and includes a museum that has hundreds of Nativity scenes made from different materials.

Aqueduct and Roman Ruins: If you haven’t been to Rome or Athens, Evora is an awesome place to view Roman ruins and step wayyy back in time. The Aqueduct is truly impressive. We ate in an Italian restaurant right under the aqueduct and asked our server if the water was from the aqueduct. He either didn’t understand our joke or just didn’t think we were funny.

Sintra: This is a very adorable town 30 minutes from Lisbon. We took an Uber there because they were so cheap, but you could also take an inexpensive train. There is a big castle (Pena Palace) at the top of a hill which you could walk to, but we took a tuk-tuk and it was SO much fun. Our driver was a little bit crazy (he had a little flag that said “tip driver, help buy wine”), which made it even better. The views are spectacular, and they have huge gardens to walk through as well as a chalet made of cork that looks like it came straight out of a fairy tale.

Overall, the trip was so much fun, and I feel like I need to go back to Portugal so I can explore the north, like Porto and the Douro Valley. I’m feeling sad because I don’t have any other international trips on the books for 2021, but who knows – maybe I’ll book something with 8 day’s notice again soon!

Travel

Travel Frenzy

September 13, 2021 2 Comments

Once again, readers, I abandoned you. I haven’t written in my blog for so long that the folder wasn’t even in my recent documents! Then again, I have a lot of work documents in my recent docs. How funny is it that I created a folder in March 2020 called “Work From Home Covid” because I thought it would be temporary? Now, 18 months later, I’m realizing I should probably buy a new laptop solely for work (instead of a folder) that functions better. But I digress.

I haven’t really been absent because I’ve been working, I’ve been absent because I’ve be absent. Out of office. Flew the coop. Sayonara.

Before I regale you with my travel shenanigans, I must add that yes, I know it is dangerous. I know Covid is still raging. I now know many people who have gotten the virus. But personally, I try to stay as safe as I can. I’m vaccinated, I test often (6 times in the last 5 weeks!) and I always wear a mask around people. That said, I finally reached the end of my rope. I was stir-crazy. I needed to go out and see the world! Also, TBH, I want to have kids and my eggs are going to expire before this pandemic is over so YOLO.

PHEW! Now that that’s out of the way, want to know where I’ve been since Alaska back in May? Wellll… Philadelphia (twice). Seattle. Aruba. France (Paris-Aix-en-Provence-Cannes-Nice-Eze-Monaco-Paris), and Iceland. It’s been a whirlwind. Oh, and I’m leaving for Portugal in 6 days (pending yet another Covid test).

This blog would be 100 pages long if I told you about all of those trips, so I think I’ll just stick with some of the generalities around Covid travel.

It’s COMPLICATED. Like, VERY. Every country has its own rules. Are you allowed in? Do you need to be vaccinated? Do you need to quarantine when you arrive? Do you also need a test? PCR or rapid? Within 48 or 72 hours of departure? Or of arrival? Do you need a special app or QR code to board the plane? Do you need to fill out an attestation form online first? And don’t get me started about testing to come home. You need that too! And if they don’t speak English? Good luck getting your results.
People have similar values. If you go somewhere like Iceland, where 75% of their population is fully vaccinated, you will find a lot of people who have similar values. In fact, we met multiple groups of tourists who were home-bound for years, and mentioned it was their first vacation in 2 years. My favorite line? “We are so happy to be in Iceland. You couldn’t pay me to go to Florida right now.” Everyone was happy to test periodically, even at their own cost. And when we went on a free walking tour, everyone put their mask on as soon as we walked in a building. It’s refreshing and it feels safer and kinder than being in the United States.
People are happy and thankful. Like I said before, people are just relieved to be OUT. Away from their homes. Spending time in a new place. Everyone is up for adventure and in good spirits because they waited so long to travel. For example, we had a crazy experience in Iceland where we booked an excursion to go snowmobiling on a glacier. Not only was it pouring rain all day, but our van broke down on the side of the road. In the middle of nowhere. We pooled our bottled water to pour it on the engine because we ran out of coolant (not really sure if that’s what they did, I donated water but I have 0 mechanical expertise). We pulled up to a glacier river where two men on our tour refilled our water bottles and carried them back to the van for a few trips. No one yelled. No one cried. We never made it to the glacier or the snowmobile. Under ordinary circumstances, I think people would have been PISSED but post/during Covid? We were like *shrug* “sh*t happens, at least we’re still in Iceland.”
Uncertainty abounds. You need to be comfortable with being uncertain if you want to travel now. Booking a nonrefundable ticket? You’re rolling the dice. Booking an Airbnb with a 50% refund policy? Godspeed. Traveling without your laptop and hoping you don’t test positive and get stuck there? You’re a more confident person than I am. I’ve traveled every trip with my laptop, because you really never know if you’ll get stuck. Until that return Covid test comes back negative, you’re in limbo. You just need to get used to it.
Booking refundable is safest and easier than before. The best part about travel now is that most non-budget airlines have more flexibility. Both Delta and United are allowing cancellations for their most basic fares. You can’t get a refund, but you CAN get flight credit. Always check the small print about this, but in general, tickets are more flexible than they would be during other times. Hotels are always the safest bets if you are worried you will have to cancel, but even some Airbnbs have good cancellation policies, you can even filter by that.
Best yet? IT’S CHEAP. That’s right, I’m pretty sure you can fly to Europe for cheaper than an Uber to the airport. I’m barely exaggerating. I got roundtrip nonstop tickets on Delta to Iceland for $350. I booked my Portugal trip 7 days in advance for $482 RT. It’s crazy!

If you don’t follow me yet on Instagram (but actually… why don’t you?) then I know you came here solely for the photos. Here’s a dump of some of my favorites. Have any of you done some Covid traveling? Let me know where you’ve been in the comments below!

May trip to Seattle and surprise Hot Tub Boat for my birthday!

Travel

Alaska – The Last Frontier, My First Foray Back into Travel

May 27, 2021 2 Comments

I just returned from the trip of a lifetime to The Last Frontier! It’s been a LONGGG time since I’ve written a blog about my travels, but I am #vaxxed and ready to explore again! Initially, I wanted to travel internationally but it was incredibly complicated and then they canceled our flights last minute soooo we decided to go domestic but as FAR as we could get from New York.

My best friend and I booked our flights 7 days in advance. They were $259 round trip. If that isn’t a meant-to-be price, I don’t know what is. Plus, it opened up a lot of our budget to do amazing cool things basically every day. I won’t bore you with ALL of the details, but our rough itinerary was:

Night 1: Fly into Anchorage, arrive at 2 am Alaska time, 6 am Eastern Time. Woof.

Day 1: Explore Anchorage, drive to Seward

Day 2: Kenai National Park Fjord Tour (on a boat), explore Seward

Day 3: Drive back to Anchorage, stop along the way at the Wildlife Conservation center and in Girdwood at the famous Alyeska ski resort to take the tram to the top. Drive to Thunderbird Falls for a quick hike, then to Eklutna Lake for more photos and scampering about.

Day 4: Matanuska Glacier Hike. Drive to Denali, stopping along the way in Talkeetna.

Day 5: Drive to Fairbanks, stop in Nenana, explore a bit of Fairbanks, see the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, see NORTH POLE Alaska, say hi to Santa, go to the Chena Hot Springs, dinner in Fairbanks at a BBQ place recommended by Guy Fieri

Day 6: Denali Bus Tour (the only way to see the park besides multi-day hikes), drive back to Anchorage

Day 7: Fly on a TINYYYY plane to Lake Clark National Park. VERY long hike (was supposed to be 3 miles, ended up being 8, oops), cook dinner for ourselves

Day 8: Fly back on tiny plane, explore Anchorage, see world’s largest chocolate fountain, the railroad depot, and a suburban street where every house has its own airplane hangar (atlas obscura FTW).

Are you tired reading that? I am! I need a vacation from my vacation! Honestly, this blog could be 20 pages long, so instead of going into each of those things in depth, I’ll talk to you about the highlights:

Food and Drink

As I read many blogs in the 6 days between booking our flights and getting on the actual flight, a lot of people talked about how expensive the food is because everything in Alaska is imported. We didn’t have that experience, but that is likely because of 2 things: 1. We live in NYC where everything is ungodly expensive so anywhere we go, things are cheap in comparison. 2. We ate 1-2 meals a day because we were so busy.

Mostly, we went to breweries. There were bars and breweries EVERYWHERE! Maybe because there is not much else to do, or maybe because after hiking, all you want is a beer. We went to Seward Brewing Company, Denali Brewing Company, and 49^th State Brewery (twice!). The food was great, kind of like elevated bar food. Most days, we opted for seafood because it was amazing and fresh. We had fish and chips with fresh Alaskan Halibut, we had clam chowder/seafood chowder more than once, we had panko-encrusted tilapia, etc. etc. Also, we tried some gamey meats. Reindeer sausage skillets, yak burgers, etc. Honestly, everything was delicious. My favorite was probably the crab artichoke dip or the crab cakes. If you go to Alaska and want food reccos, come to me!

We also tried lots of local beers, usually only one per day because of the amount of driving we were doing. But in Anchorage, there were multiple breweries walking distance from our hotel – score! Also, we bought 3 bottles of wine at Walmart on Day 1, so we had some alcoholic supplies on the road for the hotel rooms after our longer drive days.

Freedom of a Rental Car/Having Two Drivers

Speaking of drive days… WOAH did we drive! We picked up the rental car the day after we arrived (or the day we arrived, technically, since we landed at 2 am and passed out immediately). The car was by far our biggest expense ($1500 for the week, plus $20/day for an extra driver), but it was necessary. We never would have been able to see what we saw without one. It was fun to have the freedom to add or remove stops whenever we wanted. Like on the last day, I decided to go to 3 random places I saw on Atlas Obscura. And on our drive to Fairbanks, we realized we were 15 minutes from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline so we went to go see it.

Not to mention the freedom of leaving all our crap in the car. As a New Yorker, I forgot about that! On Day 1 we bought a case of water and we drank almost all of it. Great way to stay hydrated on the road and not have to physically carry much. Also snacks. So many snacks. We were slightly worried about being BEAR AWARE with all the snacks in the car, but thankfully we moved them all to the trunk each time we parked and we were safe.

The best part of a road trip: two drivers. There’s no way I could have done multiple days with almost 8 hours of driving by myself. Most days we switched off every 2 hours, but on days with a lot of driving, or when it was getting late, or we got up really early, we switched off every hour. Sometimes we had a place to stop along the way, and sometimes we just pulled over and did a quick switcheroo.

Long Days

I mentioned long driving days, but I didn’t mention that the days were literally LONG. I’m talking 5 hours of darkness long. This really came in handy because we had days that were packed from sunrise to sundown, so like, 6 am-midnight. Knowing we weren’t trying to beat the sun meant we could drive longer, eat later, and do things until far into the night. Also, it meant we didn’t need to worry about being stuck in the forest on a hike with no cell service in the dark. This came in handy because we got lost on a hike. As in… a 3 mile hike turned into an 8 mile one. Woops! Good news, it stayed light. Bad news, we were STARVING because all food was required to be in bear-safe containers, which we didn’t have, so we didn’t bring any with us!

Wildlife

Speaking of bears… the wildlife in Alaska is top-notch. First, moose. They are EVERYWHERE. Actually! Most roads have 12-foot fences because they roam onto the road. In fact, they are killed often by cars and you can even get on a roadkill list where they will give you a killed moose to eat! We saw 3 while driving, just standing beside the road, and we saw many, many more in Denali National Park. Also along the road, we saw porcupines! I had no idea these were in the wild. In Denali we also saw Dall sheep (the only white sheep in North America), hawks, and many, many caribou.

But even cooler than the land animals were the sea animals. On our second full day in Alaska, we went on a boat tour to the Kenai Fjords and National Park. It was the craziest day for wildlife viewing that our boat captain had ever seen. He kept saying “Wow ladies and gentleman, what a day for a sail. I’ve been doing this a long time, and… we are having a very lucky day.” We started straight out of the port with a bald eagle. Then we saw many seals laying about. THEN WE SAW WHALES. Not just saw, they literally swam up to us, around us, under us. It was crazy. The humpbacks were the largest animals I have ever seen. After the humpbacks we saw Orca (killer whales) and they were jumping all around us! We also went right up to the Holgate Glacier.

Glaciers, Waterfalls and Other Amazing Scenery

Everywhere we went in Alaska, the scenery was breathtaking. On our very first day, we drove down to Seward and along the way we stopped at a place called Beluga Point, trying to see Beluga whales. We didn’t see any, but the views were actually unreal. They looked fake! I kept saying I felt like I was on the Truman Show. Throughout our trip we were constantly in awe with the beauty of nature. We stopped multiple times in the middle of a drive just to look around and take pictures.

My two favorite parts of the trip revolved around amazing nature: the Matanuska Glacier Hike and the Hike to the Tanalian Falls in Lake Clark. The glacier hike was pretty difficult. We were in the port-o-potties when they assigned groups, so when we came back, we needed to quickly tell them if we were in the “advanced” or “slow-moving” group. We picked advanced, not sure why, since we are city dwellers who have never donned a pair of “micro-spikes” before, but there we were trekking along with our helmets. It was AMAZING. We got to see crevasses wider than cars, and moulins (basically the black hole/kitchen sinks of glaciers), and we even got to refill our water bottles from a glacial waterfall.

Speaking of waterfalls, the Tanalian Falls were so beautiful. Honestly impossible to capture in photos or in words. Even though it took us 3 hours longer to get there than it should have, it was worth it.

Planes!

The last amazing piece of the trip was the planes. Planes, planes everywhere! Supposedly you learn to fly in Alaska when you are 14 and there are more unlicensed pilots in Alaska than in any other state. There was a lake right by our hotel in Anchorage where planes take off and land from the water all day and night. And we even went to a suburban neighborhood where each house sits on a private runway and has an attached airplane hangar like a garage! Totally wild. For our final adventure to Lake Clark, it is only accessible by plane. We took a 10-seater and tried not to pee our pants. It was VERY scary but SO COOL. They let us sit in the front seat as copilot (me on the way there, my friend on the way back), and the views of Alaska from the sky were even more breathtaking than from land.

If you were thinking about going to Alaska – do it!!! Warning, they barely wear masks at all there, so get vaccinated first. If you have questions or are building an interior Alaska itinerary, I’d be happy to give you all of my recommendations. Now today I’m off on my next adventure. I’ll update you on that soon!

Fitness

My OTHER Pandemic Addiction: Peloton

May 5, 2021 2 Comments

I am officially addicted to my Peloton. How addicted? Well, I’m currently on a train to Philadelphia and not only am I typing a blog about it, but I’m thinking about how much I miss my bike already. I made sure I did my core workout and cycling class before I got on the train. And I’m already excited about showing my mom all of the classes on the app. Also, I almost switched my trip because I found out it was Peloton Homecoming this weekend and I was going to miss it.

Even if you are not a pelo person, unless you live under a rock, you definitely know about it. It’s every other commercial on Youtube and Hulu. And you probably know the age-old joke, “how do you know someone has a Peloton? … they’ll tell you.” However, it didn’t always used to be like that. I started going to Peloton class in 2016 in person in the studio! This was WAY before the pandemic and I loved it even back then. In fact, I even wrote a blog about it! Actually, I wrote two from when I rode in the showroom in LA on a work trip. A lot has changed since then. It’s become much more bougie and the production value has increased. The instructors wear FULL makeup and matching Peloton clothes now, and they have bulked up and multiplied. Hundreds of thousands of more people have bikes. But the main reasons I fell in love with it still stand: the bike is super high quality, the community’s motivating, and the playlists are FIRE.

Pre-pandemic, people asked me if I’d ever buy a bike and I said I would never buy one in NYC but maybe if I moved. This was because of the availability of high-quality classes within proximity. But with Covid and studio closures, I really missed spin class. When I got my bike in February, it had been 11 months since I had been on a bike!

Before I took the plunge (the bike is $1800 plus $39/month subscription cost), I did a lot of research. I never take any purchases lightly, but even more than the cost, I wanted to love it. I had a few friends who went the alternative route, buying a regular bike from Amazon and then getting the cheaper Peloton membership at $12/month and riding that way. But the instructors teach to the Peloton bike specifically, using a “resistance” number that is based on their bike. When you take a class on demand, it pops up on the screen where your resistance should be and the bike also shows where you are within that range. That helps for me because sometimes I zone out on what the instructor is saying and I miss the cue. Ok, that happens a lot because I’m singing and dancing. Pretty much every class. I absolutely LOVE the music! I pick my classes by instructors who I know have the same taste in music as me. But Peloton also lets you preview all of the music beforehand. Most times I like a quick overview of the artists but I like to be surprised by the full playlist. They also have artist series, which is so fun. Last week I did the Usher ride and was jamming out the whole time. I’ve done Lauryn Hill, Beyonce, Monica v. Brandy, and many more. I have a favorite instructor (#TeamCody), but I dabble with a lot of others depending on my mood. I even did a barre class recently because it was a hip hop playlist. I usually hate barre but I sort of forgot because I was busy jamming to Trina.

Another reason I’m obsessed with Peloton: the STATS! Peloton keeps track of every one of your workouts, your averages, your PRs (personal records), and you are constantly racing yourself. I am a huge stats nerd and this is one of my biggest motivators. I love to see how well I can do in a class. I am not a competitive person, but when I’m having an off day and I’m feeling unmotivated, seeing that I still burned 300 calories in a low impact class gives me a great sense of accomplishment. 300 more than zero!

I have also found that the different class lengths have completely changed my mindset around workouts. Pre-pandemic, I felt like I wasn’t getting in a good workout unless I did at least an hour at the gym. But sometimes now I am not motivated, or my legs are sore, or I’m just having a bad day. I can hop on the bike for a 20-minute low impact ride between meetings or at 5:30 and I’m still showered by 6. Also, I always feel better after. Just yesterday I made a call for work. He said he couldn’t talk but asked if I could call back in 15 minutes. I said sure, popped on a 10-minute core workout, then called him back.

Speaking of core workouts, I never used to do them because I was scared and intimidated, but the app has so much content that I have been tempted to try a lot of new things. Last month, I did a challenge with Matty Maggiacamo called March Maggic, and it was 5 days of 20-minutes strength workouts all month, with different muscle groups every day. The 20-minute workouts seemed very easy to fit into my life (sometimes after a cocktail, oops), and I did 400 minutes of strength that I never would have done. In April, I did a program called “Crush Your Core” with Emma Lovewell. Did I feel like I crushed my core? No. I crushed my ego and I felt weak as hell. But I did do 2 1-minute planks on Wednesday and I definitely couldn’t do that a month ago.

The main reason I got a Peloton versus a “faux-loton” is because I wanted to spin with my friends! I miss my gym community SO MUCH. And since the pandemic, a lot of my old cycling peeps have gotten Pelotons. I have multiple group chats on Facebook and Instagram where we plan to take certain rides together, or do a long 100-minute ride on a Sunday. I love seeing my friends “on the leaderboard” and giving them incessant high fives. There’s nothing better than being there to witness a friend scoot by you and achieve a PR. (#HighFive!!!) There is even an option to video chat while the class is going on, but I haven’t quite mastered that yet. Plus, I’m usually wearing a sports bra and no shirt (why bother, I’m in my bedroom!) so I don’t love my friends checking in on my sweaty self.

Can you guess which day in February I got my bike?

The weird thing about my Peloton obsession is, I got the 3-month free trial of the Peloton app when I was in Texas and I only did 3 classes in 3 months. Now, it’s normal for me to do 3 classes in a day! I’m not sure what changed, but I love the variety. I also feel a bit more like my normal life living in my own apartment, so I can prioritize my workouts more than I could in Texas when I wasn’t living in my own space. I’ve done 206 workouts since I got the bike on February 9th: 112 cycling classes, 50 strength classes, 39 stretch classes, and a few outdoor runs and walks.

I was nervous I wouldn’t get my money’s worth, but that is certainly not a worry anymore. I put the bike in our bedroom so it is literally the last thing I see before I go to sleep, and the first thing I see when I wake up. The real question is, will I continue to use it after the gyms open back up? I’m not sure but I definitely think so. It’s so easy and I love it. Also, I can ride with my friends all over the country. Do you have a Peloton bike or work out on the app? Drop your LB name in the comments!

Miscellaneous

Vaxxed and Relaxxed (Soon!)

April 26, 2021 2 Comments

I’M FULLY VACCINATED! Let the world tour begin. But for real, I have been stalking flights basically daily since my 2-weeks-from-2^nd-vax-mark. As they say on Instagram… vaxxed and waxed baby!!! Except I got laser hair removal, but, same diff.

I was vaccinated at the Javits Center both times #TeamPfizer. I’ve gone through a lot of emotions at Javits. That seems like a weird thing to say about a convention center, but it’s true. The first time I went there was for the Barbri practice Bar exam. I was terrified. The second time was for the actual Bar Exam. Terrified doesn’t even begin to describe the emotions. Petrified is more like it. Then, I went back in 2019 for the NYC Marathon Expo. I was terrified again, but also excited. I had a little bit of PTSD from the Bar. But this time, for the very first time, I wasn’t scared at all. I was RELIEVED. It’s been *a year*, I think we can all agree. After receiving the vaccine, I went to a waiting area for a few minutes where they had a Wall of Thanks for us to write notes to thank anyone and everyone who made this day possible. And that’s when it really hit me how lucky I really am. None of my family or friends died. I didn’t lose my job. I have always had enough food. Millions of people cannot say the same. So I am relieved, but I am also so incredibly grateful. For the healthcare workers, the grocery store employees, the national guard who mobilized to make it a smooth experience, to the politicians who have made it possible for nearly 15 MILLION New Yorkers to have already been vaccinated. And for the SCIENTISTS.

The National Guard had everything SO well-organized.

For a state as large as New York, it’s pretty miraculous that it’s not even May, but 46% of our population has had at least one shot, and 32% of us are fully vaccinated. I’m a bit salty that they now have walk-in appointments at the Natural History Museum because… um, HOW COOL IS THAT??? And my friend in Florida got vaccinated at Publix, where getting vaccines is a pleasure (IYKYK). I kind of wish I got a PubSub (chicken tenders of course) along with my vax, but beggars can’t be choosers.

And now, the world is my oyster! Not exactly, because like, Canada is still closed. And Australia has a 2-week quarantine. And the EU is… not really here for Americans just yet. However, news broke yesterday that they will welcome us back soon!

I know different people are comfortable with different levels of things even if they are vaccinated. I’m still wearing two masks to the grocery store. And I’m not gonna lie, I’m still wary of crowds and groups. I haven’t even dined inside yet! But If I double mask on a plane and I’m double vaxxed, I am ready to GTFO of New York. I have officially booked 2 trips and a third is on the way! My parents haven’t traveled anywhere yet, but I’ve realized that when I call the home phone line now, there isn’t always someone there to pick up! It’s been over a year since that has been the case.

My mom and I canceled a trip last year because of Covid, and I can’t wait to travel somewhere with her again. But first, I’m actually going to their house for a week! Working from home has its perks, as I mentioned last week. And then… who knows!? I have a 4-day weekend for Shavuot (thanks, #JewJob). I have a 4-day weekend for Memorial Day/My Birthday. I booked a trip to Aruba with Chris in June. We are ready to relax in a place that is not our home. The real question is… will my Peloton miss me? More on my fav quarantine purchase later this week.

For now… where are you going first? Your parents’ house? To see your new grandkids? Cancun? Let me know in the comments.

Long Legs and other Personal Problems

WFH Advantages – I kinda don’t wanna go back?

April 16, 2021 1 Comment

Today is my 4 year blogiversary! It’s also been 13 months to the day since I started working from home. Somehow, I’ve never talked about it here on the blog. I talked about living with to-be-in-laws, and about being engaged and quarantined, but not the actual experience of working from home.

If you had asked me on March 16, 2020 how I felt about it, I would have said no. No way. Absolutely not. I’m a VERY social person and I love my coworkers and I love the feeling of having lunch with someone else. Also, I cannot even IMAGINE being in the same house as my fiancé 24 hours a day.

But now??? I’m not sure if I feel that way. As people get vaccinated slowly (more on that another day), workplaces are starting to talk about the transition back into in-person work and honestly? I’m not excited about it. I still miss my coworkers, but I kind of love working from home.

First of all, the commute. I love the subway. Really, I do. It’s quick, efficient, and it’s an inexpensive means of transportation. But when you put the experience of being sweaty and hurried, and pushed against 1000 other sweaty and hurried people in a cattle car versus the experience of literally rolling out of bed to the kitchen for coffee and a laptop?? I mean, I think we can all agree that the latter sounds more appealing. I mentioned the coffee, but also the breakfast. I think I have made eggs 95% of the days we have been home. To be honest, I also made eggs 95% of the days I commuted to work, but it usually involved being late, eating while standing up in the kitchen and packing a bag, and feeling like even putting my plate in the dishwasher was going to make me later. Now? I can wait to eat breakfast until after my 9 am meeting. Or after my 10 am meeting. Or whenever!! And the dishes can be put in the dishwasher while I’m on a call. No one can see me and I’m in my house!

Also, shoes. Don’t get me wrong, I love shoes. I have approximately 20 pairs of boots. But this year I discovered the joy of socks. And slippers. Or just no shoes at all. When all you do is pace around your bedroom on phone calls, real shoes are not necessary. In fact, I instituted a no-shoes-in-the-apartment policy. It’s easy because we leave so infrequently! Also, I mostly only wear sneakers so our shoe rack by the door can remain half full.

When you saw this blog title, you probably assumed I would talk about working out. You would have been correct. It’s the best part. Even before I got my Peloton, I was able to do workouts midday. Whether that was a step class during my lunch hour or a quick run when the sun was brightest and I could get the tannest, the fact that I could go home to shower before my next call made it lifechanging. Now, I sometimes do a 20-minute arm workout between calls. Or a 5-minute core workout before I make lunch. Sometimes, I go on a 30-minute run and I don’t even go home. I just continue to my next phone call and go on a low-impact walk. Which leads me to my next discovery – taking phone calls outside. I really hope that this continues even when they force me back to the office. Pre-covid, I spent hours of my day on the phone. When Covid began, all those calls shifted to zoom which was incredibly exhausting. Now, we are finally transitioning back to the age of phone calls, and the ability to go on walks while on work calls is amazing. I focus more on the conversation when my legs are moving, and I can breathe fresh air.

And finally, my sweet fiancé. I haven’t been without him for a full 24 hours in over a year. I used to travel without him for work and play, but now, it’s been 16 months since we have slept apart! I am going to go to my parents’ house for 5 days next month and it’ll be so strange not to have him there. That leads me to my last point – working from home means I can work from anywhere. Obviously, I took full advantage of that at the beginning of the pandemic when we moved temporarily (for 6 months) to Texas. And unfortunately, the challenge and lack of safety of travel has affected the real extent to which I have been able to take advantage of this. But I hope that in the future, our work environment is more flexible and we will have certain times in the office and certain times remote, so I can travel to different places, even if it means working for 8 hours and then exploring a new place in the evening. This flexibility of working without being strapped to a desk is an exciting new possibility.

How do you guys feel about working from home? Hate it? Love it? Scared to go back but also excited? Let me know in the comments.

Long Legs and other Personal Problems

DIY Furniture Fail

March 15, 2021 No Comments

Have you ever thought to yourself, “I have too much time on my hands and I saw this cool thing on the internet so I’m going to try it!” And then you totally failed?

Well, I’m not sure if you have, but I know for a fact there are some other people who have – there’s a whole show on Netflix called Nailed It that is based on this premise.

Since we moved into a new, much bigger apartment, we needed to furnish it and didn’t have money but had nothing but time, so I decided to try my hand at some DIY. Spoiler Alert: I did not nail it.

The goal: obtain some cheap or free pieces either from stooping or the Buy Nothing Facebook group (more on that another time), and then refinish them to be gray to match our blue/gray living space area theme.

More specifically: sand, gray stain, and finish a shelf to hold our stemless wine glasses and serve as wall art, a media center, and a coffee table.

Things started out pretty well. I found this awesome shelf on the street that my sister stored for me for a day. Free.

I saw a media center with GREAT bones on Buy Nothing, and paid Stoober $40 to transport it. Chris and I had to take it down 4 flights of stairs, which left me sore for 4 days, but #worthit.

I found this VERY cool coffee table that looked like it was made of crates in our building, that someone was throwing out. It had wheels, and totally fit in the theme of our décor (if it had been gray). Free.

Shelf on the Street (Like Elf on a Shelf but free)

We had random furniture all over our apartment while I got up the nerve to go to the paint store. It took me a week. I finally swallowed my pride after doing some preliminary googling, and I asked the guy at Benjamin Moore to “please speak to me like I am a stupid person who has never done any DIY before… because I haven’t.”

The man could not have been nicer. He explained sand paper, and told me I would be much better off getting a hand sander. He explained protective eyewear. He explained paint thinner for cleaning purposes (I still don’t totally understand this), and also helped me pick a gray stain. I had taken photos of all of the items and showed him, but since I didn’t purchase them and couldn’t be 100% sure if they were wood or laminate, I knew there was risk involved.

Thankfully, my brother-in-law had a hand sander I could borrow, so I didn’t need to purchase that, either. I watched 5 YouTube videos on sanding and loading spring-load hand sanders, then I put down some drop clothes and got to work. I decided to start with the smallest project, the interesting shelf thingy (very technical term).

Look at that hope and optimism in my eyes.

I had our air filter on high, the windows open, and our vacuum on hand. But WOW. It was LOUD. I was very worried about pissing off our brand-new neighbors. Also, despite the drop cloth, it was still going EVERYWHERE! About 10 minutes in, I went downstairs to investigate the possibility of using an outdoor outlet. Unfortunately, both outdoor spaces were closed due to snow/ice, and the only other outlet was at the entrance to our building. I asked the doorman and he said I should probably pass it by the super. I gave up on that plan and went back to my living room.

After sanding, I tried to clean up all the residue, and went on to step #2. Staining. Well, guys. I messed up. I used the FINISH. But only on one half of one side before I noticed, and thankfully, it was the top that no one would really see unless they were super, super tall. After switching to the actual stain, I proceeded. It didn’t look gray. I double checked the can. Gray. I waited. Still not gray. I waited overnight. Still not gray.

I added real googles for the paint/stain fumes.

48 hours later, the house STILL smelled like fumes and sawdust and the shelf was… you guessed it… NOT GRAY.

I decided to take my mind off of it by taking a Peloton class. (Yes, I will mention Peloton in every blog. I promise a full post on it soon).

All of a sudden, my entire neck broke out in what can only be described as a massive rash. It was bright red. Swollen. SO itchy I could barely finish the class. Of course, since I’m including this detail in my DIY blog, you already are guessing it’s from the project, but at the time, I was completely flummoxed. Remember, I hadn’t done anything with the project in almost 2 days! I thought I became spontaneously allergic to the peloton bike. Or my towels. I switched to 100% cotton tshirts. I tried working out in a different room. Nothing worked. I continued to break out in a serious neck rash every day when I sweat. I stayed up late, night after night, until my googling came up with this tidbit:

What to do about an itchy neck:
Toxins: Sometimes, exposure to toxins in the environment may be enough to cause an itchy neck. Working with chemicals or small particles such as wood fiber may increase the risk of irritation.

TADA solution. Sorta. I went about trying to figure out how to get rid of the toxins. Step 1: get rid of the paint. I gave it away on Buy Nothing. Step 2: vacuum EVERYTHING. The bookshelf. The rug. The couch. The windowsill. Step 3: clean out and empty the vacuums. Step 4: wait.

If you were wondering about the shelf and you read this entire blog hoping for an “after” photo, I apologize. It does not exist. I threw away the shelf. I took the media center back out to the street. I sold the coffee table for $40 on FB marketplace to try and make up some of the money lost on supplies and stoobering. Unfortunately, no amount of money made up for 7 days of neck rash. Eventually, it did go away. Meanwhile, you can find me on Amazon/Wayfair looking for a NEW coffee table that requires zero skill from me.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: