A Little Life Update

Posted July 2, 2021 by Cristina (Girl in the Pages) in Features / 4 Comments

I’ve thought about writing this post at least a half dozen times. There’s a lot I want to say…but also not that much at the same time? I’ve been a little quiet here this year and I wanted to provide a few life updates that have been taking up some of my time away from this space:

  • I’ve picked up some other hobbies. I’ve really gotten back into makeup and have been spending a lot of time watching beauty Youtube, buying and testing new products, and starting my Youtube channel (which will be a blend of beauty + bookish content). I also am working on a whole new vanity set up in my home that I’ve invested a lot of time in but that I’ll be so happy with when finally complete!
  • I’ve been watching a ton of TV. Yes, it’s not the most *productive* of habits but once COVID hit and I didn’t leave my house for about a year (I’m not even kidding), I had a lot more free time that was too anxiety ridden to be productive for reading. I therefore descended into one of my favorite pastimes- watching old reality tv from my youth. I binged seasons 1-17 of America’s Next Top Model (currently stuck in the middle of the All Stars season because oof it’s not a good one), most seasons of Top Chef, and am currently on season 10 of KUWTK. A lot of these shows I watched the first few seasons of back in the day when I was a teen, and it’s fun to watch them as an adult and catch up on all of the content I’ve missed…even though a lot of it did not age well.
  • I’ve picked up a new exercise routine. I might have mentioned this at some point last year but I was inspired by one of my friends to buy a spin bike for my home since I wasn’t leaving the house and really needed to get back into the swing of things exercising. I bought a relatively affordable bike from Sunny and rode on and off last year, but have consistently done classes 3-4x per week since March of this year and it’s really satisfying to see myself slowly but surely build muscle and endurance. I have been spinning with Gabby from The Cadence Club for the past year and I ADORE her classes- she does rhythm cycling which is different from typical spin classes.
  • I miss Coco. Some of you may have seen my Instagram post a few months ago about the death of my cat, Coco. I adopted her at 15 years old and she’d been with me through every major life event, and almost half of my life. Losing her this February was incredibly difficult, especially since it was almost to the day of the 1 year anniversary of the passing of her sister, Skye. I’m doing better now, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t impact my motivation to read in the February-March time frame, as it was easier and less painful to loose myself in Youtube and tv.
  • The Panini. I’d by lying if I said my life was back to “normal.” Or even a “new normal.” Though I’m incredibly lucky to be fully vaccinated in time for summer, not much has changed about my life expect the occasional trip to the store now. It’s been absolutely wild (in my opinion) to see so many people going about life almost as if nothing ever happened. Shaking hands, hugging, touching…it’s too much for me right now. I’m still wearing a mask anytime I’m indoors or outside with multiple people (even though masks are no longer required in my state for fully vaccinated people). I understand that everyone will have their comfort level with interactions post-vaccine (and many had very different comfort levels than I did pre-vaccine) but I’m still shocked to see how eagerly most of society seems to be diving back into public outings, travel, etc while I’m over here feeling like I took a huge risk going to Trader Joe’s after everything we’ve seen happen over the course of the past 16 months. This has obviously limited my travel/outings and thus that type of content for my blog…I don’t even have any updated pictures from this year to share on this post because I’ve really done nothing outside of my day to day norm (expect for my wedding anniversary, which I’ll touch on in a separate post).

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for listening to my rambling! I of course plan to continue to blog, and I have to admit summer is making me feel more excited to develop content (the warm weather always boosts my mood and I’m hopeful that I’ll get a lot of reading done during some vacation days I’m taking). This was really just a stream of consciousness type post, but if you’ve been struggling with consistency in blogging this past year/year and a half, I totally understand and encourage you to feel OK with taking time off or exploring other hobbies! I’ve found this community incredibly understanding when it comes to taking personal breaks and we will be here when you’re ready to return 🙂

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4 responses to “A Little Life Update

  1. I’m so sorry to hear about Coco 🙁 And yeah I also can’t imagine how people can be just… dive back into life as if nothing has happened. As much I want to, I think it would be a while before I’m comfortable with eating out and going to concerts!

    Tasya @ The Literary Huntress recently posted: XOXO by Axie Oh

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