Hello friends. Happy Sunday. I’m here to share 10 things I am enjoying right now. Our life is pretty intense at the moment as our children are home with us full-time (due to COVID outbreaks in our area). We are about to move and we’re doing one of our biggest shoots of the year this week—a few days before we move. Luckily, Emma is coming to help us with the girls. I’m so grateful for her support and for yours as well! Thank you for being here and reading our blog. We know some of you have been reading for more than 10 years! As we continue to grow, evolve, change age and well, live our lives, we’re so grateful you make the choice to be a part of it with us. 2020 might just be the worst year of many of our lives, but having some constant things has brought us great comfort. So thank you for your support and we will continue to do our best for you as well.
1. I purchased this necklace from this shop. I’m so excited to get it in the mail! I found Omi Woods though the Black-owned shop section on Etsy. I’m so excited to keep shopping and sharing Black-owned shops with you. I also got some really pretty coin earrings from this shop.
2. This kids reading nook room is so incredible. Wow, wow, wow!
3. My friend Alyssa’s book is available for pre-order. And guess what? I’m in the book too! Alyssa is so talented and I know the book is going to be just gorgeous.
4. I recently watched The Parent Trap with Nova and now I want this hoodie. So nostalgic!
5. The prettiest masks I have seen.
6. My best splurge lately was this set. It’s so cute! Sure, I never leave the house, but I’m starting to realize that cute clothes still matter to me—even in quarantine life. The occasional “date night at home” is pretty great. And yoga sets are good too. Haha! I live in them.
7. This puzzle is so beautiful! I feel like it’s a decoration SLASH toy, like a toy that’s beautiful enough to be a decoration as well.
8. A Sesame Street puppet craft for kiddos.
9. I have been marathoning The OC. It’s SO bad, it’s good. We’ve been going through a lot personally (in addition to the world going though a lot, which is also so heavy right now). I’m not hiding from the news—we still watch it almost every day, but it’s nice to have something so BAD like The OC in our life as well. I think it’s really important right now to find ways to take care of yourself. And that looks different for different people. If it helps you survive, I say enjoy it! It’s 2020. I’d love to hear what’s helping you as well.
10. The first purchase I made for our new home was ordering a whole bunch of these prints for our movie room. Can you guess which movies I ordered? I think I ordered 12 of them. I’ve never been so excited to make a gallery wall in my life!
Just for fun, I’d love to hear things you are looking forward to AFTER quarantine. For example, I really want to get some new tattoos. I was about to get some before COVID started, so I am looking forward to that! And obviously, going out on date nights, girl nights, and traveling—but I feel like those are probably on everyone’s list. I’m curious to hear what random things you are missing from pre-COVID life.
Hope you are safe and well! xx- Elsie
To be honest my 2020 wasn’t going so bad until my world came apart almost two weeks ago. Let’s just say the rest of the year is likely going to be quite the hurdle but I’m trying real hard to re-think my life plans and start implementing changes to get there. What I miss the most is that if I had found myself in my current situation at the same time last year, I would have immediately booked a trip to somewhere in Europe. I would have left everything behind and ran away as far as my credit card would allow to completely change my mind and perspective. I cannot do that now and I have to face my reality head on while remaining somewhere I don’t belong and where I don’t want to be. I know some have it so much worse and I try to remind myself of that every day but when you’re not doing well yourself, I think it’s also fair to live your hard times and consider them just as valid as someone who might go through something different and perhaps worse than you. But I’m not gonna lie, I’ve joined the club of those who’s 2020 is an absolute sh!t show (I apologies for my language) and it not pleasant! At least I can look forward to reading about your upcoming move and see what pretty décor you come up with.
Those masks are so cute!
Mariya | https://www.brunetteondemand.com/
Going to take a stab on which posters you got: Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Rosemary’s Baby, Clueless, Moulin Rouge, Steel Magnolias, Hocus Pocus, The Sound of Music, (500) Days of Summer, Empire Records, Moonrise Kingdom, 9 to 5, and Mary Poppins? Alternates: Legally Blonde, Marie Antoinette, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and maybe The Parent Trap. Eh? Eh?
You got some right!!!!! :))
i started watching “The Big Band theory” when the quarantine started. It helped me relax a lot.
I love this list! We just ordered the Caddyshack poster for the office. Have you decided what frames you’re going to use? I have such a hard time finding nice quality, modern frames. Thank you! P.S. that credenza is spectacular!
My husband and I are shamelessly watching old episodes of Jersey Shore for similar quarantine coping skills reasons.
We also bought a vintage vw bus. We’re going to add a table so we can have a portable dining room. It was arguably stupid to spend money on an old unreliable car in uncertain times, but we’ll both argue that we love it and couldn’t be happier with the decision.
Love the movie posters! Can’t wait to see them all up in the new crib. And definitely plan to hit up that Sesame Street craft with the kiddo! Thanks for another fun escape.
Oh and after quarantine… honestly excited to do some people watching somewhere. Restaurant? Target maybe? People watching without the increased blood pressure of watching people refuse to mask.
Oh my goodness. Intense is such a polite way of putting it.
Things are fine here, but they are intense for sure! My five year old is having like a really unidentifiably difficult time. With everything.
When this is over, the very minute the border opens to Canada, I am packing these two children and going to “our” beach over the river. Summer, autumn, or winter we are dressing appropriately and I will be sobbing the entire drive most likely.
I am in a long distance relationship. Pre-pandemic, we saw each other every 4 weeks. We just hit 4 months since we’ve seen each other. He’s in OR, I’m in MN. I live with my elderly mother and I have a young son, so I don’t really feel like the “calculated risk” argument makes that much since for me. It’s so frustrating I miss TRAVEL!!!!
Oh wow- sending love to you. That sounds so tough!
Thinking of y’all as you go through this difficult time. I can’t wait until eating out is fun and not stressful anymore, but all I really want is to get down to Florida to see my parents. We found out we were expecting right before the pandemic reached Europe and the US and have had to cancel two trips in a row now to see them. Never thought my pregnancy experience would look like this! Trying to focus on the positives (hurray for no unsolicited belly rubs!) But all I really want is to see my family and hang out with them, and of course for them to meet the baby :))
For Christmas last year, I was going to take my mom to a wheel-throwing pottery class with me. The class opening we were able to enroll in was a week after our city started shutting down in March, so it was canceled. I’m looking forward to post-COVID when we can finally take that class together!
I’ve been marathoning the OC, too! Since July 4th weekend. I can’t stop.
Traveling!!!!!!!! Missing it so badly.
You cannot in the same breath say that you support black owned businesses while supporting reformation. I’m super disappointed!
Hi Kelsey,
I’m going to have to read more about this- I’m not aware what’s going on. Thank you for calling it to my attention. xx
Hi Elsie,
Kelsey is referring to police reformation over abolition and/or defunding. In your “Before We Begin Again” post, ABM commented on supporting police reform, but did not mention abolition or defunding. Police reform has not worked and continues to be an empty solution that is safe to hide behind.
Also, while 2020 has been a universally challenging year for everyone, it has obviously brought about a much needed reckoning to for racial and economic injustice. To even take a sentence or two to mention that (especially before sharing links to Black-owned businesses) is important and could have had impact.
I originally submitted a version of this comment as MJ, but I have a feeling it was blocked. I’m submitting it again because to silence invitations to grow in awareness and responsibility is a miss on ABM’s part.
Hi! I believe she is talking about the fashion brand Reformation. Different thing. 🙂
Thank you for publishing and responding! This is good information, AND, oddly enough, police reformation vs abolition/defunding is obviously a crucial conversation. I’m not aware of controversy with the brand Reformation, so now I have something of my own to research.
Hi ABM team,
I wanted to give my thoughts on why linking a Reformation two piece set in the same round up takes away from your attempt to support Black owned businesses. Many Reformation employees have come forward about the lack of equity and advancement they experienced working at Reformation, including instances of wage disparity, outright racism, and suppression when concerns have been voiced. This is in addition to several extremely tone deaf advertisements over the years that intentionally “other” factory works, BIPOC, and blue collar folks as background dressing for white models. While I REALLY appreciate you linking brands outside of Amazon and fast fashion, I encourage you to support brands that have a higher standard of ethics. Reformation will only create meaningful change in their business and marketing practices if we hold them accountable. For more information, consider a “Reformation problematic” google search and follow Diet Prada on IG, who continues to report on how this company has hurt their Black employees.
Would love to hear your thoughts in response, as I know lots of efforts goes into these round ups.
In solidarity,
Nicole
Thanks so much for sharing this Nicole. To be honest- yes, I bought several outfits from Reformation recently in efforts to support something sustainable that’s not “fast fashion”. I hope that they truly do change their practices. I think it’s important to see what businesses do after they are called out and a full apology and plan to change is a good start. That said- I’m not pretending to be an expert on this subject and my understanding of this story is surface level based on like 10 minutes spent on their IG page. It sounds like you know a lot more about it than I do.
Anyway! I am going to continue supporting Black-owned businesses.
We retired and moved, thinking we’d get settled and then travel. The move went well. The next door neighbors are great but social distancing has kept us from socializing with others. No traveling in our future. Haven’t seen one of our kids since February. So it’s been a challenge. The plus is that our relationship is much tighter and we’ve had some really surprising and revealing conversations.
We are dying to dine out but not DYING to dine out right now. We’ll get thru this, just very carefully.
Being far away from family during COVID is so difficult. I feel that as well. I’ve only seen my parents one time since Christmas. Facetime helps quite a bit, but both my grandma’s don’t have smart phones so we can’t Facetime them… 🙁
Keep being careful- you’re doing a good job. XX!
I agree with you about the OC! Life is really difficult right now and I’ve been rereading Harry Potter and listening to music from the 90s. My husband is replaying video games from his youth. Returning to these adolescent pleasures is soooo comforting right now and just what we need.
It’s so true!
I started isolation by rereading all of Harry Potter, and then moved on to the OC! Ha!