Day 22 - LA County Dept. of Health mandates indoor masking and OUTDOOR masking at large events
The Chinese Garden at The Huntington…
L. and I went to “Afters” today…
9/5/21. Monday. Labor Day
10:00 – 10:30 – I’ve been awake for a while, but it was too difficult to get out of bed. I start a load of laundry then go downstairs to greet the animal. She’s been awake for some time and jumping up and down on the child-gate, but when she sees me, she jumps on the couch so I can rub her tummy. We go outside and I wait for her to go potty. Then, back inside – pieces of gross turkey burger for her and coffee for me.
10:30-11:30 – I enter my home office and download several posts to my blog. Then, I open my Asynchronous class at College No. 2 and ‘publish’ the next week of assignments. I also check email at both Colleges and listen to The Daily.
11:30-11:45 – I hang most of my laundry to dry, but add a few items to the drier.
11:45-12:30 – I read Work Won’t Love You Back.
12:30-1:30 – Shower. Lotion. I put on yoga pants and a shirt. Light make-up.
1:30-2:30 – I do a 15-minute Insanity – Cardio Abs workout, then make a salad and pack a few snacks in my lunch bag.
2:30-3:30 – I water my plants.
3:45 – 7:30- L. and I leave for The Huntington for their Members Summer Evening Stroll. L. drives and I eat my salad in the car. We listen to the Spooked podcast – this is one of our favorite podcasts and the first episode of the season dropped two days ago.
L. had specifically asked to attend a Summer Evening Stroll and I was able to make reservations for Labor Day after ensuring that we both had time in our crazy schedules. This is one of L.’s favorite places (in the world, actually) and she knows the park well. We walk the grounds and L. takes me to a section I’ve never seen before, complete with hiking trails and orange trees. The park is cleared for “Members Only” and hardly anyone is here. Most people are masking, but we’re outdoors…does it really matter? It’s peaceful here. We explore most of The Huntington before finally ending up at the Chinese Garden. I’ve been to The Huntington more recently then L. so I point out some of the new additions that I noticed last time I was here.
7:30 – 8:30 – L. and I leave and stop off at Afters [in Pasadena] for ice cream. I get the “Cereal and Milk” ice cream with “Cookie Crisp” topping and L. gets…something? My ice cream tastes incredible.
8:30-9:30 – L. and I drive home. L. has questions about our country’s housing shortage and when I think it will end. I direct her to Planet Money – “Three Reasons for the Housing Shortage” and we listen to that episode on the way home.
9:30-10:30 – I break out my cookbooks, specifically my Insanity recipes, and L. and I do a “fun” exercise that the book recommends, wherein we calculate our daily caloric intake based on a complicated formula via the Insanity franchise that involves our height, weight, and exercise activity. Based on our calculations, L. can’t eat more than 1500 calories a day (she probably doesn’t eat that many calories in 3 days) in order to maintain her current weight and my daily intake can’t go above 1900. My baseline is higher because my exercise routine is extremely rigorous and typically 5 days per week. L. doesn’t give a shit about any of this and says calculating our caloric intake is stupid. I agree and tell L. that I’m glad she has such a healthy approach to food and her body. I secretly file away my caloric number, however.
I’m meal-planning for the week/month and since L. has two really, really long days at college every week – Monday and Wednesday – I encourage her to thumb through my Insanity cookbook and pick a few things that I can make for dinner and/or her lunches on Mondays and Wednesdays. Wouldn’t she like to pack a lunch bag on those days? L.’s not interested and it’s like pulling teeth just to get her to thumb through my cookbook and circle a few of the meals she finds interesting…BUT, she does it.
10:30-11:00 – Kitchen duty and I listen to AirTalk.
11:00-12:00 – L. and I watch one of the last episodes of Married at First Sight. I’m not quite sure if Woody and Amani are going to stay together…the show keeps running a misleading ‘trailer’ so it’s unclear.
12:00-1:30 - I enter my office and spend some time looking for light panels that I can install in the garage/L.’s art studio as fake windows. L. selected two from Ikea, but they’re very expensive and I think I can find the same thing for less. L. approved the ivy swatch that I ordered the other day, so I place my order for enough ivy panels to cover the entire wall of the garage/art studio, per L.’s request. I also order some toiletries from Walmart. I listen to Labyrinth.
1:30-2:30 – Nighttime routine. Bed.