How to Pass Time When You Can’t Leave Your House

So the virus has officially entered America. It’s changed the way we live all our lives currently and maybe for far in the future as well. First of all, I want to express my gratitude to all the first responders and medical personnel working their butts off to help treat patients and contain the virus and keep us safe. I also want to express sympathy for those small business owners and employees of restaurants, airlines, workout studios, and anyone whose jobs and employment will be adversely affected by the pandemic. Houston has closed restaurants and bars for in house dining and advised us to stay home and social distance. I can only imagine how much worry is going into being able to pay bills and provide for a family. For most of us, we’re now facing weeks and potentially months at home with not much to keep us busy. I started working from home last week and with all my impending work deadlines, I’ve luckily had plenty to keep me occupied on weekdays. But with the looming weekends ahead of us, some of us are wondering how we’ll be able to survive 2 days at home cooped with several family members and pets. They say that sticking to routine as much as possible is key so in keeping with my Type A personality and my love for writing in my Lilly Pulitzer planner, I’ve been planning out my weekends with little activities and noting them down. These activities helped me pass time- I actually haven’t felt too bored at all! There is definitely more to social distancing than sleeping the day away!

Work on a Puzzle

A friend recently suggested The New Yorker 500 piece or 1000 piece puzzles and I love the idea! I”m normally not patient enough to invest my time in completing even a 500 piece puzzle (I just want the finished product really), but now all I have is time indoors so I thought why not. Puzzles can be purchased on Amazon or from the New York Puzzle Company and delivered to your doorstep in a few days- you won’t even have to leave home for it. I can’t believe I’m this excited to get cracking at putting together my 1000 piece puzzle, but look how cute it is!

Do an Online Workout

So many closed workout studios are taking their beloved classes online to share with those of us quarantined at home. My favorite 305 Fitness has been doing live dance classes on YouTube hosted by the founder, Sadie Kurzban, Define Body has free online classes and Pure Barre is doing a free 60 day trial. And don’t forget about your classic YouTube workouts that have always been online- Cassie Ho from Blogilates has a 14 day quarantine workout perfect for energizing your body. It is definitely going to be a different experience working out from home, but you have to do what you have to do!

Learn a New Skill via Online Classes

Brit + Co has provided the code “selfcare” for anyone who wishes to participate in one of their numerous online classes. The code lets you join a class- free!- and learn a new skills. There are classes from cake decorating to instagram photography to modern calligraphy. We’re all stuck indoors, but that doesn’t mean we can’t keep learning and piquing our interests!

Read A Book

I’m currently working on a year long challenge where I plan to read 52 books in 52 weeks- one book per week basically. With how hectic my days are usually, I had fallen behind a little (I’m suppose to have read 13 books by now…). But now that I’m stuck at home with nowhere to go, it is the perfect time to catch up! The libraries may all be closed to the public, but did you know that most libraries are conducting curbside pickup of books you place on hold? In person browsing may not be allowed anymore, but I’ve been browsing the library online catalogs and placing holds on books that I’m interested in reading. Once your book is ready for checkout, you simply call the library and tell them the date and time you plan to come pick up the book and they will check the book out for you and bring it out to your car when you arrive. If your library is closed, there is always ebooks and ordering physical books off Amazon. I picked up Reese Witherspoon’s first book club pick, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, and finished it within 2 days because it was that amazing. Some other books on my to read list include Ali Wong’s Dear Girls, Zoella’s March book club pick One of Us Is Lying, City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert, and Loveboat Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen.

Bake Your Own Desserts

Just because I’m now stuck at home with nowhere to go, doesn’t mean that my sweet tooth has disappeared. Unfortunately, a lot of my favorite bakeries in Chinatown or central Houston are too far a drive for me to go and pick up some desserts. So I’ve been at home baking my own sweet treats! I’m a huge fan of the Sprinkles Baking Book by Sprinkles Cupcakes founder, Candace Nelson, and have successfully tried out many of their recipes. Just recently, my sister and I spent a Saturday afternoon baking the chocolate marshmallow cupcake. We didn’t have any marshmallows readily available at home (and didn’t want to brave the crowds at the grocery store) so we substituted the marshmallows for chocolate chips and the cupcakes turned out delicious. If cupcakes aren’t really your thing, don’t worry because there are more than just cupcakes in the book! I have my eye on a chocolate chip cookie cake recipe and a lemon yogurt glazed muffin recipe next.

Get Creative with Crafts

A few weeks ago I took a watercolor calligraphy and greeting card making class at a local stationary store, Katie & Co. It got me hooked into making cute decorative cards for every single person (and I mean every) that I could think of. I place a curbside pickup order (I could really get use to all this curbside pickup to be honest) for Michael’s and within an hour, had my calligraphy brush pens, card stock cards and envelopes, and watercolor paint set. Over the past weekend, I spent hours painting, writing, and designing greeting cards! I rarely take the time to get creative and use my left brain to produce something fun so it was a real treat having so much time to fill with craft making. And for those of you who love crafts but aren’t super creative? A tip- use Pinterest and Google Images for inspiration!

As a planner, the uncertainty of life right now bothers me so much. As an extroverted personality, having to stay indoors away from most of my friends and fun plans is equally torturous. But I have to keep in mind that its not the end of the world! These 6 activities have brightened up my day in various ways. I hope they do the same for yours. Stay safe!