#19 Returning to an Action-Packed Life
Four years after COVID, I'm finally returning to my bullet-journaling, activity planning self, and it feels good
Bored in the Suburbs is a weekly newsletter sharing topical recipes, home design moments, and recommendations for curing boredom.
It’s the best time of year here in the DMV and I am embracing the cool nights and late summer bounty. My parents visited last week and I tested out an Alison Roman tomato tart on their first night, which was a hit. I’ve also been sticking to a super healthy, eastern medicine diet the last few weeks for health reasons and have noticed a significant change in my body.
Alison Roman’s Tomato Tart: I love Alison Roman’s home videos and her most recent is an ode to the final summer tomatoes. This tart is easier than it looks to make and we served it with sausages and arugula salad.
Brown Rice Salad a la Ayurvedic: For several weeks, I avoided cold foods, processed sugar, and carbohydrates high in glucose. This meal was one of the many lunches I cobbled together - cooked brown rice mixed with beets, cucumbers, red onion, and jalapeno that were previously marinated in lime juice, olive oil and salt. I added some Little Sesame hummus, cucumber, carrots, and avocado.
Carla Lalli Music Squash and Kale with Yogurt: My brother gifted me Carla’s cookbook for Christmas, That Sounds So Good. I’ve cooked through most of it but thought that this recipe would be perfect for my dietary needs. I would half the dressing she calls for in the kale salad but otherwise found this to be a delicious, healthy side.
A special commissioned piece of art for Ryan finally arrived from Chloe Bren, a Portland-based artist, who does the most beautiful pet portraits. I commissioned this while in Portland and it recently arrived. Styled with an easel from Amazon!
Before COVID became an every day reality and changed all of our lives in a matter of days, I was not “bored in the suburbs.” I was busy in the city. I began living this action-packed life in 2014 when I moved to San Francisco and realized that life is short, cities are thrilling and I needed to take advantage of every life experience (e.g., music festival, tasting menu, winery, oyster tasting, hike, birthday party…) while working as many hours as I deemed appropriate to get ahead. I also jumped on the bullet journal train at this time (a truly American phenomenon in which to make sense of our packed schedules in a simplified journal format that is then decorated with Washi tape and colored markers).
I was 31 years old when COVID arrived and I hunkered down just like everyone else. I stopped bullet journaling because I had nothing to plan for. At first, I had my fair share of cabin fever and panic attacks but after a number of months, staying home became my preference. Many months later when the vaccine became available, I remember feeling a strange sense of anxiety. I wasn’t ready to fully immerse myself into regular in-person events and what I now viewed as the cons of socialization: interpersonal conflict, drama, competition, socializing with people I didn’t really want to be around, client travel and heartburn-inducing presentations and perhaps worst of all, tight pants. And so, I kind of didn’t. I continued my insular lifestyle and clung to my current friendships. We bought a house in the suburbs and it became frighteningly easy to go days without seeing anyone except for my husband or neighbors.
Over the last couple of years, I would look back at those action-packed bullet journals and be mystified at my appetite for a week with 5+ social and/or community events that required me to engage with various groups of people. My status quo in recent years is one social event per week (max!) and a day in the office a couple of times a month. Then this summer, I was in Portland and I had this urge to buy a planner. I didn’t have the energy to create an entire planner from scratch, as the bullet journal method requires. So I bought one that was laid out for me, indulged in a few Micron 03 pens, Washi tape, and colorful markers and spent the afternoon laying out the next few weeks of activities, reflecting on my summer and the future ahead, and responding to a few prompts from Suleika Jaouad.
This newfound energy carried me back to DC and these past few weeks have strangely been reminiscent of those pre-COVID years. Ryan and I packed our schedules with a Waxahatchee and James Taylor concert, hosted a party at our home, attended a friend’s navy promotion ceremony, ate out, took long walks in the city, planned dinners with friends, and were “open” to new experiences. Maybe my brain chemistry is shifting back to extroversion but these weeks have felt just right, despite our true exhaustion at the end of the week.