Hey, yeah, I’m still here. This is only my second post this month and it’s April 12. You know, life happens.

I value my alone time. Part of the reason why I’ve been MIA is I’ve been busy with social engagements. And as an introvert, that takes a lot out of me. From the end of March into April, I had something every day: hair appointment, going away party for a co-worker, going away lunch for the same co-worker, covering an event on campus for social media, going to see the spring musical on campus, and then the Red Sox game. None of it was bad—but it was way too much stimulation for myself. I could feel myself getting crabby and tired, and I tried to carve out alone time last week to recover. Thanks to Josh for understanding and giving me some space. I’m feeling a lot better this week, though.

I still get nervous before my runs. It’s less of an “I need a perfect time” thing and more of a “Am I going to survive?” thing. Also TMI: I go to the bathroom like a bunch of times before leaving the condo to make sure I don’t have to worry about finding a bathroom on my run. (Shoutout to the two schools I live by for having port-a-potties out by their athletic fields. No shame, I have used them before in emergencies.) I know I’m no where close to my 2020 running shape—I literally had nothing else to do in the OG COVID days so I ran a lot—but I want to be more consistent this year. I’ve come up with a list of 5K races for the year based off of the ones I’ve done in the past, and signing up for those gives me the motivation to keep running during the week. I’m just trying my best here.

Surprise summer weather this week. It’s supposed to be in the high 80s on Friday. Welcome to New England: where the weather’s made up and the temperatures don’t matter. Josh and I brought up the balcony furniture from the basement so we can sit outside now, or rather, I can sit outside and read. I don’t know if the warmer temps will require us uncovering the AC, but I did shut the heat off today and open up the windows to get some fresh air in.

Treat yo self: handbag edition. Last week, I decided to update my work bag. Well, it actually started out as a regular purse but since it was big, I could carry all of the things I needed for work. And it was fine, but it just felt like I was bringing too much for an 8 hour day. I saw this bag on QVC last Monday and ordered it in the blue leather. (It’s not available now but you can see the color in the few pictures on the page.) I like that it has the three compartments and that you can carry it by the handles or as a shoulder bag. Plus it’s smaller in size than the other bag I was using. I cut down all of the things I was bringing to work, only really needing the essentials: phone, wallet, sunglasses, eyeglasses, work ID and name tag, band aids and advils, and a book. With this bag, it can be more of an every day bag instead of having to use a smaller crossbody for errands.