Fall allergies are a thing? I usually suffer pretty badly in the spring with allergies—that darn pollen—but I guess my body just hates me right now. I’m not sure if it’s because the weather was rainy and then 80 degrees for three days, but last weekend I had to play the “Is it a cold, allergies, or COVID?” game. By process of elimination, thanks to a negative COVID test, I determined it was allergies. I worked from home for a few days just because I was so stuffy, but I’m doing better now after about a week. TLDR: allergies are dumb.

I deleted TikTok off my phone. As I mentioned in my last diary, my relationship with social media has changed. When I managed social media accounts for work, I needed to have TikTok on my phone, but once I moved into my new role, I didn’t need it anymore, really. I first removed it from my home screen—so I’d have to physically search for it—and then one day about three weeks ago I just deleted it completely. When it was on my phone, I found myself just aimlessly scrolling through it, which I guess is the sole purpose of all social media, but I was only doing it when I was bored or needed to waste time. Now if I could only stop scrolling through the Instagram explore page constantly. Baby steps.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship. I like Taylor Swift’s music, I won’t lie, but as a person, I’m not super interested in what she’s doing with her life. Until she started showing up at NFL games. I still don’t really care what’s going on, but I think it’s funny how obsessed people have become with her new relationship with Travis. Josh absolutely hates it, so I keep sending him funny things on social media to annoy him. I just can’t wait to hear the breakup song and all of the vague football references.

Everyone and their mother are getting married. I’m pretty sure every single person I follow on Facebook got married in September. Okay, so, probably an exaggeration, but still. Is there something in the water? Josh’s sister got married last month, and we’re both happy for the new couple. But I’m seeing random people I went to college with getting married and I’m like, did I miss something? Not that I’m asking for a proposal anytime soon—don’t worry, Josh. Seeing people hit these life milestones makes me wonder if I’m doing things right, but I’m happy where I am—plus planning a wedding sounds incredibly stressful.

I’m trying to make an effort to see friends more. This summer was super busy, and although I spend like 24/7 with Josh now that we live together, I realized that I wasn’t seeing my friends. Granted, I don’t have a big friend group, but I knew I had to make an effort. I met up with an old co-worker/friend last month for drinks at a winery, and it was great to catch up with her. She’s going to join Josh and I when we go to a maze beer tasting in a few weeks. I made plans to get lunch with a friend from the ice cream shop and my mom; we were supposed to go this past weekend but I rescheduled due to the allergies. And my friend who got me involved with the theater group—she’s also a co-worker and someone I’ve been close with since I started working in the marketing department—came over last night just to hang out since I hadn’t seen her in weeks. Sometimes I find myself retreating back into my introverted-ness, and when I realize that, I know I have to see friends, even if it’s just one-on-one, which works better for me.