Welcome to this month’s edition of Where Bloggers Live. It’s kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…Bloggers! Who doesn’t like to peek behind the scenes and see inside people’s homes, interests, and lives? Every month a group of seven bloggers share their work-spaces, homes, towns, and thoughts, with posts based on specific prompts. It’s been so interesting over the years to see the different ways each of us interpret the topics.

July’s prompt is “How I Do Self-Care at Home.” I’m probably on the very VERY low end of the spectrum when it comes to self-care. I’m not a “product” person. I don’t meditate or stretch or do yoga. I don’t consistently eat particularly well. I have no particular health and/or beauty routines. I don’t brush my hair a hundred strokes before bed or roll an icy roller over my puffy face in the morning.

Wikipedia defines “self-care” as “…the process of establishing behaviors to ensure holistic well-being of oneself, to promote health, and actively manage illness when it occurs. Individuals engage in some form of self-care daily with food choices, exercise, sleep, and hygiene.”

Perhaps the three areas in which I do practice some degree of self-care, are: 1) reward 2) escape 3) naps. Ha.

I am big on rewarding myself for small and large accomplishments. You survived that test? You get ice cream. You adulted? You don’t have to speak to humans for the next 24 hours. You got yourself to Korea? You get to stay two nights in a fancy hotel. Etc. I learned long ago that no one else is necassarily going to NOTICE my (what I consider) accomplishments, let alone reward them. So at some point I just decided that was my responsibility and I’m pretty okay with that. I realize that “reward” might be slightly outside the recognized scope of self-care…but not for me 🙂

Escape can take many forms: not leaving my room, cancelling plans with a human, skipping class, sleep. Just like the dog who has his crate in the corner where he knows he can go to escape noisy family life…I take comfort in knowing that I, too, can escape life when needed. When “out there” and “they” just get to be too much…and my anxiety and stress levels are SUPER HIGH, I don’t always have to push through. Sometimes I can hide out at home or with a book or a nap. Sometimes you just need a little break.

And lastly, naps. Ahhh, the glory of a nap. I think naps fall into both of the above categories: reward and escape. Few things feel as luxurious as a nap. The ability to just lay down and close your eyes when the rest of the world is being productive and fulfilling obligations, woohoo, that is heady stuff.

Reward, escape, and naps may not typically fall under the umbrella of self-care, but…I firmly believe that these things make the difference between Bettye Who Can Get Through One More Day…and Bettye Who Curls Up in a Ball The End. And isn’t that what self-care is?? Taking care of yourself so you can continue doing this life thing?

Please make a visit to my friends’ blogs as well, to see how they do self-care.

Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks
Em at Dust and Doghair
Iris at Iris’ Original Ramblings
Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style
Leslie at Once Upon a Time Happily Ever After
Sally at Within a World of My Own

I’m back! But I’m So Disappointed. Up til the landscaper came today there was a beautiful thick carpet of fallen leaves on the patio! I was so excited to come home and take a picture in them – and I came to find the patio all bare 🙁 Boo.

I could have upped the cute quotient here by tying up the flannel shirt but nah. Plus I took the shirt on and off like three times today in different temps/locations.

But fall is my favorite time to wear this dress so I can layer it and add some other colors and pattern.

Dress: Old Navy, 3x. 2020
Plaid Button-down: BP/Nordstrom, 4x. 2018
Sneakers: Converse Shoreline slip-ons, 2021.

Okay, now THERE’S a Fashion Schlub! Ha. Wow. Ha.

Let’s just focus on the positive, shall we? Two points for pattern mixing. Polka dots + plaid. It’s hard to see in the photo, but the shirt has a thin line of sort of chestnutty mustard. I’d like the pairing even without that, but…

Zero points for Day 3 hair.

Polka Dot Tee: Old Navy, 3x. 2020
Plaid Button-down: BP/Nordstrom, 4x. 2018
Jeans: Gloria Vanderbilt Amanda, 22 short. 2018
Sneakers: Converse Shoreline slip-ons. 2020

 

This was one of THOSE days. Where half the day you’re like RUH-ROH something is seriously effed up and while it’s not EXACTLY my fault I think I’m gonna be held responsible for it and why do I always have to feel this way?? And then you discover it was really just a semantics issue – you had the thing right all along but it SEEMED wrong cuz other people were calling The Thing something else…but it was all really the same thing.

I have a hard time letting go of…residual anxiety. Even once I realize everything’s actually okay, well I still had that stress for 3 hours and it doesn’t just disappear. I guess that’s called relief. I feel like I don’t really experience RELIEF when I guess I really should. The anxiety just lingers.

It’s like things just go from poor to bad…back to poor…there’s never a GOOD.

In my PERSONAL life I don’t have this issue. I don’t eff up cuz I’m doing MY thing MY way in MY time. Ugh. And even if I DO get something wrong, OH WELL. Just fix it and move on.

It was a bad day. And it came right on the heels of a bad day last week that I’m not over yet.

Sorry to just vent here but.

Taupe Cashmere Sweater: Mogaschoni/Nordstrom Rack, 2x. 2020
White Tee: Old Navy Luxe Tee, 3x. 2020
Plaid Button-down: BP/Nordstrom, 3x. 2021
Jeans: Gloria Vanderbilt Amanda, 20 short. 2021
Sneakers: Converse Shoreline slip-ons. 2021

Back to work tra la la.

Cough cough.

It’s cool enough for some light layering, which is lovely.

I really got nothing else.

OH. Yeah. It’s only Tuesday and I’m already a day behind.

OH. And BTS’ big news. They decided on their own to NOT wait for the razzinfrazzin government to make up its mind and just state WE’RE GOING. The govt has been dragging this decision out for the 2+ years I’ve been a BTS fan and enough already. I’m very proud of them. Do I wish they didn’t have to go? Yes. Do I wish NOBODY had to go? Yes. But I think it’s better for them as South Korean citizens to have made this decision. I think many native Koreans would have had a bad taste in their mouths if they DIDN’T go. So good for them. They’ll go on a little bit of a staggered schedule – Jin, the oldest, goes the end of this month…and the rest will follow as their individual projects go live. Remember, they’ve been working on individual projects since June when the media said they were taking a hiatus. Trust me, there has been NO HIATUS. I still can’t keep up with all the new content. And I’m sure HYBE (their mgmt co) has a TON of content set aside for when they’re all in the military at the same time, and they will dole the breadcrumbs out over the 2 years to keep us in line 🙂

Okay. So I had SOMETHING.

Striped Knit: Old Navy, 3x. 2021
Blue Chambray: Dia& Co, 3x. 2020
Jeans: Gloria Vanderbilt Amanda, 22 short. 2018
Sneakers: Converse Shoreline slip-ons, 2021

Work from Home Day 2. Had to put on clothes for a Zoom call. But didn’t have to put on shoes! Hee hee. It was nice not having to talk all day. Yesterday was exhausting with all the running around: flat tire, to work, back home, to doctor, to pharmacy, back home again. So it was nice to more or less sit in the chair all day.

But more importantly: what’s for dinner? I’ve eaten all the Instacart “sick at home” goodies from last week. I don’t want to have to prepare anything. But I’m hungry already and it’s only 4:30. I’ve had soup and rice and chicken and frozen pizza and steak and ice cream bars and tuna on crackers and buttered noodles and butterscotch pudding and toast with butter and jam. What else IS there??

What are y’all having for dinner these days? Inspire me.

I will say, nice pattern mixing, Bettye. This hardly even READS as pattern mixing to me cuz it’s just too easy. The “stripes” are really little geometric…thingies. Stripes and plaids are easy. And the blue (stripes) and the yellow?? Very late summer Provencal.

Maybe I’ve been alone too long.

Dress: Junarose, 3x. 2017

Plaid Button-down: Target, 4x. 2021

Feet.

 

After a week of coviding, I attempted to head back to work this morning (with a side of flat tire), only to be kicked to the curb. Return to work fail. Too much coughing. Talking leads to coughing, coughing leads to dizziness. It was not a great situation but. I gave it the old college try.

In the end, I’m allowed to work from home for the time being, which is a help. Much easier to work from home where I don’t have to talk (see above) and can stay still and calm, which reduces the overall coughing and dizziness.

I also went to the doctor (yes, ME) to see about getting an inhaler for the shortness of breath (a genius suggestion on my boss’ part).

It was sort of dreamlike being out in the world. I’ve been inside for eight days…and that was after being mostly inside in Florida for three days before that. I didn’t hate it, ha ha. If money was not an issue I think I could make a very successful life for myself as a recluse. It did seem very…..like there was just a LOT GOING ON out there. People and cars and talking and sounds. It was nice to get back to my quiet little cave.

At one point when I was driving I had this thought, “am I driving?” Which is probably not a good thought to have while driving. But I made it home in one piece.

Anyway. I think I may have worn the same thing today I wore the last time I posted on here. I’m too…it’s too much effort to even check that right now, and anyway, it is what it is. Maybe this could be my cold weather every day outfit…and the green polka dot dress be the warm weather every day outfit. I think I could live with that.

Mustard Striped Tee: Old Navy, 3x. 2020
Red Plaid Button-down: Sanctuary, 3x. 2020
Jeans: Gloria Vanderbilt Amanda, 22 short. 2018
Sneakers: Converse Shoreline slip-ons, 2021

It Was a Day. But really…all those poor people that got hit hard for Hurricane Ian, my heart goes out to them. At the last minute it shifted west a bit and Katie was saved from the hard hit she expected – she was without power for a little over 24 hours but she got it back late this afternoon so at least I’m not traveling to stay someplace with no electricity or hot water.

It was One of Those work days…you think you know what’s on your plate but SURPRISE everyone else has different plans for you 🙂 I managed to complete everything that HAD to be done by end of day before I headed south but it was a stressful day. And 1.5 flat tires. Typical.

I watched Parasite a couple nights ago…the Korean movie that won Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 2020 (the first foreign language film ever to win Best Picture in 92 years of Oscar history). People have been asking me for two years HAVE YOU SEEN PARASITE – cuz Korean…but it really didn’t look like my type of movie. And it WASN’T…but it was SO different than I expected. And surprising. And I feel so – I know it’s weird – proud of every success South Korea is recognized for.

But why I brought it up now is cuz the father in the movie had a whole scene talking about plans…and how there’s really no such thing as a plan.

“You know what kind of plan never fails? No plan. No plan at all. You know why? Because life cannot be planned. Look around you. Did you think these people made a plan to sleep in the sports hall with you? But here we are now, sleeping together on the floor. So, there’s no need for a plan. You can’t go wrong with no plans. We don’t need to make a plan for anything. It doesn’t matter what will happen next. Even if the country gets destroyed or sold out, nobody cares. Got it?”

He has a point (said Miss Plan Everything Within an Inch of Her Life). But I still think it’s 50/50. I prefer a “PLAN…but be prepared to PIVOT (ugh, ha) when Life has OTHER plans for you” plan.

On the bright side, it was cool enough for a little layering.

And now I have to go pack.

Mustard Tee: Old Navy, 3x. 2020
Red Plaid Button-down: Sanctuary, 3x. 2019
Jeans: Gloria Vanderbilt Amanda, 22 short. 2018
Sneakers: Converse Shoreline slip-ons, 2021

I may as well just wear this dress every day. It feels like I already do. When I look at my TikTok profile it’s like 3:1 green polka dot dress to anything else.

I’m in that “am I going? aren’t I going?” limbo…I was supposed to be flying down to Katie’s in FL Thursday night (I’m writing this on Wednesday afternoon)…but…hurricane…flights all being cancelled…she got me booked on another flight Friday at noon but I don’t know how likely it is that that will be taking off, either. I’m trying to remain optimistic for her cuz I know how badly she wants to come up here to do a friend’s weddingy thing…and I need to get down there to dog-sit for her so she can come up.

I know these are insignificant issues compared to like ALL OF CUBA being without power and whatever other damage this storm has already done (and will continue to do). Her power went out a couple hours ago and the storm hasn’t even REALLY hit St Petersburg (where she lives) yet. She covered up all the windows and french doors and brought all the outdoor furniture in, stocked up on food and bottled water, and charged all her electronics. Then you just wait.

Anyway. I’ll make a pile tonight of things I’ll take if I go…but I’m not actually Going to the Suitcase til I get confirmation of the Friday flight.

Hope everyone else is safe and dry…

Dress: Osei-Duro, 3x. 2020
Sweater: BP/Nordstrom, 2x. 2021
Sneakers: Converse Shoreline slip-ons