Hello everyone! Today, I’m here to share with you the goings on of a very low-key January.

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I’m not going to lie, this month was rough for me. It started positively enough, but towards the end I just felt like the month had gone by with none of the usual adventures and events that it used to in years past. It’s so weird, because at this point I’ve been at home with no adventures since last March, so I didn’t expect it to be so hard this month but those “memories” features really got to me! I found myself looking at photos of my previous trips to Mexico and my last visit to Houston.

Then, I have been writing a book, which is set in Chicago, and the buildings I chose to feature are some of my favorite in the Loop. So, naturally, I pulled up the photos from my numerous trips downtown in the past (prior to the pandemic) and that brought up so many memories too. I just felt so sad looking back at all the cool things I used to do and realizing that I don’t do anything now.

But enough of the pity party! After all, it would not be brave to go out now, but rather it would be foolish and selfish. I don’t like to ignore the feelings of sadness but I always make sure to remind myself that there is a reason as to why I am staying home and not galavanting around the city or the globe. So here is what I did get up to!

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Favorites

Beauty

So the first favorite is a hair care item! I have started using the Love Beauty and Planet Argan Oil & Lavender Shampoo. I love the scent! It is soooooo good.

I also have been loving the Origins Drink Up Overnight Mask. Not only does it smell good, but it brings hydration into my skin really quickly. My skin has been so dry lately and I use this so often now.

My next favorite is my new Love Beauty and Planet Deodorant in Murumuru Butter & Rose. I find that usually I don’t like rose perfume scents for some reason, even though I love roses. But this deodorant is quite lovely with the rose. I think this brand is starting to become my favorite!

Other

Lately I’ve been writing to Taylor Swift’s folklore and Evermore albums. They’re just so chill to write to and the stories within them inspire me to write stories of my own.

Life

Ballet

This is usually something that I put in my lively posts but I figured it needed to be mentioned here because, well, it’s the only place I went to this month! (Besides a few library runs but those are drive thru only.) The fitness center where I take classes finally was permitted to run in person classes again, so we are no longer online! Do I wish we were still online? Honestly yes because I did not enjoy running out in the 20 degree weather to get to class. But I’m also happy to be back in the studio. The class is only four people and we are required to wear masks the entire time, but I’m okay with that.

We were emailed a multiple page document of the new rules we had to follow. The fitness center as a whole is still closed, so only those with classes can get in. We have to be early so the instructor can let us in, because she has to guard the door to ensure no one can come in who is not in the class. Then we have to use the hand sanitizer, walk directly to the dance studio, and only touch our section of the barre that we claim for that day. Again, masks are required at all times but if we need a break we have to go into the hallway, the doors are open for air circulation, and the instructor sanitizes everything for us. Overall, it felt quite safe. I have to admit, I had my doubts about it all, and kind of regretted registering because I just wasn’t sure how safe it was going to be but after seeing all the precautions, it felt much better.

We have the same instructor that I’ve had for a few sessions now, maybe for about a year I think? Then one of the students has been in the class with me for well over a year, so I know her pretty well. There is another dancer who joined us last session, and a new dancer. It’s always fun to see who will be at class, so I am glad they still ran the session, even if we technically didn’t have enough people.

Writing a book

So I just want to mention this here really quickly. I plan to add more posts into my rotation about writing books in this upcoming year since I recently finished one rough draft back in November, am about 5,000 words away from completing a rough draft for another book, and I want to try smaller writing projects too. Plus I want to edit the two books I have written already.

Anyway, back to this book. I have absolutely loved this writing journey and I have learned a lot about myself as a writer. I think my February vlog is going to be about how I write, including how I think writing for NaNo has influenced me so I don’t think I want to write too much about that here. But I’ve just discovered so much. For instance, I decided that my word count goal for my rough draft was going to be 80,000 words, because I looked up typical word counts for my genre and that’s around the middle. Now, with NaNo, it can be a struggle to reach 50,000 words in a month so for 80,000 I gave myself about three I think. I figured, if I can take my time, then maybe I’ll try it! Well, that failed miserably. I reached 50,000 words in 18 days, and I think for NaNo I did it in 20, so I found myself on track to reach 80,000 within 31 days. I find that I can typically write around 2,500 to 3,000 words a day, and I only skipped one day of writing. It’s hard to explain but once I have a rough idea of where I want the story to go, it just sort of flows out. I really found this writing journey to be really enjoyable, and I think it’s because I really love the book that is coming out of it. Now, I really should get back to it so I can finish it!

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And that’s really all I have for you today! Again, the month was super low-key and I didn’t do much besides read books and write my own book. So even if I didn’t have an international trip this month like I have in previous years, I’ve created an adventure of my own, and I think that’s what’s important.

Thanks for reading!

Pamela

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