Weekly Update: April 27th - May 2nd — The Wine in the Pines

The Week

In general, this week has been rather routine. Get up, go to work, break for lunch, work some more, make dinner, enjoy a glass of wine, browse Reddit on our phones, then bed. Rinse, lather, repeat.

The one day that shook up the monotony of our new routine was this past Monday when we got to celebrate our one-year anniversary. The original plan was to dine at Canlis, however, since we were still under house arrest, we had to divert to plan B - which was ordering take-out from Canlis. Fortunately, this was the cheaper option, and despite not being able to dine physically at the restaurant, we still got to enjoy the atmosphere from the comfort of our living room. Canlis now live streams their piano players' performances every weekday from 6pm to 9pm, and anyone can tune in (even if you haven’t ordered a meal from the restaurant).

If you want to read more about our anniversary or our experience dining with Canlis, click HERE.

For the rest of the week, I maintained a schedule of online tutorials to learn new skills, as well as started refresher courses in SEO marketing and training on how to use Google Analytic tools. I realized that I have done the bare minimum regarding advertising for the Cascadia Native site, and have now started to use the blog as a testing ground for learning new SEO marketing skills. I am no fool, and I know that I will probably never be given this kind of short-term freedom in my career ever again, so I want to use it to the best of my ability and not waste a single day.

The biggest personal project I’ve been putting off is completing my graphic novel series that I’ve been working on for nearly three years now, but the fear of starting it back up is the hardest part. I have gotten rusty lately when it comes to drawing and have only now begun redoing concept art for it. I’m mulling over the idea of buying a new drawing tablet if I ever want to make any progress in completing it, however, there are times I feel like I’m BoJack Horseman, constantly creating distractions when starting a new project. Do I really need a new tablet, or do I just want a new one as an excuse to postpone my project? I must admit, despite being indoors for nearly two months, my credit card statements haven’t changed, considering all the recent purchases I have made. Since the quarantine, I have purchased a new office chair, a new computer, two new keyboards (that I am returning) and I’m now considering a new drawing tablet. With another month now added to the shelter-in-place order, I might have the additional time to finish the novel - or maybe I’ll just create a new excuse.

Speaking of the quarantine, both Mr. Mustang and I knew that it wasn’t going to be lifted on May 4th, however, Inslee sure waited until the 11th hour to push back the end date. As we sat at our desks on Friday waiting for the official statement from the governor’s office, we both let out a sigh of relief and annoyance at the news. It wasn’t shocking to us that the state won’t reopen until June, however, waiting until Friday to announce that the shelter-in-place was going to be extended was a bit frustrating.

Saturday and Sunday

Surprisingly, it was a rather mellow weekend for us. No special brunch for either Saturday or Sunday, and no activity of note. Mr. Mustang played Minecraft for the better half of Saturday and Sunday, with our meals being made entirely of leftovers. I made a large batch of chicken salad earlier this week, combined with tupperware containers of pasta, vegetables and french fries leftover from previous dinners, we tried to clear out the fridge to make room for this week's meals.

For both days, we had a simple breakfast of peanut butter and honey toast with ice water. We didn’t even have a spare bottle of champagne in the fridge for Sunday brunch, so we opened a bottle of Barbera later in the afternoon instead. We’re still keeping within our new dietary limitations in wine consumption, but next week I hope to bring back the Sunday brunch tradition with a unique menu and a bottle of bubbles to pair.