Coping and Adapting to the New Normal - Month #1
Hello Everyone, Hope everyone is well? and Happy Easter!
It surely be one we all will not forget I'm sure. Its officially been 4 weeks in Isolation, starting week 3 of Lock-down in Ireland as I'm writing this, and we are all at home, myself, my Brother, Grandmother and Mam, all staying at home to help protect loved ones and to help slow the spread of COVID19. Were all doing a great job, its been a life changing few weeks, with every human emotion on high levels. But I feel I'm adapting now to this new normal of being at home, new routine, new way of living, new awareness and so on. I don't really want to talk about it much as we are all going through it and dealing with this pandemic in our own ways, and there is no right or wrong way to do it?! I'm just taking each day as it comes, keeping clean, keeping a social distance, washing our hands, and staying at home. If your doing that, good job! My only advise is as this point is to 'focus on what you can control, and just let go of what you can not.' Trust me, your day will feel a lot lighter!
One thing I'm grateful for this Easter is to be at home? Like, I've been working through the Easter holidays for years? since school! So to have the time off work is amazing, or even, to have the energy to enjoy the Easter bank holiday. Usually Easter is one of the busiest times of the year for the beauty industry. Even though I do miss working, not doing nails and seeing clients that I have seen on a regular basis for many years, its weird?! I do miss them! But I'm keeping positive, finding things to do around the house. I'v done the usual decluttered, reorganized, spring cleaned, binged Tiger King on Netflix and even downloaded Disney Plus! But after two weeks of that I'm getting bored! So to keep myself entertained and focused, I've realised the only way to do it is to be creative or to learn for me. So I've had a busy month and going to share with you what I've been up to. It may give you some inspiration to try something new, or if you don't feel like doing anything at all that's OK too! Keeping busy is my way of keeping positive and sane. I'm just trying to cope with this madness, and this is just the way I have coped and adapted the past month.
DIY Easter Tree & Chocolate Rice Krispie Bars
To be honest I never have done this at Easter and neither has my family over the years, so when this appeared on the kitchen table there was some confusion on the concept of a Easter Tree. Like, 'why do we need a Easter Tree, Steff?' Well my answer was simple, 'it was something to do, to pass the time, to get my eyes off a screen. Plus its pretty!! Well it lit up the room, insistently changed the atmosphere in the house and everyone's mood were uplifted. Something so simple as a DIY Easter tree. Even my Gran thanked me for doing it, as it made her smiled. Plus the smell of melted Mars bars, and marshmallows that filled the air. That morning I decided to make Rice Krispie treats for Easter, which lasted 3-4 days long! Great way to use up the Easter eggs, and into bite sizes too! They were delish at the 3 o'clock slump with a cup of coffee.
DIY Easter Tree:
What you need:
- Tree branches real or fake - I used my fake blossom tree branches that I've had to years.
- Tall vase or container - It must be tall to hold long branches up right, and to create height, I recycled a clean wine bottle
- Easter decorations - Of your choice, eg. painted egg shells, cut out bunny's, Handcrafted decor I used cut out templates that I printed from Pinterest, then threaded pink wool. I have added those images and other decor ideas to my 'Home DIY' Pinterest board (Click here to SEE!)
Easter Rice Krispie Bars:
Sunshine & Gardening
Hasn't the weather been amazing? We have been so lucky, and definitely a silver-lining to this paramedic. Nature is just blooming, the lakes and rivers are cleaning up, the pollution is down, and the sun is shinning! So being out in the garden has been a blessing, I do feel for those who don't have any outdoor place to enjoy the weather. But open them windows, open them doors, get some fresh air into your lungs!
So we haven't done to much with the garden other than just a clean up of dead leaves, and branches, weeding the flower beds, cutting the grass etc. Cause its to early to plant new flowers right? I'm still learning, have no idea about gardening, but I'm enjoying it all the same! One thing I did do, I painted up an area at the button of the garden, where big rocks were just thrown there once upon a time. But its a area we see from the kitchen window every single day! So I had a look in the garage to see what paint we had, and BINGO I found loads of paint! So this paint job is only a start of many outdoor jobs to come. I'm looking forward to planting new flowers too, when the time is right too.
Making office space & Online courses
At the start of the month I found it hard to get motivated to do any work for the blog, to find the space where I can get inspired and creative. So I started cleaning out the spear room, and using what I had to transform it into a space in the house where I can escape, sit and just work. So slowly but surely I got there and I'm loving my little office. I could see myself working from home? Which is something I thought I'll never be able to do! I bought a second hand office chair months ago but never used it, hoping back then it would give me a boast. My brother kindly gave me his laptop that hes doesn't use anyway, the desk is an old dresser. Its perfect for now, and I'll prob still be adding to it as time goes on.
By doing that I have done some online courses to pass the time, learning new skills or refreshing existing skills, started filming some nail art video's, or even just to keep organized and plan out my day.
Nail Art Challenges & DIY Hand BalmAlot of my family and friends were suffering with dry hands after washing their hands 500 times a day. Like everyone around the world? As alot of shops and places were closing down and with delay on deliveries, I wanted to help solve that problem with ingredients that you find at home. So I experimented with a few different ingredients you can find in your kitchen or at the supermarket. After three attempts I made a DIY Hand Balm with just three ingredients. I made a IGTV video on 'How to' make it at home which you can watch (Click here to SEE!) or here is instructions on how to make it! I love it, my hands are so soft, they don't feel tight and cracked, and it smells divine. Use it at night time for best results, to let the balm soak in and work while your asleep. The calming Lavender oil will help aid in sleep too.
The nail industry is a very supporting community at the moment, all the brands are providing online training, up-skilling, sharing techniques, tip & tricks DAILY! There is always something to watch at every moment of every day! Its amazing seeing all us nail techs, helping and supporting each other instead of competing against each other. The creativity from these artists is amazing, give us a break from salon life, give us loads of time to play and the creations are amazing. For me, it has helped me fall in love with nail art again. For so long, I tired to perfect every detail, and the burn out was getting to me too! Physically I didn't know if I could continue doing nails long term, which scared me as I love what I do! But this has given me the well need rest and now I starting to build up muscle to help support the repetitive strains. So I'm ready for that salon reopen day!
Staying connected
Social Media is an amazing place at the moment, its keeping people connected at this hard time. Its a great feeling knowing the whole world is going through the same thing and we all can relate to this situation. Our favorite musicians preforming live on your phone, cook live with your favorite chefs, Live home workouts every day, LIVE everything! Video chat has never been more used then now, as it can be the only way to stay connected with friends and family. Apps like 'House Party' and 'Zoom', where you can play online games with your friends. Its great, even though social media can be very negative at times, and can create panic with fake news. I'm so grateful to have such a thing, now, in a pandemic, where social distancing is a must. So stay connected guys, even if you told feel like talking and have nothing to say, still video call with someone, the other person could want to talk and you could just listen. One night I got onto one of my favorite youtubers, Alfie Deyes, Instagram live where himself and Zoe Sugg were watching the new season of Dynamo, who is a well known magician, if you haven't seen his tricks yet, well stop now and go google him, you will be blown away! Watching the program and their reactions at the same time, was so funny. It felt like the sitting room was full of people all watching this amazing man together, and the best bit was Dynamo himself joined the live on the ad break! Like it was magic!
Well that's the 1st month of Quarantine over, well done we did it! Bring on another month, Lets stay healthy, stay connected, stay positive, keep washing our hands, keep staying at home and keep surviving. You can follow me on my isolation journey on Instagram as I'm posting daily.
P.S: Guess who is turning 5 next month? I'll give you a hint, check the date on my very first blog post 'About Me', More to come soon!
