What Ana Does

We're MOVING!  One thing that this COVID pandemic has made super-clear to us, is that living near family and life-long friends is no longer just a dream or luxury, it's a must.  We moved out to Illinois nine years ago with two baby girls and a goal to live within our means in a larger home with no commute and a big yard. And we succeeded. It's been a really great place to raise our kids and build a life, but we don't have any big personal connections here.  I made friends with the girls' friends' mothers, but those relationships have started to disappear as their friendships haven't survived adolescents.  Meanwhile, we have friends and family we see annually on the East coast that continue to be important to us. And in normal years we get to see them enough to satisfy our itch for close social ties. But this year, when travel has not been possible, we've really seen how our life is lacking without that connection.  It's something we even talked about...

 This is my last list post of 2020 ... and it's a roundup of the 10 most popular posts on my blog, which got about 10,000 views this year. Not too shabby. Thanks all you guys for visiting!  10. Christmas at My House - from 2013's celebration, everyone around the dining room table, my favorite thing ever.  9 .  Cleaning Up My Morning Routine - I had such a plan together ... then it got BLOWN UP once 2020 really hit. I do still drink my smoothie breakfast.  8. Shopping with Purpose - love a shopping list! And sustainability is one of my pet projects. Maybe it's just the cool photo of my toilet paper?  7. Formal Dress Shopping by Mail - this one had a lot of try-ons, which is odd for me. But I do like the dress I eventually picked.  6. Planning for Summer on the Patio - Midwinter summer daydreaming ... yup, it's all true.  5. Holiday Gift List Round-up 2018 Edition - odd how this one was such a popular post this year. Maybe I need to do a holida...

2020 was certainly a shopping year at our house, mostly thanks to being home and having nowhere to go since March. I had way more time than usual to notice the things around me that were in need of replacement and new things I've long thought about but haven't done much about. Here's my list of favorite purchases of the year: Match PJ Sets!  I've been buying these Dreamy Cotton Pajama Sets from JCrew whenever I got a good coupon code -- I think I now have four, the fifth is a short-set. They are super comfortable, fit great, wash well and make me feel a little more put together at night. A huge glow-up from the mismatched flannel pants and old t-shirts I used to wear to bed.  New Family Room Sofa.  We finally replaced our poop brown sectional (I swear it was a lighter color in the showroom) with a light grey u-shaped couch in the family room we can all sit on. It's done wonders to lighten the room and the fabric has proven to be kid and dog-friendly, too. This is t...

WAY back in 2013 we got a piano for free from a neighbor. Here's the full story of how we found it is here and there's a bunch more posts here . It has been in a place of honor in our home since ... right by the front door near our living room. The girls took lessons, but, unfortunately, they never really found a passion for it. But I always enjoyed the noise of them practicing. Or just banging on the keys.  This year I decided it was time to find our piano a new home. We never picked up lessons again after we got home from Paris and no one has touched it in all that time. A piano must be played to exist and the soul of this piano was just crying out to me.  I put it up on Facebook Marketplace for free and offered it to a few friends; all they'd need to do, is pay for moving it. And it didn't find any takers for a few months. Then a friend from Dave's gym was over for a Friendsgiving dinner and we mentioned the piano was up for grabs. They just moved into a new (th...

What can you say about 2020 that hasn't already been said? It was NOT a normal year. With mandates to "shelter in place" that cancelled all our travel and weekend plans, you'd think I would have gotten a bit more reading time. But, it was a pretty normal book year. I did break some of my rules about ordering more physical books than usual, thanks to the libraries being closed and wanting to help out a black-owned independent bookstore in Chicago.  I'm starting this year's list with my four favorites. Books I would HIGHLY recommend, if you're looking for something to read. Than, I'll bold other good picks, too, that are in no particular order.  To Note: As usual there's probably 30 or so Kindle romances that I read too quickly and didn't make much of an impression on me or didn't finish all the way, so they're not listed.  Fable: A Novel by Adrienne Young - my favorite book of the year, hands down. Such good world-building, incredible s...

Well, the guest room is done and I think my goal has been reached. *High five*  I really wanted a little accent wall that acts as a headboard for this bed and to lighten up this really sun-filled room. And the lighter curtains and more cohesive art on the walls sure helps make it clean.  We like the room so much that David moved his office up here. You can see his table/desk and office chair in this room.  Check this room off the list. 

Quarantine has spoiled me in one important part of my day: The mornings.  My only alarm clock is this little dog's bladder (or mine). We hop out of bed, head downstairs and while she and Bruce hit the backyard, I make my cup of coffee and we meet on the sofa where I think about my day, fill out my to-do list, grocery list, etc. I look at Instagram and play Words with Friends with my sisters. And sometimes I'll get in a 15 minute meditation on Headspace.   Most days, the girls will join me on the living room sofas and we'll chit-chat about the day or who they're watching on Instagram. They eat breakfast, too.  Then, on weekdays, I jump up to get dressed and into the home office by 8:30 to start work. And on weekends, well, it just depends on what I want to tackle first.  It's important to honor these natural rhythms that happen in life because, like all things, it's temporary. This will all change soon enough as another season of our lives begin. But, for now, I...

I haven't made it into a salon since early 2020, so my hair was long, heavy and style-less. Most of the time, it was going directly from shower into a bun.  Time for a BIG CHOP!  BEFORE:  And AFTER:  And I got 8inches + off, so I can donate it to charity. I found this one: Children With Hair Loss that will take my hair -- even with a few strands of gray! So off my little ponytails go ...  and I feel about 20lbs lighter!