Most of us are spending a lot more time at home, and for the foreseeable future.  If we’re not self-quarantining, we’re working from home or at least social distancing.  At this point we’ve watched our favorite shows and eaten our favorite snacks, and we’re asking ourselves, now what?  We love downtime, but now that downtime is all we have it can be a little maddening!  I’ve put my thinking cap on, did hours of research, and came up with some ideas for how we can all spend some of our house time over the next few weeks, so read on!

Glow Up

Think of this time social distancing as your own personal chrysalis.  And like the caterpillar to the butterfly you shall emerge transformed!  Use this time to give your face some TLC.  We’re wearing less makeup, we’re masking and using eye gels, we’re double cleansing, we’re moisturizing, we’re micro-needling, we’re starting that twenty-two step skincare regimen.  Cher pondered if she could turn back time but we’re doing it.  PS would you be interested in pieces about skincare because I LOVE it and could talk about it forever.

Workouts

Yes, all the gyms and studios are closed, or at least they should be and if you’re going to gyms and studios to workout you are terrible at social distancing and also a rather crappy member of society.  For a while not working out was fun, but we should probably kick it into gear before muscle atrophy sets in and bed sores form.  Not everyone has a sweet home gym with a weighted hula hoop and a thighmaster like moi, so some local gyms are stepping up!  Check out all the local gyms that are streaming workouts HERE.  And if you want to go old school, Richard Simmons, or someone pretending to be Richard Simmons, has been very active on his Facebook page the past few days.  He’s shared some old workout videos and teased a program with weekly workouts, investigate for yourself HERE.

Julie And Julia It

Pick up a famous cookbook.  Make every recipe in the cookbook.  Chronicle your culinary journey on a blog.  Sell your story.  Amy Adams plays you in the movie.  Give me a cut because it was all my idea. 

Get Some Culture

What if I told you some of the best museums in the world are only a mouse click away?  Well they are!  Google has partnered with over 500 museums and galleries all over the world, and you don’t even have to put on pants to visit them.  If art isn’t your thing (it should be your thing though, give it a try), the Metropolitan Opera is streaming encore performances from its Live in HD series every night on their website.  Remember when Bravo used to air operas?  From La boheme to Vanderpump Rules, what a world.

Become A Mixologist

Have you been imbibing in a tipple or two too many?  Shift your focus, baby and learn the fine art of cocktails!  Learn how to make everything from a Bourbon Flip to Pisco Sour.  You don’t have a drinking problem; you have a hobby.

Learn Something, Anything

With all this extra time on our hands, we may as well better ourselves.  Perfect your winged eyeliner, master the French tuck, lean how to apply fake lashes, work on your beach waves, or you really want to be an overachiever, take an online class at an Ivy League school.  All eight Ivy League schools are offering almost 500 free online classes, see you in Analytic Combinatorics at Princeton!

Closet Overhaul

I’m not a regular closet clean out, I’m a cool closet clean out.  Pour a glass of wine, try on all your clothes, then go nuts.  Try combinations of clothes you wouldn’t normally wear!  Add a brooch, belt your blazer, give your jeans a giant cuff, layer some turtlenecks, get weird!  Who knows, you might find a new favorite outfit.

Have A Netflix Party

Netflix saw us struggling in our social distancing time of need, and they gave us Netflix Party.  Netflix party is a new feature on Netflix that lets you sync up a viewing with friends complete with a group chat.  I think this sounds fun?  Has anyone done it yet?  Should we do it?  What should we watch?  A few episodes of The Staircase?  Outbreak?  Goodfellas?  Lost Girls?  Gerald’s Game?  I’m so overwhelmed!  Oh there is a slight catch, its only available with on Google Chrome.

How are you passing the social distancing time?  Let me know because let’s face it there’s only so many face masks I can put on.