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Monday, June 29, 2020
Almost July ... hot summer ahead
And it's almost July. I really don't know where this year has gone. I know, I know, I feel like I do say this every year but this year has just been extra bizarre. 2020 has not shaped out in any normal way. But I guess it is what it is. The weather forecast looks like we will have an extra hot summer here in the Northeast. Joy. But I guess at least it is summer and we can enjoy time outside and now that indoor dining has somewhat opened again in CT we can also escape inside into the AC for a bit at times. Just making the best of it.
The weekend was pretty low key but of course flew by. Saturday we drove down to Westport to have lunch at Rizzuto's. Yummy pizza. Hung out for a while before heading back. Then stopped at Charter Oak Brewing in Danbury where our friend John Fazio was playing. The weather was pretty iffy with thunderstorms but it all worked out where he was able to play outside. Hung out listening to him play and eventually headed home to binge some more "Ozark".
Sunday we slept in and had a local lunch at Rosy's. Then went to the grocery store and back home, binging some more Ozark. Stayed up late and now it's Monday morning and I am dragging. Well, oh well. Such is life, right?
This week we have the 4th of July - Independence Day Holiday coming up on Saturday. I have Friday, the 3rd off, since the actual holiday falls on a weekend. We have a reservation for 2 nights in the Finger Lakes. Pretty sure we are going but haven't decided 100% yet. The reservation is cancel-able up until the day before so we do have some more time to decide. I think we should be ok. Upstate New York and the Finger Lakes region seems to be doing ok. Connecticut is actually doing very well, thankfully. We are in a nice bubble here and have come out of this mess pretty well. I definitely would be very hesitant to go to quite a few states at the moment.
Anyway, we will see how it goes. First need to get through this work week. I am covering and holiday weeks always tend to be a bit crazy so let's see how it goes.
Mail Update: Received a letter from/owe a response to: Celia/MA and Kimber/Canada.
Posted by Hanna at 07:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, June 22, 2020
Summer Solstice - officially summer
So we have passed the longest day of the year and are now officially in summer. It's always kind of bittersweet to me because now the days are going to start getting shorter again. And I am really a big fan of daylight. :) I know it's a long ways away but it makes me already dread the dark winter time, especially in the mornings when I have to get up for work and it's cold and pitch black dark. Alright, I shouldn't be focusing on that right now. It's going to be 90F (32C) today. Ugh. This whole week is supposed to be pretty hot. We are one of the very few American people who don't have AC so when it gets crazy hot it's a pain. We do have a powerful window fan and a big rotating stand up fan as well as the ceiling fan in the living room. So usually between all that it's fine. It only gets annoying when it's really hot and humid on top of it. But oh well.
As much as I am complaining I am happy that it's summer and that we are having nicer weather. In Austria it has been raining a lot and been pretty cool. More like spring or fall than summer. But either way, not something we can control.
Last week I managed to go into the new office for an hour to pick up my new badge and see my new desk. The office building is really neat, funky and beyond any ways to describe really. It looks like a spaceship and the layout is really different. Our office is actually called a "pod" and is kind of star shaped. It's going to need some getting used to. To figure out exactly where everyone is sitting and the layout of the place. Here is the website for the complex if anyone is interested. For now I am still working at home. The plan is to eventually go into the office a few days per week to ease back into it and so we can still social distance and not have everyone in the office all at once. We will just have to see how it goes.
Not really much else new I suppose. The weekend was pretty low key. It was hot so we didn't really do that much. Originally we had talked about going for a walk on Sunday morning but ended up sleeping in instead. Oh well. Saturday we had brunch at J. Lawrence which was delicious as always. Well, let's see what this week brings.
Mail Update: Received a letter from/owe a response to: Celia/MA and Kimber/Canada.
Posted by Hanna at 07:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, June 15, 2020
Plugging along ... mid June already
And already the middle of June. I honestly don't know where the time goes. Not really all that much new to report. I did make two reservations for 2
nights stay in July. One for the 4th of July weekend to the Finger Lakes and one for mid July to the North Fork. No idea if we will actually be able to go but both reservations can be cancelled so not a huge deal. And it made me feel better having something to look forward to. Now just have to keep fingers crossed that all works out and we can go. I am still holding out hope for a trip to see my parents in September. But again that's a very TBD situation at the moment. I am going to wait to book any flights until it gets closer.
Had a nice weekend with beautiful weather. On Saturday we had lunch at Rizzuto's in Westport. They just opened up again recently so it was nice to go and see everyone. And on Sunday we went to Hawk Ridge Winery and then stopped at Centrico on the way back. Also watched some movies at home, Saturday Spike Lee's new movie "Da 5 Bloods" and on Sunday Pete Davidson's movie "The King of Staten Island".
Work has been fine. Still working from home for the time being. I do need to get to the new office at one point to get my new security badge but yeah not sure when I will actually go back to working in the office full time. It's all a bit up in the air at the moment.
So yeah really not much new at the moment. Luckily the weather has been pretty nice so we have been able to take advantage of some outdoor dining. Also been enjoying my "Hello Fresh" deliveries and cooking.
Mail Update: Received a letter from/owe a response to: Kimber/Canada.
Posted by Hanna at 04:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sunday, June 07, 2020
First week back at work
Made it through my first week back at work. :) And have enjoyed my weekend to recover from it. Hahaha. Why are weekends always so short? Oh well. I am happy to be back at work of course. Well back at "working from home" anyway. I don't know when I will actually go back into the office. It's all a bit weird because just as all of this started in March my company moved office buildings. So our stuff is just dumped at our new desks and has been sitting there since March. I haven't been in the new office yet but from what I understand it's all still a bit of a mess since most people haven't been there yet to set up their desks. Nothing on the walls, waiting on a front desk still. I guess it will all slowly come together. I am planning on going into the office at one point to at least get my new badge and to see where my desk is and maybe get a head start on setting things up. Then eventually will transition back to working in the office. Will just have to see how it all goes. We still have strict guidelines in place. Masks in common areas, social distancing, etc. We are having an online meeting/training session about it all some time next week I think. Strange times.
Anyway the weekend was nice. Yesterday we helped our friends John and Jana move. Our bartender friend Tyler also joined in. They just moved across town but went from a small 1 bedroom apt to a gorgeous 4 level 2 bedroom condo. Such an awesome place. I can't wait to see how they decorate it all. Jana cooked us a great dinner to thank us for helping move. She really does amaze me. Steak, potatoes, corn on the cob, snacks beforehand and a lemon cake afterwards. I would have ordered pizza. She is definitely much more put together than me. Haha. So yeah was a fun day and night. :)
Today we just slept in, going to get groceries and probably have lunch close by somewhere. Just a relaxing day. And then tomorrow it's already Monday again and we're off to another week. Time is flying of course, as always.
In other small news our library is now doing curbside pick up for books and I am excited about that. Been reading a lot of Kindle books during quarantine but I am happy to be able to get some of the books I wanted from the library tomorrow. And in the next phase in CT - June 17th - the library will also be open again I believe. So things are slowly starting to go back to normal. One baby step at a time.
Letter/Mail Update: Received a letter from/owe a response to: Kimber/Canada.
Posted by Hanna at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, June 01, 2020
Back to work
So here we are and it's June. I can't believe it's really June 1st. I still feel like it's March. I mean the weather has obviously been pretty nice but I think
COVID/quarantine/furlough has made me lose all sense of time. lol. Today was my first day back at work after my three week furlough. It was a busy day but then I guess that was to be expected of course, wasn't it? As nice as the three weeks of leisure were it of course was also nice to be back. Still working from home for the time being. CT goes into phase 2 of our reopening on June 20th so maybe something will change then. We are supposed to receive another update some time this week so we shall see.
The weekend was nice and we actually had great weather on both days so that was good. During the week it was super humid but luckily we had storms that came through on Friday and cleared out the humidity. Today was even a little cool but not humid at all and sunny. I did miss my walk today. I have been so good with going for a nice walk every day and getting my steps in. But today it just wasn't meant to be. I was thinking maybe after work but I made my last Hello Fresh meal so that took up some time and after that I just didn't feel like doing anything else. Oh well, there's always tomorrow, right?
Hello Fresh has been great by the way. I have now made all three meals I ordered and they were all pretty delicious and not difficult to make really. Would definitely recommend Hello Fresh to anyone who wants to try out some new recipes. We were also able to enjoy some more outdoor dining at J. Lawrence, Flipside and Centrico.
Not too much else going on really. Now that I am back to work that is of course taking up my days again. No travel or vacation plans for now. Just need to wait and see how this all plays out. It's hard to plan anything when we don't really know when restrictions will be completely lifted in different places. So wait and see is what it is for now.
Letter/Mail Update: Received a letter from/owe a response to: Kimber/Canada. A letter went outlast week to Nina/WA.
Posted by Hanna at 07:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)