Less Hustle More Coffee

We had the nicest time with my BIL and SIL going to their house for drinks and appetizers and then heading out to dinner at Chop House in Hendersonville, TN. We laughed at how our 6:30 reservations and the darkness made it seem sooooo late for us “old folks”. My BIL was turning 60 so we lived it up!

The fireplaces and ambiance made the place a wonderful spot for a 60th birthday celebration. We had a nice steak dinner, most of us getting Prime Rib.

As packed as the place was (after this pic was taken) one would not have been able to determine that we lived in a COVID world. Matter fact, I, myself, forgot to restock my purse with a mask. When we were back from TX I removed all of them from my purse for a wash, and totally zonked out at putting one back in my purse. The freshly washed ones all went back into my Work Bag since that is usually where I go these days. So….

When I exclaimed I’d forgotten my mask, my SIL said, “Oh I have lots”. I said, “well let me borrow one and I’ll give it back”. She handed me one with “Coffee” all over it and I teasingly said “wait, I may not WANT to give this one back”. She said “oh you can have it”. I said “I was only teasing – well not really! I love it.” She insisted I keep it. I absolutely love it! She made it and said she had made lots more. So cute. I cannot think of anything more appropriate for me to wear as a mask!

Yes I have on make up. It felt good to apply make up yesterday. Really I wore it to film in but knew we were going to dinner anyway.

We ordered dressed eggs with bacon. They accidentally placed two orders so they brought us another plate, lol. George said “I hope they do that to our drinks!” LOL

We had cocktails as the bottles of wine were pretty “up there”. Since my drink was so big – I didn’t need but one. It was a drink called “Reasoning with a Hurricane”. Leave it up to me to order a “weather” drink. The only reasoning I needed after that one was to find some sleep! After that drink and a steak I was ready for bed. LOL

The prime rib was excellent. This was a “medium” order. I think maybe it was medium rare, but I ate it and it was good.

BIL got a half price birthday dessert and we split it 4 ways. (Gone are the days of a free one? You can’t argue with half price though during COVID days. Nice of them to offer THAT!)

The She-Haven Before and After

I worked really hard on the She-Haven the last two days. Are you ready for the before and after? It’s not TOTALLY finished but I will show you more pics as I add the “final touches” – which is a table, a throw, a colorful pillow, and I will add another floor lamp to the room b/c I moved the one by my desk to be able to have a reading light in the chair. I miss the light by my desk now, but no fret – those floor lamps are cheap at like $29.99 at Target. Yep it’s on order.

BEFORE / CORNER 1

AFTER / CORNER 1

So it will look better when the throw and the pillow are added and the side table and would honestly have taken a better pic if it were sunny out and not night. Since “functionality” played a part I tried not to hyperventilate over the “whiteboard” where it is. It’s a “thinking” corner too so I left it there. Started to move it but it would just start an avalanche of other moves. I decided to just be happy with it. The white board is easy to access there.

BEFORE / DESK and CORNER 2

AFTER / DESK and CORNER 2

Not a lot of change. The floor lamp is missing and the rug is scooted back. Area cleaned up a bit. And you can see a table on the left wall that I moved around.

BEFORE / CORNER 3

AFTER / CORNER 3

Not a huge noticeability here. Since I had functionality as a goal for the office, I decided that having camera equipment in the corner was totally OK. I can quickly grab it without a lot of fuss. I got rid of the plastic drawers. I put the “Choose Happy” in the den for now as it’s slightly off the colors of my office. It’s more the colors of my blog, lol. I decided I really needed to keep the plastic filing system as that is convenient for me and I can keep important papers as well as some “idea files”.

I left the 5 lbs of fat on the table to remind me that even losing 5 lbs is that much gone! I also decided that despite how the silver table kinda stands out – I really need it and it provides function so I am keeping it in the room. I think it worked better here than I thought it would. And the files fit underneath it and that made me really happy.

BEFORE CORNER 4

AFTER / CORNER 4

SO of course the Christmas stuff has been removed and the chair put in it’s spot. Roger’s bed had been improved, that plastic drawer as mentioned is gone. The last two pics overlap a bit. Notice I added a fisherman’s hook or whatever that thing is by the Cafe pic. I went shopping downstairs for that one.

Yes there is a guitar in the picture. We have more guitars than we do rooms with corners, LOL. I may ask if I can switch it to a different one though that will go with the room more!

I LEFT THE CLOSETS OPEN FOR A REASON.

I needed the shelves to be part of my office extension.

Ooops I forgot to get a before shot of the closet in a photo. I did in my video version for the vlog but anyway, here is the AFTER.

The top shelf remains George’s. I need to move his microphone up but hey, maybe I’ll use it sometime, LOL. I need to move some things around still on that middle shelf but it has my Canon box which is empty and not really needed but I keep the boxes to my equipment and devices most of the time. My letters for my message board – OH the sign is in the floor and I need to hang it up but decided to wait til floor lamp comes in so the floor lamp doesn’t block it. My weights I left in here b/c the rug in the middle of the floor can provide an exercise spot! I can do a YouTube video.

So….that lower shelf – on the left is my laptop – windows based. Sometimes if we travel or I want to just sit in a chair instead of a desk, I’ll use it instead of my iMac. It also has Paint Shop Pro on it. So I’m keeping it. And the little basket has greeting cards. The middle basket is just device accessories for phone, earbuds, my older camera, etc.

Here’s some pics.

The larger basket holds just some office supplies – sticky notes, push pins, clips, command strips and book marks. I don’t use a lot of office supplies for what I do in here but needed someplace to put a few things.

Don’t laugh at the mess. But I put the shopping bags from like Target, Walmart, etc in this “world bag” to use as trash bags for my little silver trash can in the office. This was supposed to be a laundry bag, but my goodness, it wouldn’t hold even a day’s worth of dirty clothes hardly. So I needed a different use. Wish I didn’t have to have my off season clothes in here but they have to go somewhere! And this is easy.

I’m pretty happy the way it all turned out.

I watched a show and had a small pizza at lunch sitting in my chair!

I read some too in Kate Chastain’s Lucky Charming book about being a stewardess in the yachting/boating industry. I think I’m watching Sailing Zatara on YouTube above. I didn’t realize what on earth was on my iMac screen when I took the pic! LOL They are so funny on that show but the recent one they were dodging a hurricane.

Today was productive otherwise. I had synergy in the day – meaning it all flowed together. Laundry, ironing, taking Christmas stuff downstairs, working on the office, got nails and toes done, Target order done, and got the telephoto lens ordered this weekend. Also opened my new filters George got me and made sure they fit the lens. They fit the one that came with the camera kit which is the main one that is good to shoot from – as far as a general lense is concerned for most uses – it doesn’t fit the wide angle but the wide angle I mainly use indoors anyway. I feel accomplished getting things done and in order and in control. We had just been away for two Saturdays and the ones before that were all Christmas related and just busy.

So it feels really good to be able get all this done!

And it’s not the most beautiful office in the world, but it’s my office. It’s my She-Haven and I’m happy with my Space. It’s set up to serve a purpose! My “corner” will look even better when the table, throw, and pillow arrives. They yellow pillow matches my yellow desk chair and will tie the room’s colors together.

Ahhhhh, now to download Big Sur, but have to get the back up drive first. Then after that I can start on the next video.

Ya’ll have a wonderful Monday ahead.