Five Things Friday Vol. 25

Five Things Friday: just five things I’m thinking about or things that made my week, or things that I otherwise feel like sharing

I feel like I should talk about the most recent police shootings and the ongoing trial of Derek Chauvin, the officer who killed George Floyd last year, but I am honestly out of words, guys. Every time this happens again (and again), I wonder why officers use their weapons and power so recklessly, and every time I come up empty-handed. I just can’t wrap my head around it and I seriously don’t know how we’re going to change as a society. We need gun control so very badly, and people seriously have to reckon with their calls for “freedom and second amendment rights” and their underlying biases that obviously get other people killed on a regular basis. 

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I’ve been making a list of things I want (to allow myself) to do when I am fully vaccinated in a few weeks. Have you thought about these things? (Haven’t we all?) I should probably share my complete list sometime, but I’ll share one thing already: I want to go to Ikea. I haven’t been to any stores (besides Target, the supermarket, and Home Depot) in a year and I really just want to wander the aisles at Ikea.

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Jon and I played Scrabble for the first time in ages last weekend and it’s been so much fun that I downloaded a Scrabble app. This is unusual as I am usually not someone who plays games on their phone. I know this is probably just a phase (and I really don’t need to be spending more time on my phone than I already am), but I’m giving myself a pass on this one right now. It’s a good brain exercise after all. Do you play any games on your phone?

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There’s a possibility that I’ll be going back to the office in a few weeks for some work-related tasks that I can’t do would be difficult to do from home and I feel somewhat peculiar about it. I will probably be fully vaccinated by then and will most likely not even encounter many other people as we’re all still working full-time from home, but I’ve gotten so used to the WFH life that it feels weird having to go back. Does that even make sense to anyone but me? Other people are dying to go back to the office, but I’ve been quite comfortable at home and in no rush to go back. But really, it’s fine. It’s going to be fine. 

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If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I am currently (still) obsessed with apple-cinnamon steel-cut oats for breakfast. How do you like yours? Or what do you have for breakfast these days? Do share!

Have a great weekend! 

  1. I’ve been fully vaccinated since February, but I haven’t felt comfortable really doing anything different until more people are also vaccinated. My husband on the other hand will be vaccinated fully by mid-May and is already making plans for an outdoor party at our house for all our vaccinated friends, and a trip to Disneyland this summer. I did finally go to Costco in person instead of ordering online, and it was such a pleasure to walk around and just look at things.

  2. An Ikea trip sounds good! For my bachelorette party I went to a winery with my SIL’s and nieces that ended with the whole gang of us getting up super early the next morning to drive to the nearest Ikea 2 hours away for a spree. We’re definitely due for a revisit. My biggest vax win is that I won’t have to stay 6 feet away from my parents.

    My “vice” is the NYT crossword puzzle app. I’m really cheap so when I tell you that it’s $40 a year subscription you know how much I love it.

    Oh the office…I go every few weeks to pick up paperwork and at most there’s one other person there. I absolutely positively never, never, ever want to go back to regular office life. Most of my interaction is with people who work in another office anyway, so going back to the office would mean 5+ hours a week commuting, and then fighting to get a conference room so that I can do video conferences with people who aren’t physically in the same place…senseless.

  3. I have oatmeal for breakfast nearly every day. I make old fashioned oats and eat them with a little milk and a cut up banana.

    The latest police killing in my metro area is so heart breaking. I am sick of this happening and especially in my city. Yesterday a white man attacked an employee at Menards, I think with a hammer (!!!) and then fled arrest – with a cop standing on the floorboard of the truck as he was fleeing arrest. And nothing happened to him. Phil and I both said it would play out so differently if it was a black man.

  4. I just listened to a really good interview about the killing of Daunte Wright on Pod Save America – it just brings home the fact that this was SUCH an unnecessary traffic stop (expired tags should never be a traffic stop!!!) and that real police reform is needed.

    I spend wayyyy too much time playing games on my phone, haha. It’s my favorite vice!

    I’ve gone back into my office twice in the past year – once to pack up my desk and the other to bring home my desktop, and both times have felt SO weird. I think it would feel even weirder if I went back to the office to WORK, though. I am so glad I don’t have to worry about being forced to go back into the office. I don’t know when I’ll be ready for that!

  5. I definitely want to do all sorts of those little things that we’ve been missing out on. I go into work once a week and while that started last year, it’s still very strange, so I get it! I’d rather just be at home the whole time.

    All of these shootings are horrendous and heartbreaking and REAL change needs to happen.

    -Lauren

  6. I’ve spent a lot of time on the phone recently playing games and I can confirm it’s a phase. But I also play games that are exercising my brain so I always file them under “prevention for Alzheimer’s”.
    I relate to your list of things you will allow yourself once fully vaccinated. I’d do the same otherwise I’d be a homebody for ever.

    1. Haha, definitely filing Scrabble under “prevention for Alzheimer’s” :)

  7. I wonder the same thing about all these shootings and deaths. JUST WHY. I don’t get it.

    I don’t have any games on my phone! But I totally get the appeal to playing a game you love irl on there!

    That makes sense about going back to the office. It will just feel so odd, especially if you put on a professional outfit you haven’t worn in a while!

    1. Luckily, no “professional” outfit required at my job… unless you call “jeans and shirt” a professional outfit (since I’ve been living in yoga pants LOL)

  8. I’m actually worried about trying to get my staff to come back when its time. It’s been an interesting exercise since some are required to be on campus, some are not, and still others are hybrid. I know I have some staff members with a lot of post-vaccine anxiety, so I will spend some time this summer trying to work through what this will have to look like and how to support them.

    1. Yeah, I am anticipating some post-vaccine anxiety myself… and we haven’t figured out a return to office policy at my office yet. I’ll be curious to see what this will look like, too. How do you feel about going back?

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