A Frandemic Quarantine

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My friend Erin from UMD is back at Vandy for her Ph. D! She threw a small wine and cheese night for her birthday. She adopted the cutest puppy named Howie from a shelter, so we played with him all night. 💕

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Last day with Hana in Evanston! She took us to this adorable park by the lake, and picnicked on mini poke bowls. They were so flavorful that we wish we had gotten a bigger size! To top it off, we got the best bubble tea I have ever eaten/ drank in my life. The bubbles had taro in them, so they were extra creamy 😍 Thank you Hana for showing us around in your beautiful town!

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We rented 🚲 and found this state park that had a secret marshland! Hana said it looked like broccoli cheddar soup. Of course, since we were the only people there, we had a dance partayyy!

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Sunset boomerangs from our last night in New Buffalo. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen! So grateful for this time with my family.

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Beach day in ( not salty ) lake water, tons of rocks ( took some home in our bathing suit bottoms😂) white claw, speakers for the jams, fruit snacks with popped truffle potato chips, and a makeshift mask.

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Favorite foods on this trip- fish tacos from The Stray Dog and these new Haagen- Daaz Irish cream spiked squares. During this pandemic we ate all of our meals at home by either cooking (guac, sandwiches, Japanese curry) or take out.

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Hana gave us a tour of her town, Evanston ( which has bomb Chinese food and bubble tea.) We visited Lake Michigan, which is right outside of the building she performs in at Northwestern. We left as soon as the cops started yelling at people to get out of the water ( totally not social distancing !!) funniest part was that Sugi took the pictures of Hana and me in front of the lake, which turned out to be pretty damn good 😂

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First vrbo vacation home rental experience- socially distant and masked up! We had a delicious takeout from this local place called The Stray Dog and picked up three cases of White Claw to enjoy on our rooftop ☺️

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We had a taco eating contest ( who could eat the biggest bite) on the rooftop of our rented vrbo place 😂

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Birthday gift from Carolyne 🌱

It only took 5 hours but it is definitely the most productive thing I have done over these past 4 months of quarantine 😂

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At the beginning of July, I moved to a beautiful home in Nashville with two amazing roomies, Ari and Melissa. We often go outside on summer evenings and take way too many pictures of the sunsets.

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Dad and I have been biking a lot together lately. It’s one of my favorite weekend activities that has developed due to quarantine- socially distant, vitamin D, fresh air, exercise!

We usually bike on “Green Line” at Shelby Farms. It’s about 24 miles in total. Dad has a hybrid mountain/ road bike so sometimes we conquer trails with rocks and branches (we have both fallen 😂)

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A quarantined birthday ... now this is one for the books!

Some highlights:

1.) Mom made “ Takemoto girls pancakes” which is her special fluffy pancake recipe that includes frozen bananas, berries, peanut butter, and maple syrup.

2.) I caught up for hours with some of my college besties and we laughed about hilarious college memories and our love lives (shots and white claws included).

3.) I was supposed to go on a trip to North Carolina, but since I couldn’t go because of quarantine- Da Group threw me a “ Luau Hoedown Throwdown” and it was freaking epic. Even though I finally got sober after drinking ALL day, I couldn’t resist popping open another White Claw for this one 😂!

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Quarantine has turned me into a novice Plant Mama and a Walmart DIY Flower Wreath Artisan.

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Dressing up for the heck of it (I am literally all alone all day for 14 days) in new clothes I ordered online from Lulu’s. Still haven’t had a chance to wear out for over 4 months. 

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I bought some caterpillars on Amazon to teach Sugi about the life cycle of a butterfly. We fed them sugar water and oranges. We watched them hatch out of their cocoons, and set them out into the wild. Brings back memories of Ms. Rand’s 2nd grade Science class at Pointers Run Elementary. 

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This was my socially distant dinner the first time I had to self- quarantine, when I flew back from Bangkok to Memphis. It took over 30 hours from door to door, 3 layovers, and a crap ton of hand sanitizer. I met so many other ex-pats on the plane who were in the same situation, leaving their home abroad to go back to the USA before borders prevented them from exiting for an indefinite amount of time.