It's day 33 of quarantine for me and I am starting to FINALLY get into a quaran-tine... a quarantine routine if you will. In the beginning I found myself feeling pretty out of whack, unmotivated, and lonely honestly, I'm an extrovert, can you blame me? But having things to do and keep me busy has helped a lot with this. So while I wont recommend binging movies, tv shows or tiktoks for hours and hours on end, because that WILL make you feel slumpy. BUT all in moderation right? Right. SO! Here are some recs of things that can keep you busy.
MOVIES
What If, Diary of a Teenage Girl, Catch me if you Can, 50/50, Lady Bird, JoJo Rabbit, Obvious Child, Band Aid, Okja, Mirai, Beautiful Boy, Knives Out, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, At Eternity's Gate, Five Feet Apart, The Sun is Also a Star, All The Bright Places, Horse Girl
ALL good movies. Some super popular favorites, other underrated icons. Give them all a chance and let me know if you watch any of them and what you think! They all have very different vibes, if you want to laugh but also cry but also feel good Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, oh you want to WEEP? Beautiful Boy and All the Bright Places... Linked above are all trailers, enjoy!
TELEVISION
Zoeys Extraordinary Playlist, Dear White People, The Bold Type, I Am Not Okay With This, Feel Good, Love, Sex Education, BoJack Horseman, Dave, Friends From College
Believe it or not, that's almost all of the TV shows I have ever seen! Minus childhood classics, I basically just rewatch and rewatch and rewatch my favorites and am so picky about new shows! So if you have any recommendations for ME, let me know! Also, looking back at all these shows, they are all SO similar it's clear that I have a type of TV that I like haha...
Ones I haven't seen but are next on my list:
Unbelievable, Elite, Tales of the City, Maniac, Community and moooooore
BOOKS
I'm going to be very honest here and say that I really do not read that much. I read a bunch last summer during my subway commutes, but honestly I have not had the time since, that is until now! I'm notorious for starting books and simply NEVER finishing.
BUT Right now I am reading The Upside of Being Down by Jen Gotch and I am DETERMINED to finish! So far it is really good, to give you the brief statement that is also on the cover she talks about, "how mental health struggles led to my greatest success in work & life." Pretty cool! Jen Gotch, if you don't know is the founder of Ban.do and someone who I have looked up to for years and years. About half way through, I would totally recommend this.
As far as other recommendations go, some from the past year or so that I enjoyed were:
The first two are AWESOME inspiring nonfiction books, and the last three are all very different. Yes I read a Judy Blume book, she tried her hand at adult fiction and boy was it a wild ride. If you want some mindless reading, check this out
Also not going to lie, TikTok has gotten me back into my One Direction fanfic phases, so theres also that...
PLEASE GIVE ME SOME RECS!
OTHER THINGS TO DO
Puzzles!
I've been really into puzzles lately. Never have I ever been a puzzle gal until now. I espeically love the vintage collage-y ones! Here are some cool ones I found online that you can order and enjoy for yourself!
Bake
(photo from Pinch of Yum)
Lately I have been baking up a STORM! From cupcakes to coffee cake and banana bread, I've baked a bunch and am LOVING IT! Mainly loving being able to use the stand mixer that my family has, I did not have one of my own at my place in Savannah, so this is super exciting. I think my favorite recipe so far was a banana bread cookie cake I made in our cast iron skillet. It was SO good! I just used the cookie recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag and added two bananas, sooo good. You can follow my pinterest for more recipe ideas!
Listen to a Podcast
Girls Gotta Eat, Very Really Good, Anthropocene Reviewed, Be There In 5, Beach Too Sandy Water Too Wet, Tiny Meat Gang, and I forgot Lizard People!
I'm a big podcast girl. Like seriously LOVE them. I listen to a bunch here and there but these are my main ones that I listen to the most, if not weekly. All super different, most quite funny, I definitely like comedy podcasts.
Walk your dog or Ride your Bike
Getting outside has been super helpful for me in trying to stay on my feet and be positive. Sunshine is a HUGE help when trying to boost your mood. It's hard being away from my friends, but honestly seeing other people out and about either walking their dogs too, walking with family, or whatever just smiling and waving hello is a nice little dose of human interaction!
Journal
Journal because holy crap we are living in a pandemic right now and you are going to want your journal as a memory and first hand experience on how you were feeling, what you were going through, and what's going on in the world. Nothing like this has ever happened in our lifetime, so take note, this is going into history books! Also, it's really therapeutic to get thoughts out onto paper and meditate on how you're feeling.
Above are some journals that you might like and can order today if you don't already have one!
DIY Your Clothes
So whether it's with embroidery, tie dye, distressing or what! There are a bunch of ways you can DIY and upcycle your clothes! I really love the painted jeans trend, or embroidering on tshirts and bags. I keep seeing these pop up on my tiktok! Above are some of my faves for inspo :-)
Redecorate your Room
I watched this video from Lone Fox where he did a whole room reno with only things he had in his house. This is something that any of us can do! Especially when DIY comes to play anything is possible!! In quarantine anyone can be an interior designer, anything can happen!
Netflix Party With Friends
Netflix Party is super cool! Basically it's just a Chrome plug in where a chat widget comes up alongside anything on you want to watch on Netflix! So you and your friends can watch a movie or show together in isolation! And chat in real time! It's so much fun, my friends and I have enjoyed it for sure! You can download it here :-)
Okay that's it for now folks! I hope you found these helpful or interesting! As always please send me any and all recs as well! DM me on instagram! @olivebarrett :-)
Stay safe and healthy!!
xo, O