How to Stay Sane in Quarantine

April 1, 2020April 1, 20208 Comments

Hey. I’m back. I know, it’s seems like forever since I’ve written. To be honest, it was so long, I forgot my WordPress password. I almost didn’t renew my Ampersandblog.net domain (& did at the very, very last minute). It’s not like I intentionally stopped blogging for any particular reason–it sort of naturally happened. I wasn’t feeling super inspired by anything & was doing a lot of writing (offline ;)). And I didn’t want to force it you know? Blogging has been a hobby and I didn’t want to feel stressed out by it.

But we’re here now! Amidst all the things going on the world, I’ve been drawn to comforting, easy, familiar things (as we probably all have), and I felt like I wanted to blog again. So thanks for bearing with me, for those of you who asked if I still blog, for reading anything I write at all. We’ll see if this becomes a regular thing!

We’re all in quarantine, doing the social distancing~ thing so figured I’d share some tips that have helped me stay (somewhat) sane during the past two weeks. By no means an expert (& always looking for new tips!) but hope this helps even a little bit!

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5 Things I’m Loving in My New Apartment

October 4, 2018October 5, 201814 Comments

So I moved recently! Still in Philly but in a different part of the city (which I’m OBSESSED with). My roomie Danielle and I have been there a little over a month (crazy–time is going so quickly!) & it’s finally starting to feel settled/like “home.” If you’re anything like me, a move or big change always motivates me to purge things I don’t need anymore & buy pretty new things (Okay maybe I’m using moving as an excuse to splurge at Target, don’t @ me). It also made me reflect on things that I really liked about my old apartment & find things that could have worked better. I’ve gotten some really cool apartment/home decor things recently that I’ve been loooooving so I figured I’d share! Disclosure: you don’t have to move to re-do your space ;)

my cutest street hehe

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How to Solve Common Apartment Problems

July 27, 2018July 27, 20182 Comments

The amount of real-world, “adult” apartment problems I’ve had in my first grownup apartment is actually comical. To put it lightly, I’ve had more leaks, pests & general repairs in 3 years than I’ve seen in my entire 25 years of life. When the first problem happened (a leaking roof), I called my parents at 5am and bawled my eyes out. But by my most current issue (an overflowing toilet), I merely laughed on the phone with my dad & fixed it.

I’m by no means a handy-(wo)man, but this crash course in “home-rentership” has definitely taught me some valuable lessons on how to fix common problems that can only benefit me when I have a real home someday & can’t call a landlord. For any of you millennials out there renting your first big girl/boy apartment, keep reading. I can guarantee I’ve experienced & solved at least one of your apartment woes.