A few realizations made while executing our spa day at home and this self portrait session last weekend…
1) Natural sugar scrubs are nice.
But, for the person who is scrubbing your naked body, make sure they’re aware of your hand pressure preference. Too much pressure will make it feel like your skin is being scrubbed off by sandpaper, not sugar… The third time I yelped when Charles was scrubbing my back area made me wonder if he was being heavy handed on purpose… The quiet chuckles I heard the fourth time it happened made me realized he found my pain humorous and so now I’m looking forward to paying him back when it’s my turn to host his spa day at home/sugar scrub experience. (Insert mischievous emoji face here)
2) Someone should make “top half” face masks for men who have facial hair.
I ended having to cut the bottom half of the second set of facemasks we used because it wouldn’t stick to the bottom of Charles’s face and he didn’t like the floppy feeling. He then questioned why I put the leftover bottom part around his neck… My response was “your neck skin is important too, you don’t want a chicken gobbler (technically it’s called a wattle) when you get older, do you?” He proceeded to rub that face mask into his neck like a champ lol.
3) Matcha green tea masks make you look like the Wicked Witch of the West.
And looking Wicked will make you want to cackle. Go ahead, let it out and watch that cackle manifest into a full, genuine belly laugh.
4) Our gallery wall isn’t centered with our couch.
I didn’t realize this until I started editing these photos (facepalm). In response, I tried to move the couch over to the right to center it with the gallery wall. But then I realized that if I move the couch, then the couch isn’t centered with our living room space as a whole… And there’s no way I’m touching our gallery wall (it was a two day process getting these photos up) so now I’m at a standstill on what to do. Charles told me to let it go but the OCD on my shoulder won’t stop whispering that “everything must be centered, centered.”
5) Counting down the days until I can connect with my stylist and get this hair cut back to my preferred chin/shoulder skimming length.
I had originally made plans to get my hair cut for my birthday (an annual birthday tradition since I was in high school) but that obviously didn’t happen. This is the longest my hair’s been in 3 years and it’s become annoyingly high maintenance. I’ve been giving Charles shape ups for the past couple of months and I’ve gotten pretty good with using the buzzing clipper thing he has (update: it’s called a bevel). But the trust does NOT go both ways. No way I’m letting him anywhere near my hair.
6) A personal photog rule of thumb is that I never set my dslr’s ISO to 6400 because the photo resolution isn’t as sharp and is pretty grainy.
800 is typically the highest ISO setting I use but these photos were taken around 7:30pm when the light starts to get as gray as our couch pillows in our home. I don’t like using flash so I decided to give 6400 a shot… Annnnd I’m kind of impressed with how much light it brought in. Still not sure if I like the graininess but I feel like it kind of gives theses photos a disposable camera photo processed effect? Anywho, it is what it is. Imperfect, grainy photos deserve love too.
7) Facemasks may not save the world and, honestly, I can never tell whether my skin looks different/better after I use them… But the intention behind doing them, the designated effort of self-care, triggers something mentally that puts me in a more calm, positive state of being.
And right now, during this pandemic, my anxious mind needs all the positive, calming endorphins it can get sooo facemasks/ spa day at home (and blogging, working out, wine, chocolate, reading books, listening to nature sounds, cleaning, dancing, cooking, baking, getting 8 hours of sleep, diffusing essential oils), it is.
And when I really think about it, the paranthese-d items above are things I should’ve already been doing consistently in my life but, for some reason, haven’t able to prioritize until now. So how’s that for unexpected blessings in disguise.
What have been your go-to methods for thriving while homebound?
xo, Setarra
P.S. or 8) Just realizing that this is the first official set of photos I’ve shared of our living room since we became homeowners and completed the first round of renovations in our little fixer-upper. It’s got me thinking that maybe I should do an “after” post to follow up on the before the renovation photos I shared well over a year ago. Hmmmmm, our place is still a work in progress but maybe… When we do our next home cleaning, maybe I’ll have my camera on standby.
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