With our new quarantine “normal,” I asked over on my Insta Stories what kind of content you want to see, and your responses were so, so helpful! I was feeling really stuck with what to write about, but knowing what kind of content would be useful for you during this weird time has given me a renewed sense of energy to write and create. I was surprised that so many people wanted to see my daily routine during shelter in place, but realized it’s actually not that surprising—things suck right now and we’re all looking for ideas on how to make things suck a little less.
The stay home order in SF began on March 17th, but Omied and I had already been practicing social distancing and staying home for a week before that because we found out he had potentially been exposed to coronavirus at a school where he participated in a career day. Soooo it’s been over a month that we’ve been stuck at home, but obviously once the shelter in place order came through we were much more strict about our quarantining.
There have been plenty of highs and lows, but I feel like over the last week or so I’ve found my quarantine groove. Here’s a look at my daily routine during shelter in place on a weekday…
Daily Routine During Shelter in Place
7:45 am: Wake up. Before corona I would usually get up around 7/7:30, but tbh I haven’t been sleeping that great lately. Lots of weird stress dreams, tossing and turning, and staring at the clock at 2 am. So I’m just being kind to myself and letting myself sleep in a bit. Even during normal times, I’m a chronic snooze button pusher and over sleeper, so I have this daylight alarm clock set up on the other side of the room. It gets brighter and brighter until it’s time for the alarm to go off, and by having it across the room I literally have to get my ass out of bed.
8:00 am: Get ready for the day. Quarantine has given me time to try some different skincare products, and here’s what I’m liking lately:
The Ordinary Pycnogenol 5% – This antioxidant serum helps protect the skin and can be mixed with other serums to enhance their effectiveness.
I mix the Pycnogenol with my SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic. This is a new product for me, but I’ve been wanting to try it for a while because I’ve heard people raving about it. The ferulic acid and vitamin C and E work to protect the skin and prevent sun damage and signs of aging.
Drunk Elephant Moisturizer – I love Drunk Elephant’s moisturizers for day time. V hydrating, but still lightweight.
StriVectin Neck Cream – I’ve been applying this day and night. Trying to get rid of my tech neck.
Murad SPF – Even though we’re staying inside, you still need to wear sunscreen! We’re still exposed to UV rays through windows. I like this one by Murad because it’s SPF 45, lightweight, and non-greasy.
Make inulin + collagen coffee. Here’s what I put in my coffee:
2 teaspoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons vanilla nutpods
1 scoop inulin
1 scoop collagen
I put it in my Nutribullet and blend for 10 seconds and it comes out creamy and frothy. I’m not a big breakfast person and the inulin + collagen combo usually keeps me full until lunch. If I do get hungry before lunch I’ll have something light like yogurt and granola.
Journal outside. This is something I just recently started doing a week ago during quarantine, and it has been a great way to start my day. I bring my coffee, Daily Stoic, and journal outside and sit on some steps. It’s really helped change my mood for the better during quarantine!
9:00 am: Dive into work. I’m keeping really busy with new blog projects and cranking out content, and I’m grateful for the distraction and to have work that I care so much about during this time. While some of my brand collaborations have been postponed or canceled, I feel so fortunate that some are still moving forward. Quarantine has also given me time to step back & think about my workflows, and I’ve gotten even more into time batching than I was before. I can go more into this in another post if it’s of interest.
12 pm: Lunch break. I usually whip up something easy for lunch. I’ve been into protein bowls lately that include brown rice, a fried egg, a lean protein like chicken sausage or salmon, and a big handful of sauteed spinach. I’ll add different things to mix up the flavor on different days like guacamole and salsa for a Mexican bowl, bitchin sauce (really good almond dip sauce you can find at Costco), or sriracha or kimchee for an Asian bowl. I like to listen to a podcast while I make/eat lunch. Then it’s back to work.
2 pm: Outdoor break. Omied and I usually take a quick break in the afternoon for a walk and/or an errand. Usually, we’ll walk to my PO box or the corner market for something we need for dinner. It’s just really nice to get outside. We always wear our masks. ? Then back to work!
5:30 pm: Workout with HIIT School. Before covid I usually worked out 4 – 5 times a week, and I’ve kept that up during quarantine. It’s one of the main things keeping me (somewhat) sane right now. These HIIT classes are live in a small group over Google Hangouts, and having a trainer on the other end who knows you, expects you to show up, and gives you live feedback is just 10x more effective than me trying to motivate myself to do a YouTube workout. They just launched another month of virtual classes if you want to sign up here! You get 2 HIIT classes per week plus 2 more bodyweight classes, and anyone in your household can join when you sign up, so it’s a really amazing value.
6:30 pm: Pop a CBD gummy, take a shower, pour some wine, and make dinner. Omied and I usually switch off who’s in charge of dinner, and on weeknights, we make something easy. The #1 thing you guys wanted to see was what we’re cooking during quarantine, so I’m going to do a bunch more detailed posts about what we stocked up on at Costco + quick and easy quarantine meal ideas!
Oh, and um, let’s talk about my drinking habits. Before corona I probably drank a couple of times out of the month, usually in social situations or if Omied is getting crafty in the kitchen and making cocktails. During the first week of quarantine, I drank—Every. Single. Night. Sooo we’ve reeled that back in a bit and my goal is only 3 – 4 nights out of the week. I’ve never been someone who looks forward to a drink at the end of the day, but these days around 2 pm I am really jonesin for a glass of wine. Maybe not the healthiest part of my daily routine during shelter in place but I’m just keepin’ it real you guys.
7:30 pm: Eat dinner together and do something fun. For the first couple weeks of quarantine, we were watching Netflix basically every night, but we’ve been changing that up and it’s been really nice. We’ve been really into the card game Golf lately (here’s a video on how to play—all you need is a deck of cards) and things have been getting pretty competitive. ? Playing different games and doing something other than Netflix every night has helped with not having every day feel exactly the same. Some nights we’ll do a puzzle, FaceTime family and friends for a game night (here’s my post on how to host a game night during quarantine!), or get out our old school Super Nintendo and play MarioKart.
10:00 pm: Wind down with my nighttime skincare routine and reading in bed. For my nighttime skincare,
Biossance Cleansing Oil – Love this gentle cleansing oil from Biossance to take off the day. I use these microfiber washcloths to wash my face because they’re amazing at getting everything off your skin.
AHA serum or retinol – I’ve been alternating between using Farmacy Beauty’s Honeymoon Glow AHA Serum and my custom retinol from Dear Brightly.
Tatcha Dewy Skin Cream – My all-time favorite night cream. This stuff is so hydrating and you really do wake up with skin that’s dewy ad.
Drunk Elephant Facial Oil – Top it off with a good face oil. Drunk Elephant’s Marula oil is ??.
Since I have a lot of extra time on my hands during quarantine I’ve been experimenting with some different at-home facial skincare tools. I’ve been loving dermaplaning with this tool (going to do a full blog post about it soon!) and my high-frequency wand (if I feel a zit coming on this flattens it out over night).
Read in bed. Even if it’s just for 15 minutes, I like to wind down by reading in bed. Here’s a list of books I recommend reading during quarantine.
11 pm: Goodnight! To create a calming environment in our bedroom, we’ve added these rock salt lamps and a sound machine. Red light is the best form of light for your eyes when it come to encouraging
That’s my daily routine these days! Notice that at no point during my routine during shelter in place did I say, “Read the news.” I’ve conscientiously cut my news consumption by like 90%. I don’t look at articles that family and friends text me, and when I’m online I force my eyes to glaze over any news. Omied has promised he’ll fill me in on anything important I need to know. This might sound like I’m sticking my head in the sand, but after weeks of reading article after article about Coronavirus and crying about the state of the world, I’ve made this conscious decision to focus on my day-to-day so that I can stay sane, do my part to stay indoors and support my local community, and make it though this.
Let me know what other quarantine-related content you want to see. Slide in my DMs on Insta @wtfab, or shoot me an email: [email protected].
Looking for more resources during quarantine? I got you. Check out these posts:
100 Things to Do While Stuck at Home
6 Books to Read During Quarantine
Quarantine Birthday Ideas for Adults
How to Host a Virtual Game Night
Self-Care During Self-Quarantine
Elise Armitage is an entrepreneur and founder of What The Fab, a travel + lifestyle blog based in California. At the beginning of 2019, Elise left her corporate job at Google to chase her dreams: being an entrepreneur and helping women find fabulous in the everyday. Since then, she’s launched her SEO course Six-Figure SEO, where she teaches bloggers how to create a passive revenue stream from their website using SEO. Featured in publications like Forbes, Elle, HerMoney, and Real Simple, Elise is a firm believer that you can be of both substance and style.
