100+ Days of Quarantine
Hey all! It’s been awhile so we figured we’d give an update!
The letterboard that hung in Katelyn’s office in early March before quarantine begun.
On March 13, 2020, “out of office” took on a whole new meaning when we packed up our belongings from work and headed home and into quarantine because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It started off as a probable two week work from home (WFH) plan that quickly became more serious. Soon after Michigan moved into a Stay at Home executive order by Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Everything was closed. COVID cases skyrocketed and made the Detroit region one of the hardest hit in the country.
Our lives revolved around being at home and avoiding public spaces. We continued with grocery delivery, which we had been doing since 2017, but we also had to rely more on delivery for other every day goods. There is no going into the office. There’s no shopping trips. And worst, there’s no travel of any kind. Through the spring, it was hard to grapple with all the changes.
Last month we hit the 100 day mark.
Since then, we have begun to re-emerge into society. But we’re still being very cautious. We are still getting everything delivered to us and only make trips to stores if it’s something urgent. We see friends and family from a distance. And, most importantly, we are always wearing masks when in public or around others.
WFH has been different for each of us. Working as a lighting designer for one of the country’s top art museums is a bit difficult to do full time from home. So when the museum opened back up in July, Marc started working back in the museum and still partly from home where he is designing renderings for future shows and exhibitions digitally. Katelyn’s work transitioned quite seamlessly. With working in public relations, she can easily service her clients remotely from anywhere. Although quarantine has made for a lot more video meetings.
So although we are technically “out of office,” we’re not exactly out of work. In fact, not being able to travel and living in the same space as you work has really made it harder than ever to achieve work-life balance… but we’re trying to be creative.
In our free time… We’ve spent a great deal our time playing a lot of Animal Crossing and binging Netflix. We are currently renovating half of our main floor—including removing a wall, expanding the kitchen, reconfiguring the dining room, and completely gutting a bathroom—which is taking up a lot of time and patience.
The saddest part is that we have had to cancel all of our trips for the year, including our third trip to Iceland planned for this fall. Sadly, Americans are currently banned from most countries due to the Coronavirus and even if we weren’t, I’m not sure we’d feel comfortable enough to travel anyway. Instead we have been spending time at Katelyn’s parents’ new lake house that has been sitting empty while they do some renovations and we’ve made a cozy new space in our backyard where we watch movies projected on our fence.
Typically this blog has been about how we get the most out of our PTO, using each hour off to its fullest potential. We’ll keep on in that same vain but our travels and experiences will look much different in the world of COVID.
Looking forward to sharing more soon!
Stay safe,
Katelyn + Marc