The hobbies I picked up during quarantine

Edwin Hooper's above photo has prompted a number of feelings for me as of late; specifically, what does "temporarily" really mean? When the world shut down in March of 2020, I left New York City to try and escape the chaos. I expected to be gone for a few weeks... at most a few months. When reality set in, I realized it had been a whole 14 months. I've heard of some people using their time in quarantine productively by perfecting bread baking or even learning a new language. I, however, am not one of those people. I've found bread baking is best left to early risers (or the french), and unless I'm challenged to learn Esperanto, the elementary Spanish I know has been all I need. "But what did get you through Quarantine, Sandra?" you might ask. Let me tell you?

1) Wine

I joined a wine club with a few of my friends. While it started as an excuse to drink wine, I soon found a love in the details of wine making and the diversity of the terroir. A few of us established a goal early on: pass the introductory sommelier exam. While it would be fun (in a SUPER humble way) to say "ya, I'm a Somm," what we really wanted was to know how to order wine at a restaurant. What makes Spanish wines great value? Why are wines from Bordeaux so expensive?

2) Biking (outdoors)

One of the perks of spending the early months of the pandemic in the suburbs was having access to the great outdoors. I ran competitively in college and it's safe to say that I'm all ran out. What's the next best thing? Probably rowing. And after that? Biking! I started to bike a few miles every day, and then steadily picked up the mileage until I did a double century. The big 2 0 0. I'm terrified of bike shoes too, so I did it in high heals. #goals

3) Biking (indoors)

Not sure if you've ever heard of this sport before, but there's a thing with two wheels that takes you from place to place. It's called a scooter. jk. It's called biking. I really don't like the cold, but I really like biking, and going 20+mph in the cold, wet wind is not ideal. Peloton saved my tuchus metaphorically, and really hurt my tuchus physically. It was the perfect alternative to outdoor biking.

4) Podcasts

Remember how I said I wasn't one of those bread baking pandemic buffoons? Well, I am certainly a cookie baking one. Brown butter chocolate chip cookies are my kryptonite. I've gone through 35 variations. What better way to help me through the monotony of baking than listening to a slightly gravely, perfectly pitched news caster wannabe! My favorites of late are The Daily, Future of Storytelling, and the dated but always refreshing, Serial. As much as I love podcasts, nothing replaces (digitally) printed media.

5) Embroidery

Nice to meet you, darling. I am a 95 year old woman who lives in Wyckoff, NJ. I make a mean lasagna, and have a knack for calling my children both skinny and fat in one go. Oh, and I love embroidery. I've gotten really into putting incongruous designs onto clothing. Challah on underwear. A starfish on leather gloves. Mike Tyson on a set of boxing gloves.

So there ya have it folks. 4 (5) things I did during quarantine that helped me pass the time mentally and physically.

EDIT: After a number of requests, I've decided to open an Etsy store for my embroidery services. Please find my store here.