March 2021: Things that made me happy and cost $0

As a YouTube junkie with a soft spot for beauty gurus (though most of the ones I like are no longer making videos), I've seen a lot of monthly favorites roundups in my time. And don't get me wrong: I really enjoy them. I'm just not the type to drop $60 on an eyeshadow palette (though if designer makeup is your thing, go for it!)

When I started this blog, I knew I wanted to do a monthly favorites series, with a twist. I wondered what small changes I could make with what I already had/was already paying for (e.g. bills, subscriptions, etc.) to make my day more joyful, less manic and overall healthier without buying anything extra. So every month, I'm rounding up the top things that have made my life better without having to break out my credit card.

Here's my list for March 2021!

1. Lady Cop Makes Trouble by Amy Stewart: Historical fiction? Check. Badass crime-fighting ladies? Check. Set in my home state? Check! This is the second book in Stewart's Kopp Sisters series, which I picked up at the library. (Insert the library card song from Arthur here.) I spent my whole childhood in northern New Jersey, and I had no idea that the first female deputy sheriff in the U.S., Constance Kopp, lived and worked 100 years ago in the next county over from my hometown! I read the first book in the series, Girl Waits With Gun, last year, and actually stayed up all night to finish it. It was such a joy to pick this series back up, and I'm hoping the third book will be on my list next month!

2. Karlee Rotoly's recipe for vegan brownies, as seen on Goodful: As I mentioned in my previous post, my meat-loving boyfriend has been going mostly plant-based for Lent, which has given me a great excuse to try out some delish vegan recipes. One of my main resources has been Merle Shay O'Neal's vegan cooking videos on Buzzfeed's Goodful. This vegan brownie recipe made from avocados was the first recipe featured on the channel I tried to recreate. And to be honest, I may never go back to making regular brownies. They're just that good. (And yes, my boyfriend approves.)

3. Shutting off my personal phone during the work day: This was my main Lenten sacrifice this year. It's been so hard some days to shut my personal phone off at 9:00 a.m. and not touch it again until 5:00 p.m. (I have another phone specifically for work, which I always keep on.) But this habit has done wonders for my productivity at work! I know that this isn't feasible for everyone. However, if you want to check your phone less often during the day, there are many apps that can help you limit your screen time. I like Forest, which plants a virtual tree when you don't touch your phone for a set period of time. There is a paid version, but I use the free one. This is one Lenten practice I will definitely be keeping up even after Easter.

Christmas 2020 earrings. Thanks Dad. ❤️

4. Wearing statement earrings on Zoom calls: This was a tip I picked up

from watching Audrey Coyne's style videos. She gives amazing fashion advice, and she has the most beautiful and soothing speaking voice you ever did hear. I have a collection of statement earrings that I really didn't wear too much before the pandemic, but I've loved breaking them out over the past year. Putting on a pair of earrings (or any statement accessory) before a Zoom meeting is a really easy way to look polished and put together, even if you're in a t-shirt and sweatpants. Plus, who says you have to go somewhere to dress up? 5. Participating in virtual theater productions: At the beginning of the pandemic, my friends Emily and Colleen started an online theater collective that did virtual readings of plays every week. The collective is coming up on its one-year anniversary, and I've been honored to be a part of several readings. I even got to play one of my dream roles, Deirdre McDavey in I Hate Hamlet! I've also participated in virtual theater with Dragonfly Multicultural Arts Center, TSquared Production Company, and Unidentified Stages. Theatres may still be closed for in-person productions, but people are still making theater happen. Check out your local community theatre to see what they have going on, and please consider supporting them financially if you can.

6. Journaling for 10 minutes every morning: This is another one of my Lenten practices, and I've been less successful at this one than at shutting my phone off. However, when I have made the time to start my day in bed with coffee, the daily Mass readings, and my journal, everything is right with the world.

What free things should be on my April list? Let me know in the comments.

Thank you, as always, for reading.

Make the pie you can make today.

As we approach the one-year mark of the first coronavirus shutdown in the U.S., people across the internet have been sharing their "last things" before our world changed. The last time they went to a restaurant with a big group of friends. The last time they saw elderly family members. The last trip they took. The last wedding they attended. The last time they took little things, such as walking down the street with sunlight on their bare faces, for granted.

As for me, I'm going to share about pie.

This week, a coworker casually mentioned that this coming Sunday was Pi Day (because pi = 3.14, of course). It was the first time I had to reckon with the impending anniversary of the shutdown because I instantly remembered how I celebrated Pi Day in 2020.

Baking is one of my favorite hobbies. In high school, I would show up to lunch with a fully-frosted cake for my friends, because #procrastibaking. Making something sweet and delicious is a very meditative, relaxing process. The extrovert in me loves sharing what I've made with people I love and seeing the joy and appreciation on their faces when they take a bite.

The last pi(e).

On March 13, 2020, I showed up to my office with a homemade apple pie, with a pi symbol carved into the top. It was the first time I'd baked something for my coworkers at my new job, and it was a smashing success. I was already dreaming of what treats I could bring in for Fourth of July, Halloween, Christmas, etc.

But the following week, we were told to work from home "until further notice."

For many people, 2020 was a year of baking. In the early days of lockdown, I couldn't find vanilla extract in the store for weeks because the whole world seemed to be spending quarantine in their kitchens. However, my life had a distinct lack of baking from March onward. 2020 was the first Easter I didn't bring lemon bars to my church's potluck. 2020 was the first year I couldn't make my dad's favorite peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for his birthday. 2020 was the first Christmas that I didn't stay up late in the kitchen baking for multiple parties. And I grieved that loss.

I acknowledge that these disappointments are nothing compared with the overwhelming suffering that others have experienced over the past year. However, the pandemic seemed to take away my main tool for bringing joy to others. Who wants homemade cookies from a stranger when you're spraying your groceries down with Lysol? Plus, I love a good chocolate mug cake for one, but it can't compare with the peach and blackberry bread pudding I made for a bridal shower in 2019, when we crammed 12 people in a one-bedroom apartment without caring how closely we stood together.

COVID-19 is far from gone, and we're all tired of waiting for life to go back to "normal." Nevertheless, I think one thing the pandemic has done is made us more resourceful. We can't do all the things we used to do, so what can we do with what we have now?

I'm still going to bake a pie this weekend ⎼ Niomi Smart's vegan shepherd's pie, so I can test it out on my carnivorous boyfriend who's gone (mostly) plant-based for Lent.

Many of you aren't able to use your gifts like you used to before the pandemic, but they haven't gone away. Even in this age of masks and hand sanitizer, you're still capable of bringing others joy. And believe me, we need joy now more than ever.

I haven't blogged since 2018. What's changed?

Bonjour, mes amis! It's been a while...

I entered the blogosphere in 2013, initially to document my semester abroad in Nantes, France. That didn't happen.

Then I tried to turn it into a spot where I consistently wrote about whatever was on my mind. That happened, though the "consistency" did not. My last post on my personal blog, Vicky La France, was in September 2018.

It's now January 2021, and I'm much closer to 30 than I was when I started that first blog. (Shout out to those of you who have stuck around since the Frigates days, mostly Mom and Dad). Surprisingly, in my two-year hiatus from the blogging world, several people in my real life have asked me when I'll be writing again (again, mostly Mom and Dad). Some parents bug their daughters about when they're getting married. My parents bug me about when I'm restarting my blog. Because they're the BEST. ❤️

As my reintroduction to the blogosphere, here's what's changed since the last time I blogged.

1. In 2018, I was living in upper Manhattan. In 2021, I've lived in Queens for a year and I love it.
   

2. In 2018, I was an editor at an industry research company on Wall Street. In January 2020, I started a new job in corporate communications for an airline ... right before a global pandemic hit. Speaking of which ...
   

3. In 2018, I went outside without a face mask. In 2021, I don't do that anymore.
   

4. In 2018, I was growing out my hair and it was halfway down my back. In 2021, I've cut my hair to its shortest length since college, and I'm obsessed. Check out the featured pic of this post!
   

5. In 2018, I was a practicing Catholic who was falling more in love with God and her faith every day. In 2021 ... I still am. ✝️❤️
   

6. In 2018, I hadn't been to France in three years. In 2021, I haven't been to France since a pilgrimage to Lourdes in 2019. And with the way this pandemic is going, it looks like I won't be going there anytime soon. 😢
   

7. In 2018, I was super single, casually scrolling CatholicMatch, and couldn't stop thinking about this one particular guy who played guitar and wore bow ties. In January 2021, we celebrated our two-year dating anniversary.
   

8. In 2018, I didn't think anyone else would want to read my writing (again, aside from Mom and Dad, like the real MVPs they are). Over the past two years, I've been a contributor for my favorite Catholic women's blog, FemCatholic, helped some friends with copywriting for their businesses, and gotten to write a lot more in my 9-to-5 job. As I've rediscovered my love for writing and sharing my writing, I wanted to create a more grown-up place online where my words could live forever (because the internet is forever, folks.)

So now, I'm here again. Welcome to my new little corner of the internet. The cookies are out of the oven, the coffee's hot, and I'm ready to have an honest conversation with you.

That's my story of the past two years. I can't wait to hear yours.