I am a very nostalgic person. When I was in high school and college, all I wanted was to be back in middle school. Now that I’m out of college, I just want to go back. Memories always trigger my sentimental side (which, as you know, comes up at the most random times regardless), and I’m often left longing for yesteryear.

Now, while we’re all stuck inside, it’s hard to not feel as though we’re missing out. While working from home has been great and convenient (and staying inside is good for my wallet), there are still some pastimes that I’ve really been missing now that I’m not really leaving the house. Like many other people, I’m thinking about all of the things that I miss doing, so I’m planning out my perfect weekend for when things go back to normal (okay, so my ideal weekend any time would be to go to Disney World, but I’m going to be the tiniest bit more realistic).

FRIDAY

Morning: I wake up early for the first time in what feels like a decade and roll out of bed. Getting up early may make me feel like I wish I had called out, but I’m not going to miss the opportunity to get back into the habit of getting to work early to meditate and read. These two habits have unfortunately fallen by the wayside now that I sleep in and work from home, and I’m excited to get back into them.

Afternoon: Lunch with all of my ladies from the office at the ramen place nearby: excellent ramen, fun conversation, and meaningful bonding with some of the people that I’ve missed the most. We normally see our coworkers every day, after all, and it is so weird not to chat with them every day about what’s going on in their lives. Although, our lives are all pretty predictable right now. After lunch, we stop at Starbucks for coffee on our way back to the office, and I pay more for a coffee than I have in months. But hey, YOLO.

Evening: The coworker bonding continues after work, because in this ideal weekend, my manager’s band has a show. My manager at work is in a band, and my coworkers and I all try to make it to their shows. All of our significant others join us for dinner and a great show where we dance like idiots and cheer on our friend. As soon as his set ends, I say hi and goodbye as Dan and I make our way out. Sure, the next bands will be playing for hours, but I’m starting to fall asleep standing up due to the aforementioned waking up early…also due to how I am as a person.

SATURDAY

Morning: Wake up and tell Dan that he’s taking me to the outlets. We usually love walking around the outlets when it’s warm out, and it’s been hard for me to not be able to go there. I grab yet another expensive coffee and we walk around the outlets, flitting in and out of our favorite stores, mostly browsing and enjoying the day. We’ve been out of stores so long that I have no idea what fashion is up to these days. Are people still wearing jeans? Have we finally completely abandoned bras? Bathing suit season is almost upon us — do the newest bathing suits double as hazmat suits? I can only speculate at what fashion is doing, and I’m excited to find out!

Afternoon: Josh and I record our podcast, which basically is us talking about random stuff that we love for an hour. On this weekend, we’ll probably talk about all of the benefits of being able to go outside again…followed with why we still hate to go outside anyway. After recording, Dan and I will walk to a local farm market and get fresh fruits for the week. Once we get home, I’ll whine until he cuts up some fruit for us to eat and then eat more than my share. Okay, so that part is less “my ideal scenario” and more “future prediction based on historical events.”

Evening: Saturday night, we’ll go to our favorite sushi restaurant (probably followed by our favorite Japanese crêperie) and an escape room with some friends. Going to escape rooms is my favorite activity, and we actually had to cancel a room that we were planning on doing in late March. So we still need to do that one and also have two new rooms that have opened up at my favorite escape room facilities! The fact that I can’t go do them right now is killing me!

SUNDAY

Morning: In this future weekend, my local yoga studio has finally opened back up, and I can go start my Sunday morning right. I’ve been a member at this yoga studio for over a year now, so the teachers and fellow students have become my friends and the classes have become part of my weekly routine. I’ve missed going to yoga so much and I can’t wait to get back into it! Every Sunday morning (when we’re allowed to leave the house), my friend Rachel and I go to an awesome yoga class and then to a local coffee shop where we chat over some delicious drinks (I really love their matcha lattes — YUM!).

Afternoon: Since I am inspired to write again now that I can leave the house and do actual things with actual people, I’m going to spend as much of Sunday as I can writing new blog posts and magazine submissions. It’s been so long since I’ve wanted to write, so in this ideal weekend, the words just flow out of me like crazy and I write enough content for the next year. Hey, a girl can dream!

Evening: Sunday evening, Dan and I will sit down and work on planning our next trip. Whether we decide to fly somewhere or just take a weekend road trip to visit the town where I went to college, it’ll be nice to just sit down and plan a getaway and enjoy getting out of town for a bit. There are a few trips that we’ve been meaning to take for a while now, and I’m excited to be able to actually start planning!

For now, all we can do is dream about the activities that we used to do before social distancing, but on the bright side, absence makes the heart grow fonder! I can’t wait to solve all of the escape rooms, do all of the yoga, and eat all of the sushi, ramen, Japanese crepes, and fruit (cut by Dan) that my stomach can handle. And that’s what I call “Quarantine Dreamin’.”

I thought it might be fun this week to challenge some of my blogging buddies to write about their ideal weekend after quarantine is lifted! If you guys are interested, go ahead and share your post-quarantine plans and tag some other bloggers to do the same. Let’s fill the internet up with sushi…I mean hope…

Bill (A Silly Place)

Emily (That Weird Girl Life)

Koral (The Unsanity Blog)

Laura (Laura’s Books and Blogs)

Photography by my talented fiancé. You can find him on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/hope_grows_here/