A Q&A With Jessie

I am a huge reader and I share my reading reccos on my personal Instagram account in archived stories. There have been so many books I’ve loved over the past couple years. Right now I am looking for books that have an uplifting message and don’t increase my anxiety. A few funny books I’ve enjoyed are: You’ll Grow Out Of It by Jessi Klein, Bossypants by Tina Fey, Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder by John Waters and anything by David Sedaris.

I feel like everything’s gone out the window lately. I’m finding new routines. I never had time to work out before and I’m really enjoying having the time to do it now. I’ve been aiming to stream The Class by Taryn Toomey for an hour every other day. I love this class because at the end you feel like you’ve gotten the hardest workout of your life, gone to therapy and gotten a massage. I also want to sign up for Heatwise Yoga streaming because I like their classes.

I used to not cook much and now I’m cooking up a storm. I’ve been making bread with Mark Bittman’s No Knead Bread recipe and texting my mom for favorite recipes from growing up to make for my family.

I spend a lot of my day sewing masks to donate to medical personnel on the front lines. Doing what I can to help has brought so much joy to me over these past few weeks. I embroider a little message to them on the inside of the mask: “thank you hero.”

And finally, I am loving how our creativity is being flexed in this moment. My kids and I have been working on lots of art projects from drawing on beach rocks with acrylic markers to weaving potholders to building legos.

The rest of my time is spent trying to get my family out in the sunshine (in a safe way) for at least 45 minutes a day, trying to dodge my husband’s incessant Zoom calls and hiding my kids’ iPads.

I like having a bit more relaxed schedule. We are letting the kids stay up later and sleep in when school allows. I’m snuggling them all day long, baking with them, playing Pictionary. I am trying to be chill about school work. It’s hard making it work remotely. Mostly I want them to feel safe and loved and it’s ok if they don’t complete every last assignment on their school computer. They are learning other things like cooking, doing chores, building forts and managing their feelings and stress.

My team has been wonderful. Our team was always so disciplined and always self starters but never more so than now. My team has been really gentle with me, understanding that it’s hard for me to work as much as I used to while cooking, cleaning and overseeing the kids. We also worked so hard on future seasons while we were still in the office back in early March that we got a lot accomplished before we left. Designing remotely is challenging. But we’ve been making it work! I’ve been sewing some mock ups and we’ve been communicating using all different kinds of technology. The team is also supporting each other emotionally by zooming often, doing virtual happy hours and our team member Charlotte’s grandmother has been teaching everyone Pilates!

Making as many masks as she can.

Clem’s been painting rocks with acrylic markers.

Taking better care of her plants.

Setting a pretty table to cheer her family up.

Trying to get outside at least once a day to get some exercise and fresh air, while staying far away from others.

Dreaming about wearing these again someday soon!