10 Things that Make Me Happy at Home

We're almost coming to an end in 2020 and this is the most that I've spent my time at home. Since my degree years when I was super active with extra-curricular activities, contests, events etc., I rarely spared moments to sit at home and enjoy just being in the moment. However, things have changed rather drastically this year and I've been mostly at home going through one day at a time. 

I'm currently working from home as a research assistant until my contract ends later this year. In the meantime, I'm rediscovering things that I haven't gotten the chance to do: taking more proofreading projects, catching up with a few mobile games, watching new anime shows and so much more. This also got me realising that there's a lot to love and do while I'm home. And  thus, this brings us here: 10 Things that Make Me Happy at Home. 

This post idea was inspired by the original article from Elsie here.

1. Playing with my cats

Our two cats, Leo and Dessi are our reliable cure for boredom and when we need to keep ourselves occupied in between work breaks. And surprisingly, they turn out to be amazing exercise buddies because they love playing fetch and hide-and-seek (Leo especially). 

                                        Queen Dessi dozing off for the 100000th time that day

Leo in his majestic cat cone

2. Cooking projects

I've never been a great cook but I'm not a bad one either. Let's just say that my interests aren't in cooking. But with the amount of time that I have at home (and the fact that I can't frequent to the stores for a quick meal and snacks), I have no choice but to be a little more creative with my meals. I've had cravings for all sorts of foods and the only things to make me happy, is make them and EAT. I discovered that trying out new and old recipes could be quite fun and several of them turned out really tasty! Here are some of the dishes that me and my family have enjoyed:

We made Thai Green Curry just last week. It was UH-MAZING!

Black peppered beef gravy

Thai Basil Pesto Pasta

Special fried rice

3. Doing makeup for fun!

If you follow me on Instagram, you would know how much I loooooveeee makeup. I'm particularly enthusiastic when it comes to eyeshadow palettes and there's a steady collection growing on my makeup table at home. Since the MCO began, I haven't been out much which also means that I wore a lot less makeup over the months. I miss putting on makeup each day before heading out to class or shopping and just exploring outside. The best part is that I could explore a different makeup look each time before I go out. Now that I'm home, I sometimes get my makeup out of their boxes and put them on just for the heck of it. Here are two looks I made recently!

  

4. Watching Netflix and YouTube

There's rarely been days that I do NOT watch stuff on these two sites. On YouTube, my recommendation panel is packed with an awkward mixture of makeup videos, book hauls (who does not love a good book haul since I'm too broke to buy new ones myself...), movie trailers, new documentary episodes, new mobile game releases and anime shows. I can spend quite a bit here before I finally mentally kick myself to peel myself away from the app.

I like to end my day with one or two episodes of my favourite shows on Netflix. I'm currently watching a little bit of everything (this is probably why I haven't finished any series), from Modern Family, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, How to get Away with Murder, The Order, How I Met Your Mother to a whole list of anime shows. I'd have the room lit with one small study lamp for that cosy low-lit room vibe while sipping on hot milo.

5. Working from home

I'm not new to working from home. Even during the many months of my semester break, I'd use my time finding new proofreading jobs and dedicating hours of my day completing each task. Honestly, I quite like having a work desk in my room and the kitchen being a couple of walks away for refreshments. The best part is that I get a great view of the trees and a couple of cars passing by from my window. When it rains despite how rare it can be in these parts, I can take a small break and enjoy watching the rain without being disturbed. 

Of course, I'd be lying if I say I don't miss anything about going out to my own office outside of home. I'm still hoping for the day when things become normal for me to freely meet more people in person, dropping by small shops for a snack before heading home.

6. Snacks and desserts

Okay, one thing that I do miss about being outside is the freedom to hog on snacks and desserts whenever and wherever I want (hint: ice cream, tealive, crisps, THE WORKS). In spite of everything, my snacks consumption has dwindled down drastically since I stayed at home and as a result, so does my weight! We do buy snacks from time to time because as a decent human being, I want my snacks and these small occasional moments that I do get to eat them make it special. In fact, to compensate the missing snacks in my current diet, I make caramel popcorn at home and it tastes goooood!

7. Ordering food

Back when we had the e-Penjana RM50 in our e-wallets, I made good use of that money that I received. I spent them on weekly meals and beverages delivered right to our doorstep. I MISS THIS.

8. Online shopping

I'm not immune to the powers and beckoning of online shopping. During MCO, I was hit with promotions and sales left and right on Shopee, Instagram, Twitter... just everywhere. I didn't spend as much as I thought I would (thank. goodness) but I did have a decent size haul. 

The one thing I didn't think I would do was buying my new phone online (my old one broke). I have to tell you, I was on edge for 24 hours after I made the purchase because all I could think of was seeing my phone smashed into bits by the time the package arrived. No such thing happened and I don't regret that I did it. I also bought new shawls to upgrade my wardrobe. I'm still wearing the same shawls that I wore since I was in foundation year and I thought I needed a new set of shawls. Best decision ever and I've been religiously wearing them at each opportunity I get!

9. Installing a new phone theme

There's just something about a fresh new theme that spices up your phone experience and I did just that. I installed "Powder", a cute pastel phone theme you can easily find on your Android Theme Store. You can always change the wallpaper if you want to but I think it looks really good with the overall theme.

10. Pampering myself with skincare & haircare

I got to be honest with you, I used to not care so much about haircare. In fact, I was completely fine opting for shampoo and the regular conditioner. I had horrible problems with hairfall and dandruff too but I didn't expose myself to solutions to curb the problems. However, just a couple of months ago, I did some researching and reading, and got myself a few products to help with my hair problem. I changed my hair washing game too and now, I can truly see the difference after taking care of my hair properly.

When it comes to skincare, I've always been quite diligent at pampering my skin with the products it need. I try not to skip my skincare routine too often or drastically change it. In fact, you can check out what I use right here in my previous post.

So here's my question to you! What brings you the little joys while you're at home? Feel free to share your stories in the comment section below.