Stay at Home Adventures | March, 2020

Well, the month began innocently enough, with meals out with friends, our retreat in Ukiah, and my mom arriving in the Bay. We had already canceled plans to visit Asia but were still considering Paris. Of course things changed very quickly once we entered the second and third weeks of the month. Here in the Bay we’ve been officially sheltering in place since March 17. So in place of my usual monthly “Bay Area Adventures” recap, we’re debuting the “Stay at Home Adventures” of March, 2020. However, even if the radius of travel and contact with people has been greatly reduced, you might notice that life is just as full these days.

Together, apart. Here we go!

March 1: brunch with Amy at Kitchen Story in Oakland.

Later that night, dinner at Tanto in Sunnyvale with Alex.

March 2-4: Ukiah Retreat.

Afternoon snacks at my aunt’s house.

Boba and lunch date with Do-Hee.

Weekend excursion with Alex to go get free tulips from Tulipmania at Union Square. We were already beginning to be wary of Coronavirus here, so they cancelled the original format of planting the bulbs and then having people pick them from the ground. Instead, they just had workers hand out bundles of tulips directly to people.

Lunch at Beit Rima and more Boba Guys.

We were definitely not social distancing here… went and watched the Duke-UNC game with a bunch of alumni friends, including Yifan who was in town from Portland. Afterwards we definitely felt like we shouldn’t have been in this crowded room full of shouting people, but we were lucky to walk out healthy.

Little did we know this was basically the end of sports for the foreseeable future.

The toilet paper panic had already begun. So my mom and I went to Costco to see what all the fuss was about. I guess I’m glad to have stocked up, because I have no intention of going back to Costco any time soon.

Planting my new seedlings from the Petaluma Seed Bank. Most of these that I planted directly in our garden bed didn’t take, so now I’m starting them on the windowsill.

Our Lean In gathering on March 9. Bumping elbows instead of giving hugs, but still gathering!

I brought my mom to hike club with Stephanie and John. Lovely to get outside in Tilden.

A quick visit back to the Violins of Hope gallery, since so many of the instruments were out the last time I visited.

Lunch BBQ with Alex.

My thriving air plant. And my mom meets Alex and tours our garden!

We grabbed pizza at Casey’s… last time eating in a restaurant!

Walk around Lake Merritt, trying to actually keep distance from people now.

Social Distancing kicks in, and we all wonder what to do with ourselves.

Lounging at my brother’s place.

And on the 17th, we officially began sheltering in place. I joined Alex in San Francisco. We took some very cautious walks outside. It’s luckily not too densely populated here, and quite spacious.

A visit to the garden, and some fresh flowers gathered for our videochat backdrops.

 

Day 3 of shelter in place, we took a bike trip to Olivier’s Butchery, Harmonic Brewing, and Boba Guys (on their last day open) to gather some essentials.

And so began the videochat gatherings. Together, apart. The second photo below is with Tiffany in Sydney… this was actually just our normal monthly #annatifftime videochat meeting (we’re way ahead of the trend), but now everyone else has become a videochatter too.

Happy Hour with the Office of Accountability.

And a Brady Bunch happy hour with Lean In.

Weekend catchups with Lauren, my best friend from high school. And her little one too. Props to all parents in these times!

Then it was Alex’s birthday! I got him a GoPro (which I then ended up using way more than him so far at least), made him a surprise card, and then baked him a cake.

I drew him a card, and solicited handwritten notes from his friends near and far, compiling it into a digital card. We might not be able to gather in person, but his friends were more than happy to send some love from afar.

Birthday picnic in the garden.

With Purell, of course.

And Alex made himself an awesome birthday dinner.

Plus chocolate cake!

Our one pea seed definitely sprouted indoors! And now it’s the subject of its very own timelapse. Message me if you want to see it. I’m still updating it every day! Plus, weekly videochats with Whitney in New York.

My lifelines, these three. We stay in touch via chat, and we get to see each other’s computer faces a couple times a week.

Our disinfection station. We’re lucky to be quite well stocked in all means of disinfection. For the record, I already had or was given all of these things (Asian parents) and I did not go out and stockpile on purpose. One box of gloves was from my brother when he bought the wrong size a long time ago, and the other box I had from oil painting. But this has been great in our entryway for disinfecting everything– packages, groceries, keys, phones before we let them into the house.

Our weekly meat box from Olivier’s includes a whole chicken. I have never roasted my own chicken before– first time for everything!

Delicious!

Decided to give pea sprout some friends in the windowsill as I tried to germinate some new seedlings since they didn’t quite succeed outside. Now I have a dedicated timelapse of some of these sprouts too.

Another weekly catchup! With Talya, who’s in Berlin.

Another quarantine birthday celebration! This time for Eileen, who threw an awesome dance party on Zoom, with a DJ and everything. We decided to make signs and show them at the same time as a surprise.

So cute. Happy Birthday Eileen!

Then I started another hobby: drawing all my food. We are incredibly lucky to be so well stocked in food, thanks to my Imperfect Produce subscription, plus our meat box from Olivier’s. And a tiny bit of grocery shopping to supplement. But I have never cooked so much in my life or had to manage such a big food inventory. I thought it was fun to start managing it in my iPad by drawing it, haha.

I drew meals too!

Another week already? Lean In happy hour.

And checking in with Lauren in Ohio.

We embarked on a bike ride down to a bayside park.

My first attempt of making green onion pancakes. They were ok. It would help to use flour that’s not already a year expired.

Then we leveled up our chicken this week: rotisserie! Alex’s oven just comes with this feature. I timelapsed it with the GoPro, haha. Again, feel free to message me if you’re interested in any of my various timelapses.

I saw flour available for curbside pickup at Prairie and jumped on it! This restaurant has pivoted to become a general store, selling staples, meal kits, and even toilet paper. They definitely have the system down, and I felt quite safe with my pickup! I immediately deployed a little bit of my flour in the Boeuf Bourguignon we made that night.

Recipe and meats from Olivier’s Butchery! With most everything else from our Imperfect Produce delivery.

Catchup with Whitney.

Chatting family portrait sessions with these awesome photographers.

And another weekly check-in with these three ladies.

And just like that, we completed March and the first fifteen days of shelter in place. I am incredibly privileged to be able to stay at home in relative luxury and in a place where we can still safely make excursions outside.

True, I have zero income right now, but I am still working for my existing clients, trying to navigate rescheduled weddings for the coming months, and staying busy with myriad projects that I have no trouble coming up with, left and right.

I am so grateful for my community, which continues to show up for each other from afar. And I am very grateful for Alex, who has been the best quarantine and life partner. I am counting my many, many blessings through this time.

Here we go, on to April!

Anna Wu is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco. She compulsively documents and blogs all of her daily adventures. Follow her on instagram and view more of her professional work at annawu.com.