What Happened in April?

Mary B. Golubich
8 min readApr 27, 2020
Slowly but surely getting over my fear of driving selfie

Hello everyone! April just flew by, the complete opposite of last month. I can’t believe I’m even writing this blog post already! Time flies when you’re an essential employee, I guess. Hopefully everyone is still trying to flatten the curve (even though we may or may not open the state back up on the 1st…!).

While this month seemed to speed on by, it wasn’t a totally awful one. I got to do a few things that weren’t staring at the wall until my next drive thru shift. Let me tell you about the peaks of my April!

Honey Buttery Goodness

I mean…come on…these look SO GOOD.

This month, I made biscuits. But not just any biscuits.

Fox in the Snow, a cafe in Columbus (they have three different locations, but my favorite is the German Village one) had to shut its doors, much like many of the other small businesses in the state. While waiting for their doors to open again, they shared their recipe for their biscuits. I watched the video they made along with the recipe and realized that these biscuits were not only different from any biscuit I’d ever made, but they were super easy to make.

I made them in about an hour and once they were done, it took all of my willpower to not devour the entire plate. They are so, so buttery. The honey butter glaze adds the sweetness I love, but it doesn’t overpower the saltiness within them flaky layers.

If you’ve never made any kind of baked good in your life, I suggest starting out with this one. It’s deceivingly easy, and it’s absolutely delicious. The only thing you may have to worry about it aching arms from mixing and folding and rolling the dough. Old Woman Mary here had achy arms for a week afterwards! But the aches and pains were so, so worth it.

Blast From the Past

(we got bubble tea, so here is a photo of bubble tea) https://hoodline.com/2018/05/bubble-tea-chain-kung-fu-tea-opens-first-shop-in-charlotte

In middle school, I had a friend who eventually went to a different high school than I did and we lost touch. When I got to high school, we had the same group of friends, so we found each other on Facebook. She graduated when I was a sophomore and went to live her dream life designing stage costumes in New York.

Meanwhile, I lived out my life, doing my own thing and eventually ending up where I am today. All the while, I’d see her posts on Facebook and wonder if today would be the day I’d reach out to her and ask her how she’s doing. I’m a little shy, so of course I always chickened out.

A week or two ago, I got a message on Facebook. To make a long story short, over a weekend, Matt and I and my old friend and her husband all got together and had a Social Distancing Friend Date. We caught up, our husbands got along just fine, and we all laughed more than we have in a very long time. The two of them just moved back to Columbus, and next it’s Matt and I’s turn to come up with a clever way to get together safely!

It was honestly so cool to reconnect with my old friend, and it makes me wonder how many of my old friends want to reconnect with me? A part of me wants to reach out to all of them, but grade school was almost a decade ago and everyone is so different…it makes me wonder if we’d even still get along.

Honestly, it’s nice to have the option to try and reach out to an old friend online nowadays. The worst they can do is ignore the text or private message. Maybe I’ll go for it with another old friend and we can catch up…! Or maybe, for now, I can just continue to build upon the renewed friendship I’ve been given. We’ll see what happens!

Easter? More like Employee Appreciation Day

Possibly one of the cutest photos of me ever taken (photo by Tab Minton for Skyline Chili Olentangy)

At my place of employment we have a tip jar, seeing as the majority of us have either been laid off or have taken major cuts to hours and pay rates. People have been very giving in the drive thru, which is awesome to say the least!

My general manager had a great idea for Easter. We’re usually closed that day, but she figured we could stay open and give the employees the chance to work. The owner did one better and kept the store open, donating 100% of the sales from the day to the employees as hazard pay (an “Employee Relief Day”, if you will). Not only that, but he was STILL paying us to be there.

I’m not going to lie, I was stunned speechless when they told us the plan. Our owner is a very thoughtful person, and he is also all business (99% of the time, anyways). Sacrificing a day where we could make money for his stores and giving it to us was the most selfless thing I could ever dream of.

Since I knew I wasn’t doing anything for Easter, I volunteered to work the drive thru window and was so moved by everyone that came through! It was the busiest day we’ve had since the pandemic broke out, period. My dads came through, my friends came through, lots of college kids that we haven’t seen came through, regulars and old employees came through…it’s like the entire city of Columbus knew what was going on and wanted to support the team.

They say that when you work in food service you gain a new family, and let me tell ya, I’ve never felt like that was super true until this pandemic broke out. I’ve seen with my own eyes how everyone is banding together, with old coworkers coming and giving us essentials, the owner coming by the store everyday to check on us and make sure we (and of course, the store) are alright, my GM making sure I get to and from work safely…and of course, all the regulars still coming through the drive thru. Even my regulars that have stopped their weekly visits still send me a message or two on Facebook to make sure I’m doing alright.

Community is so important in these times, and I am always in awe at how much my Skyline family really is just that, a second family. When you bring the repeat customers into the mix, it becomes a community that really does look out for each other and lifts each other up. It’s amazing what cheese coneys and 3-Ways can do!

Music Obsessions

Absolutely genius. (album cover from Spotify)

I am not going to lie to you all and tell you that I’ve been exploring new music and all that…straight up, I’ve been listening to the new Active Child, “In Another Life”, nonstop since it came out early this month. If you know me and my music loves, you know that Active Child is one of my all-time favorite artists. His music has gotten me through some of the hardest times in my life, and along with a select few artists, holds a special place in my heart that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to describe perfectly. I might have to attempt to write a review of this album, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to put how it makes me feel into words!

Choosing a song from the new album to include in this month’s playlist was probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to do this month. The song I eventually chose, “Brighter Day”, is a gorgeous reminder that we’re all together in this tragic world. The lyrics are needed in the current world climate, so go ahead and take a good listen or two!

The rest of the playlist is a mix of new releases by a few of my other favorites, like the Killers and Rav, as well as new-to-me artists like Vagabon and Pink Skies. I threw some oldies but goodies in there as well, just to round it out (plus “Hash Pipe” by Weezer is a given, since the whole month was 4/20, for cryin’ out loud).

If you’re interested in this month’s playlist, go ahead and take a look!

Garbanzo in April

Before I got my new house…how cute!

The majority of my month has consisted of Animal Crossing. This month, I paid off my Nook Loans enough to get an upstairs room, I saw two of my villagers leave (and got two new ones) and lost thousands of Bells in the Stalk Market. The first half of April consisted of Bunny Day activities (SO. MANY. EGGS.) and this last half has brought new features and events to Garbanzo, including a grass loving sloth and a sneaky fox (Leif and Redd, two NPCs making a comeback in New Horizons).

Diva and Puck left my island…not gonna lie, I was very sad…!
Alice is one of two new villagers (the other being Soleil, not pictured). Bertha’s birthday was on the 25th so here she is, just vibing.

I’m excited to see all the new features and events this update and all of the future ones will include! I’ve seen that there will be a Wedding Season event in June, which is super exciting because it looks like you’ll be able to stage wedding photos! I love taking pictures in my game, so I’m excited to use that love to make something cool and cute.

It’s the little things, y’all…!

So, that’s been my April! I’m honestly excited for May because there’s going to be a new single by the Midnight dropping early in the month, my best friend’s birthday is at the end of the month, and I’m hoping that the curve will be flat enough for me to not only begin serving again, but also go outside and enjoy the warm spring weather! Obviously, I don’t want to get sick so if I have to stay inside and only do drive thru for another month, then so be it. We make sacrifices, y’all!

If you want to keep up with my daily shenanigans (and see when the next blog post is up) go ahead and follow me on Twitter! I’ll see y’all next week!!

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Mary B. Golubich

I write stories, as well as music, movie, product reviews and monthly wrap-up journals. Basically, if you can think it, I can write about it.