Best of 2025 | A Month-by-Month Recap

January – The Best of Times, the Worst of Times

• I got bloodwork done and the results were not pretty. My A1C was high enough to earn me a diabetes diagnosis, but my doctor gave me three months to see if cleaning up my diet could bring down my A1C. I was really frustrated with myself for letting my health get to such a bad place!
• I was diagnosed with hidradenitis suppurativa, after getting yet another infected cyst in my underarm. It was my third cyst in as many months.
• Jenny was in Tampa and we met up for a fun afternoon! We went to a cat cafe, a bookstore, and then got coffee/tea and chatted away the afternoon.
• Bri and I met to do some brainstorming for the podcast. We had taken a long hiatus due to Bri’s busy schedule, and I was worried we were going to have to shelve this podcast.
• I went to an author event with my friend Lynn, and the author was so warm and personable. It was a great time!

February – Investing in Friendships & FIGs

• Birchie came to St. Pete! We had a fun day exploring my city: brunch at The Library, a bookstore visit, the Dali Museum, and coffee flights at my favorite coffeeshop.
• I visited the new romance bookstore that opened up in my area, Steamy Lit. A few girlfriends joined me and we all bought Blind Date books. After the bookstore, we all went to a nearby restaurant for dinner where we opened our blind date books one by one. So cute!
• Bri and I had our annual Galentine’s date. We went out to dinner (pierogis!) and then saw Paula Poundstone live, where we were the youngest people in the audience by far.
• I participated in Elisabeth’s The F.I.G. Collective, where every day, I wrote down at least one thing I was grateful for that day.
• I got into a fender bender. It happened as I was pulling out of my parking space, and luckily, there was very little damage and the most damage happened to my car and not the other person.

March – Brought to You by the Number Two

• 2 tea parties, 2 new-to-me bookstores, 2 new pets to dote on, 2 birthdays to celebrate, 2 cute pet portraits made, and 2 podcast episodes released after a 6-month hiatus
• Bri and I spent a weekend in Orlando with her best friend Jackie where we helped Jackie put together a couch, perused bookstores, and had a fancy tea party at Disney Springs
• I had a massive anxiety spiral and reached out to my friend Mikaela. She sat with me for an hour on the phone in the middle of her crazy morning.
• Chip turned 7 years old and Lucy turned 4! We celebrated with ice cream at our favorite dog ice cream shop!
• My mom and I went to Painting with a Twist to paint portraits of our pets. Thank goodness for the artist because she really helped us turn out portraits into works of art!

April – When Hard Work Pays Off

• My mom and I did the Fight for Air Climb, which entailed climbing 914 stairs. It was hard and I never want to do it again, but we finished!
• I got follow-up bloodwork done and was so relieved to see that my A1C came down and my fasting glucose was finally in the normal range. No diabetes diagnosis for me!
• My tub got refinished and I had to relocate myself and the cats for a few days. We went to a nearby VRBO and while it wasn’t exactly relaxing, it was my first attempt at a solo reading retreat.
• I started dealing with digestive issues (that would last through late July). Yayyy.
• I had two days of off-site meetings that were really exhausting but also incredibly productive. And then my manager told me that I impressed our VP with my ideas and solutions, which felt very good.
• Eloise turned 7!

May – New Experience, New (Fur) Nephew

• I went to my first drag show with my friend Kim. And now I’m obsessed with drag!
• My brother and his family adopted a second dog. His name is Moose and he is PRECIOUS.
• I had a lovely day at my mom’s pool with the dogs. Chip loves jumping on and off the floats, and Lucy wants nothing to do with the pool!
• I started tapering off Lexapro to start Prozac, and the anxiety levels were high this month due to the transition.
• I went to yoga at a local cat cafe, which is truly the one way one should do yoga. (Provided one is not allergic to cats.)
• Lila turned 7!

June – In My “I’m Falling Apart” Era

• Thanks to some wise advice from Michelle, I got checked for uterine fibroids and found out I have TWO, which is why my periods have been terrible lately. There’s nothing to be done, unless I want endometrial ablation, which would severely limit my ability to have children, and I’m not willing to do that right now.
• I met with a GI doctor to discuss my ongoing GI issues and underwent several tests in June, including bloodwork to rule out food allergies, a stool sample to rule out bacterial infection, and an ultrasound to rule out any serious underlying conditions. Everything came back clean!
• I had more cysts pop up in my underarm, none of which got infected, thankfully. But they were annoying/painful to deal with.
• I got to dog-sit for my fur-siblings, which is always a good time. I love hanging out with my babies!
• Bri made me taste a TON of terrible food combinations for an episode of our podcast. I still have not forgiven her for this!
• Eloise got her teeth cleaned for the first time!

July – The Best of Times, the Worst of Times (Part II)

• My mom and I spent four days in Orlando to celebrate her birthday. We mostly enjoyed the resort-style pool and the poolside cabanas. We lived our bougiest lives!
• I had my colonoscopy! The prep was terrible, and I threw up so many times because I was so nauseous from hunger. But my colon was clear, no polyps or indication of IBD. Yay! (Also, they aren’t joking about that nap. It’s incredible!)
• I started birth control and had an immediate reaction, falling into a long depressive episode.
• I spent another weekend in Orlando with Bri and Jackie. We had a low-key weekend, lots of reading and napping and doting on Jackie’s pets. We also went to an alpaca farm for a painting event, which was super fun!
• I went to Ben Schwartz & Friends with Bri and Sean! We had such a great time and cried from laughter.
• I saw Superman and was forever changed. David Corenswet 4 EVAH.

August – The Quiet Month

• I took my mom to my new favorite local tea shop for a belated Mother’s Day gift. We had a great time, even though we got caught in a torrential downpour leaving the shop!
• I was still going through my depressive episode and had an emergency appointment with my psychiatrist. We decided to start me on a fast-acting depression medication. (However, once I realized it was the birth control that caused the depression, I stopped taking both birth control and this new medication.)
• We took Chip and Lucy to the dog beach! Chip had a blast running around with the bigger dogs while Lucy barked at every dog that dared to approach her.
• Bri came over for a low-key lady date. She brought Greek food and we worked on a puzzle together while listening to Christmas music.
• My favorite HIIT instructor was fired and I was so sad. He was such a great instructor and really pushed me to do things I didn’t think I could do. I miss him a lot!

September – Let the Pain Begin

• I developed trigger finger in both index fingers and got steroid shots that took away the pain for about three months.
• My mom and I took the dogs to the Tampa Bay Weens September meet-up, which was such a delight! Lucy was a little shy, but Chip was a social butterfly!
• I applied for a gorgeous two-bedroom apartment and started the packing process.
• I started dealing with upper back pain so I went to urgent care and got muscle relaxers, which helped a bit. I also started noticing that my IT band on both legs was very tight and I was having some hip pain.
• On the last day of September, my mom and I left for our trip to London! We upgraded our seats to premium and had so much space to spread out on the flight!

October – Laurie & Steph Take London

• My mom and I spent the first week of October in London! While it wasn’t the trip we planned (my mom got sick on day 3!), we made the best of it and had a great time still. Favorites: St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and seeing Wicked at the West End!
• I got sick shortly after coming home from London, but it cleared up within a few days. My mom was down for the count with strep B and Covid for a few weeks.
• I spent most of the month moving into my new apartment, taking over small loads of items every few days. On October 30th, the movers came to move all the boxes and furniture!
• Mikaela and I went to our local No Kings protest, which had a great turnout and we got lots of appreciative waves and honks from drivers.
• My back and hips continued to hurt, so I saw an orthopedic who prescribed me an anti-inflammatory and physical therapy. I also started getting twice-weekly chiropractor adjustments. Nothing worked.

November – Settling Into a New Home

• I turned 38 years old on Black Friday and celebrated with a massage, a nap, and a Christmas adventure with my mom and older nephew.
• I did NaBloPoMo again, fifth year running! It was a blast like it always is and I was delighted to meet some new bloggers who were doing the challenge.
• I spent most of the month settling into my new space. It has been incredible to have my own office. My tub is a dream for this bubble bath girlie. And I love that the girls have more room for their zoomies!
• I got an EKG after having some weird chest pain while I was working out. Everything is fine! I still don’t know what that pain is about, though.
• I continued to have back and hip pain, and then my shoulders decided to join in the fun. I continued PT and chiropractic adjustments – no relief.

December – A Season to Remember

• I went back to the orthopedic, armed with the idea that I had hip bursitis. I got steroid shots in both hip bursae, which gave me about 36 hours of relief before the pain was back.
• Kim and I went to A Drag Queen Christmas, which was sensational! I got to see some of my favorite queens from season 17 of RuPaul’s Drag Race!
• I spent a weekend dog-sitting Bri’s sweet greyhounds. They were incredibly easy to take care of. The worst part was having to walk them and pick up their poop, and that’s only because my hips were so stiff that weekend, ugh.
• The holiday season was another beautiful one. I enjoyed a few Christmas-themed activities, made Christmas cookies with my nephews, and went to a fancy steakhouse on Christmas Eve, per tradition.
• I rang in the new year with my mom. We had a low-key NYE, watching episodes of The Celebrity Traitors UK and playing Yahtzee.